Saving money on Lenses

In the days of film, much of the work was done before the image hits the negative. Thus if you wanted a soft focus effect, you can put petrolium jelly on your UV filter or even a humungous lens shade that has a small hole cutout on a semi transparent plastic. This softens the edges and blends the sharper image of the center with a softer whitish or blackish outter edge; we create the vignetting effect (darker, whiter edges) before it hits the film.

Of course one of the main reason we get a SLR was to limit the DOF (depth of field); this is where the main subject remains in focus and the background blends in with a flurry of colors. The faster the lens, usually f1.4 on a 50mm, the more limited the DOF as well as the ability to shoot in a much lower light. The difference can be as much as 1/30th of a second difference which meant you can hand hold the camera without camera shake.

Fast Lens
Fast lens are, of course, very expensive since they are created to let more light in and thus cost more to manufacture. As an example, the Nikon 50mm F1.8 lens is only $150 and the Nikon 50mm F1.4 lens is a whooping $570. Yet both lenses are razor sharp and deliver the same photo except the photographer that buys the F1.4 won't be eating steak for a few months.

In the old days, since we had no other control over the photo other then the three controls we had on the camera, it was important that we had a low light lens.

With todays technology, we pay for the digital camera bodies that can do amazing things; such as the ability to shoot at ISO up to 25,000 iso or Photoshop that can create digital effects that is beyond what we could do with film. With more controls on the camera and more controls over the post production, there is very little reason why anyone should be spending the money on a fast lens!

Thus to shoot faster on a F1.8 lens all you need to do is bump the iso up from 200 ISO to 400 ISO and you get the same low light lens for $400 cheaper.

In the same line of thought, the fast 80-200 F2.8 VR II zoom is a wonderful lens, but this lens is selling at most camera stores for over $2500. Granted you get a very nice fast lens that can shoot at low light and VR (vibration reduction) too, but remember that you can get a lens to be fast, by simply by pushing your ISO by one (i.e. 200 change to 400 ISO).

Is it worth the money? absolutely not! Although it is stated as a professional lens, many of us Professionals will not use it; simply because it expensive, heavy and the professionals that actually do earn their living at photography cannot afford it; a real professional is not defined by the expensive equipment they own.

The best buy for a short range telephoto lens for nikon would be the 70-300 F4.5-5.6 VR zoom for around $500. It is small and compact unlike the 4lbs bulky 80-200 F2.8 lens.

Now granted, there is nothing like the thrill of a natural DOF (blurry background) from a nice portrait lens at a fast aperture of F2.8 at 135mm but this is the only time that you should consider a fast lens.

Sports
Many photographers think that a fast lens would be great for sports! however if you shoot at 200mm F2.8, your focus is only on the nose to the ear of a single player. Great effect, but very little control over what you get during a game.

Two problems exists during a real world sports photography, first is the fast pace action that pushes your auto-focus camera to its limits on focusing especially in low light situations, second is the your shutter speeds which controls whether you can stop-motion capture the action.

Lowering your aperture to F2.8 to gain a faster shutter speed is not the answer as now you have very little DOF. Combined this with a camera that doesn't focus quick enough on the action, all you get are blurry photos. Mind you, the few photos that you do get will be gorgeous.

The better method is to set your lens to an aperture of 4.5 or even F8 to give you a larger DOF and push the ISO as you can possibly comfortably go. It is better to get grainy sports photos, then to get all blurry ones. You are paid to capture the action and the players; not to create special blurry action photos. Thus a cheaper F4.5 zoom lens will do the job versus the expensive F2.8 80-200 zoom lens.

If you really want to save money, get the older nikon 80-200 F4.5-5.6 plastic lens that is selling on craigs list for about $75. This little lens is really small and compact but gives you the 80-200mm range when you need it.

