lenses what is best

[opakitas]

I tried taking a photo of my sisters family (4) I used my zoom 70-300 mm zoom autofucus 1:4-5.6 tele-macro should I have not shot with that lens as the faces were still not crystal clear. It was taken outside clear day at about 6 pm sun was starting to set over the trees. Background was a lake. Not sure if that helps. Would I have gotten clearer faces if I had used my 50mm f/1.8D or the lens that came with my camera can't remember what it is without looking at it.

thanks
Tammy

[wulf]

It depends on why the results weren't as sharp as you wanted. Many 70-300m lenses tend to be "soft" especially compared to a 50mm prime. However, even with one lens, you will find that some choices are sharper than others. For example, most prime lenses are a touch soft wide open but start to come into their own when stopped down a little from their maximum aperture (eg. f/4 or so instead of being left at f/1.8).

Another factor is camera shake. If you were part way through the zoom range (say 200mm) and shooting at a low shutter speed (say 1/50s) because of the light beginning to fade, you may well have found that blur was introduced by small movements of the camera being magnified enough to become noticeable (as well as moment from your subjects).

Wulf