For the newbies, buy the lens YOU need

This might help someone else, because I was confused. I was just about to purchase an 85mm T1.5 lens for $272. Well, I canceled that order, after discovering I don't really need an 85mm lens for the work I'm doing. Instead I bought a 50mm lens f1.1 for around $179 off Amazon.

And I am THRILLED about it!

I was so confused until I did more research.

So here's my advice. STOP, I repeat, STOP listening to reviews of lenses (or anything really). PAUSE and ask yourself:

1. What the heck am I shooting? Am I shooting super close up detail shots? Am I shooting long distance shots? Am I shooting wide angle shots? Am I shooting primarily outdoors? Indoors? Do I want distortion in my shots? Do I want the shots to look closer to what our eyes see? Am I shooting photos? Video? Both? What am I shooting and why.

2. If you are listening to a review about a lens, LISTEN to what the person USED the lens FOR. They might be shooting weddings or music videos. Are you? They might be shooting nature or landscapes. Are you? They might be shooting architecture or interiors in homes. Are you? For me, the answer was NO on all of these. I am shooting STILL LIFE photography.

3. Since I am shooting still life photography, I don't NEED a 135mm lens. It doesn't matter that it's f1.4, or the bokeh is amazing, or it's super sharp, a great bargain, or it's perfect for portraits. How the heck does a 135mm lens help me do still life indoors?

4. Look for picture comparisons of the lens shots side by side, and notice the DISTANCE the photographer has to stand from their subject in order to take those shots. For a 50mm lens, I can be close to the subjects. To get the same shot with an 85mm lens, I have to back up from the subjects. You need to see photos of this and what these lens are actually doing.

5. Ask why. I was reading an article where the author wrote that for still life photography you usually use a 50mm lens or an 85mm lens. So I figured (erroneously) I was getting a deal with the 85mm. But why is he using an 85mm? Is he getting super close ups? Do I want that? Does he have distortion? Do I want that? I want something closer to what our eyes actually see (with great bokeh), and that would be a 50mm lens with wide aperture.

6. Some photographers diversify to meet their clients needs. Yeah yeah yeah, but is that you? Do YOU NEED a collection of lenses for clients needs? In my case, NO. I'm not shooting for clients, I am shooting as an artist. Still life is (what I hope to be) my art.

I'm telling you this because without me actually seeing images of what a 12mm lens produces vs a 35mm lens vs a 50mm lens vs an 85mm lens vs a 135mm lens, also where you have to stand to get certain shots etc., I would be lost. I was just about to spend $272 on the wrong lens, figuring "well...it is a great lens, I could make it work. I mean, they did say it works for still life." Yeah but that's not the results I am looking for, so it doesn't work for me.

Same with a 135mm lens. I considered shelling out $479 for that lens just because I heard phenomenal reviews on it and saw some sample shots. The guy was shooting outdoor nature shots. But I'm not. Then he was shooting street photography. But I'm not. And he showed some outdoor portraits. You get my point.

I hope this helps and doesn't make me look too dumb. As a beginner, it was EASY for me to get sucked into reviews, comments, and sample images and think I knew what I wanted. I didn't. But now I do.

Plush Photo

It's always best to start with knowing what kind of photographs you want to take-- and then be prepared to discover new interests.

Glad you're happy with your purchase. I ran across an article on still life photography you might be interested in, if you haven't seen it already. The author also uses an m43 format camera, and the lenses he mentions are a 50mm f/1.4, 30mm f/2.8, and 60mm f/2.8.

For product photography, sharpness and distortion are key; 50mm is usually among the sharpest lenses in an ecosystem but almost always with no distortion, which means straight lines remain straight and your product photo looks like the actual product.

Low/fast aperture doesn't really matter in this application because only the most expensive Zeiss-class lenses will remain sharp at low apertures, and you will most likely want your entire product in focus anyway.

Now combine your new lens with post-processing for advertising color and brightness pop:







--
Digital Camera and Adobe Photoshop user since 1999.
Adobe Lightroom is my adult coloring book.

jrtrent said:

Glad you're happy with your purchase. I ran across an article on still life photography you might be interested in, if you haven't seen it already. The author also uses an m43 format camera, and the lenses he mentions are a 50mm f/1.4, 30mm f/2.8, and 60mm f/2.8.

https://expertphotography.com/complete-guide-still-life-table-top-photography/

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Great article! Thanks for posting

You need to account for your sensor’s size before you can consider which focal length to use. A 50mm lens on an APS-C camera is like an 85mm on a full frame camera.

I wouldn’t buy a manual focus lens these days, unless it were a tilt/shift.

I agree that it's easy for a beginner to buy the wrong lens for their camera.........been there, done that. I would suggest that a beginner wanting to get into ILC's buy the starter lens that comes with most of the major brands. With Canon, that would be the 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens. They are both cheap, but produce nice images for the price. Then figure out what focal length you use/like the most and purchase a better quality lens for that specific focal length (or better zoom if that's what you like). Now you've made an educated/experienced decision and you can later sell your "starter lenses" to another beginner, for little loss in price.

Thanks for the advice. It is very helpfull!

geek1988 said:

Thanks for the advice. It is very helpfull!

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You're welcome, glad it helped

Plush Photo