Whiteguy492
Senior Member
Not to intrude on the topic, but can I ask a quick question? What do you mean by a "fast" lens?
Advice needed
- Thread starter Welshy74
- Start date
Larger maximum aperture. (Smaller f/stop number) lets in more light, so you can shoot with a faster shutter speed.
Good for low light situations
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I feel like I'm standing on the distant end of a tree branch while cutting it off in that I will attempt to answer this question.
Between the two, and to blindly answer, the 35mm would be my blind answer. Reason is that with the 50mm you will need room to get far enough back depending on the kind of shooting you're doing. The 35mm will work in a smaller area and you can always move closer if you need to tighten the shot, but in a tight area you may not be able to back up with a 50mm.
Half way through the tree branch I'm standing on, but hey... why hold back now.
I would probably do a 35mm so that you can shoot at a wide open aperture for more light, add an external flash** unit, and then a softbox on the flash to not create hot spots if you need to aim the flash at them if the ceiling (if as expected) is too high to bounce light off of.
If a lens purchase, borrow, or rental is out of the question then I would use the 40mm if room allows because of the larger aperture. Then it just leaves you with getting a hold of a flash unit and softbox.
This is what I use. However, I am not endorsing any sellers listed below. Just links for examples.
Softbox Amazon.com: Lumiquest LQ-109 Softbox II for Lumedyne, Quantum & Sunpak 120J: Camera & Photo $42
Flash Nissin Digital Flash: Di622 INTRODUCTION $200
35mm Prime Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Nikkor Lens 2183 B&H Photo $200
Anyway, the branch I am standing on is about to break and fall. My parting words, you can always rent from borrowlenses.com if any of this mentioned is simply not in the budget. And of course, you can always just make do with what you have assuming you're not being paid for this.
**Nikon branded flashes are very expensive and there are quite a number of third party flashes of equivalent power at 1/4 - 1/3 the price. Example: Nissin, Metz, Yogano (killed that last name.)
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Bingo!!..Simple yet elegant.
For crying out loud, the OP is shooting a youth soccer award ceremony, not the Tonies or the Oscars.
If the OP was to use the 18-55 which he already owns and would be quite capable for the task, then he could buy a flash with the money he saves on not having to buy a lens.
Hence the elegance of it.
The OP stated earlier in the thread that they didn't want to purchase anything just for this because it wasn't going to happen often which is why I suggested that it would be best to just take both and get some test shots to account for lighting.
Even if the op did choose to buy a 35mm prime, no money would be saved by purchasing a flash instead unless you found a really really cheap sb700 used and even then I just picked up a used 35mm for $95 and I'm pretty sure I won't find a flash for less.
I'm sorry!
haha I swear everything sounds a lot more serious through text than it really is. I swear I'm not a jerk! I had no idea how to quote both people so it looked like I singed you out. I should be sorry...
I think this is a good example of how there is more than one way to skin a cat - There are many lenses and options available to achieve a good result... My advice would be to go with what you have and you are most familiar with, as you know what results you can get and what you want to achieve.
I have a D3300 with the 18-55 kit lense and an older 50mmF1.8AF and recently bought the 35mmF1.8DX. The D3200 has similar specifications, except for a faster processor and better ISO. I have experimented with all these lenses both indoor and out door with and without the built in flash. I also have SB800 which I tried for some time. Here is my take
1. The 18-55 kit lense is extremely versatile. You can take the picture of a single person at the long end, and a group at the wide end, without bothering too much about changing your location. In a club house that would be an advantage.
2. Normally the persons whose photo is taken prefer to have a sharp image. That would normally rule out larger apertures, F6 to F8 will be more like it. In such a situation a faster lense looses much of its advantage. The kit lense has VR, an advantage for a new comer to DSLR world.
3. The on board flash has a guide number of 39 feet at ISO 100. Which means it will be 78 feet at ISO 400. At F6 that gives a range of at least 13 feet at full power and much more as a fill flash. That should be sufficient distance to take all types of shots.
4. External flash are pretty heavy. In fact my SB800 is much heavier than the D3300. So unless you have practice with the flash mounted on the hot shoe, your hands will get tired soon. In my opinion the external flash is best left out in this situation.
What you can do is
. Check out the club house and find a suitable location for you to be in.
. Take both your lenses and take a few trial shots. With the 18-55 take them at least at 18mm, 24mm, 40mm and 55mm. Then compare the quality at 40mm with your 40mm. Use your on board flash to gauge the flash coverage.
On the D-day, go with fully charged battery and a freshly formatted card. Be sure to check the camera by taking a few shots.
1. The 18-55 kit lense is extremely versatile. You can take the picture of a single person at the long end, and a group at the wide end, without bothering too much about changing your location. In a club house that would be an advantage.
2. Normally the persons whose photo is taken prefer to have a sharp image. That would normally rule out larger apertures, F6 to F8 will be more like it. In such a situation a faster lense looses much of its advantage. The kit lense has VR, an advantage for a new comer to DSLR world.
3. The on board flash has a guide number of 39 feet at ISO 100. Which means it will be 78 feet at ISO 400. At F6 that gives a range of at least 13 feet at full power and much more as a fill flash. That should be sufficient distance to take all types of shots.
4. External flash are pretty heavy. In fact my SB800 is much heavier than the D3300. So unless you have practice with the flash mounted on the hot shoe, your hands will get tired soon. In my opinion the external flash is best left out in this situation.
What you can do is
. Check out the club house and find a suitable location for you to be in.
. Take both your lenses and take a few trial shots. With the 18-55 take them at least at 18mm, 24mm, 40mm and 55mm. Then compare the quality at 40mm with your 40mm. Use your on board flash to gauge the flash coverage.
On the D-day, go with fully charged battery and a freshly formatted card. Be sure to check the camera by taking a few shots.
kevy73
Senior Member
My 2 cents worth.
If you are doing something like this for the first time, use whatever gear you are most comfortable using.
Someone has asked you to do this based on what they have seen of your work. Don't overthink it. Go out and do what you do, as you would usually do it.
If you are doing something like this for the first time, use whatever gear you are most comfortable using.
Someone has asked you to do this based on what they have seen of your work. Don't overthink it. Go out and do what you do, as you would usually do it.