VR Lenses
Now don't spend money on a faster lens but do spend money on VR(vibration reduction). VR has been toted as the ability to shoot at a few more stops lower then what you can normally. Thus most people confuse this ability as equivalent to a faster lens. However you really have to separate this technology from F-stops and shutter speeds as it really doesn't have anything to do with them even though it is toted as such.

VR reduce the amount of shake delivered by the lens to your final image. It is not a total elimination but it reduces the chances of getting a blurry photo from slow shutter speeds. Remember that the longer the lens, the faster the shutter speed must be. Thus VR is needed much more on long lens. VR is rarely needed on 50mm or less unless you shoot at extremely slow shutter speeds which I'll talk about later.

VR is simply another control that we can add to our photography. It increases the chance of a sharp photo by a large percentage. often created through hand shakiness and slow shutter speeds. Thus you can shoot at 1/200th of a second using a 300mm lens with a greater chance that most of your photos will be clear if not razor sharp.

It is a needed feature for all lens no matter what you buy as it allows you to hand hold a camera at sometimes impossible slow shutter speeds. I've shot photos at 1/4 of a second hand held and the photo was clear.

Although VR is not needed as much at 16mm, there are times when you need to shoot at very low shutter speed; it was for this reason that I changed from a non-vr 17-35mm lens to a 16-35mm VR lens.

Low light, small aperture for greater depth of field, low iso and slow shutter speeds are needed for real-estate photography. Most of the photos are done on a tripod to enusre noise free photos, however at the end of the photo session, I usually shoot a series of quick hand held high-iso photos for backup selection. Of course you don't want too high of an ISO value, but just enough to get a shutter speed of 1/15 or 1/30th of a second; just enough for hand-holding and low enough on the ISO to reduce noise. VR is essential to this type of photography.

Fast Portrait Lenses
Now arguementively, as I said above, there is nothing quite as enticing as a lens that can deliver a beautiful portrait photo with a natural blurred background. Very little post production work is needed; what you see and composed on your camera is what you see and get on the end photo; al naturale. This is about the only time that a great fast lens at approximately 85mm or 135mm would be a great investment.

However commercial photography such as fashion, jewelry photoshoots, demands that the product eg. jewelry or clothing be as sharp as possible with only a hint of blurriness that blends in with the photo. The client will be very disappointed if the earings are out of focus, which will happen if you are using an aperture of 2.8; the DOF is very shallow at 135mm.

With commercial photography, it is better to shoot at F8 or smaller just to ensure that the model and her accessories are in focus. Post production work will allow us to blur out the background as well as any other distractions within the photo. Thus again, a cheap 28-80mm F3.3 lens at $80 or the 50mm 1.8 at $150 is adequate for this type of work.

How many lenses do you need?
Just one for each type of photography and sometimes one for almost all types of photography.

With photoshop, as long as you have a clear and sharp image of your subject, we are able to do some amazing post production work. From transporting a subject into the clouds to making a subject thinner, photoshop is the defacto standard of our digital darkroom.

With one lens, 24-120mm, a whole wedding can be shot. This same lens was used for fashion, jewelry photoshoot as well as headshots, modeling and much more. If the photo isn't sharp enough, post production products like Nik can sharpen specific areas of the photos. If the background isn't blurry enough, photoshop can do that in seconds.

There are only two other lenses that may be needed for a working professional photographer and that would be the 16-35mm lens for architecture and real estate photography and the 80-400mm zoom lens for sports.

With just 3 lens, a camera and photoshop, you should be able to operate as a full working professional.

Final words
Photography is very subjective and the most important thing is the happiness of your cliental. It doesn't matter if you use photoshop extensively with all the telltale markings of the glow filter that can be discerned by other photographers, what matters is that the photo is pleasing and that your client is happy with the final result of the photo.

The technical aspect of photography is how you got there and it doesn't matter how (whether you use an expensive lens or cropped and blurred with photoshop); what matters is that single edited photo expresses everything that you had wanted to capture and more; and that someone (hopefully your client) loves what you did.