Which Lens

[lumpydj]

I need some advice from the photo experts on this forum. I'm new to photography (taking a class) and just purchased a Canon T1i. Which lens would you recommend for night time or dark ride shots (POTC): the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens or the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens? Based on price, those are my 2 options - I think. I really don't want to spend $1,000 on a lens at this point. Or will I be really disappointed by not spending the extra $$? Thanks for your help! :wave:

 

[wdwmagic]

I've had a Sigma f1.4 30mm, and its pretty good. POTC is really challenging to get anything great, and I don't know that I would buy a lens specifically to try and photograph that. I'd rather get a lens that I can shoot in a lot more situations. But I guess it all depends on what you preferences are.

One thing I would also say to consider is that sometimes third partly lenses have focussing issues. If you want to totally eliminate that, go with the Canon for guaranteed compatibility.

 

[JROK]

The nifty-fifty (50 f/1.8) is a fantastic lens for the price! I had one myself (have since upgraded to the 50 f/1.4) and used it often at Disney. Prime lenses are a real personal choice as a lot of people don't like having a fixed lens. But personally, I enjoy prime lenses because they allow you to focus more on working with what you have instead of giving you too many options with variable focal lengths and aperatures that you forget how to compose a good shot.

Technically speaking the Sigma 30 f/1.4 will allow in more light and act more like a 50mm lens on your APS-C sensor, where as the 50mm will act more like an 80mm lens and let in less light (but only by a stop). With the way cameras handle noise these days, you can crank the ISO up and still get great images.

Because you're a beginner, I'd really suggest getting the nifty-fifty and enjoying it. I recently had a business trip to Boston and packed my camera with my 50mm f/1.4 and had a great time walking around the city during the day and at night taking photos. They're very excellent, small and light lenses that work well in all situations. But because of the money, I'd say try the Canon f/1.8 and see how you like it, and how much you enjoy photography, before you go and spend $400 on a lens.

 

[ddbowdoin]

when it comes to shooting a dark ride at disney, it doesnt matter what lense you have because this is a very, very, very difficult task. the key to low light shooting is knowing your manual settings but also knowing how to shoot in the right situations. when it comes to low lighting, if you're looking for crisp shots with vivid colors you can be moving.

this is one of the reasons why some of us here at WDW who are more advanced, photographically speaking, have some wonderful stationary night shots (arch, firework displays, etc etc etc) but when it comes to dark ride shots its just a tall, tall task. no matter how much you spend on a lense the amount of light captured is under your control... an expensive lense doesnt grab any more light than a cheaper lense.

 

[wdwmagic]

when it comes to shooting a dark ride at disney, it doesnt matter what lense you have because this is a very, very, very difficult task. the key to low light shooting is knowing your manual settings but also knowing how to shoot in the right situations. when it comes to low lighting, if you're looking for crisp shots with vivid colors you can be moving.

this is one of the reasons why some of us here at WDW who are more advanced, photographically speaking, have some wonderful stationary night shots (arch, firework displays, etc etc etc) but when it comes to dark ride shots its just a tall, tall task. no matter how much you spend on a lense the amount of light captured is under your control... an expensive lense doesnt grab any more light than a cheaper lense.

Agreed its a difficult task, but the actual lens that you use does have a massive impact. A F1.4 is going to bring in more light than say an F4.

 

[ddbowdoin]

Agreed its a difficult task, but the actual lens that you use does have a massive impact. A F1.4 is going to bring in more light than say an F4.

yes, you are correct. I meant when comparing lenses within the same category. a 50mm 1.4 versus 1.8 doesnt bring enough difference to justify the 350 price tag versus the 125 for the 1.8. I should have clarified.

 

[lumpydj]

Thanks for the information and advice.

Steve, I only used POTC as an example. I certainly wouldn't buy a lens for shooting in that one particular ride. If that were the case, I think I would need to be locked away for a long time. :zipit: LOL

Anyway, I know I need a faster lens as the fastest I have now is a 3.5. I have not taken this camera to WDW yet (I will in Dec), but have had trouble taking night shots in the past with my old Point and Shoot. I think a faster lens will help with that, in addition to using my manual settings correctly. This is one of the reasons I decided to take a class.

