revlimiter
03-05-2012, 09:58 AM
1: Buy a manual lens.
Yeah, I know. You just spent a bunch of money on your shiny new DSLR. And now I'm telling you to spend more? That's right. I am. But it doesn't have to be a big expense. I mean, don't buy a crap, broken lens, but don't spend hundreds on something exotic.
Buy an old manual lens from the film era. I'd suggest either a 50mm/1.8 or a 28mm/2.8. These were very very common back in the 70s and 80s and are very plentiful. AND CHEAP! My first lens was a 55mm f/2.8 macro lens. It is still one of my most used lenses.
If you're a Nikon shooter, you're in luck. Every lens ever made mounts to every camera ever made. There are a few things to look out for like pre-AI (automatic indexing) on a camera like the D80 or D700 with the AI prong, but most starter cameras (D40, D3000, etc) won't have to worry about this. The Nikon E-series is great and cheap.
If you're a Canon shooter, you have to buy 2 things: a lens and an adapter ring. Modern cameras use the EOS mount. Old lenses use the FD mount. But adapter rings are cheap on ebay.
If you're a Sony shooter, you should look into old Pentax glass. I don't own a Sony and I'm typing this from memory instead of googling to be sure, but I've seen a lot of old Pentax lenses being worn by modern Sony cameras around town by my photography buddies.
Why?
Your shiny new camera has a ton of shit it can do. It will be way overwhelming at first. You'll likely be shooting on the green square and not having much idea what these new terms like aperture and shutter speed and ISO mean. With a manual lens, you're FORCED to learn this stuff. Because the camera can't do it on its own.
Most entry level cameras WILL NOT METER with a manual lens. (rev, WTF does that mean?) Metering is the camera's ability to get the exposure right for any scene you happen to point it at. And that goes away when you put the manual lens on. You have to shoot on Manual (the little M square) and guess at the exposure.
You also get to turn the aperture dial yourself and learn what that thing does. Wide open = the smaller number (like 1.8) = more light getting to your sensor. Closed down = the bigger number (like f/22) = less light hitting the sensor. The smaller the number, the more bokeh you get. The bigger the number, the sharper focus your whole scene will be.
You also get to focus the camera by yourself. And THAT is one of the great joys of photography. Like driving a manual transmission. I love manual focus.
Nothing will teach you how to use your camera faster than this manual lens. No book. No website. No photography class. No good advice from your local camera guru. Nothing. This lens will pay for itself many many times.
When you finally click the shutter and get a perfectly exposed, perfectly focused image out of a camera that did not help you one tiny bit to make this image, you will feel like a god. Not The God, but a god. You feel like THE God when someone approaches you to buy a print of that image. :)
Yeah, I know. You just spent a bunch of money on your shiny new DSLR. And now I'm telling you to spend more? That's right. I am. But it doesn't have to be a big expense. I mean, don't buy a crap, broken lens, but don't spend hundreds on something exotic.
Buy an old manual lens from the film era. I'd suggest either a 50mm/1.8 or a 28mm/2.8. These were very very common back in the 70s and 80s and are very plentiful. AND CHEAP! My first lens was a 55mm f/2.8 macro lens. It is still one of my most used lenses.
If you're a Nikon shooter, you're in luck. Every lens ever made mounts to every camera ever made. There are a few things to look out for like pre-AI (automatic indexing) on a camera like the D80 or D700 with the AI prong, but most starter cameras (D40, D3000, etc) won't have to worry about this. The Nikon E-series is great and cheap.
If you're a Canon shooter, you have to buy 2 things: a lens and an adapter ring. Modern cameras use the EOS mount. Old lenses use the FD mount. But adapter rings are cheap on ebay.
If you're a Sony shooter, you should look into old Pentax glass. I don't own a Sony and I'm typing this from memory instead of googling to be sure, but I've seen a lot of old Pentax lenses being worn by modern Sony cameras around town by my photography buddies.
Why?
Your shiny new camera has a ton of shit it can do. It will be way overwhelming at first. You'll likely be shooting on the green square and not having much idea what these new terms like aperture and shutter speed and ISO mean. With a manual lens, you're FORCED to learn this stuff. Because the camera can't do it on its own.
Most entry level cameras WILL NOT METER with a manual lens. (rev, WTF does that mean?) Metering is the camera's ability to get the exposure right for any scene you happen to point it at. And that goes away when you put the manual lens on. You have to shoot on Manual (the little M square) and guess at the exposure.
You also get to turn the aperture dial yourself and learn what that thing does. Wide open = the smaller number (like 1.8) = more light getting to your sensor. Closed down = the bigger number (like f/22) = less light hitting the sensor. The smaller the number, the more bokeh you get. The bigger the number, the sharper focus your whole scene will be.
You also get to focus the camera by yourself. And THAT is one of the great joys of photography. Like driving a manual transmission. I love manual focus.
Nothing will teach you how to use your camera faster than this manual lens. No book. No website. No photography class. No good advice from your local camera guru. Nothing. This lens will pay for itself many many times.
When you finally click the shutter and get a perfectly exposed, perfectly focused image out of a camera that did not help you one tiny bit to make this image, you will feel like a god. Not The God, but a god. You feel like THE God when someone approaches you to buy a print of that image. :)