which lens for shooting fireworks? 14mm, 28-75 or 70-200?

raider · 01-11-2009, 04:15 AM

Hi.

Australia Day (26th Jan) is coming real soon and there will be a big display of fireworks here. I would really like to try shooting fireworks for the first time using DSLR.

1 question: which lens is more suitable for the application?

DA14, Tamron 28-75 or Tamron 70-200?

Thanks for the help!

SpecialK · 01-11-2009, 10:54 AM

It depends how close you are, of course.

The 24-75 is probably your best choice.

kerrowdown · 01-11-2009, 10:56 AM

Don't forget to take your tripod / beanbag or some sort of camera support, it sure makes life a little easier.

*tybeck* · 01-11-2009, 02:48 PM

For July 4th last year I was shooting at 40-50mm with my DA 16-45mm /4.0 and was about 1/8 - 1/4 of a mile away from the pit. Ditto on the tripod. I also found a remote release to be helpful since Bulb mode took the best shots. Set up the shot and focus and they sit back in your chair and enjoy the show while you take photos.

raider · 01-11-2009, 03:39 PM

I have the cable release and also the tripod. Will bring them all to the event. Will bring a black card as well. Dont know how to use black card effectively yet. Will learn on that day I guess

Ok. I will bring the DA14 and Tamron 28-75 for the event. I will leave the tamron bazooka at home

Thanks for the tips!

*Ex Finn.* · 01-11-2009, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by SpecialK

It depends how close you are, of course.

The 24-75 is probably your best choice.

Last 4th of July I was able to get away by using the kit lens, long exposures on a tripod.
We were actually expecting for the pigs to show up at any moment!.
But they did not

.

Cheers. Mike.

raider · 01-11-2009, 06:57 PM

great shot.

Do we need to turn off NR or leave it on? leaving in on will make the k100D pause a long time in between shots. Leaving off the k100D will get a lot of hot pixels.

Do we shoot raw?

*Ex Finn.* · 01-12-2009, 03:03 AM

Originally Posted by raider

great shot.

Do we need to turn off NR or leave it on? leaving in on will make the k100D pause a long time in between shots. Leaving off the k100D will get a lot of hot pixels.

Do we shoot raw?

I leave NR on because of that when shooting JPEG,
Results in lost picture opportunities but such is life.

Cheers. Mike.

**joele** · 01-12-2009, 03:13 AM

I shoot raw with NR on and push the blacks a lot in lightroom to 'hide' the smoke which I hate the look of.. it all depends on how you like fireworks pics to look... The shots below were shot in I think 2-3 seconds exposures, f10 or so and I keep my ISO pretty low to avoid noise.. I used the Tamron 17-50 as it was more versatile (though of course it depends how near you are to them).. You really just need to use manual exposure (or bulb) and experiment a little as depending on your position, surrounding lights, how big the fireworks are... every show will be slightly different...

And yes I think a tripod and remote shutter cable is needed (well the cable is just usefull the tripod is needed)..

Marc Sabatella · 01-12-2009, 10:03 AM

There's basically two ways to shoot firwworks: low ISO / long shutter (requires tripod), or high ISO / short shutter (can potentially be done handheld). Either way comes with the possibility of noise. But if you're concerned with the slow shutter speed NR kicking in, maybe the best compromise would be to find the ISO / aperture combo to give you decent exposures at 1 second, so you don't have too much noise from high ISO nor from too slow a shutter speed but also don't have to wait for the slow shutter speed NR to kick in.

As for the original question, I don't really get it. I mean, if you own all three lenses, surely you have an idea of how they differ in field of view? And surely you've sene fireworks and have some idea of how much room they take up in the sky? You can then decide for yourself which field of view is what you want. 14mm would take in quite a bit of sky; you'd have to be right below the fireworks for them to fill the frame. 70mm or more would be fine if you were aching from a mile away. But normally, it seems that you'd want to be somewhere between, meaning the 28-75 is the obvious choice.

*vagrant10* · 01-12-2009, 02:30 PM

One thing I found out last year when shooting fireworks is to try not to release the shutter until after the fireworks have gone off. The initial explosion tended to be too bright and part of the picture ended up being overexposed like the first pic posted.

When I first tried fireworks, I was leaving the exposure open too long (like 20+ seconds) and then there was just a mash of explosions that lost definition and impact... see the last picture.

Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 2 sec (2)
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 33 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV

Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 2 sec (2)
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 33 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 30 sec (30)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 19 mm
ISO Speed: 100

raider · 01-12-2009, 03:46 PM

Thanks for the info. For the fireworks this Australia Day, I was thinking if I should capture just the fireworks in the sky (i.e. without any buildings at the background) or should I capture the fireworks together with the buildings.

If I take the shot with the buildings in mind, I am thinking the DA14 would do nicely. Then again, the fireworks will appear too small in the picture. Some websites say we should stand far away to avoid the smoke, so they recommend a zoom lens. But I think the 28-75 range as suggested by you guys seem to make a lot of sense, so this is what I will most likely use on that day.

If the exposure time for fireworks is in the region of 1sec (or 2sec), then NR on will still be acceptable on my k100D. I think I will definitely shoot raw this time.

Do u guys use the black card in between firework burst?

**joele** · 01-12-2009, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by raider

Thanks for the info. For the fireworks this Australia Day, I was thinking if I should capture just the fireworks in the sky (i.e. without any buildings at the background) or should I capture the fireworks together with the buildings.

I alternate for shows (depends on surrrounds too) its a mood thing for me I think

For Australia day I will go back to including buildings as I didn't for New Years..

Do u guys use the black card in between firework burst?

never tried that, with 2-3 second exposures it wouldn't be that practical I wouldn't think...

*jbinpg* · 01-12-2009, 08:12 PM

I agree that 2-5 second exposures work best. You don't have to use high ISO since there will be lots of light to play with from the fireworks. One thing I will be trying next time with fireworks is the Auto EV multi-exposure. I have found PP layering doesn't work very well with fireworks so I'll try it in camera.

Jack

nixcamic · 01-12-2009, 08:53 PM

I usually shoot long exposures (20-30 seconds) between f/8 and f/11 at iso 100 with a wide zoom, I like to get as much possible stuff into the frame since I don't like empty space with one firework in the middle, the chaotic random fireworks we have here lend themselfs to this, since on their own they usually aren't that impressive, but you fill a frame with them and they get a lot more interesting.

GX-10 ISO 100
20s
f/9.5
27mm

vagrant10: That last shot of yours is I think one of my favorite fireworks shots ever.