Lens Size Question 50mm vs 100mm+

Steven Bogda

Steven Bogda

Well-known member
I have had my SGpro for a few months now. I have been shooting with a Nikon Nikkor 50mm 1.8AF lens that I bought from BH for like a hundred bucks.

I am not too knowledgeable when it comes to lenses and photography, but I would like to know if something like this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/207359-USA/Nikon_1928_Zoom_Telephoto_AF_Zoom.html

or other lenses ranging from 100mm to 300mm would work with the SGpro (or any adapter), and what would the visible difference be.

The problem I am having with my 50mm is that i can't seem to get close enough to the subject when shooting sometimes. I know I could just go without the adapter and zoom in, but would a larger lens help with this at all?

Thanks
 
The issue with that lens you linked to, is that it is quite low. f/4-5.6. I would look for a faster manual lens on eBay.
 
Yeah I just picked that one quickly. I am just curious about what the visible difference would be when you compare shooting with a 50mm to something bigger
 
There's a huge visible difference. It's basically the equivalent of zooming in digital, but each lens is zoomed in more or less, instead of one lens zooming in and out (lenses that don't zoom are called primes). 50mm lens is in between zoomed out and zoomed in. It's called a normal lens. 100mm is zoomed in more. 300mm is zoomed in a LOT. 100mm and 300mm are telephoto lenses. 28mm is a wide angle lens, and is zoomed out. 16mm is a fisheye, is zoomed out a lot more, and has a vignette on the edges.
 
As long as the it is a Nikkor mount, it should work with your SG. And yes, an 85mm, 100 or 135mm would help you to get in closer without needing to 'zoom in on the ground glass'.

50mm is 'normal' field of view. This lens has a field of view almost identical to our vision.

100mm, 200mm or 300mm you mentioned are 'telephoto' field of view. These lenses look 'zoomed in' and because of the physics involved they look quite different. Telephoto lenses compress perspective (things in the background look closer to things in the foreground, then on a normal field of view lens). Also, depth of field seems to decrease, because the blurry background is magnified (F2.8 on a 50mm focused at 10' will look like it has deeper depth of field than f2.8 on a 300mm lens focused at 10').

In the same token, wide angle lenses (below 35mm) expand perspective and decrease the perception of depth of field.


Jason
 
Getting close isn't just a matter of longer focal length. Think about close focus distance. If a 100mm lens doesn't let you focus closer than 10 feet, you may not be able to get the shot you wanted. In that case you need to look at macro lenses.


Marco
 
Steven, you'll get an idea of the relative fields of view of 28, 35, 50, 85 and 100mm lenses in our Zeiss lens review. A fast lens in the 100mm to 135mm range is absolutely essential IMHO if you want to get in tight, particulary for work with people where you want to capture the essence of a face, but stay far enough away to not freak out your subject :) The other benefit of longer lenses (preferably fast ones) is much shallower DOF and in many cases what I call creamier bokeh. Just make sure the lens you choose has both manual focus and manual aperture. Many AF lenses have a focus throw that is far too short for critical focussing...so look for reviews first. The reduser.net forum has a good lens resource with tests and comments related to use on the Red camera, but what flies there, also applies to adapters.
 
Thank you for all your responses they helped a lot. I will be sure to check out the brevis link later when I have more time to sit and read.

THANKS
 
We have a great 100mm thats pretty fast and gets a lot of use even when its not a crazy close up.
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