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Scott's Column
DLSR Lens Package Selection, Computer Eco-System & the iMac
March 1, 2010
By Scott Lewis
Introductory paragraph goes here.
Current Topics:
It has been two months since I dedicated this column to my
DSLR Camera Buying Tips. This month I
want to get past the choice of camera and show you my criteria for
selecting the initial lenses to buy with your new digital SLR camera. As
you will recall I said do not buy the camera in kit
form. Get better lenses than the ones that come with the kit.
My goal here is to help you (and me) pick the first 2 lenses
for your digital SLR camera. The first two lenses are the most important
because at this price level we want these lenses to last a lifetime, and
stay with you when (yes, when) you upgrade your camera body. Your first
two lenses need to cover as many situations as possible... until you can
afford more lenses. Your job is to determine what you want to use the
lenses for.
Quick Review
Before we get into the lens selection process I want to tell you where I
am toward making my camera choice. I have narrowed my selection to the
Canon EOS Rebel T1i or the Nikon D90. The T1i on initial viewing seems
to be easier to use with its single command wheel, and it is a little
lighter to hold. However, that command wheel is by the index finger and
not your thumb (where I think it should be). The D90 has two command
wheels which I believe will make using the camera more difficult.
However the extra weight of the D90 seems to make the camera feel
sturdier and does not hinder it in my opinion. The D90 also has an LCD
on top, which I like a lot. Next up is speed, one of the reasons to get
a DSLR. The Canon T1i tops out at 3.4 fps (frames per second) in burst
mode, while the Nikon D90 goes up to 4.5 fps. I already have one project
in mind that will need speed like this, but I don't know if it will
matter. 6-7 fps would matter, but that takes us to the really expensive
cameras. The last major feature of the D90 I like is the on-board flash
can be used to control remote flashes. Very cool. I would have to buy a
"master" flash for the Canon, and add slaves later.
Then there is software. For the most part I don't care as I will use
Photoshop with its Camera RAW component to work with images. However,
Canon provides Remote Capture software with its cameras. This allows you
to control the camera from your computer. I can think of some time lapse
projects I might like to try with this. Also, I would be interested in
seeing how this software would work in a portrait environment
with the camera on a tripod. Full screen previews on the spot would be
great in determining if you captured the perfect moment or want to try
again because someone was looking in the wrong direction. Nikon charges
extra for their Camera Control 2 software package (about $150 I think).
If this is not enough to bog me down, I heard rumors that Canon was
going to release a new model... 60D, which would be an upgrade of the
50D to include video and a few other tricks. I knocked the 50D out of
the running because it did not have video capability. So a 60D would
probably do it for me sight unseen. However, I need to have my new
camera for a trip this summer and I wonder if this as yet unannounced
60D would be available in time. NOTE: Just before this went to press Canon introduced
the EOS Rebel T2i. This is an upgrade to the
T1i that pushes 18 MP, 3.7 fps continuous shooting, some improvements to
HD video recording as well as a few other niceties. Nothing
revolutionary, but upgrades just the same. I am concerned the 18 MP is
just more megapixels for megapixel's sake. The sensor did not get any
larger, so I would be concerned that the quality of those pixels will
not be as good and the T1i or the Nikon D90.
Stay tuned for the final choice. Now back to lenses.
Zoom vs. Prime
For the longest time people bought Film SLR cameras with a standard 50mm
fixed focal length lens. This is also called a Prime lens. A 50mm lens
on a 35mm camera gives the same basic view as you get with your eyes.
Later we will discuss crop factor for small sensor dSLR cameras and how
it relates to this 50mm standard.
Today everyone wants a zoom lens. In the early days zoom lenses cost too
much. That cost has come down, and the inclusion of zoom capability in
every digital point and shoot camera means that all the manufactures
create "kits" that include zoom lenses for their SLR cameras.
