Basic wide angle lens questions from a newbie.?

[Jeff]

I just bought my 1st DSLR camera, Sony A200. It came with an 18-55mm F3.5 lens. If I'm going to be shooting people do I want a wider angle lens? Isn't the 18mm end of the lens it came with wide enough? someone told me to get a 50mm F1.7. What is the range of that len's?

Not sure what my next lens shoud be.

I am new to photography and have enrolled in classes but they don't start for 2 months!

 

[MixedMojo]

18mm is plenty wide for group shots, people, or whatever you'd need to shoot. Buying a wider lens is purpose driven (meaning, you should know why you need one and for what purpose it would serve) because they are quite expensive. A good choice would be this lens: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/439153-REG/Sony_SAL1118_SAL_1118_11_18mm_f_4_5_5_6_DT.html which at $700, is not cheap -- but is an ultra-wide lens. I doubt you would need a lens like that, being that you've only just got the camera. The 50mm would be a good buy (but is not a wide lens, by any standard), it is a short telephoto (crop equivalent) prime lens (non-zoom), with only one field of view, but excels at low light photography where you would not want to use flash - and is generally used for that purpose. Another purpose is for close portraiture, allowing for a depth of field that can compliment a portrait through isolation of the subject from the background by nicely blurring it out. Plus they are quite cheap to buy. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/622190-REG/Sony_SAL50F18_SAL_50F18_50mm_f_1_8_DT.html I would recommend the 50mm f/1.8, for sure (whether you're sure you need one, a fast 50 is ALWAYS nice to have).

 

[Fishmeister]

Dude is incorrect in his recommendation for a portrait lens if he is not referring to group shots. He is right in saying that you need to steer away from the wide angle lenses (wide angles will only distort), but you do not need to look to the focal lengths he mentioned. If you are talking group shots then wide is fine (but not good for closeup work). He is very right is saying not to buy a mega zoom, anything that offers a focal range of say 18-200mm (very wide to long range) is generally junk and to be avoided. You need to look at prime lenses for speed and image quality.

Ideal portrait lenses (whether crop body such as yours or full frame) are in the 50mm to 135mm range. You will be looking at a prime lens, so therefore you will have a wider aperture (a faster lens in other words) and beacause it is prime you will also have a sharper and overall better quality lens than a zoom equivalent.

The 50mm f/1.7 (if that is what is in Sony's range, I am more familiar with Canon and some of Nikon) sounds like an ideal portrait lens on your crop body DSLR. I use 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 for all of my portrait work.

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[.fired77]

yes, it's wide enough for lots of stuff. It's very wide.

the 50mm 1.7 is a good portrait lens. It makes photos look very shallow- the background is very blurry.

 

[Dude]

If you are shooting portraits you are going to need a lens that has about a 105 to 150mm on it. Don't get a mega zoom, like over 200mm. Also, f-stop is important. Get an f-stop that is the smallest you can for the price, like an f/1.8

 

[Sakura]

You don't want it to be wider because that will cause distortion which isn't usually very pleasing... for portraiture, you want your lens to stay between 70 to 135mm on a full frame... your camera is not full frame and has a crop factor of 1.5x, so you'll want your lens to stay between 46 to 90mm.