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  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Huntington Beach, California
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    3

    Which lens for nightscapes and which for fast color?

    Hi all – this is my first posting. Photog Review suggested saying hello in the “Intro Forum” but I couldn’t find that. Hope this is the right place. I have questions on lenses and on settings for a couple of special activities coming up. I bought a Canon XTi about a month ago and I’ve been a crazed person ever since, reading books and websites and practicing. My last camera was a Nikon 5700 P&S. What a new world this is!! :blush2:

    I will be flying to SF to visit my daughters next week and want to bring the right lenses. I have the Canon 50mm 1.4, Canon 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS, Sigma 10-20mm 4-5.6, and Canon 100mm 2.8 macro. Yes, I went overboard... I’d like to bring 2 of them. Which ones would you use for sunsets and nightscapes? We’re taking a night time Alcatraz tour. The ferry leaves at 4:30 and is about a 15 minute trip. Not sure if the sunset happens while we’re on the boat or after we land. I’ll have a chance to take shots of the nightscape on the boat back and also on land. Is there one lens that will do better than any of the others to capture those far-away fabulous SF lights on water?

    The other major event, on another night, will be the annual Chinatown New Year’s Parade. Up close, colorful and bright. The 50mm is amazing in low light but I can’t be too close. The 10-20 is also great and very versatile. The other two, 28-135 and 100mm, just arrived and I haven’t used them yet. I will have a small tripod (gorillapod) with and can also take a monopod if it would help. I have a small build – 5’1 and use a Kata sling that holds the XTi with any one of those lenses on it, and the gorillapod on the back. That’s about the max weight I can handle comfortably on one side, with a second lens on my belt or in another bag if needed.

    My other question is on settings. I now understand basic photo terminology like fstops and shutter speed and the different effects they can create, but it’s still hit and miss on manually figuring out the ratios or ISO, depth of field, etc. I plan to use one of the auto or partial auto modes on my trip, either Aperture Priority Av or Shutter Priority Tv and let the camera pick the other one (or the night mode). Which settings would you try for the nightscapes? Which for Chinatown? Thank you!

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario,Canda
    Posts
    54

    Re: Which lens for nightscapes and which for fast color?

    hm.. imo, if you want to shot with background bokeh, i think fast lens (big aperture e.g : f/1.4 or f/2.8) will do great.
    if you want to shot sunset, i prefer wide angle to capture all the view. So Simga 10-20 will do.

    fr the event, it depends too, what kind of shot do you want? people (candid), if candid i think go with Canon 100mm f/2.8 if any kind i think 28-135.

    I would prefer not to use auto mode. if for nightshot or night scape, i prefer to use Av mode.
    And for event in Chinatown, it depends too. if you want to shot moving subject set it to Tv about 1/125 or 1/250. but since it will be held @ night it might kinda difficult.

    anyway that's just my opnion for i will do.

  3. #3
    Panarus biarmicus Moderator (Sports) SmartWombat's Avatar
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    Mar 2004
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    UK
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    11,750

    Re: Which lens for nightscapes and which for fast color?

    I would say the 10-22 and 28-135 will cope with almost all the conditions.
    But for night town shots I'd still want to use the 50mm, just because of the wide aperture.
    So I would probably sacrifice the 10-22.

    I know it means pushing up the ISO to use the f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at night, but I think the flexibility of the 28-135 more than makes up for the noise. And noise reduction software is good (though not miraculous!) at post-processing the images when you get home.


    I find with landscapes it's so wide that I have a hard time balancing the foreground and background, ending up with images that need a lot of cropping.
    Something I could do with two 50mm shots and the photostitch panoramic software that comes with the Canon.
    PAul

    Scroll down to the Sports Forum and post your sports pictures !

  4. #4
    Junior Member
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    Feb 2008
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    Huntington Beach, California
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    3

    Re: Which lens for nightscapes and which for fast color?

    if you want to shot sunset, i prefer wide angle to capture all the view. So Simga 10-20 will do. on the nightscapes (long distance) and I guess also the sunset, would it be better to go with a small aperture and long shutter speed? fr the event, it depends too, what kind of shot do you want? people (candid), if candid i think go with Canon 100mm f/2.8 if any kind i think 28-135. A little of everything so definitely the 28-135.. But with the interesting folks in SF, the 100mm would be great fun. Think I'll enlist my daughters to carry something on the special trips out.

    I would prefer not to use auto mode. if for nightshot or night scape, i prefer to use Av mode.
    And for event in Chinatown, it depends too. if you want to shot moving subject set it to Tv about 1/125 or 1/250. but since it will be held @ night it might kinda difficult.

    anyway that's just my opnion for i will do. Thanks drewphotograph. It was great posting my first message AND getting my first response! [/QUOTE]

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Huntington Beach, California
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    3

    Re: Which lens for nightscapes and which for fast color?

    Hi Paul! Thanks for the response. It seems the 10-22 is a little easier overall for me to use, but when I get it right there's nothing as sharp as the 50mm. When I figure out how to post here I'll put up my first test shots at night with the 50mm taken a couple days ago. If I knew it could do as well from far away taking the SF nightscape, for sure I would use that one on the ferry coming back from Alcatraz. I don't know how much difference there is in the 2 lenses for night shots. I guess they would each need to be at different settings? I need another month before my trip. Aaargh.......:cryin:

    Being able to do panoramas would be awesome. I'm still working on making my landscapes EVEN and composed right...I'm suddenly noticing things I never did...like, wow, was I tipsy? or......geez, who left that garbage there, wish I'd noticed it ... stuff like that[/I][/COLOR]
    Something I could do with two 50mm shots and the photostitch panoramic software that comes with the Canon.[/QUOTE]

    Sorry......I'm not posting correctly, this is in response to smartwombat

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