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28mm wide enough for NYC skyline shot?

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lawdog

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I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month. The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar? And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it :-)

John
--

EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and a very happy trigger finger.
 
Just take a tripod and you can always do a panorama. for this you might not even need to be at the wide end of the lens.
  • DL
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
Click to expand...
 
Use what you have and take multiple shots. Then stitch them together for a lvery large panorama shot.
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
--
EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX
Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and
a very happy trigger finger.
Click to expand...
--
Jim

'cause life is a lesson – you learn it when you’re through' - LB
 
I was wondering if you got the pano of NYC I sent.

JL
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
--
EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX
Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and
a very happy trigger finger.
Click to expand...
--
Jonathan Lefcourt
Some winter pics taken in NY State
http://www.pbase.com/jlefcourt/some_winter_shots&page=all
 
Jonathan,

I got your pano - very cool. I couldn't respond because my remote access to my office email is down, so I'm glad you responded to the thread. In addition to to doing the pano, is 28mm going to be wide enough to do a good single shot?
Jonathan Lefcourt said:
JL
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
--
EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX
Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and
a very happy trigger finger.
Click to expand...
--
Jonathan Lefcourt
Some winter pics taken in NY State
http://www.pbase.com/jlefcourt/some_winter_shots&page=all
Click to expand...
--

EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and a very happy trigger finger.
 
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider?
Click to expand...
lawdog said:
John
Click to expand...
John,

I have not been to the area you'll be shooting from, however, I believe it is closer to Manhattan than the NJ side, which will present a problem in what you're trying to do. I've taken many NYC skyline shots from the Hudson River side with a 28-105 (talk about not getting bashed) on an EOS Elan IIe (film) camera. You can't get the entire length in, but may not want to. IMO, most of the visual interest, at least on the Westside is in the midtown area, Empire State, Chrysler, NY Life Buildings, etc., or downtown, (but less so without the mourned Twin Towers). If you do want to get in the whole panaorama without stitching, try a 20mm prime, which I've also used, but just be careful of your composition.

Also, everything will depend on using a good, steady tripod. It gets pretty windy due to the wind tunnel effects coming in from the ocean through the bay along the river on either side.

Good Luck,

Rich B
 
I think this is somewhat personal preference as well. Personally, for single shot landscapes, I prefer a minimum of 28mm on my film camera. With your focal length multiplier of 1.5x on the D60, your 28mm is comparable to 42mm which in my mind is not ideal for landscapes. Of course that is purely my own personal preference. Anything above 35mm just doesn't have that grand "pull me in" feeling.

I think the other suggestions of creating a panorama stitched together is a great idea and can produce some awe-inspiring images.

David
 
Take a "panorama" but put the camera in the portrait position so you have much more real estate to work with when you stitch the images together. I took a nice panorama of the SantaFe Mtns with the Aspens turning yellow but I didn't think about it at the time.... I ended up with an 11" x 85" panorama. Wish I would have taken it in the portrait position it probably would have been more like 24" x 85"
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
--
EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX
Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and
a very happy trigger finger.
Click to expand...
 
I've taken skyline shots of Manhattan, but actually prefer to take them from the Jersey side of the Hudson. You can catch the PATH train from Midtown right to Hoboken (10 minutes). From the pier park right next to the terminal you can get spectacular midtown and downtown shots with longer focal lengths. You're further away, so you can get by very well with the 28 (44.8 equiv.). In fact, my best panorama was done at 85mm then stitched. Liberty State Park in Jersey City is also very good for downtown if you have a car, as is Weehawken and Edgewater for Midtown. The Brooklyn Promenade is just a bit too tight. Also, since the demise of the Twin Towers, downtown shots just seem a bit sad and wistful, even pathetic.
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
--
EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX
Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and
a very happy trigger finger.
Click to expand...
 
lawdog said:
I'm hoping to get some good night skyline shots in NYC next month.
The widest I can go is 28mm on my 28-135 IS. Can I pull the shot
off (most likely from the Brooklyn Promenade) with my D60 or do I
need to go wider? Please don't suggest the 16-35L because I can't
afford it, but should I pick up a 24mm prime or something similar?
And no fair bashing my 28-135, its a much better lens than some
people give it credit for, especially once you learn how to use it
:-)

John
--
EOS D60, 50mm 1.8, 28-135 IS, 100-400L IS, Bogen monopod, 380EX
Speedlight, an old Pro90 in the trunk of my car (just in case) and
a very happy trigger finger.
Click to expand...
The Sigma 15-30 mm is an excellent lens on a D60. Probably not as good on a 1Ds, but with the 1.6 crop - as good as a prime.

--
Waldemar
D60, lotsa glass
http://www.pbase.com/haak
http://www.photo-haak.com
http://www.images-of-tuscany.com
 
You can do excellent panos with the 28-135. Handheld is not bad, tripod is better, pano head even better. Try it and I bet you get hooked! HOld the camera in portrait orientation. Set the White Balance either on Custom or one of the presets, but not AWB. Use manual exposure and set the exposure for the brightest part of the scene. Use manual focus and f 11, f/16 or even higher to maximize depth of field. Fix the focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene. (An approximation of the hyperfocal distance, which will give you the greatest apparent focus range.)



--
Walter K
 
You were panning left to right! Nice pano btw.
  • DL
WalterK said:
You can do excellent panos with the 28-135. Handheld is not bad,
tripod is better, pano head even better. Try it and I bet you get
hooked! HOld the camera in portrait orientation. Set the White
Balance either on Custom or one of the presets, but not AWB. Use
manual exposure and set the exposure for the brightest part of the
scene. Use manual focus and f 11, f/16 or even higher to maximize
depth of field. Fix the focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene.
(An approximation of the hyperfocal distance, which will give you
the greatest apparent focus range.)

http://www.pbase.com/image/5299604/original.jpg
--
Walter K
Click to expand...
 
are those 3 identical boats the same boat?
WalterK said:
You can do excellent panos with the 28-135. Handheld is not bad,
tripod is better, pano head even better. Try it and I bet you get
hooked! HOld the camera in portrait orientation. Set the White
Balance either on Custom or one of the presets, but not AWB. Use
manual exposure and set the exposure for the brightest part of the
scene. Use manual focus and f 11, f/16 or even higher to maximize
depth of field. Fix the focus about 1/3 of the way into the scene.
(An approximation of the hyperfocal distance, which will give you
the greatest apparent focus range.)



--
Walter K
Click to expand...
 
I don't think 24mm vs 28mm would make a big difference... I've shot from the promenade with my 28-70 and it's fine (but of course, this is all subjective, how wide you like it's up to you).. it was on a 1d with the 1.3 crop though.... at 28 you can definitely get the bridge and enough of the downtown to get the feel of what it looks like.
 
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