amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

eyesoftheworld · 11-04-2009, 09:53 AM

Jason is going to buy me a lens for christmas. We have a Nikon D 80. We had the lens that it came with and I broke it

My aunt gave us a lens for free, its a AF NIKKOR 28-80mm. I really don't know what kinda lens to tell him I want. This is what I want it for though, I take pictures of the baby, of us. I also am going to start taking maternity portraits and hopefully someday when I grow up

I want to be a doula and take labor, delivery, newborn pictures. But that is a dream of mine and someday down the road.

I want one of those lens that makes 'everybody pretty' ya no what I mean. and I would like to be able to zoom in. The lens I have now doesn't let me zoom in very well.

A pro photographer we know recommended

Quote:

The best lens for you now would be a fixed focal length lens like a 35mm or 50mm

this means no zoom but the image quality and low light capability would be great.

It will also be a great lens that will last for years.

2183 Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Wide Angle Auto Focus Nikkor Lens - U.S.A. Warranty

or

2137 Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Standard Auto Focus Nikkor Lens - with 5 Year U.S.A. Warranty

I'm not saying that buying them at adorama is a good idea, they just had good pages with prices.

These lenses are called standard lenses and will give you a view that matches roughly what the human eye sees.

I don't know where you are located, but it is a good idea to go into a local camera store and see if they have any used lenses.

What do you all use?? What would you suggest??

eyesoftheworld · 11-04-2009, 09:54 AM

Oh and jason doesn't want to spend more than 500$ so that limits our options. I'm wondering if we should just get the old lens fixed, it will cost 200$ to fix.

tracey · 11-04-2009, 10:01 AM

i love my 50. honestly? skip the idea about zooming. unless you spend $$$ you will lose quality with a telefoto lens over a fixed focal point lens. either the 50 or 35 would be great but i think the 50 is more versatile.

great for low lighting and thus EXCELLENT for birth photos in dim lighting

(says the doula who takes labor and delivery photos all the time...the d80 would be good at higher ISOs, not great but good. d300 is fab at higher ISOs...higher ISO allows you to shoot lower light w/o flash but you get some grain, which is nice for those sort of shots anyways.)

eyesoftheworld · 11-04-2009, 10:19 AM

Ok cool, thanks Tracey. So the 50mm that I have linked up there is only like 125$? Is that still a good lens.. I'm new to all this. So please bare with me. I love taking pictures, love it. But I don't know all the fine details.

tracey · 11-04-2009, 10:25 AM

yes, the 50mm 1.8 nikkor is a great lens. only marginally better is the 50mm 1.4 nikkor, but it's a couple hundred dollars more...not worth the extra $ for the marginal increase in speed (lower aperture...1.4 vs 1.8 is not that great a difference.)

if it makes any difference, i use the 50 1.8 98% of the time. almost 100% of the pix i share here and on my site are from that lens on my d300.

tracey · 11-04-2009, 10:26 AM

you'll have to physically move forwards and backwards (your body) to "zoom" in or out, but you get the hang of it quickly.

tikva18 · 11-04-2009, 10:34 AM

So, is a fixed lens better than a lens that has a zoom capacity? thanks for answering another beginner question.

tracey · 11-04-2009, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tikva18

So, is a fixed lens better than a lens that has a zoom capacity? thanks for answering another beginner question.

not necessarily. but she indicated a budget of under $500. there are EXCELLENT quality portrait lenses which are telefoto. (zoom is actually for looong distance, we're discussing telefoto at this focal length range...think football stadium for zoom.) the thing is that those EXCELLENT telefoto portrait lenses (with great low-light capability, meaning a low aperture range, making them a fast lens) are really really really expensive. well over $500.

$500 is low-end for lens pricing...moderate low end.

for what she described as her need, i'd go for a single focal point lens of decent quality.

the 50 1.8 fits that description perfectly.

eyesoftheworld · 11-04-2009, 10:49 AM

awesome! thanks tracey!! that's what I'm going to go with!

3boysnagrl · 11-04-2009, 01:25 PM

I was also going to suggest a 50mm and low# ap. I am absolutely in LOVE with my 50mm. Mine is a 2.8 macro... and it lets in so much light. I love the pictures I can get with it. It's much easier for me to get sparkly eyes than with my kit lens. Although, I do like my kit lens for other things.

Canon_Girl · 11-13-2009, 05:28 AM

Actually telephoto is long, wide-angle is short, normal is normal (i.e. 50mm on a full-frame sensor) and zoom means it has multiple focal lengths. Prime or fixed focal length means it only does one (i.e. "zoom with your feet" LOL).

Primes are generally considered to always be sharper but a $$$$ zoom can be sharper than a cheap prime. But a zoom under $500 isn't going to have a fixed aperture (which is a pain...something like f/3.5 at the wide end and f/5.6 at the telephoto end) and the sharpness and quality are going to be less.

I just bought a $400 Canon zoom...28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. It is great and sharp when it's "on" which generally is with studio light. It misses focus much more often than my cheap primes or pricey zooms (which I sold to be frugal) and is "off" 90% of the time in natural light. I've had Canon zooms in the $700+ category and they were just as sharp as my $400 primes but then there are $1500+ primes which should then beat the zooms in sharpness.

The only cheap zoom I would recommend would be if you were using it say as a "walk around" lens at places like the zoo. But for serious portraits, a prime will be great.

I love my 50mm lens but sometimes it's too long on a cropped sensor (your D80 also has a cropped sensor). 30mm is more versatile indoors or at close range imho but longer lenses make people look better. 85mm to 135mm is considered portrait focal length and a 50mm lens on a cropped sensor camera is around 85mm (multiply any focal length by about 1.5 when you have a cropped sensor).

juliebelle · 11-13-2009, 09:05 AM

you'll love the 50 lindsey