Zoom vs. prime? Do you NEED a zoom lens? I don't know,
only you can answer that. I will go through that process for myself, and
that will determine which is my first lens. However, at the top of this
article I said we were going to cover your first TWO lenses. In my
opinion getting one prime and one zoom lens should be the priority of
every dSLR camera owner. If you think differently then by all means get
two zoom lenses or two prime lenses. When I think about all the pictures
I want to take, I see a lot of reason to NEED a prime
lens, and I will definitely WANT the flexibility of a
zoom lens. So its one of each for me... at least to start.
How do you select what prime lens and what zoom lens to get... and which
to get first? That depends on two issues. First, what pictures do you
want to take, and second how much are you going to spend?
Having owned two film SLR cameras that both came with standard 50mm
lenses I am leaning heavily toward getting a prime lens first. I
remember why I bought my first camera... to take pictures of cars at a
car show. I took a lot of pictures of cars with a 50mm lens. I certainly
plan on using my new digital camera for this purpose. A fixed lens close
to 50mm should suit a lot of my needs. However, I am going to be taking
my sons on vacation in Florida this summer and a zoom lens will be far
more flexible than a fixed length lens.
As you can see I have some pros and cons to work out. Do I want the
flexibility of a zoom lens for this one week vacation, or do I want the
creative capabilities of a prime lens for the rest of the time. You need
to examine your own photo taking needs in this same manner. Once you
determine what kind of pictures you will take most often, you pretty
much let that dictate which lens to get first.
Cost
Really good lenses are very expensive. I updated my Camera Comparison
spreadsheet to cover every Canon and Nikon lens I could think of putting
on a possible wish list. My goal was to determine exactly what this
article is discussing... which lenses to get, and which to get first.
The spreadsheet is by no means complete, but I feel that if you need a
lens not listed you have far more specialized requirements than I can
provide answers for.
You can download the
spreadsheet here.
In the spreadsheet I created 5 packages (look at the second page) for
both Canon and Nikon with prices ranging from just under $1,500 for a
camera and two lenses up to almost $6,000 for a 5 lens package that
should cover every kind of picture you will likely take. Like I said...
this is a wish list.
You can use these packages to help set a price range for yourself (keep
in mind these prices were all correct on BHPhoto when I wrote this
article). Package A (A-1 for Canon, A-2 for Nikon) includes a 50mm prime
lens in the $400 range, and one zoom lens in the $400-600 range. That's
about $1,000 worth of glass to go in front of your camera. This is the
least I would spend. If you don't want to spend more than this look no
further. Just decide which lens to buy first, or at this price level buy
them both at the same time you buy your camera. Package A is between
$1,400 - $1,800 with a camera and two lenses depending on the brand.
(For Nikon fans that want to save money, you can replace the D90 in
Package A-2 with a D5000 and save $200-$300, if you don't need the
features of the D90.)
I want really good glass in front of my camera just in case I ever get
serious into photography. All the other lens packages include at least
one professional level lens that will work with each manufacturer's
expensive full frame dSLR cameras. If I ever decide to get a Canon EOS
5D Mark II or a Nikon D700 I want to have lenses that will work well
with those cameras.
My budget will dictate only one professional lens, so packages B and C
on the spreadsheet puts emphasis on one of the lenses, prime or zoom.
For Canon I put one L Series lens into each of these mid range packages.
This is their professional line of lenses. Nikon does not have a simple
designation for their Pro level lenses, but I was easily able to pick
out the comparable lenses for a side by side view.
Zoom or prime? If a prime lens is more important than a zoom go with
package B-1 or B-2, depending on brand. These packages contain a
professional quality prime lens while using the zoom lens from the
$400-$600 range. If a zoom lens is more important then go with package
C-1 or C-2. For the C packages I used each brand's 35mm f/2.0 lens. This
is in the same price range as the 50mm lens from package A. When we get
to crop factor this will make sense. Packages B & C also include a macro
lens, since I plan on doing macro photography.
Package D uses pro level lenses for the prime, zoom & macro lenses. This
is for people that are serious about their photography... and have a lot
of money to spend. I would love to start here, but I just can't justify
the expense. However, if this is the direction you want to go you can do
this over time. Just buy one lens at a time as money allows.
