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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> different shots for different lenes
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 01/04/2006 08:09:38 AM · #1
I became the owner of a Nikon D50. My previous camera was a point and shoot so I am not familiar with selecting different lenes for different shots. I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice as to when it is appropriate to use a particular lens (i.e. when to use the 55mm, 18-55mm, 70-300mm, etc).

Thanks in advance!
 01/04/2006 08:41:49 AM · #2
It depends mostly on what subject you're shooting. Landscapes are often shot with a wide angle lens, to capture the full span. Portraits tend to fall in the 35-75ish range, shot relativly close to the subject, so that they fill the frame. Telephoto zooms, your 75-300 range, are mainly used for sports, wildlife, astrophotography - anything where you can't get too close to the subject, but still want it to fill the frame.
The other consideration is shutterspeed. Prime lenses (ones that have only one length, like the 50mm f/1.8) tend to be fast, due to the fact that you can open the f-stop so large. These fast lenses are used in low-light situations, to help keep ISO down. For instance, although it doesn't have a lot of zoom, I use my 50mm to shoot basketball, simply because I can't afford a fast zoom yet. It's really more of a portrait, walk-around lens, but it works; you just have to wait for the players to get close to you.
So the gist of this is, there are some "rules" to when you use which lens, but like most good rules, they're more like guidelines anyway. I'd start using lenses based on what it is you're doing, like I described at the top, but then you'll learn which you like, and will experiment a bit, and will end up with your own preferences.
 01/04/2006 08:59:42 AM · #3
I have a question. What happens when you are doing like a 2 minute shutter speed. What is it exactly that the camera catches?

Let's say you are doing a landscape. You set the ISO and the shutter speed to 2 minutes. It's all set up on tripod with remote, and you click. Now, what if a bird flies by in the last minute? Does that bird show up as a blur? Or does it not matter cause the camera catches only what you first clicked on and only adjusts to that during the rest of the time?

Rose
 01/04/2006 09:03:06 AM · #4
Originally posted by Rose8699:
I have a question. What happens when you are doing like a 2 minute shutter speed. What is it exactly that the camera catches?

Let's say you are doing a landscape. You set the ISO and the shutter speed to 2 minutes. It's all set up on tripod with remote, and you click. Now, what if a bird flies by in the last minute? Does that bird show up as a blur? Or does it not matter cause the camera catches only what you first clicked on and only adjusts to that during the rest of the time?

Rose


With a two minute exposure, given that a bird flying by would only be in the frame for a couple of seconds at most, then it would not even show up in the final picture.
 01/04/2006 09:05:59 AM · #5
Originally posted by Rose8699:
I have a question. What happens when you are doing like a 2 minute shutter speed. What is it exactly that the camera catches?

Let's say you are doing a landscape. You set the ISO and the shutter speed to 2 minutes. It's all set up on tripod with remote, and you click. Now, what if a bird flies by in the last minute? Does that bird show up as a blur? Or does it not matter cause the camera catches only what you first clicked on and only adjusts to that during the rest of the time?

Rose

You see this trick a lot with people who pose in their own photos, but move around in them so that there appears to me multiple copies of the same person. The exposure is so long (and the light weak enough to justify the length of exposure) that the peson is able to quicky move between locations without leaving a blur. Once they've been in one place for a while, however, they do appear in the shot. The longer they remain in one place, the less "ghost-like" and more solid they appear.
 01/04/2006 11:12:36 AM · #6
Originally posted by OdysseyF22:
Originally posted by Rose8699:
I have a question. What happens when you are doing like a 2 minute shutter speed. What is it exactly that the camera catches?

Let's say you are doing a landscape. You set the ISO and the shutter speed to 2 minutes. It's all set up on tripod with remote, and you click. Now, what if a bird flies by in the last minute? Does that bird show up as a blur? Or does it not matter cause the camera catches only what you first clicked on and only adjusts to that during the rest of the time?

Rose

You see this trick a lot with people who pose in their own photos, but move around in them so that there appears to me multiple copies of the same person. The exposure is so long (and the light weak enough to justify the length of exposure) that the peson is able to quicky move between locations without leaving a blur. Once they've been in one place for a while, however, they do appear in the shot. The longer they remain in one place, the less "ghost-like" and more solid they appear.


Brent, what you are referring to (like here) is done with flash. dark room, long exposure, flash once, move, flash again

edited cause i'm slow

Message edited by author 2006-01-04 11:13:15.
 01/04/2006 11:14:40 AM · #7
Originally posted by idnic:
Brent, what you are referring to (like here) is done with flash. dark room, long exposure, flash once, move, flash again

edited cause i'm slow

Oh. **sheepish grin** Well, I was close. Thank you idnic!
 01/04/2006 11:35:57 AM · #8
Originally posted by qbicle:
I became the owner of a Nikon D50. My previous camera was a point and shoot so I am not familiar with selecting different lenes for different shots. I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice as to when it is appropriate to use a particular lens (i.e. when to use the 55mm, 18-55mm, 70-300mm, etc).

Thanks in advance!


A wide angle (generally any lens shorter than 50mm) if used up close will distort the subject a bit (for portraits make the nose seem bigger for example). Tele lenses (those over 50mm) tend to compress things, making things far apart appear closer together).
Why 50mm? that approximates what the human eye sees.

Wide angle lense appear to have a greater depth of field than to tele lenses - great for landscapes, but the shallow DOF of a tele can be used to isolate the subject from the background - as in
01/04/2006 01:15:12 PM · #9
Thank you all for your replies to my question. This helps me alot in the future when I get a camera that can do long shutter speeds. I was always wondering about what I could do with it, and now I know. Thanks again!

Rose
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