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To buy new lens or not?

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kristina604

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Hello everyone I played with my d90 2 nights ago and have purchased it a week ago with 18-105 lens the camera is very hard to use but I'm learning day by day. I wana do some portrait pictures wondering if my 18-105 is good enough or do I need 50mm f1.8g lens that everyone is saying its a must have lens. Im trying to learn about lenses and iso amd shutter speed but already studied aperature. So what you guys think do I need a new lens 50mm f1.8g or try to learn the camera with 18-105 outdoor cause I havnt took the camera out of the house yet.
 
A portrait is simply a photo of a person. That's all. So you can do that with any lens.

I'd suggest you experiment with your 18-105 to see what you can do - it's a very versatile lens. Don;t buy anything else until you've done a lot more experimentation.

Note that as you have a D90 ( with a motor in the body ) you can get the older ( but still very good ) 50mm f1.8 D model. You can get them used pretty cheaply.

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StephenG
 
The real questions is, good enough for what?

Good enough for learning? Definitely!

Good enough for a national campaign and billboards? Probably not.
 
If you don't know why you need it, then you don't. Shooting with a large aperture prime can give you a nice, out of focus background but it also demands much better technique to keep the appropriate parts of the subject in focus.

The 18-105mm lens will take nice portraits, you just won't have the shallow depth of field you would with the 50mm f1.8 and you'll be a bit more limited in low light situations.

I suggest you spend time getting to know your camera and the lens you have. If you find it too limiting for what you're trying to accomplish, then you can consider another lens.
 
.. to know how to spell it?

You don't need new kit Kristina. Learn how to use what you have already - surely there is enough to have to know? Then in 18 months or so after lots of practice explore the possibility of other lenses etc.

David
kristina604 said:
... already studied aperature.
Click to expand...
 
As a beginner I will agree with all of the advice given here, practice with what you have so you can identify a need you need for new equipment. Just going on "everyone says is must have" will most likely leave you disappointed as you actually don't know what need you really tried to satisfy with the purchase in the first place.

I will not go as far as calling it "must have", but that is at least for me. I will even go out on a limb and say that the idea of recommending the 35mm and 50mm primes stems from an old school SLR mentality when the 50mm focal length was "normal" and the cheapest to make. It was the lens length everyone started with, and most got to learn how to take photos with that fixed normal focal length before moving other areas of photography, this is now extend to 35mm which is approximately the normal for the smaller APS-C sensors on DX camera.

There is nothing wrong with wanting the 50mm 1.8 as long as you have your reasons, for portraits someone else may prefer the 35mm and another may want an 85mm or 105mm focal length. A 1.8 aperture has advantages, but that does not automatically equal a "better" lens. The 50mm 1.8 lenses aren't going anywhere anytime soon, in a few months or a year if you still want it, then get it.
 
Kristina,

There really is no wrong or right answer here. Many have said that you should wait before expanding your kit. There probably is a great deal of truth in that advice. But, there is nothing wrong with looking at the other side. The great benefit of getting the 50 is that it would automatically give you a different perspective and experience with your camera. Prime vs. zoom is one of the basic discussion points here. For all we know, you might enjoy having a prime point of view and, after a day or so, might never pick up a zoom again. There is also something to be said for learning photography with a prime. That is how I started. I shot film with the 50 for decades before getting my first zoom. Now, I use zooms most of the time. My 50 1.8 goes unused. Good luck with your decision. The great thing is the cost of these primes is so low.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/brev00
 
The 18-105 kit lens you already have is a good all-around lens, and covers a wide range of focal lengths that are useful for portrait photography. Instead of taking someone else's word for what is right for you, use the lens you have and let that guide you on what lens you need to buy, if you even need one at all. Use it for a couple weeks or so (at least). Find some friends or family members willing to do some informal sessions. Try different focal lengths. Look at those pictures and see which ones you like the best. Then check the EXIF data for those pics and see what focal lengths you used. You may like the ones taken at around 50mm, but you might prefer the ones where you used the 85-105 range.

Truth of the matter is, no one on an internet forum can tell you what lens will be best for your style of photography. They can only tell you what works for them. Personally, I find 50mm a rather awkward focal length for cropped sensor DSLR's, but it might be great for you.
 