Package E is a complete wish list of all the professional level lenses I
could possibly want. Clearly this is for the professional photographer.
I assume anyone spending $5,000 on lenses is going to spend more than
$600-$800 on the camera itself. All the lenses in package E-1 for Canon
will work with Canon's professional full frame cameras. On the Nikon
side, package E-2's most expensive lenses will work with Nikon's best
pro cameras.
High End Alternatives
Once we reach the $3,000 price range for a camera and lenses one must
wonder if a better camera should be part of the mix. Because I could not
stop wishing, I created Package F which gets each brand's most expensive
APS-C (small sensor) dSLR camera. I decided to cut costs slightly on the
lenses and go with really good zoom lenses that only works with APS-C
cameras. For around $3,000 you can have a Canon 7D or a Nikon D300s with
a prime and zoom lens. I wish I could afford these camera bodies. These
are the pinnacle of small sensor cameras.
While pricing the more expensive cameras I could not help but wonder
what kind of package the full frame cameras came with. I priced these on
BHPhoto as-is, rather them manually pairing a lens to a camera. Here we
have the Canon 5D Mark II with the 24-105 L Series lens I put in many of
my own packages. On the Nikon side they paired the D700 with the same
zoom lens I used in one of my own Nikon packages. I don't believe this
Nikon lens is up to the same standard as the Canon L Series zoom, but
then the package costs $300 less than the Canon.
These two sets of alternatives are here for two reasons. 1) To show you
what's out there. This is an extension of the last article where I said
there are no bad cameras. If you can afford these high priced cameras
they are great choices. 2) As my personal wish list. I would love to be
able to justify spending this much money. I can't, so I can just dream
about it in the spreadsheet.
Crop Factor
I need to talk about crop factor. If you are getting a prime lens you
need to know the relative focal length as it applies to the camera you
have. In the digital world, SLR cameras that do not
have a full frame sensor have a crop factor. Think about it this way,
when you make the sensor behind the lens smaller, the sensor sees the
lens as being larger. For the Canon T1i it has a crop factor of 1.6, and
the Nikon D90 has a crop factor of 1.5. If you put a 50mm lens on the
Canon it will have an equivalent focal length of 80mm, and on the Nikon
it would be 75mm. If you get a prime lens realize a 50mm lens which
normally gives a perspective about what your eye sees is actually going
to be a mild telephoto lens on these cameras.
That is why you will see I put Canon's 35mm L Series prime lens on the
Canon side. This lens will have an equivalent focal length of 56mm,
which will be as close as possible to the old days when I only had a
50mm lens on my film cameras. I really want this lens. The closest thing
to this that Nikon offers is a 35mm f/1.4 lens with manual focus. Also,
the 35mm Nikon is an imported lens, not meant to be sold in the United
States (we call this gray market). Sigma makes a 30mm f/1.4 lens for
both Nikon and Canon for about $430. That may be the way to go if you
are like me and want something the equivalent of the tried and true 50mm
lens of the film days. For this exercise I wanted to stick with Canon
and Nikon lenses, since it is those lenses that will stay with you for a
long time.
The crop factor is also present with zoom lenses. I will use one
example, the Canon 24-105mm f/4L lens has an equivalent focal length
range of 38-168mm on the Canon T1i (or any Canon camera with an APS-C
sensor). You can do the math yourself for the Nikon lenses. Just keep
this in mind as you shop for lenses.
Zoom vs. Prime
Back to zoom vs. prime. In the old days zoom lenses were a luxury and
millions of camera owners used nothing but a 50mm lens. Today zoom
lenses are everywhere. 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x, 12x. Where will it stop. Making
zoom lenses that are as fast as prime lenses is very expensive, so speed
suffers. They call lenses that have very wide apertures (low numbers)
fast because they can take pictures with much faster shutter speeds.
