Lens needed for graduation ceremony

[fierydevil71]

Hey guys,

I will be attending a graduation ceremony, will be thinking of taking some pictures.

i read about some guides saying that a 70-200mm f2.8 will be great in those situations, but the price is really out of my budget.

my question is, will a EF-S 55-250mm lens suffice? or will any third party lens around that price range be good enough?

thanks for your help in advance!

 

[AnsQ]

70-200? are you going to be shooting from afar?

if the lighting condition isn't too good, the 55-250 won't give you sufficient shutter speed to handhold.

if on a budget, why not rent one for a day?

 

[Rashkae]

Just rent lah...

 

[hotwork77]

Hey guys,

I will be attending a graduation ceremony, will be thinking of taking some pictures.

i read about some guides saying that a 70-200mm f2.8 will be great in those situations, but the price is really out of my budget.

my question is, will a EF-S 55-250mm lens suffice? or will any third party lens around that price range be good enough?

thanks for your help in advance!

Rent the lens. No point to buy for just one event which you won't be using again. I made a mistake of buying a 55-200mm lens for a similar event which is now sitting in my dry cabinet ever since.

 

[wdEvA]

are you gonna shoot at the stage from audience seat?
you might want to leave the job to the official photographer, and buy the photos from him later on.
As from the audience seat, you can't really get a good view to capture the moment. And you arnt allowed to walk up to take photos.

but if you really want to shoot, rent the lens. like what others had mentioned, no point buying lens just for one event.

 

[fierydevil71]

Thanks for your replies! i tink i noe wat i need to do.

the reason for me wanting to get the lens was becoz i wanna try some wildlife photography. just tot 250mm will be a good to start with. or is it naive for me to tink so?

 

[hotwork77]

Thanks for your replies! i tink i noe wat i need to do.

the reason for me wanting to get the lens was becoz i wanna try some wildlife photography. just tot 250mm will be a good to start with. or is it naive for me to tink so?

250mm for wildlife is not enough. 400mm is just the starting. Some are using 600mm but I don't think I"ll invest that kind of money to take wildlife. You can get by with 2X converters but the clarity is questionable.

 

[gundamseed84]

TS: can you tell us more details about the ceremony? Where are you going to shoot? From the audience seat whereby your fren or whoever is on stage? Or are you going to help take pic outside the ceremony venue whereby ppl start to scream throw hat etc? Also you are using 1.6x crop body right?

If is in the hall: then it depends on where you are seated. If you far away on the 2nd floor etc, maybe 200mm won't be enough also. However I recommend a zoom lens nonetheless, you just have to bump up ISO (I think flash might not be allowed too). A zoom lens is versatile since you might not be able to get your ideal position or seat.

Outside: if you are using 70-200 i think it is too tight to take photos for a couple of person reason being it will be very crowded and you might not have space to pose your subject and take pic. Therefore either a short focal prime, say 35mm, if got external flash bring along.

Wildlife: if is birding then 250 is too short (for me), if is cats, dogs or bigger sized animals then 250 is enough I guess. Not sure about zoo, never take pictures there before.

So you might want to rent70-200 f2.8 for indoor hall. If you have your kit lens it should suffice for outdoors. Wildlife, save more money (not urgent to buy right?). Can conisder 2nd hand lens, if you have 18-55 lens only then 2nd hand bigma (Sigma) 50-500 cost around 800+ 900 bucks? Then you have 'complete' focal range for various types of situations.

Just my 2cents thoughts based on my own experience.

 

[fierydevil71]

i see i see.. thanks a lot guys. guess i will be renting the 70-200 for the ceremony in the hall.

guess i have to think hard abt getting wat sort of lens for wildlife.

thanks again!

 

[dingaroo]

You mean wildlife in orchard road or in the zoo?

 

[alphabeta93]

actually there isnt much of an exciting ceremony in the hall to shoot. in fact everybody in the audience will be very quiet when the speaker is talking and it would be super awkward to be holding a large lens like 70-200 in the audience seat to be taking photos. i felt so guilty to be shooting in the audience seats during my sisters' graduation. the sound of the shutter clicking away makes some rather irritated also. moreover, if the hall is something like the one in NUS UCC, the audience sits so far away that a 200mm zoom wouldnt be enough to zoom in on individual full body pictures. even on a crop body.

as for wildlife, get at least a 300mm lens with a 2X teleconverter if on a budget.

 

[ed9119]

i see i see.. thanks a lot guys. guess i will be renting the 70-200 for the ceremony in the hall.

guess i have to think hard abt getting wat sort of lens for wildlife.

thanks again!

yup u should be perfectly set up for the graduation ceremony with a 70-200 on a crop body .......... leave the UWAs and kit zoom at home....

otherwise can consider a 100-400