pinkycat Loc: The Garden State

It's been about 7 months since I've discovered my love of photography and the only lenses I've worked with are zoom. I have a 50mm lens as well as a fisheye and wide angle. I'm having a hard time getting the proper focus or distance from the subject. Any good tutorials on the use of fixed focal length lenses?

snowbear

I'm not sure what focus issues would be different from zoom lenses.

Not trying to be a smart---, but changing distance is simply moving further or closer. If you can't get close enough to get the framing you want, you need to go to a longer lens. Likewise, if you can't get the whole scene on, either move back or switch to a wider one.

travlnman46 Loc: Yakima WA

Hi pinkcat: I'm not certain this is what you are asking for, but it does a great job on explaining apeture, ISO and shutter speed. How the three work in conjunction with one another as well as how apeture affects depth of field or DOF. This would apply to a telephoto or a fixed prime lens such as your 50mm or the fisheye and wide angle. Hope this helps.
http://www.cameraporn.net/2007/12/24/aperture-iso-and-shutter-speed-the-good-kind-of-threesome/

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

With a prime, or fixed focus lens, you simply need to zoom with your little pinky toes.

thefunxtr Loc: Atlanta

Good one MT, but for a pinkycat wouldn't that be "pinky paws"?

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Could be, but I didn't want to get Pinky scratched if she didn't find it funny!

pinkycat Loc: The Garden State

I realize I wasn't too clear in my question. Maybe I was wondering in what scenarios you could use a lens like that. I do mostly outdoor, nature, etc. Is a fixed length lens more for close ups? I'm sorry to sound so ignorant. I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around this.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

In general terms, a prime lens will give you slightly sharper images and slightly less edge distortion than a zoom of the same focal length. Todays zooms are very close to the primes in sharpness though. Some people swear by them, others swear at them, they are an acquired taste for the most part. I prefer primes for Macro and High Telephoto, but stick with zooms in the mid ranges. But thats just my preference. I have a 50mm F1.8, but it hasn't been out of my bag in months. I prefer my 28-70 F2.8, but just sold that today and will be getting an AF-S 24-70 F2.8 before too much longer. I like the composition freedom of a good zoom.

madcapmagishion

Yes foot focus, step forward or step back till the subject is in focus.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Nothing beats practice. With digital photography, it is even easier yet. Now then, your prime lenses tend to have wider apertures therefore they are better in low light conditions. Like Mt Shooter says, they also tend to be sharper and have less distortion. Listen to what Mt Shooter says. He has taught me a lot and he doesn't even know it.

Anyway, if your wide angle lens is 28mm or thereabouts, it is a great landscape lens. It is also good indoors for capturing a greater field of view in tight places and low light conditions. I use mine all the time at family get together's. I also like using it when shooting photos of my flower gardens because of its' greater capture and detail.

I have a 50mm prime also. It too is very well suited for low light conditions. It is often referred to as a portrait lens because of its' clarity. It is also said that it emulates the human eye. I use it when I am shooting kind of close to my subject and I don't want a whole lot of extras in the photograph. It is a good all around knock about lens. Maybe this is why they call it a "Nifty Fifty". Outdoors or indoors, you get nice sharp and detailed photos with one of these.

Just start playing with them. You will find a good use for them all.

michelleGD

I have a 105mm macro lens and love it. You can get very close or not.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

When I started in photography in the 1970's all we had were fixed focal length lenses. I suppose zooms existed, but not for me. I never gave it a second thought. I would frame the subject, focus and shoot. That's really all there is to it. If you are too close or too far away from your subject, maybe you can move and maybe not. Either way, frame, focus, shoot. Learning with a FFL lens can make you a better photographer, since you must work with what you have - no zooming.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

they are for whatever you want to take with them. A fixed length just means that the zoom is in your feet, you could have a 500mm fixed length lens to take really long nature shots.

I know it's weird getting used to a single length lens at first after just turning a zooming ring and having things come closer or farther away automatically without you moving but you'll get used to it.


You have a 50mm and a fisheye and a wide angle.

The 50mm is good for everything; landscape, detail shots from a few feet to 50 feet to long landscape shots, portraits, medium close ups.

The fisheye is good for all kinds of things too...getting building interiors in one shot...landscapes....funny closeups...

Same with the wide angle...it's really good for landscapes, interiors, parties...whatever you want to use it for.

Zoom with the feet. :)

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

PinkCat: suggest you start here: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

Then, pretend it is the good ol days and chose an f-stop, then go to a DOF table, or "hyper-focus" and decide on a shooting distance and http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html

You have my permission to put marks on your lenses like the "good-ol'-days" lenses had. I think some had the distance marked in braille. Enjoy your photography.. google "blind photographers"... interesting..