They also work much better in low light conditions. A side benefit is
speed of focusing. Most dSLR cameras focus on the subject with the lens'
aperture open all the way, letting in the most amount of light. This
allows faster focusing, and allows the camera operator to see better
through the viewfinder. It is when the shutter is pressed that the
camera closes the aperture to the amount necessary to take the picture.
Think about this when deciding to get a zoom lens. You have to spend
over $1,000 for a zoom lens that will have a maximum aperture of f/2.8.
Where as a prime lens can beat that for $100. A 50mm prime lens with a
maximum aperture of f/1.4 is still reasonable in the $400 range.
It is the wide aperture that allows you to blur out the background in
pictures, as well as work with much less light... such as indoor
photography without a flash. If you get one of the midrange zoom lenses
notice that you will be limited to f/3.5 and only at the closest zoom
setting. Most of these lenses can only reach f/5.6 when zoomed out. The
expensive zoom lenses will go to f/2.8 or f/4.0 throughout the entire
zoom range. This will provide good depth of field control for blurring
the background in your photos.
Decision Time
There you have it. Decide what you need, and what you want. Then pick
the package that is right for the kind of pictures you plan to take and
how much money you want to spend.
For me Canon seems to have a better selection of lenses for the
photography I plan on taking. Since I am going to be spending more money
on lenses than I am on the camera I think it is reasonable to let the
lenses dictate the brand. Since the lenses go with you and your
photography as you go from camera to camera, this is a good thing. It is
very likely that this article has pushed my own decision toward the
Canon EOS Rebel T1i. (NOTE: Unless the still unannounced 60D is
available before I drop my cash down).
I really want that Canon 35mm f/1.4 L series lens. Nikon really doesn't
have an equivalent, only having a manual focus import lens.
Unfortunately, I can't justify $1,400 for a single purpose lens. I will
most likely get one of the 35mm f/2.0 lenses paired with a professional
quality zoom lens. This means Package C for me.
Canon or Nikon? Look at the spreadsheet and see what each brand has to
offer (keep in mind these were just the lenses I would think about, each
company has many more lenses than those listed here). Once you have
those expensive lenses you are most likely going to stick with that
brand forever.
Buy the camera based on the lenses, unless you already have some
prejudice toward or against one of the companies.
Current Computer Eco-System & the iMac
This month I want to explain my current computer hardware
environment. This will become important over the next few months as I
progress toward my ultimate goal for a new computer eco-system. Let's go
over what I have, then I will explain where I want to go.
File/Print/Web Server:
- 320 GB drive (250 GB for file sharing)
- Holds ALL install files
- Holds non-standard copy of music files
These are stand alone MP3 files, not those in iTunes or Zune - Holds ALL photo files
- Holds backup of ALL critical files from desktop PC
Includes Documents, Personal Files, Music, Pictures, Mail, etc.
Desktop PC:
- 120 GB C: drive
- Hold ALL my music files
- 100 GB D: drive
- Holds all my personal files (particularly items normally for the Documents folder.
- Holds miscellaneous data files
- 1.5 TB USB external drive
- Holds ALL video files
- Holds ALL downloaded files
Over the course of the next few months (once you see the cost you
will understand this will take some time) I would like to get to the
point where I have multiple computers for different tasks. The reason I
can have multiple computers is simple... my current desktop computer is
adequate for many tasks as it is. I plan to use it and its two hard
drives as a guinea pig computer. It can easily dual boot because I can
set the computer to boot off either hard drive.
A few months ago I mentioned I want to
build a new desktop computer for running Windows 7. I may still do that,
but an interesting development has occurred that may have me rethink
that approach.
On top of all this this I want to get a Mac. I want to do this as
cheaply as possible. My gut tells me that with two computers (Win 7 &
Guinea Pig) I will want to get a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch
that will allow me to use one keyboard, mouse and monitor for both
computers. To add a Mac to this environment on the cheap would mean a
Mac Mini. Snow Leopard is supposed to be leaner and faster than the
previous version of the Mac OS, and the latest & cheapest version of the
Mac Mini family has 2 GB of memory and decent graphics. I could plug the
Mac Mini into a KVM switch and have three computers on one set of inputs
and one screen.
