I'm Going To London!

Davo7

Davo7

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Just about to book a wee 3 day trip to London with the better half. Looking forward to getting the chance to experiment with the camera outside with so many things to shoot on hand.

Has anyone got any advice? Was thinking about purchasing a 50mm Lens before i go. Good idea or not? :cool:

Looking for Champs League Final ticket if anyone has one, drop me a pm! :lol::lol: (Joke).
 
Depends what other lenses you have, if you are looking for a prime to use in the city I think something wider would be a better option. I can't be more specific because I have no knowledge of Nikon gear but perhaps one of their good quality wide zooms.
 
chrisbaker42 said:
Depends what other lenses you have, if you are looking for a prime to use in the city I think something wider would be a better option. I can't be more specific because I have no knowledge of Nikon gear but perhaps one of their good quality wide zooms.
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All i have is the 18 -55 Kit lens at the moment mate. :(
 
I was in London on Friday and found the 50mm to be too tight for most of the pictures I wanted to do. Obviously you can move around to frame your shots but this isn't always possible.

I ended up using my 18-55mm kit lens for almost the entire day and found this range to be pretty much perfect for what I wanted to shoot. Some of the shots are here to give you an idea, or follow through to flickr for the whole London set.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=321020
 
Thanks mate, quality pictures. Do you shoot in Manual mode?

Ive had a play about with manual mode but have to say im struggling dont think my hands steady enough, everything comes out blurred.
 
Davo7 said:
Thanks mate, quality pictures. Do you shoot in Manual mode?

Ive had a play about with manual mode but have to say im struggling dont think my hands steady enough, everything comes out blurred.
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It sounds like your aperture and ISO are set to levels that are giving you a slow shutter speed.

Choose a lower aperture value and higher ISO to get a shutter speed that's around 1.5x your focal length (there's a more scientific way of working this out but use 1.5x as a starting point for ease) and see how you get on :cool:
 
Russ77 said:
It sounds like your aperture and ISO are set to levels that are giving you a slow shutter speed.

Choose a lower aperture value and higher ISO to get a shutter speed that's around 1.5x your focal length (there's a more scientific way of working this out but use 1.5x as a starting point for ease) and see how you get on :cool:
Click to expand...

Will do mate, cheers.
 
Another thing i was wondering,

Single point focus? Should i be using this of not? Whats the pro's and cons?
:shake: So much to try and take in.
 
Davo7 said:
Just about to book a wee 3 day trip to London with the better half. Looking forward to getting the chance to experiment with the camera outside with so many things to shoot on hand.

Has anyone got any advice? Was thinking about purchasing a 50mm Lens before i go. Good idea or not? :cool:

Looking for Champs League Final ticket if anyone has one, drop me a pm! :lol::lol: (Joke).
Click to expand...

The 50mm 1.8 (Circa £100) is a very sharp, very small and very good little lens - however on a DX crop it is way too tight for the sort of pictures, equivalent to 75mm on FF

There is also a DX specific 35mm 1.8 which is pretty much the same as a 50mm is on FX and very roughly what we see as a human viewpoint.

So neither are ideal for capturing cityscapes or architecture. However they will both allow you to take some really great portraits and get very shallow depth of field/subject isolation.

In a nutshell - the lens you have now is beter for general photography and what I imagine you are going to want to capture around London on your trip!

However it is definatly the next lens I would add to your collection - the 50mm 1.8 is Nikons finest bargain ;)
 
Syd said:
The 50mm 1.8 (Circa £100) is a very sharp, very small and very good little lens - however on a DX crop it is way too tight for the sort of pictures, equivalent to 75mm on FF

There is also a DX specific 35mm 1.8 which is pretty much the same as a 50mm is on FX and very roughly what we see as a human viewpoint.

So neither are ideal for capturing cityscapes or architecture. However they will both allow you to take some really great portraits and get very shallow depth of field/subject isolation.

In a nutshell - the lens you have now is beter for general photography and what I imagine you are going to want to capture around London on your trip!

However it is definatly the next lens I would add to your collection - the 50mm 1.8 is Nikons finest bargain ;)
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very well put, thanks
 
Davo7 said:
Another thing i was wondering,

Single point focus? Should i be using this of not? Whats the pro's and cons?
:shake: So much to try and take in.
Click to expand...

I Always use single point, I always want to chose what I want to focus on ;)
BUT i guess it depends what you are shooting - for me my subjects are not moving that quickly!
 
The fifty will help you to look at the shots you take in a different perspective which hopefully will force you to be more creative, especially if you keep that aperture at around F2 for the whole day. where you can use the very shallow DOF to create some wonderful images.

Plus... the sharpness of the fifty compared to the kit lens will blow your socks off!

I say do it, and post up the images here for us to see.
 
Just to point out, the 50mm AF-D will not autofocus on your D3100. The newer AF-S one will, but I'm not sure that has been released yet. My two pence? I think it'll be too tight. 50mm on a crop sensor'd body is often referred to as a short telephoto/portrait lens - an indication that it's definitely too tight for cityscapes!
 
freecom2 said:
Just to point out, the 50mm AF-D will not autofocus on your D3100. The newer AF-S one will, but I'm not sure that has been released yet. My two pence? I think it'll be too tight. 50mm on a crop sensor'd body is often referred to as a short telephoto/portrait lens - an indication that it's definitely too tight for cityscapes!
Click to expand...

Was just going to raise the same point. The <£100 50mm will not auto-focus on your body. You need to get the £250ish AF-S model. You would be better with the 35mm f1.8 AF-S for around £170 new which will AF on your body if you are not comfortable with MF.

If it was me in your situation, I would consider the 55-200mm VR first, then add a 35/50mm but that was more beneficial to my style of shooting at the time.
 
Having travelled with an 18-55 kit lens, I actually think it's a reasonably versatile option to be honest. You might occasionally need a bit more range on top of 55mm, but to be honest I think most things in London will be readily covered by the 18-55 range - I can't think of many lenses that you could use instead - assuming you don't want to splash out too much.
 
Hey! I shoot London fairly often... (I do live here!).

A 50mm is a great lens to own without a doubt however it would be a wasted purchase for a city break. You'd be much better off using your 18-55 kit lens or if you have some spare cash, treat yourself to a 18-270mm - this would be ideal for you throughout London.

Enjoy and be sure to post your best pictures! Take a peak at my Flickr for some London ideas.
 
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Thanks guys, Kit lens it is phewwwwwwwwwww dont think my account could handle any more this month! haha.
 
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