100% Photography related content. Read-on only if you're sure you won't get bored :)

In June 2011 I bought my first DSLR (which comes with a 18mm to 55mm kit lens).

They also sold me a 50mm prime at S$99 (Worth $199)

To understand the rest of my post, you might need to know abit about DSLR lenses (Simplified)

Abit of explaination for people who want to know...

The whole ___mm thingi indicates the focal length of the lens, which simply put, just tells you how much of the view you can capture in your image. (Or how 'close' your subject is, when looking through the camera)

For example, at a focal length of 18mm, you will, for example, be able to see an entire bungalow plus your friend standing infront of the bungalow.

Let's say you wanna be an arse and want to zoom in on your friend WITHOUT walking towards him, probably a longer focal length like 55mm is needed (The longer the focal length the more 'magnified' your subject is.)

What's a zoom lens?

The type of lens that most people are familiar with would be zoom lens. The 'turn turn turn' thingi that people love to associate with DSLRs. A ___mm to ___mm lens would usually mean that it's a zoom lens.

The Nikon 5100 I bought comes with a 18mm to 55mm zoom lens inside the kit itself, and is pretty much enough for a beginner to kick start his photography journey.

So yeah like what I explained, I can take a picture 'of an entire bungalow' or choose to zoom in a little more to include your friend at the gate.

The higher the focal number the nearer you can zoom in to your target. > 200mm lenses are usually used by photo-journalists or bird watchers because they can't reasonably get close to their subject without spooking them.

Then what are prime lenses?

Ok I totally didn't come across this term until I bought this DSLR. Basically prime lenses are fixed focal lenses, which means they CAN'T zoom.

Why on earth will you buy a lens that can't zoom?? Quite alot of people, especially my parents, wonder why.

Prime lenses usually produce images of better optical quality, are pretty much smaller, lighter and cheaper simply because there are less complicated components within the lens itself as compared to a zoom lens (Many glasses in them)

Also, the MAIN reason why people choose to buy Prime lenses, is because it can usually go up to a larger maximum aperture as compared to zoom lens. (Also something to do with the complicated internal components theory)

Ok a simpler way to explain a larger maximum aperture in layman terms is that, you can get a better blur effect! (The isolation of your subject, by making it in focus.)

So the higher your aperture, the better you can isolate your subject and blur the background. WHICH IS, probably one of the main reasons why I buy prime lenses.

Ok back to the post

I am a person who's very attached to my 'firsts' and usually reluctant to let go of them. The 50mm prime I bought at the IT Show was my 'First Prime Lens.'






All of my photos in my blog are heavily compressed to upload so you'll see some weird distortions in colour here and there.

However there were a few problems with me owning it.....

...It is a FX lens (Ok im not going to go into the theory again unless others want me to) But basically I CANT autofocus when it's on my Nikon 5100, a DX-format camera (it also doesn't have a autofocus motor built into the camera itself)

So what this means is that I have to always manually turn this 'barrel' on the lens that focuses and unfocuses onto my target. As a result, the time taken to manually focus always causes me to miss out on split second special moments. In addition, because it's manual, sometimes I don't get a good focus, resulting in a blurred image!

And since it's fixed at 50mm, it's uncomfortably close to most of my subjects when i'm taking photos. I almost always just capture the head of my friends. And i have to back up against the wall everytime I can't get my subjects into view.

This lens is usually used for portraiture shots where you want to capture a model's clear face with nice make up, an infant's super smooth skin, or an aged person where the lines on the face can gather some interest. Or still objects.

...Your friends are gonna kill you for uploading pictures of their blown up face with all their flaws for everyone to see.

So yeah I sold it on clubsnap.com to this nice photographer chap (with a camera that can make that ruddy lens autofocus) for S$130. Yes I kinda made a S$30 profit. Woops...

ANDDDDDDDDD on the very day I sold it, I went to buy a 35mm Prime!



Lol taken with my iTouch

So! New 'improvements' with this new lens.

- 35mm! I don't have to back up to the wall or post much blown up faces anymore.

- Comes with a hood! I don't know what it does but it looks cool! HAHA. Nahh i think it reduces glare or something from the sun?

- IT CAN AUTOFOCUS. FINALLY *Angels singing*

So I am pretty much happy with the S$200 I actually had to top up on top of the S$130 I made from the sale of my old lens. (Yes it's quite expensive, photography is...)


Caramel Milk Cake from Watami

But I am more or less happy to be able to get such pictures consistently without missing out on valuable moments anymore...


And no more uncomfortably close pictures! (These pictures are from my National Day album, which I sld be blogging abt soon.)

But yeahh my old 50mm has taken some pictures which I reaaaally liked..



But like what one person said in a forum i was reading regarding 35mm vs 50mm...

"There's always going to be moments where you wished that you had your old lens with you, but you'd need to weigh the frequencies of those moments against the actual usage."

But, on the bright side, to achieve almost the same distance (not really quality) as the 50mm using the 35mm. I simply need to...

...move forward!

(I'm usually not dealing with dangerous stuff so its often easier to move forward than backward)

Yeap!

And that's the end of my photography post!