What lens to buy

Hey everyone
i could use some advice please. I am an absolute beginner, have had my d3100 for 3 weeks now. I am coming along slowly reading a lot I suppose. I would like to get a new lens my wish would be a sigma 15 mm fish eye (but that kinda jumps my budget) the creativeness of the lense is what appeals to me. So what to do with my money(200) that's the limit for now. I have found a lensbaby very interesting with the possibility of later buying a fisheye optic and by doing that I'd have a normal lensbaby composer and a fisheye optic two creativ lenses. Or would the money be better spent in buying a nikkor 50mm 1.8g? That being a good all rounder... I know it's all a matter of taste but maybe someone out there has any infos which might help sway my decision

Lmp said:

Hey everyone
i could use some advice please. I am an absolute beginner, have had my d3100 for 3 weeks now. I am coming along slowly reading a lot I suppose. I would like to get a new lens my wish would be a sigma 15 mm fish eye (but that kinda jumps my budget) the creativeness of the lense is what appeals to me. So what to do with my money(200) that's the limit for now. I have found a lensbaby very interesting with the possibility of later buying a fisheye optic and by doing that I'd have a normal lensbaby composer and a fisheye optic two creativ lenses. Or would the money be better spent in buying a nikkor 50mm 1.8g? That being a good all rounder... I know it's all a matter of taste but maybe someone out there has any infos which might help sway my decision

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I am assuming that you are using the 18-55 kit lens? and you have only had your camera for 3 weeks??

You are absolutely correct on the matter of taste but it goes further, what do you prefer to shoot and what tools best suit that goal. My suggestion, (and you are probably not going to like it) is spend more time with your kits lens shooting. See what you shoot and what focal length you end up using the most and that will tell you a lot about what direction you should head.

I had the kits lens and the 55-200 zoom... I was shooting wildlife... I needed more reach, so I went with a 300.

I was shooting some portraits and my Industrial stuff.. I needed a faster lens in the 50mm range so I added the 50mm F/1.8 G

I am basically saying that you should play and work with the stuff you have for a while till YOU determine what you are primarily shooting and what tools (lens) will enhance that. Save your money (& add to it) so when you decide what lens type/focal length you need, you will be better prepared to buy it.

Best I can offer now... I am sure others will be along soon with more ideas..

Pat in NH

A lens Baby is quite a manual and funky item, that can create special effects, usually a more advance photo item, but why not have fun, it is for one that is fairly patient.

The 18-55, 55-200, and the 50 are your basic kit and should meet 95% of any needs you may encounter. A "fisheye" is fluff.

laughs, maybe not fluff, but 3 weeks is just beginning your journey, master your camera, focus on composition, and don't expect master pieces, photography is a long term project with many many failures along the way.

Thanks for all the speedy responses, will definitely give me a lot to think about.@ Rocky at the moment I haven't really found a specific direction a bit of everything at the moment what ever interests me , landscapes,product , town or city haven't turned out that good yet. Have planned a. Short London holiday end of this month to try out some street and city shots (let's see what happens there) thanks again everyone

Here's my thoughts - I've several friends who bought a nice fish-eye lens and in every case those lenses sit in their closets gathering dust. They were all taken out 3 or 4 times when they were first bought and almost never again. The problem is that fish-eye is neat and gives a cool effect but very limited in scope. As a result you can always find fish-eye lenses on Craigslist. Moreover, you can easily convert any normal photo, or better yet a panorama, into a "fish-eye" image using Photoshop and not spend a cent on additional lenses.

Here are just a few tutorials on converting normal photos into fish-eye photos. It think it works best when you shoot a panorama and then convert.

Give Your Digital Photo a Fish-Eye Effect - For Dummies

http://www.marcofolio.net/photoshop/create_a_fish_eye_lens_effect_in_photoshop.html

Lomography: Create Fisheye Lomo style photos in Photoshop

How to Create a fisheye effect in Adobe Photoshop CS5 « Photoshop


So that said, I would say buying a fast 50mm lens is by far a better idea since you'll get much more mileage out of it than you will a fish-eye.

I prefer a wideangle over the fisheye, so,, I love my 15mm 3.5 rectlinear wideangle. It does not collect dust.