Questions on Kit lens.

[sonicsneakers88]

Hi there... I'm an absolute noob on photography but I'm intensely interested in taking it up as a serious hobby. I just recently got an A300 from the IT show with quite a good bundle of goodies.

However I'm more interested in knowing more about lenses esp the kit lens which comes with the camera. For a focal range of 18-70mm, what kind of shots can one take? Also, how does changing the focal length change perspective? Cuz it doesn't seem apparent to me when I tried to experiment with it.

Are there any links to good shots taken with such a kit lens? I rmb seeing one really good one somewhere in CS but I'm having a hard time finding it again (silly that I didn't bookmark it)

Hope to learn many new things here and grow in this skill. Looking forward to hearing from you guys!

 

[Rashkae]

There's a truckload of pics over in the Sony forum.

Errrr... How can you not notice the massive difference in perspective going from 18mm to 70mm?

Type of shots... ANYTHING. The 18-70 is a very versatile walkabout lens with a good wide-angle and decent reach. Anything further, like animals at the zoo, may need a 75-300.

 

[.Hack]

Alot of people stereotype the kit lens as a lousy piece of equipment.
Die die must sell away and buy a top of the range lens.
But you will be surprised how your shots can come out with a kit lens.
As for your 18-70mm lens, its quite a versatile walkabout lens, enough range to cover most of your needs.

 

[night86mare]

However I'm more interested in knowing more about lenses esp the kit lens which comes with the camera. For a focal range of 18-70mm, what kind of shots can one take? Also, how does changing the focal length change perspective? Cuz it doesn't seem apparent to me when I tried to experiment with it.

Hope to learn many new things here and grow in this skill. Looking forward to hearing from you guys!

lens quality is highly overrated, especially here in clubsnap.

anyways, here are some pictures with a 18-55 pentax kit lens.

cityscapes

landscapes

macro (with slight crop - to be fair, more of a closeup)

street

that said, the maximum aperture can be restrictive, but it is by no means unusable. and you even have added range from 55-70, which can be pretty useful too. the sony kit lens is pretty decent, if you ask me.

 

[kelvint81]

Kit lens not that bad.
I also using a kit lens.

The photos in my link all taken with kit lens
Sony A200 with 18-70mm lens.

 

[Galdor]

This lens is fantastic.

If you are not shooting in low light situation or fast action stuff this lens produces great images. The range is pretty good too.

 

[two200]

Understand the limitations of your lens first, then decide if the kit lens is lousy. Usually it is not that the kit lens is lousy, just that your expectations are beyond the technical capability of the lens. There is nothing that a more expensive similar specs lens can do which the kit lens cannot do except maybe image quality.

This is the reason why newbies usu buy a lot of lenses initially hoping to hit on a good lens only to be disappointed. I used to own an Olympus PnS and it serve me well as long as the lighting is good. So sometimes when I take photo in daytime, sometimes I will still use my PnS cos is convenient and light but I certainly will not use it for my night shots.

I am not sure if all of Night86mare's photo taken with kit lens, but his photos sure give credance to the kit lens.

 

[jeremyteocx]

a kit lens is decent enough, especially for someone starting out. at least it gives u a lens to work around with, and 18-70 gives you more than enough room to try things from landscape to portrait shots.

in terms of image quality its acceptable, unless you want to compare to the better (and more expensive lenses) of course. you mentioned that you were planning to take it to a serious level of hobbying, so you would upgrade in time to come. use what you have first.

 

[twisted illusion]

Hi there... I'm an absolute noob on photography but I'm intensely interested in taking it up as a serious hobby. I just recently got an A300 from the IT show with quite a good bundle of goodies.

However I'm more interested in knowing more about lenses esp the kit lens which comes with the camera. For a focal range of 18-70mm, what kind of shots can one take? Also, how does changing the focal length change perspective? Cuz it doesn't seem apparent to me when I tried to experiment with it.

Are there any links to good shots taken with such a kit lens? I rmb seeing one really good one somewhere in CS but I'm having a hard time finding it again (silly that I didn't bookmark it)

Hope to learn many new things here and grow in this skill. Looking forward to hearing from you guys!

in order to visualise more on focal length, u need to view the file at 100% size... try taking the pic at 640X480 to view it comfortably on pc screen at full size... then the focal lenght will come in to big play....

 

[tabako]

I also bought this kit from IT show, but I already have a feel of the lens before that, in JB, the sony shop has a lot of camera to try out.

That's why I got this kit in the first place. Its a good lens, with surprisingly very good image quality. 18 - 70 is usually enough, although i will add another lens to my collection, but slowly, i.e. the 75-300mm lens from the A200W kit.

 

[gymak90]

Personally, the 18-70 is an extremely useful range. It comes in handy for almost all occasions. It's many times better than 18-55 which other manufacturers are offering.

 

[Anson]

Understand the limitations of your lens first, then decide if the kit lens is lousy. Usually it is not that the kit lens is lousy, just that your expectations are beyond the technical capability of the lens.

Agree, know the limitation of your camera/lens and workaround it....

That why I am still using my kit lens (Canon 18-200mm IS), as my main lens...

 

[attap seed]

relative to image quality and maximum aperture, content and capturing the decisive moment is more important.

unconvinced? take a look at this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa

the 3 world famous photos on the right has no image quality wat-so-ever to speak for.

the kit lens may be all u ever need.

happy shooting.

 

[sonicsneakers88]

Hey thanks for all your insight guys! I think the best thing to do is just experiment as much as possible and understand the capabilities of the lens...

Thanks also to night86mare for your wonderful pictures!

 

[aaxiz]

you mentioned that you got your A300 at the IT show. Thats less than a week ago. Supposely you have not even snapped your kit for more than 24hrs in total ... literally.

No haste... snap and review your photos, and then get new lens when you know what you required.

=)

 

[sonicsneakers88]

you mentioned that you got your A300 at the IT show. Thats less than a week ago. Supposely you have not even snapped your kit for more than 24hrs in total ... literally.

No haste... snap and review your photos, and then get new lens when you know what you required.

=)

Hey....yeah I got it on Friday...I actually had been toying around with it but only at night...so I went outside the house to do some night shots which were pretty ghastly...

I did find time to go to Bishan Park today so I took a couple of photos. Sadly I only spent a meagre 20 mins there due to time constraints but I did play around with the cam more than I have been normally.

I'm now trying to figure out how to upload them

 

[kelvint81]

Hey....yeah I got it on Friday...I actually had been toying around with it but only at night...so I went outside the house to do some night shots which were pretty ghastly...

I did find time to go to Bishan Park today so I took a couple of photos. Sadly I only spent a meagre 20 mins there due to time constraints but I did play around with the cam more than I have been normally.

I'm now trying to figure out how to upload them

Hi bro.
You also stay near me haha
Ok night shots you need a tripod.
If you take with handheld it's ain going to be good.

 

[sonicsneakers88]

Oh Kelvin I just was playing ard...they did appear quite shaky which was understandable...just taht it looked extremely orange-y but I think it's due to the street lamps that are pretty bright, and probably cuz I put the shutter speed to very slow speeds. I tried playing ard with the colour temperature at the white balance option and it gave interesting results. Was just experimenting ard...haha!

I'm trying to upload some shots I took yesterday but I find this forum a bit tricky to use....

 

[Galdor]

An easier way is to upload to photobucket and paste the link here.

 

[sonicsneakers88]

like that will it appear as a link over here or will it appear as a picture?