This seems simple enough, and this was the major plan for creating my
New Eco-System.
However, A few things have come up. First, I am going to get back into
photography as a hobby (see my Digital SLR
Camera Buying Tips article as well as the lens selection article
above). I
plan to use Photoshop extensively. I could use Photoshop on a PC or a
Mac. The important thing is the monitor. If I am going to be using
Photoshop a lot I want a bigger monitor. My current display is 22" with
a resolution of 1680 x 1050. I want at least HD resolution of 1920 x
1080. I would prefer even more resolution if possible.
Going to a larger display has muddied the waters considerably. I have
seen some 23-24" displays in the $300-$400 range that are 1920 x 1080.
This would work well with Blu-Ray... if I bothered to sit at my desk to
watch a movie. But is there anything BIGGER?
I did a search on NewEgg and they only list 3 monitors with a resolution
of 2048 x 1152. Two are 23", which I think will "feel" small compared to
my current display. For that much resolution you want a larger size.
That left an Acer model that is 27" for $430. The only other monitor
that had a resolution above 1920 on NewEgg's web site was a HP LP3065
30" monitor with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 that lists for $1,200.
Seems simple enough... 27" @ 2048 x 1152 for $430 or 30" @ 2560 x 1600
for $1,200.
The next big thing comes from Dell. They recently came out with a 27" monitor that has a resolution of 2560 x 1440. The Dell UltraSharp U2711 is selling for $1,099.
Or is there yet another solution?
Here's were it gets fun. The new 27" iMac has a resolution of 2560 x
1440 and starts at $1,700. Remember, I am contemplating a Mac Mini which
starts at $600. In fact, let's take a look at this in detail:
| Mac Mini | $599 | 27" iMac | $1,699 |
| 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo | 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo | ||
| 2 GB Memory | 4 GB Memory | ||
| 160 GB Hard Drive | 1 TB Hard Drive | ||
| nVidia GeForce 9400M (256 MB) | ATI Radeon HD 4670 (256 MB) | ||
| Dell U2711 27" | $1,099 | 27" Included | $0 |
| 2560 x 1440 (16:9) | 2560 x 1440 (16:9) | ||
| Total | $1,698 | Total | $1,699 |
So, if we really want 2560 x 1440 resolution these two
solutions are the same price. However, notice the performance difference between these two Macs... not to
mention the hard drive space.
But wait, there's more. The 27" iMac can accept input from other sources
through a DisplayPort. A quick check on nVidia's web site shows that
their GeForce GT 200 series video cards support DisplayPort output (the
Win 7 PC I was considering building used either a GTX 260 or GTX 285,
both are part of the 200 series). This means if I build a Win 7 PC I can
hook it up to the iMac's screen.
Let's take this one step back. Macs have Boot Camp which allows them to
dual boot into Windows. I could setup Boot Camp on the 27" iMac and dual
boot between OS X and Win 7. The specifications of the iMac above are
pretty stout and should run Win 7 with ease. The graphics won't be up to
serious gaming levels, but for everything else it would be excellent...
even running Win 7 in a virtual machine without rebooting. This would be
for the few Windows apps that I cannot live without.
So, now you know my dilemma. Do I build a Win 7 PC, get a Mac Mini and
get a new display... or do I buy an iMac? I have seen the iMac screen at
Best Buy and it looks amazing. In fact, it was seeing this monitor that
started me looking for other monitors with similar resolution. Will
others step up like Dell and make 27" (or larger) display with 2560 x
1440 resolution. Will prices come down?
The next step is to look into KVM switches that support DisplayPort as
well as DVI.
Stay tuned. I expect this to play out during the summer of 2010. In the
coming months I will tell you about the rest of the New Computer Eco-System.
Conclusion
That's it for this month. I am totally stoked to get a new camera before my summer vacation. And new hardware after my vacation.
Stay tuned, it should be fun. Better yet, subscribe to my monthly newsletter and you will be notified when these articles are posted... delivered right to your in-box.
