similar to 35mm 1.8 but with zoom

P

printex

New member
hi there
I shoot green screen at events, and I'm not a photographer, hence the silly question.

I was shooting with my kit lens (18-55mm) and with the low lighting the pictures were not looking to great, so I switched for my 35mm at 1.8 and ISO400 and they looked great, but I'm looking for something similar in image quality, and price if possible, but with a little bit of zoom if possible, in case I need to fit more people in my frame, I can do so without having to move all my gear, which is setup not very "mobile" (laptop hooked up, printer, 2nd display)

Any suggestion would be appreciated :cool:

D5100 shooting tethered to NKRemote software, and printing to a Hiti P720
 
I

Ironwood

Senior Member
A fast zoom is going to cost quite a bit more than your 35 f1.8.

Check out the 17-50 f2.8 zooms from Tamron and Sigma, they will probably be your cheaper option, and people who have them, say they are good performers.

Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM Zoom Lens for Nikon 583306 B&H
​
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di-II LD Aspherical [IF] AF016NII-700 or for a bit more cash there is a model with VR.

​
Or if you want to spend $800, this would be very nice Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Lens for Nikon 210-306 B&H Photo
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Rather than shoot at f/1.8, and deal with the frustration of out of focus shots that you *will* get due to the razor thin depth of field you'll have at those sorts of apertures, I think you might do better to crank up your ISO and deal with the inevitable noise you'll get in post processing.

Blurriness due to a shallow DOF you can't correct for, not even a little. If the shot is blurry, you've blown the shot. Period. Digital noise on the other hand you *can* deal with, and pretty effectively at that given today's software. When faced with choosing between an out of focus shot and a noisy shot, I'll always crank up my ISO before going with a risky aperture/DOF. Aperture I control - ALWAYS - while ISO, really, is the least of my concerns. So long as my exposure is correct I'll let my ISO goes as high as it needs to get the shot.

......
 
P

printex

New member
Hi there

Thanks for all the replies, I'll check into the suggestions and see what I can afford

ABout the ISO you're right, and noise isn't a big deal for me in this case because I'm printing 4x6's on the spot, and there not a lot of room in a 4x6, even for noise :)

I test shot before the event with the 18-55 and to get some "decent" images I was at ISO2000 and that wasn't event an issue, but with the 35mm I was shooting ISO 400 and getting great definition.

Also, I have no time for post-production at all, I'm almost a human-photo booth :p
Here's on taken that day. (see pic atatched)

Just getting started and being outside the States everything costs 4-10x as much, and the fact you have to import stuff is rather inconvenient too.
I only have a 18-55, the 35mm and a Sigma 10-20mm that was intended to take panoramas with, but I moved into other things.

Thanks !

1236286_1413712675519161_81960860_n.jpg
 
Top