mcmm Loc: Kansas

I know you are all knowledgeable and I need your help with choosing the right lens. I am a teacher and take tons of pictures at school. Inside and out. Friday's we have a morning meeting with all of our students and we do a number of different activities and I try to take advantage of those times when we have all of the kids together. I have the Canon T3i and need some suggestions. I would like a lens that I can take pictures that will give me a good depth of field as well as sharp near and far and side to side so I get a large number of the kids in the pictures. Sorry for my lack of technical terms. I have the standard kit lens that came with my camera. Do I use it and just use f22 aperature with a higher ISO since the lighting isn't great or is there a lens that would work better for my gym situation. I hope I am not offending those of you that have "been there done that" when answering this question a million times.
I also have the Canon 24-70 f2.8 IS lens. Is this a better choice? If so what settings would you recommend with this lens.
I am envious of all of the knowledge everyone has on this site and was hesitant to ask because I didn't want to expose my lack of knowledge. But, I want to improve my photos and know this is the place to go and learn from the best.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Howdy, mc. Don't apologize for your lack of knowledge! All levels of interest and expertise here, and many waiting in the wings hoping someone else will ask the question :)

If you run into a grump, just chalk it up to their bad day.

I also have the T3i. If you use the 18-55 mm kit lens, try at f/16. That should give sufficient depth of field and actually be a bit sharper than anything smaller. Your other lens probably won't go quite wide enough for what you've mentioned.

I just bought the ultra-wide angle made for this camera. It's $299 and would be excellent for shots needing wider than your 18-55 can do, though the edges might not be quite as sharp.

For now, I think you should try the 18-55 and just stand back a bit further if you don't find that is wide enough. Keep the ISO as low as you can while still having fast enough shutter speed so no blur from camera movement or moving people. Use the best image quality setting on the camera (I would suggest raw, but you probably aren't ready to tackle that just yet :) ), and then you can crop the picture if need be.

Keep the questions coming. We all learn that way :thumbup:

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Actually a really good question, mcmm! The easiest way to follow Linda's EXCELLENT advice would be to shoot in "aperture-priority" at f/11.0 or f/16.0 and your ISO on "auto".

You'll probably have little trouble filling your SD cards with fabulous images, and have plenty to learn from along the way! I envy your opportunities! Have fun! :thumbup: :thumbup:

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

That f2.8 lens is already pretty fast, but shallow depth of field. The way to get more depth of field is smaller apertures like f16 and indoors the only way to do that is a lot more light. High ISO will degrade the quality of the pictures and the T3i doesn't go that high on ISO anyway. Your best solution would probably be a good flash, unless the lighting at the school can be turned up or the event be moved outside into the sunlight.

amehta Loc: Boston

Assuming you have room to back up, I would use the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8, because it should be sharper than the 18-55mm lens. At some point raising the ISO too high reduces the image quality more than you'd like, so it's a balancing act between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

How many students and in how many rows?

mcmm Loc: Kansas

We have about 270 students and they sit in class rows. That would make about 14 rows. I don't necessarily need to get all 14 every time but I would like to be able to get 100-150 kids max in a photo. I figure that would still be close enough to be able to recognize the faces in the first four or five rows, don't you think?

amehta Loc: Boston

With 5-6 rows, 20-25 students in each row, you would easily be able to take a picture where each one was recognizable. Would you use a tripod? If not, I would suggest a monopod at least to reduce the camera shake and get a sharper picture.

See how the 24-70mm works at 24mm, I think the image quality will be better than with the 18-55mm. You can go into the gym and just take pictures of the bleachers to see how it works out and how many sections of the bleachers you can fit from different distances, using the court markings as guides.

warwoman Loc: NE Georgia Mtns.

Linda, which ultra wide lens did you buy that is made for the T3i? Just curious.

mcmm Loc: Kansas

It started out as just taking my camera to school to learn how to use it and has turned into so much more fun than I ever imagined!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Amehta has the right idea, - back up and use the 24mm of the 24-70 if possible - use a monopod or tripod so you can lower your ISO and/or use a large flash as a fill light for the eyes....

mcmm Loc: Kansas

I am sorry that I didn't respond to the tripod question. Yes I have both a tripod and a monopod that I can use.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Canon EF-S 10-18mm f-4.5-5.6 IS STM for APS-C cameras

I'll PM you the link to some photos :)

amehta Loc: Boston

Definitely use one of them, it doesn't have to be the tripod. You can use slower shutter speeds with the tripod, but those are too short for a picture of students. :-)

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

First, what they said, Linda, Anand, and many others.

T3i is more than adequate. Monopod is an excellent idea, stable yet more responsive than a tripod in this scenario. What is the light like? Can you get in over the weekend to experiment?

Depth of field is likely important. Do you want everybody to be clearly crisp and in focus, or do you want to isolate some part of the range of subjects?

A fast f/2.8 lens provides plenty of light, but wide open delivers a different result from a lens that is well stopped down, say f/8 or f/11.

Do you have time to go play somewhere and experiment so that you can predict the results you will get before the critical event?

mcmm Loc: Kansas

I have taken pictures in the gym before but what I find is that many times the kids up close are out of focus and I don't like how that looks. That is why I was wondering if I needed a different lens. We have a stage and where the kids' rows start is only about 5-6 ft. away and I can't go back any farther without getting on the stage and I'd rather be at eye level. The lighting (fluorescent) isn't great but most of the time I can keep my ISO at 800 or lower when they are on the gym floor. If they are on the stage that is another story.