Here are my top reasons for a prime lens: (Post buying)
Mine is a AF-S f/1.8G 35mm Nikkor lens
on Nikon D5000
1. Nearly 90% + of my photos are in tubelight and indoors, and my kids. This makes the need to have a fast shutter, good ISO and low aperture opening. This is a slightly wide angled lens capable of f/1.8 and am getting great shots.
2. I have always felt that a background blur enhances a portrait photograph. I think the low f stop provides a great background blur (Something I used to do in photoshop earlier (See earlier post), but is time consuming and does not give the right effect)
3. Very good shots even at 1~1.5 ft away from the subject. Especially useful in taking candid photos of kids
4. Its lighter and kind of looks normal in the hand
Some things to watch out for when using a prime lens:
1. Takes a few seconds to focus compared to smaller aperture lenses. You can get poor snaps if you do not focus properly. Often a good thing to manual focus
2. If there are two subjects in 2 different planes (Example, people one behind the other), because of low depth of field at high apertures, you can get one of them blurred. Watch out.
Mine is a AF-S f/1.8G 35mm Nikkor lens
on Nikon D50001. Nearly 90% + of my photos are in tubelight and indoors, and my kids. This makes the need to have a fast shutter, good ISO and low aperture opening. This is a slightly wide angled lens capable of f/1.8 and am getting great shots.
2. I have always felt that a background blur enhances a portrait photograph. I think the low f stop provides a great background blur (Something I used to do in photoshop earlier (See earlier post), but is time consuming and does not give the right effect)
3. Very good shots even at 1~1.5 ft away from the subject. Especially useful in taking candid photos of kids
4. Its lighter and kind of looks normal in the hand
Some things to watch out for when using a prime lens:
1. Takes a few seconds to focus compared to smaller aperture lenses. You can get poor snaps if you do not focus properly. Often a good thing to manual focus
2. If there are two subjects in 2 different planes (Example, people one behind the other), because of low depth of field at high apertures, you can get one of them blurred. Watch out.
Hi can u tell me is it possibale to take out door photos eg: spider web. scince this lens (35mm) has a low aperture or else do can you sugest good lense with low aperture like 50mm f1.8 lens.
ReplyDeleteI bought the f1.8 35mm because it has Auto focus on a d5000 at reasonable cost.f1.8 50mm is manual as it relies on body mounted motors.
ReplyDeleteNikon recently launched the f1.8 50mm AF-S but is too expensive
There are 2 ways to think about it
1. The 35mm does give beautiful bokeh and good macro-like capabilities to take the spider web etc. (I have taken dew drops on a leaf)
2. I dont frankly use the autofocus when taking portraits with kids - low light causes the AF to take time and my kids are already out of the frame - also, with low depth of field even little movement, they are pushed out of focus. So I had to learn manual focus - in which case buying a f1.8 50mm would have been a better choice (Half the cost and a real NORMAL lens and not slightly wide angle like 35mm I have)