5 Things You Need to Know About SLR Lenses

I recently bought a 50mm 1.8D
A big disappointment since I don’t get a lovely DOF (Bookeh).

When you look at the picture of the boy on the right you can see what I mean. The white spot just next to his face should be much smoother.
Lovely faces but the DOF isn’t perfect.

I wonder why I spend money on my new lens since I get a better DOF with my standard lens. :-(

I agree with you, think twice before you purchase a lens. Or better try to borrow one first and see if you really like the results.

Yuga,

Nice photos. I have a technical/legal question. As you know I’m an American so I take pretty great pains to watch my step and maybe be even a little hyper-cautious about getting on the wrong side of the law here in my “guest” country. I’m explaining this because I don’t want to sound like a dumb legal type … but in the US taking pictures of kids on the street and then posting them on the ‘net would be a recipe for legal disaster, unless you had a legally sound model release signed by the parent or legal guardian. Do you do anything along those lines, or just publish and not worry about it?

RE: the balloon fest, spouse and I (and a whole car load, too) will be there by 0530 Friday, 8 Feb. I have links to the schedule of events, maps of the venue, etc. on my PhilFAQS.com site. Whomever is going, don’t forget the real action is the balloons and they will fly by about 0530 and be completely done with launches before 0700, so it’s a real ‘get up early’ event. Should be well worth the early morning drive, though. Anyone who wants to hook up on Friday email me at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com and we can exchange texting numbers.

First thing you should know about lenses (and cameras, photography gear):

Prepare your bank account/credit card/car/house, for its not -by a loooooooooong shot- a cheap hobby.

Then again, as some local photographers would sometimes point out: its NOT the pana, its the indian! ;)

you know me, im always game. and guess what? I have all these fantastic filters .. :D

The Cannon 400D down to 40K? That’s great to hear! :)

I heard Quiapo is a good place to look for SLR cameras both digital and film.

Any tips in picking one?

I wanna shoot, too! Let’s have a studio day. We’ll need a studio-for-a-day, our flash units, our cameras, and lots of batteries. We can also just keep charging them onsite.

I paid 172 Euro in Belgium for that lens last Christmas.
The 50mm 1.8D is relatively cheap. It is the 50mm 1.4 which is very expensive.
I wanted this lens for shooting very sharp portraits but my DOF is now very harsh (not smooth).
I get better results with my standard lens 18-70mm.
Yes, it is for my Nikon D70.

I would feel a bit unconfortable shooting nude streetchildren ( I would frame them decently) but I think it is the duty of a photo journalist to record what is around him.
I don’t have any second thoughts about taking pictures of children and people in general (and post them on my website).

Sorry, but if you are outside in the streets you are fair game for photographers. You are only protected on private property.

Hey, I made that suggestion to Karla (after Kim of Litratista made that suggestion to me, and also after Markku wrote a blurb on his blog about it [I was aiming for a Tamron 24-70mm sana]), so I’ll defend it :p

The Sigma 17-70mm will be THE kit lens replacement. Faster, with a little more telephoto power, I know Markku will agree that its a very, very good general purpose lens.

As for the 10-22mm Canon EFS lens, I read that one would cost a whopping 35k. The equivalent Sigma (10-20mm) is around 6k cheaper :) Unless you’re a landscape hog, or you always view things cine-wide, the 17mm on the aforementioned Sigma is already quite capable -and reasonably fast- on the wide end :)

markku: She got one of them 50mm’s already :)