Am i better of with a 35mm f/18 instead of kit lense with nikon d3100?

[ccting]

Originally Posted by bigben6

wow, ccting you are so far off....

fine army a has a gun and army b has knives... but if army A is middle school kids and army b is SOCOM trained operators guess who wins.... THE PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER

If you put michael schumacher in a Mazda Miata and me in a Honda s2000 guess who win... THE PROFESSIONAL FORMULA 1 DRIVER....

If you give me a d800 and 70-200 f/2.8 and a guy from National geographic a D40 and 55-200 non VR guess who take better pics... THE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER


It takes a MASSIVE amount of equipment advantage to overcome skill and knowledge. MASSIVE.... and ANY new photographer needs to out grow their equipment to know what they want... one of my big mistakes was buying a sigma 70-300, its IQ was terrible and i never NEEDED 300mm focus... so i sold it for a loss, same with pushing for a flash, should have waited and done my research...

OP, the kit lens is AMAZING in good light, out doors, really this entire argument is useless until you can tell us WHAT you want to shoot...

Dear Osmosis,
I shoot indoors, 99% of the time... in very low light. Every noob in my country dislikes the lens .. ;D. That's why i call myself noob..

[ccting]

Originally Posted by RLucas

They're both out of focus. Either due to shake, or missed focus. You would do well to practice your handholding technique. Both those lenses are really light and in my opinion, you need to be MORE steady, NOT less, since they are lighter. But that's just me. The more weight I can get on my hands, the steadier I am. I almost always leave my tripod pad on the bottom of my camera to add some weight, no matter what lens I use.

Thanks RLucas, my wife took the shot (1st two baby pics) as she seldom hold the camera..I think I am more or less the same as my hand is shaking too. Hmm.. i believe faster shutter speed can solve the hand shaking problem? I always switch off the VR.

[Madog]

I always switch off the VR

/facepalm
VR is designed for handholding at slower shutter speeds.

[ccting]

VR 2 = 1/500s?
VR 1 = 1/250s?
Are my guess true? Assume my guess are true, so i switch off VR when shutter speed is more than the stated shutter speed for better image quality. Sry, my hands are always shaky.. and I try to hold my hands in multiple way.. However,my wife & I did not hold the camera properly while taking the shots in this forum. That's why i love D3000 that can provide me 1/320s flash sync speed. (i believe i am suffering from essential tremor since i was a child...)

How do i hold my camera for serious shot?
a) I stretch my left hand to my back on right, and then put my camera on my left arm. (sometimes i lean on a post or a wall..
b) I hold the right hand with right hand and push the camera body against my left shoulder...
c) I put the camera on my knee and hold the camera with two hands..
d) I put the camera on the floor with tilted screen..

Q1) I am not sure whether my holding techniques are correct or not..


"IMAGE contrast can effect our color perceptions, especially while observing the planets using larger aperture telescopes. " - Jeff Beish
Q2) That does this statement means?

Q3) For my understanding, larger aperture provides faster shutter speed and it will be more sensitive to lights (the amount of lights of highlighted area hitting the sensor will be significantly increased and noticed while the lights fall on shadow is not significant increased for the eyes??? Ratio is almost useless here but the increase of intensity of highlight by many stops (vs small increase of intensity of shadow even by many stops) makes huge of brightness for eyes. ) That means shorter exposure maintain the shadow and highlights that causes light contrast (that's what i call falloff on face)..

Small aperture:
dark area = 1
highlighted area = 100
difference in brightness = 100-1 = 99

Larger aperture (increase 1 stops for instance)
dark area = 1+1 = 2 (not significant)
highlighted area = 100 +100 = 200 (very significant)
difference = 200-2 = 198 (almost double from 99 - significant increase)

(try to plot the number on x-axis and see the difference..)

I believe the brightness chart will shift to the right, but the portion of right one will shift much more quickly than the left ones. Dark less than Grey less than Highlight. When this happens, the gap in horizontal becomes larger which means larger fall-off..(everything is unproven.. just my thought)

So, when comparing kit lens f/5.6 vs f/1.8 (widest for both lenses) @ 55 / 50mm, how about 3 stops difference ??
Note: Please don't compare with landscape photography as you use longer exposure time..limit to short exposure time.

Greater difference in horizontal gap for peaks= great light contrast (fall off on face).

Sry, I am guessing without making any reference .. and i am poor in math.... ;D


Q4: I don't understand this graph,do you? http://www.vanosta.be/microscopy.htm#koehler

I am not sure whether my guess is true or not.. please correct me. Or it is merely because of the lens quality (according to MTF?)

[Lolkat]

I'm sorry, but I feel the need to chime in... and I know I'm wasting my breath, but I just have to ask- ccting, why would you post photos that your wife took, in hopes of trying to prove that your exceptionally inferior kit lens is a peice of garbage, when you state that she hardly ever holds the camera? (and I'm inferring from that statement that she does not have much experience with photography) It just doesn't work to prove your case. Not only that, you don't use the VR and you didn't even mention what shutter speed you (sorry, your wife) used. I really don't mean to be insulting. I'm just really thinking you might need to step down from giving these long-winded negative posts on equipment that you haven't mastered yet. I have read many of your posts and I think that if you let loose and just had fun with photography, and stopped obsessing over light stands, flashes and shutter sync speeds, battery grips, your supposedly horrible (?!) camera and kit lens, etc that you would learn a lot more and have fun doing it. just go outside, take pictures with natural light and practice.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by ccting

Dear Osmosis,
I shoot indoors, 99% of the time... in very low light. Every noob in my country dislikes the lens .. ;D. That's why i call myself noob..

Uh, that wasn't me. Read again.

I've given up, frankly.

[bigben6]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Uh, that wasn't me. Read again.

I've given up, frankly.

Noticed that too huh?

ccting,

IF your shoot indoors exclusively THEN a fast lens is better.... FOR YOU....


IF the op shoots landscapes THEN the kit lens is a wonderful option and frankly much more flexible and dynamic than any prime.

IF you stop assuming you and your small circle of friends represent 100% of all other DSLR users THEN you will get much more out of photography and this website...

[TheMoons678]

Just buy a bounce flash and possibly a gary fong light sphere for indoors if you dont want to set up studio lighting

[TheMoons678]

can we sponsor ccting's move from nikon to canon gear? How about the 5D mark ii with 5 prime lenses just to sweeten the deal so he doesnt troll the nikon section any more.

[bigben6]

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

can we sponsor ccting's move from nikon to canon gear? How about the 5D mark ii with 5 prime lenses just to sweeten the deal so he doesnt troll the nikon section any more.

"clicks the :like: button repeatedly"