Not sure!! Choice of Lens.

I recently got the Nikon D7100. I thought this time I am going to have a good lens with my camera. So I got the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 as an all around Lens. I like taking Photos of Flowers, Landscape, Sunset, and later I want to try Lighting and Night Shots.
As the result is not that good I would like to know; is it the right choice of lens?? If not can you recommend a better choice.
Thanks in advance!!!

The choice of lens would not be the first place I would look. How are you shooting? What mode? RAW or JPEG? What do you think is wrong with what you are shooting?

Stefan H Ulrich said:

I recently got the Nikon D7100. I thought this time I am going to have a good lens with my camera. So I got the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 as an all around Lens. I like taking Photos of Flowers, Landscape, Sunset, and later I want to try Lighting and Night Shots.
As the result is not that good I would like to know; is it the right choice of lens?? If not can you recommend a better choice.
Thanks in advance!!!

Click to expand...

First of all as they say the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So unless you post a few images and tell us what disappointed you it will be difficult to comment on your choice. Here are few facts you should bear in mind

. The DOF is extremely narrow, so if you shoot at F1.4, excepting a small region in focus, rest will be out of focus.
. You have to check if your lens AF is spot on. Many lenses have back or front focus issues, which result in crucial portion OOF. Read up on how to check the AF accuracy and how to rectify it in D7100.
. In some cases, especially close up of flowers or Landscapes, you need to use higher F stops - F8 to F16, so that your image is sharp end to end. Fast lenses are designed for and usually used either for their OOF rendering or for low light situations, rarely for situations where a lot of end to end sharpness is required.
. For razor sharp images at closer distances, good macro lenses are better option. Notable is the Nikon 60mm for accurate reproduction and 200mm for larger working distance.

Thanks for your reply don and aroy. I always use jpeg. Raw is something new to me and I have never tried it yet. I will try to use higher F Stops.
What Macro can you recommend for a nikon d7100?

I would highly recommend that you look at using RAW, rather than Jpeg before spending on lenses... When the camera takes a JPEG shot, it takes the photo in RAW and then converts it to jpeg using a set of assumptions as to what the camera thinks you want - Things like colour temperature etc.

You will get much more from your images by taking them in RAW and using the supplied Nikon software to manipulate them - This will improve your photography for free (Apart from a little time invested in learning).

If you shoot JPG do the following...


See if you like how your shots are looking after making these adjustments.

....

Stefan H Ulrich said:

Thanks for your reply don and aroy. I always use jpeg. Raw is something new to me and I have never tried it yet. I will try to use higher F Stops.
What Macro can you recommend for a nikon d7100?

Click to expand...

Start with RAW today. Download Nikon Capture NX-D and install it. It is free and pretty comprehensive for RAW processing.

Regarding Macro lense. It depends what you want to shoot.
. 60mm if you want to do technical reproduction. The lense is sharp end to end and distortion is easily corrected. It is also a great lense for digitizing older slides and film. The only down side is the short distance from the object to lens front, which may spook the bugs. Best for flowers, coins and relatively static objects.
. 90mm Tamron or 105mm Nikon is best all round macro as the object to lens front is more than 60mm, so you spook the bugs less. These lenses may have a hint of CA, which may show up at the edges at high F stops.
. 200mm Nikon is the ultimate macro as it lets you be far away from the bugs.

All macro lenses can shoot at 1:1, just the front element to object distance varies.

Another accessory that you may want is the Nikon Close up light set R1C1. There are two versions - with and without the wireless commander. If you have body without commander mode - D3xxx or D5xxx, then you need the commander module, else for other bodies get it without commander

R1C1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight System from Nikon

R1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight System from Nikon

Remember that the longer the macro lens, the more difficult artificial lighting becomes.

I'm starting to experience the downside. All the advantages of a 200mm are less interesting the moment you desire flash. The working distance becomes a disadvantage since even a R1C1 lacks the potential to light the sides of your subject. You're too far. Unless you add some construction that makes your cam look like an alien wielding huge antennas.

J-see said:

Remember that the longer the macro lens, the more difficult artificial lighting becomes.

I'm starting to experience the downside. All the advantages of a 200mm are less interesting the moment you desire flash. The working distance becomes a disadvantage since even a R1C1 lacks the potential to light the sides of your subject. You're too far. Unless you add some construction that makes your cam look like an alien wielding huge antennas.

Click to expand...

Actually the R1C1 is ideal flash system. You can mount upto four SB-R200 flash units on the ring and have another four at the sides, or else spread all the eight around. Yes if you are tracking bugs, then you need an extension for the flash units. I think that at GN of 10m at ISO 100, that is sufficient power even at 1m distance.

aroy said:

Actually the R1C1 is ideal flash system. You can mount upto four SB-R200 flash units on the ring and have another four at the sides, or else spread all the eight around. Yes if you are tracking bugs, then you need an extension for the flash units. I think that at GN of 10m at ISO 100, that is sufficient power even at 1m distance.

Click to expand...

For a 200mm the problem is not the power; the problem is a side-effect of the long working distance being that all light of the flash is frontal. It's close to impossible to use side lighting without either constructing something or preparing the scene with separate flashes.

J-see said:

For a 200mm the problem is not the power; the problem is a side-effect of the long working distance being that all light of the flash is frontal. It's close to impossible to use side lighting without either constructing something or preparing the scene with separate flashes.

Click to expand...

Yes I get it. So either you have to make a larger ring to spread the flash base line, or as suggested, have extension arms, say about 30cm wide and 30cm forward on each side. Yes it will look like a bug with long antenna, but will get the job done.

By the way, I was wondering where you need such long working distance?

aroy said:

Yes I get it. So either you have to make a larger ring to spread the flash base line, or as suggested, have extension arms, say about 30cm wide and 30cm forward on each side. Yes it will look like a bug with long antenna, but will get the job done.

By the way, I was wondering where you need such long working distance?

Click to expand...

Working distance is everything in macro when you do bugs. Even at 1:1 I have more than 200mm between the tip of my lens and the subject I'm shooting. That's fantastic. I don't scare critters that much, cast less shadow and can get away with less light than a shorter lens.

The downside is flash. It's something I didn't realize when deciding for a 200mm. I don't regret buying but do pay the price for all advantages. Antennas even when they're 30cm won't do much unless close at 1:1. If they're not stuck in the bushes. The moment I compose more than just the bug in a shot, I'm even too far for that. Not to mention how uncomfortable it would be having something wobble at more than half a meter in front of your cam.

I tried LEDs and that doesn't work. I checked the R1C1 and it loses its purpose at such distance. I bought a SB-700 and that overshoots. Luckily I can use that for more but it still means that at the moment I'm a bit stuck in this problem.

Like I said, distance comes at a price.