{"id":3359,"date":"2013-06-17T10:59:06","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T10:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2024-01-08T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T13:50:10","slug":"which-lens-should-i-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/which-lens-should-i-buy","title":{"rendered":"Which lens should I Buy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Want some new kit?<\/h1>\n<p>If you&#8217;re a &#8220;kit monkey&#8221; and have unlimited funds, you may as well stop reading this now.<\/p>\n<p>However, have financial limits, here are a few things to ask yourself when looking to buy a new gizmo for your collection.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/blog\/photographer-leeds-yorkshire-buying-cameras-and-lenses\/attachment\/small-canon-500\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3362\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3362 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg\" alt=\"small canon 500\" width=\"650\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500-65x50.jpg 65w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500-50x38.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>1 &#8211; What &#8220;extra&#8221; will it enable me to do?<\/h2>\n<p>This is the big one for me &#8211; what could I do with this kit that I can&#8217;t currently do?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a &#8220;fast prime lens&#8221; as an example.\u00a0This will allow:-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>blurry backgrounds<\/li>\n<li>shoot in darker conditions<\/li>\n<li>shallow DOF creativity<\/li>\n<li>pin sharp shots<\/li>\n<li>small, discrete for street photography<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/the-unbeatable-benefits-of-using-a-50mm-lens\/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"The Unbeatable Benefits of Using a 50mm Lens\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"131830\">lightweight<\/a> for travel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So they can open up quite a few opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, there are things like &#8220;sound triggers&#8221; &#8211; devices which shoot when something makes a sound &#8211; like a bursting balloon or water droplet.<\/p>\n<p>Now these things are cool &#8211; put some flour in a balloon, burst it and capture the shot of the flour cloud. Then set up your water droplet experiment &#8211; wow, you can get cool effects.<\/p>\n<p>So they do enable you to capture a very specific thing &#8211; but is that enough to justify their cost?<\/p>\n<p>Make a list of stuff your new kit will enable you to do, then sit on it for a while &#8211; make sure it&#8217;s worth it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>2 &#8211; How often am I likely to use it?<\/h2>\n<p>We all buy kit on a whim then months later find it gathering dust.<\/p>\n<p>Take a &#8220;tilt-shift&#8221; lens &#8211; these are specialist items, used for architectural, archival and some landscape work. They&#8217;re really expensive too &#8211; around \u00a32000 for a new one.<\/p>\n<p>Being honest with yourself, how often would you use it?<\/p>\n<p>For architectural photographers, it may be in constant use &#8211; others, it may never leave the kit bag.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;sound triggers&#8221; mentioned above &#8211; you&#8217;ll probably use them once when you get them. Then never see them again till a mate comes round. Show them how cool they are&#8230;. before returning them to their bag, never to be seen again!<\/p>\n<p>If it&#8217;s going to get used once or twice a year &#8211; why not just hire one when you need it?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>3 &#8211; Do I need this &#8220;level&#8221; of kit?<\/h2>\n<p>We all aspire to top-level lenses and kit &#8211; but do we really &#8220;need&#8221; it?<\/p>\n<p>This will vary depending on how passionate you are about a subject &#8211; if you are a bird photographer, dedicating hours in hides to get the perfect shot, then spending \u00a31000 on the best tripod and head system, \u00a35000 on a fast super-telephoto lens and a body with excellent autofocus may be worth it.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re a general snapper who occasionally shoots birds eating peanuts you&#8217;ve put out for them, you&#8217;re probably better with something a little cheaper. A general &#8220;long zoom&#8221; lens maybe all you &#8220;need&#8221;. Or perhaps get a 1.4 times converter for \u00a3200ish to get you a bit closer to the action.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you shoot sports and action and are always in the wet, you may &#8220;need&#8221; a waterproof body, like the Canon 1D series &#8211; the 5D image quality is on par, but get them wet and they stop working&#8230; in this instance, buying the expensive kit is needed.<\/p>\n<p>Put your money where you spend most of your time &#8211; and invest more in lenses than bodies if money is tight.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>4 &#8211; What am I going to use the resultant images for?<\/h2>\n<p>Investing thousands of pounds in professional bodies and lenses may be overkill if you never print or sell your shots. There&#8217;s nothing wrong with taking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/plating-perfection-must-have-photos-for-restaurants-to-whet-appetites-online\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">photos for pleasure and to share online<\/a> &#8211; but do you really need 36 megapixels if they only ever get shown on Flickr at 1000 pixels wide?<\/p>\n<p>Think about what your ultimate goal is.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re shooting for bill-boards, then you may need a Hassleblad with a 60 megapixel back.<\/p>\n<p>If you may occasionally print something out at A4, then my old Canon 10D (6 megapixels) did a fine job.<\/p>\n<p>Again, shooting with better lenses reaps more benefits (in many instances) than spending lots on bodies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>5 &#8211; If I slept on it would I feel the same in the morning?<\/h2>\n<p>And finally &#8211; are you bored?\u00a0Been looking on EBAY all day and just fancy a bit of kit for the sake of it?<\/p>\n<p>Or has that new lens been playing on your mind for weeks?<\/p>\n<p>Use the &#8220;sleep on it&#8221; test before hitting the &#8220;buy&#8221; button. I&#8217;ve saved thousands of pounds over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Photographic retail therapy is a very expensive and ineffective way of inspiring you to go take photos &#8211; they best way is to get your shoes on, pack your bag and go out to take photos. Force yourself&#8230; don&#8217;t blow the credit card and expect the new kit to make the difference.<\/p>\n<p>However, if it&#8217;s been niggling away for weeks, or years even, then maybe it is worth the investment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The only person who can decide this is YOU &#8211; hopefully these questions will make you think before buying something you&#8217;ll never really use.<\/p>\n<p>A sizeable group of photographers are motivated by the technology, numbers and reviews, rather than creativity, human interaction and the joys of &#8220;taking&#8221; photos. So if you are in the former group &#8211; then go for it, feed your lust for &#8220;new toys&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want some new kit? If you&#8217;re a &#8220;kit monkey&#8221; and have unlimited funds, you may as well stop reading this now. However, have financial limits, here are a few things to ask yourself when looking to buy a new gizmo for your collection. 1 &#8211; What &#8220;extra&#8221; will it enable me to do? This is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_22977785_22977785":"","facebook_10157410341118549_123005067715685":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,39,17,9,14],"tags":[275,273,274,276,401,277],"class_list":["post-3359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-discussion","category-musings","category-photography","category-tips","tag-discussion-2","tag-kit","tag-lenses","tag-obsession","tag-photography","tag-techy"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg",650,498,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500-300x230.jpg",300,230,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg",650,498,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg",650,498,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg",650,498,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/small-canon-500.jpg",650,498,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"McFade","author_link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"Want some new kit? If you&#8217;re a &#8220;kit monkey&#8221; and have unlimited funds, you may as well stop reading this now. However, have financial limits, here are a few things to ask yourself when looking to buy a new gizmo for your collection. 1 &#8211; What &#8220;extra&#8221; will it enable me to do? This is&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3359"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120456,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions\/120456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}