Also the fact that the 50mm 1.8 is quite soft from wide open to at least f4 and suffers from fairly bad CA in bright light leads to a lot of disappointment from new DSLR users.

I'm looking forward to a 85mm f1.8G.
 
the reason I want the 50mm f1.8 cause I like photos with blurry background idk what is it called but in my sony point and shoot its called background defocus. I tried the lens at store 50mm f1.8 I like it but I don't know how to take background defocus pictures.
 
The amount of background blur is affected by four things. I am talking practical terms - so if some legal eagle wants to get all technical on me just keep in mind that its OP is a newbie and I am trying to help by giving practical information and not a dissertation on physics.

The first is aperture. f/1.8 gives much more background blur than f/5.6. Aperture is what nearly everyone keys in on because it is relatively easy to just spend money to get a larger aperture lens.

The second most important is focal length. You get more background blur from an 85 f/1.8 than a 35 f/1.8. This is one of the reasons that portraits are usually better with longer focal lengths. The Nikon 200 f/2 gives absolutely huge amounts of background blur when shot at f/2.

The third is subject to background distance. The farther your background is from your subject, the blurrier it looks. Try it with your existing lens to see.

The fourth is the subject to camera distance. The shorter the distance the narrower the DOF, and the more blurry the background. This is how macro lenses can get blurry backgrounds at f/8 - bacause the subject is very, very close.

Now you can get some pretty blurry backgrounds if you use the last three out of four. I use my 55-200 VR for portaits sometimes with good results (not fantastic - just good) buy using the minimal aperture (f/5.6), the longest focal length (200mm), and having the background be at least 3x farther away from me as my subject. It also helps if the background is not "busy".

If you really want a whole lot of background blur, you need to either buy a lens with more focal length than the 50, or a larger aperture, or both. The 85 1.8 AF-D comes to mind as a good inexpensive choice. Longer or larger aperture would be even better, but would cost more than your existing kit, unless you wanted to go for a MF only lens.

If you want to try MF, the Nikon 105 f/2.5 AI is a fantastic portrait lens and gives more background blur (and smoother) than the 50 f/1.8 G. However it is more expensive and MF only. Just keep in mind that this lens needs a lot more room to operate than the 50 or 85 and is often quite restricting indoors with a crop body such as the D90.
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Catallaxy
 
Since you're a complete beginer (no offense, we all were at one point) and the D90 is sort of overwhelming at this point, just look in the mirror and repeat as necessary: "The 18-105 VR is a great lens, the 18-105 VR is a great lens" because it is and it will not hold you back from slowly learning how to use your camera.
 
kristina604 said:
the reason I want the 50mm f1.8 cause I like photos with blurry background idk what is it called but in my sony point and shoot its called background defocus. I tried the lens at store 50mm f1.8 I like it but I don't know how to take background defocus pictures.
Click to expand...
This is why you need to use what you have before getting something else. What you have is perfectly capable of the "blurry" background images. Easily done if that's what you like.
 
but how do I take picture with my 18-105 lens wherr the background would be blurry?
waiman said:
kristina604 said:
the reason I want the 50mm f1.8 cause I like photos with blurry background idk what is it called but in my sony point and shoot its called background defocus. I tried the lens at store 50mm f1.8 I like it but I don't know how to take background defocus pictures.
Click to expand...
This is why you need to use what you have before getting something else. What you have is perfectly capable of the "blurry" background images. Easily done if that's what you like.
Click to expand...
 
waiman said:
The real questions is, good enough for what?

Good enough for learning? Definitely!

Good enough for a national campaign and billboards? Probably not.
Click to expand...
In the right hands I'd guess good enough for just about anything. We won't ever find out because like most professions, the "right hands" usually have purchased the "best tools". But I'd wager that a Joe McNally could get a national campaign published with the 18-105. ;-)

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eddyshoots
 
Considering most of the work he does with studio strobes isn't at large apertures, i'm sure he could achieve excellent results with the 18-105mm kit lens.

It doesn't work quite so well on his D3 though :-)
 
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