Questions about lenses for D80

[Hectortan]

Hi, thanks for all the advice!

I'm gone and bought a 50mm f/1.8 and I am loving it. Still coming to grips with not being able to zoom, but the AF is really fast, will working out which aperture works best in which situations (tried some sports photography today, did not work out too well) but taking still life and portraits are a snap.

Also gave in to temptation and bought the Tamron 90mm Macro, all i can say is i forsee loving this lens, but not yet. I did try taking photos of some ants, but found it hard to keep focus....the challenge of taking moving subjects...plus my hand was shaking i guess, so a tripod will be in order.

was all over botanic gardens today looking for flowers with pistils and stamens still intact but could find none, lighting was really harsh too (even at 9am in the morning). any suggestions on wat's the best time to take flowers (macro and otherwise)?

 

[zac08]

Hi, thanks for all the advice!

I'm gone and bought a 50mm f/1.8 and I am loving it. Still coming to grips with not being able to zoom, but the AF is really fast, will working out which aperture works best in which situations (tried some sports photography today, did not work out too well) but taking still life and portraits are a snap.

Also gave in to temptation and bought the Tamron 90mm Macro, all i can say is i forsee loving this lens, but not yet. I did try taking photos of some ants, but found it hard to keep focus....the challenge of taking moving subjects...plus my hand was shaking i guess, so a tripod will be in order.

was all over botanic gardens today looking for flowers with pistils and stamens still intact but could find none, lighting was really harsh too (even at 9am in the morning). any suggestions on wat's the best time to take flowers (macro and otherwise)?

For the 50, it works real well for portraits at f4 or so. In sports mode, you may want to stop down more to f5.6 to f8 at least.

With the Tamron, stop down more to f8 - f11 for macros as you will be very close to the creatures and the DOF is very shallow then. Try to use a flash to fill-in (at negative ev settings) The time you were there is quite ok already, I'd prefer to shoot from 0800 - 1100 and also from 1500 - 1800.

Practise more and it'll be fun.

I'm going to SBG on 2nd Feb. Do join me in the Outings and Gatherings thread if you wanna join in for a macro shoot.