Sounds like I should start with the nifty-fifty (Canon 50mm f/1.8) since it's only $100. Once I decide how far I'll go with this photography thing, I'll know if I want to invest in something more expensive. Unless there's another lens that I don't know about...

 

[ddbowdoin]

Thanks for the information and advice.

Steve, I only used POTC as an example. I certainly wouldn't buy a lens for shooting in that one particular ride. If that were the case, I think I would need to be locked away for a long time. :zipit: LOL

Anyway, I know I need a faster lens as the fastest I have now is a 3.5. I have not taken this camera to WDW yet (I will in Dec), but have had trouble taking night shots in the past with my old Point and Shoot. I think a faster lens will help with that, in addition to using my manual settings correctly. This is one of the reasons I decided to take a class.

Sounds like I should start with the nifty-fifty (Canon 50mm f/1.8) since it's only $100. Once I decide how far I'll go with this photography thing, I'll know if I want to invest in something more expensive. Unless there's another lens that I don't know about...

no way you can even compare the two cameras! even with a lower end lens (regardless of speed) it is 100X better than any point and shoot!

 

[wdwmagic]

yes, you are correct. I meant when comparing lenses within the same category. a 50mm 1.4 versus 1.8 doesnt bring enough difference to justify the 350 price tag versus the 125 for the 1.8. I should have clarified.

Yup know what you mean! :wave:

 

[wdwmagic]

Thanks for the information and advice.

Steve, I only used POTC as an example. I certainly wouldn't buy a lens for shooting in that one particular ride. If that were the case, I think I would need to be locked away for a long time. :zipit: LOL

Anyway, I know I need a faster lens as the fastest I have now is a 3.5. I have not taken this camera to WDW yet (I will in Dec), but have had trouble taking night shots in the past with my old Point and Shoot. I think a faster lens will help with that, in addition to using my manual settings correctly. This is one of the reasons I decided to take a class.

Sounds like I should start with the nifty-fifty (Canon 50mm f/1.8) since it's only $100. Once I decide how far I'll go with this photography thing, I'll know if I want to invest in something more expensive. Unless there's another lens that I don't know about...

Going at F1.8 and ISO 1600 or 3200 is certainly going to give you a chance on something like Pirates and a lot of other dark rides.

 

[lumpydj]

no way you can even compare the two cameras! even with a lower end lens (regardless of speed) it is 100X better than any point and shoot!

I'm glad you said that. Because I've heard before that it doesn't matter what kind of camera you have, you can get great shots by knowing how to use it. I was beginning to think I was just a crappy photographer...although, I really didn't know what I was doing before. I'm starting to get a clue...:wave:

 

[lumpydj]

Going at F1.8 and ISO 1600 or 3200 is certainly going to give you a chance on something like Pirates and a lot of other dark rides.

Glad to hear it. What's your recommendation on shutter speed? I know it will be tough on a ride like Pirates because of the boat moving. Too quick of a shutter speed could be too dark, too slow will be blurry. I'm having a struggle because my left brain is interfering with my right brain... If we could have some kind of formula for this, it would be so much easier for me! :hammer:

 

[RiversideBunny]

Since you don't have a lot of lenses yet, don't overlook the Canon 85mm/1.8.
It's a good overall lens that is useful both in the day time for getting closer and at night for the 1.8 lower light capability.
Get the hood for it also.

Good luck.

 

[ddbowdoin]

Glad to hear it. What's your recommendation on shutter speed? I know it will be tough on a ride like Pirates because of the boat moving. Too quick of a shutter speed could be too dark, too slow will be blurry. I'm having a struggle because my left brain is interfering with my right brain... If we could have some kind of formula for this, it would be so much easier for me! :hammer:

unless you have amazing hand stabilization abilities you have to keep the shutter speed at whatever the standard is (I have NO idea what they call it, I refer to as an instanteanous level). anything longer and it will blur with motion

 

[wdwmagic]

Glad to hear it. What's your recommendation on shutter speed? I know it will be tough on a ride like Pirates because of the boat moving. Too quick of a shutter speed could be too dark, too slow will be blurry. I'm having a struggle because my left brain is interfering with my right brain... If we could have some kind of formula for this, it would be so much easier for me! :hammer:

Its a big trial and error approach on something like POC. You are dead right though in your trade off - motion blur and not enough light.

