17
votes
Accepted
What are the practical advantages of fast lenses when shooting landscapes?
When used at the same aperture and focal length, a faster lens will have less vignetting than a slower lens.
For example if you choose to shoot at 35mm f/4.0, then a 24-70mm f/4.0 lens will have the ...
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13
votes
What are the practical advantages of fast lenses when shooting landscapes?
A faster lens (= low F-stop) allows easier manual focus and better auto-focus, given the camera has AF sensors which can exploit faster lenses. For landscape however, there is usually enough time that ...
- 1,316
9
votes
What are the practical advantages of fast lenses when shooting landscapes?
Consider low light conditions. If you can use a low F-stop, you can use a lower ISO. You'll then have less noise and higher dynamic range. Even with a tripod, you'll have more options if you only need ...
- 3,586
8
votes
Accepted
Why do zooms have small apertures even around 50mm?
Update 2023: some of the elements of my answer below assume a DSLR, and in some cases mirrorless system make some of these issues less of a challenge. The points about zoom lenses requiring a more ...
- 13.6k
8
votes
Accepted
What factors make a lens brighter?
However, someone has told me that if in both lenses I will use f/1.8 aperture, still the latter lens will have more light.
It sounds illogical because it's wrong. At f/1.8, both lenses will let in (...
- 143k
6
votes
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Best camera for long-range action shooting
Your two requirements are orthogonally opposed to one another.
To get more detail and resolution requires more sensor pixels (assuming the lens is not more limited than the sensor).
More sensor ...
- 175k
5
votes
Best camera for long-range action shooting
I don’t have a dedicated camera. Just using an iPad, not good enough though. Distant shots are grainy, and fast-paced mages get blurred.
You have arrived at what you think is a solution to your ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Which should I buy as a starting prime lens, Canon 35mm f2 or Canon 50mm f1.4?
Your camera has a 1.6x crop factor. On APS-C, 50mm gives you the field of view of a classic portrait lens on full frame (80mm). While 35mm will give you the FOV of a "normal" lens (56mm).
If you want ...
- 26.9k
5
votes
What factors make a lens brighter?
The big difference between the two lenses will not be when the picture is taken. At that point both lenses will allow the same amount of light through within the limits of the accuracy of their ...
- 175k
5
votes
What are the practical advantages of fast lenses when shooting landscapes?
Faster lenses give you almost always better image quality than slower lenses at the same f-stop. This is true for vignetting, resolution and contrast, distortion and color.
A faster lens also gives ...
- 51
4
votes
Are fast lenses needed for astro photography?
Depends what sort of AP you're talking about. And whether you're using a standard photo tripod or a proper astronomical tracking mount.
For a standard tripod, you're limited in exposure by star ...
- 3,003
4
votes
Good DSLR camera for ice hockey pictures
If you are shooting ice hockey the exposure is probably biased by the white ice. Before you spend any money try to use the camera's exposure compensation to make the pictures lighter.
The Wikipedia ...
- 20.6k
3
votes
Best camera for long-range action shooting
I will probably not answer the question, but I hope to narrow your search first.
Provide high-resolution
High resolution is a relative term. There can be a "High megapixel" count blurry photo and ...
- 23.8k
3
votes
Accepted
Are there lenses f/1 or wider that work on EF or E-mount?
For Canon EF mount you have pretty much only one option, the EF 50mm f/1.0L, which went out of production in 2000.
For the e-mount you could adapt a huge number of lenses, good choices would be
...
- 119k
2
votes
What factors make a lens brighter?
The brightness of the image projected by the lens is a function of its working diameter (aperture) and focal length. The focal ratio (f/#) takes both into account. Any lens functioning at the same f/# ...
- 38.7k
2
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Are there any MF standard fast primes for Mirrorless APS-C systems that are not available for APS-C DSLRs?
Are there any lenses that are made for the mirrorless system only and not DSLRs?
Yes, there are many such lenses.
The Sony E mount system, the Fuji X system, The Canon EF-M system, etc.
I was ...
- 175k
2
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Best camera for long-range action shooting
My entry level crop sensor DSLR with a 75-300 f/5.6 lens, 3 frames per second, gives me fantastic formula one photos. Are they as good as professional shots? Of course not. Are they good enough that I'...
- 158
2
votes
Why is there an air gap between lenses and digital sensors, as opposed to continuous glass-like higher refractive index?
Since lenses work based on the difference of index of refraction across the interface as well as the curvature of the lens surface (the more the difference in I.R., the more the light rays are bent) ...
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1
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Which should I buy as a starting prime lens, Canon 35mm f2 or Canon 50mm f1.4?
Thank you for the help. These past few days I had tested both 50mmf1.4 and 35mmf2.. and at the end I decided to stick with 35mmf2. The reasons are as follows:
The 50mm is really soft at f1.4 and ...
- 33
1
vote
Good DSLR camera for ice hockey pictures
The best way to shoot indoors sports in most fairly evenly lit gyms/rinks/arenas is to set exposure manually. It gives you the most complete control over shutter times, aperture, and ISO.
Keep in ...
- 175k
1
vote
Best camera for long-range action shooting
There is something not mentioned in the question: the level of light.
If the action shooting happens during sunlight hours outdoors, an entry-level DSLR and a cheap crop telezoom will do what you ...
- 6,588
1
vote
Accepted
What do the sensor differences between the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 and DMC-LX15 mean practically?
The sensor in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX15 is 2.74X larger in area than the sensor in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7. That is a considerable advantage.
If two sensors use the exact same technology, a ...
- 175k
1
vote
What are the practical advantages of fast lenses when shooting landscapes?
Faster lenses aren't necessarily inherently better for landscape photography, because the implication with 'landscape' is a stopped-down shot, preferably on a tripod. Are you stopping down now? If not,...
- 11
1
vote
Are fast lenses needed for astro photography?
When shooting stars it is generally accepted that when using a wide lens, you shoot with a 2.8 or faster lens. A full frame camera gives you the lowest amount of noise. Keep in mind that you keep the ...
- 11
1
vote
What ultrafast 28 mm lens for nikon f mount offers the least compromises?
Disclaimer for newer users: sharpens of final, real image rarely depends on lens performance in test conditions. More importantly, test conditions (flat chart shooting) is not a real-world photography,...
1
vote
Why would a serious photographer buy a lens slower than f/2.8?
People have already mentioned image quality as well as size and cost, but there's another very simple reason: sometimes you want a huge depth of field.
Landscape photography is often shot with a very ...
- 317
1
vote
For sports photography, should I use image stabilization or a faster lens?
I'd say it depends on if you are shooting indoors or outdoors. IF it's indoors i will keep the f2.8 lens. So the camera will happily focus faster with lower Isos and so you'll get cleaner images.
If ...
- 13
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible