what lenses do you all have

[big si]

hi again folks im in the market for a new lens (im looking at a 50mm f1.8 prime lens for indoor low light) but it got me thinking what lenses does everyone else use and in what light and indoor/outdoor

[BenG]

I have a 18-55mm lens that came with Nikon D50, and a 70-300mm Nikkor

[jimmy]

The 50 1.8 is about the fastest aperture you can buy at a reasonable cost, reach isnt great obviously being only 50mm but it just means you have to move around a bit more.

I should try using my 50 1.8 a bit more as its a nice lens but I usually use a 70-200 f2.8.

[big si]

thanks for that guys

jimmy i have been looking at the 35mm lenses and acording to the nikon manual if i buy a 35mm (standard camera)50mm lens it changes to a 75mm lens on the dslr and for indoor use should be fine. what do you think is it worth the money?

[jimmy]

From memory the focusing isnt that fast on the 50 1.8 but then focusing indoors tends to be a bit slower anyway so you'd be best pre-focusing.

the 50mm on your 1.5crop sensor is indeed 75mm, I found it a bit inflexible for taking everyday shots (you know, snap shot and the like) because of the narrow field of view. but for taking photos of cars it would be alright..

its a funny sort of length as its not wide enough for some stuff and not long enough for others.:p

[big si]

pre focusing is something i started doing (from you recomendation) when i had my fuji and it works very well here is one of my pics from the club the first night i took the new D70 down.


jimmy there are 2 things i realy would like to know

1 what lens and settings do you use indoors in low light (currently i only have my kit 18-70 3.5-4.5 lens (the attached pic was a total lucky shot)

2 you already have a fantastic and very helpfull guide to shooting rc cars outdoors but could you do one for indoors as the dark nights are now upon us and we will all be returning to our indoor clubs with crap poor lighting

[Stu]

Unless you can splash big money you'l not get better pics that with the 50mm 1.8

I suspect Jimmy would break out the big Canon - 70-200 f2.8, it is the daddy (but so is the price tag).

Myself, it would be the 50mm 1.8 (I have to get closer to the action.

As for settings - depends what sort of pic you want to get. Most of the fun is trying different settings and learning what to do to get different styles of shot. The pic you have posted above is, I think, really cool - I like shots like that that give a good inpression of speed.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/northernracer2/telford4wd/22.jpg

[jimmy]

the 1.8 aperture is loads faster than your 3.5-4.5 (4.5 I guess by the time you zoomed in) so youll get a much faster shutter speed.

Stick the camera up to 1600iso also of course. I usually use the big canon lens at f2.8 indoors, but the 50 1.8 will be even faster - just lacking the reach of course.

In reality, at least in my experience with the nikkor 50 1.8 I had, its was a little soft at 1.8 (wide open) and it was noticably sharper stopped down to f2 / f2,8 at least.

[CameraGuy]

I generally rely on the nikon 70-200 VR f2.8 (I think Jimmy's got the same) and a 120-300 f2.8 (loads of reach and very bright, but a trade off in weight), also the Nikon 18-200 VR.
Loads of others (50-500 when I need ultimate reach cos the terrains too dangerous) but those three are the daily bread n butter glass, so to speak.
Mind you, I'm chasing bigger vehicles but I think they'll be ideal fer the little'uns too. :p

[CameraGuy]

pre focusing is something i started doing (from you recomendation) when i had my fuji and it works very well here is one of my pics from the club the first night i took the new D70 down.


jimmy there are 2 things i realy would like to know

1 what lens and settings do you use indoors in low light (currently i only have my kit 18-70 3.5-4.5 lens (the attached pic was a total lucky shot)

2 you already have a fantastic and very helpfull guide to shooting rc cars outdoors but could you do one for indoors as the dark nights are now upon us and we will all be returning to our indoor clubs with crap poor lighting

Does nobody use flash indoors? A good flashgun would give you a full range of options.

[Spencer Mulcahy]

Dont think they would be aloud to as it would blind all the drivers or put them off.

[craigosh]

i was thinking of trying flash, i have a nice set of radio triggers i use with two speedlites for various things.. thought about setting them up by a jump or something at the track and see what i get..

At 1600 indoors you wouldn't need to use that much power, especially wide open, say about 1/128 or 1/64 in manual mode. At those power ratios the flash is so quick and subtle the drivers wouldnt notice it really.

[craigosh]

thanks for that guys

jimmy i have been looking at the 35mm lenses and acording to the nikon manual if i buy a 35mm (standard camera)50mm lens it changes to a 75mm lens on the dslr and for indoor use should be fine. what do you think is it worth the money?

Yeah you'll get the same crop as a 75mm but not the same magnification or effect (background compression, perspective etc.) as a 75mm so you'll still need to be as close as some one using a film cam with the 50mm, to get the object the same size, but your digi will crop more of the scene... If that makes sense :-D

It's something which annoys me about digi, I use a lot of super wides and my 20mm gets croped to like a 35mm, which is annoying. If i want 20mm coverage i have to use a 12mm which then means i have to contend with increased distortion which is usually a bit over the top...!

[big si]

craigosh
i think im following what your saying ;)

as for the flash i currently only have the built in flash (the wife wont let me have the sb 800 just yet) the reason i dont use the flash is exactly as said in a previous post the drivers dont like it hence the reason why im trying to get the pics without the use of it