Depending on the scene, I think you'll be looking at something like ISO 3200, F1.8, 1/200. There are parts of POC that are a lot more workable than others.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[mp2bill]

Glad to hear it. What's your recommendation on shutter speed? I know it will be tough on a ride like Pirates because of the boat moving. Too quick of a shutter speed could be too dark, too slow will be blurry. I'm having a struggle because my left brain is interfering with my right brain... If we could have some kind of formula for this, it would be so much easier for me! :hammer:

unless you have amazing hand stabilization abilities you have to keep the shutter speed at whatever the standard is (I have NO idea what they call it, I refer to as an instanteanous level). anything longer and it will blur with motion

1/125 is the standard. That's the speed at which human eyes can see and process images.

Its a big trial and error approach on something like POC. You are dead right though in your trade off - motion blur and not enough light.

Depending on the scene, I think you'll be looking at something like ISO 3200, F1.8, 1/200. There are parts of POC that are a lot more workable than others.

Let us know how it goes!

One thing to be careful of if you're somebody just reading along...a lot of cameras that are more than a year or two old won't have ISO capabilities higher than 1600, so if you're confused, it may just be that you don't have a camera with a 3200 ISO capability.

Also, isn't 1/200 shutter speed kind of really fast especially for a dark or low-light ride? Depending on the speed of the ride (say, at the end of POTC when Jack Sparrow is sitting in the chair with his booty), you could probably max out at 1/80, but 1/100 would probably be the better setting to reduce/prevent motion blur.

 

[wdwmagic]

1/125 is the standard. That's the speed at which human eyes can see and process images.



One thing to be careful of if you're somebody just reading along...a lot of cameras that are more than a year or two old won't have ISO capabilities higher than 1600, so if you're confused, it may just be that you don't have a camera with a 3200 ISO capability.

Also, isn't 1/200 shutter speed kind of really fast especially for a dark or low-light ride? Depending on the speed of the ride (say, at the end of POTC when Jack Sparrow is sitting in the chair with his booty), you could probably max out at 1/80, but 1/100 would probably be the better setting to reduce/prevent motion blur.

The sideways motion with the object being relatively close made anything less than 1/200 a blurry mess for me. Not saying those settings will be right for everyone, just a stake in the ground as a starting point.

 

[lumpydj]

Its a big trial and error approach on something like POC. You are dead right though in your trade off - motion blur and not enough light.

Depending on the scene, I think you'll be looking at something like ISO 3200, F1.8, 1/200. There are parts of POC that are a lot more workable than others.

Let us know how it goes!

Thanks Steve. If I get any decent shots, I'll post them on one of the POTD threads.

1/125 is the standard. That's the speed at which human eyes can see and process images.

Also, isn't 1/200 shutter speed kind of really fast especially for a dark or low-light ride? Depending on the speed of the ride (say, at the end of POTC when Jack Sparrow is sitting in the chair with his booty), you could probably max out at 1/80, but 1/100 would probably be the better setting to reduce/prevent motion blur.

I'll try different shutter speeds - as Steve said, it'll be a trial and error type of thing. Maybe I can play with the White Balance too. Hopefully I'll remember to shoot in RAW so I can fix as much as I can afterwards. :wave:

 

[mp2bill]

Thanks Steve. If I get any decent shots, I'll post them on one of the POTD threads.



I'll try different shutter speeds - as Steve said, it'll be a trial and error type of thing. Maybe I can play with the White Balance too. Hopefully I'll remember to shoot in RAW so I can fix as much as I can afterwards. :wave:

Great idea! I forgot about that.

 

[ddbowdoin]

I think I may be the only person who doesn't like to shoot raw. My Nikon d80 throws out 5MB files on JPG-Fine and I have no problem working with any of the files on photoshop. Whats the appeal?