[soalle]

Hello all -

I am here to try to extend a bit some of my knowledge in photography and trying to learn from someone else's experiences.

Background
* I do mainly landscape, city photography, I would love to get better at street photography. Below you find a couple of examples
* I do not shoot animals and wildlife, and I am not planning to move in that direction.... it might happen seldomly but it is not really my goal / cup of tea...
* I would love to improve my street photography, but I wouldn't see myself using the 60-250mm for it... just too... noticeable ;-)
* In the past I have used a lot the 18-250mm. When I was using the 18-250mm, I mainly (85%) used the range between 18-70mm, 5% 70-200mm and 10% 200-250mm.

Goals
* Now I am moving towards a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 + Pentax 60-250mm kit.
* I would love to learn better the 60-250mm. I see it as potentially outstanding.
* I would love to learn: techniques but most of all subjects.

Questions
* What do you shoot with your telezoom lenses?
* What are your favorite subjects?
* How did you get the best out of your telezoom?


This is a sample of what I shoot... but I am open to new suggestions!

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Last edited by soalle; 04-14-2013 at 11:23 AM.

[MJL]

Are you talking specifically about the use of the DA* 60-250 for street photography? If so, there are 2 main reasons I wouldn't use it for that purpose. First, it is too big, people often react negatively to big camera or lens, Second, it is f/4 and will struggle at dim light to focus either by hand or camera. A prime 85mm, 100mm or 135mm with f/2 or faster is my choice for street photography.

[Kerrowdown]

A prime 85mm, 100mm or 135mm with f/2 or faster is my choice for street photography.

+1 me too, in fact I only shoot primes, but that's because of the nature of work I do, not in any way a poor reflection on zooms.

Just continue to watch this thread, someone will be along in a minute or two with their take on zooms.

[reytor]

I use DA12-24, DA35ltd and DA*60-250 for most of my work (+DFA100WR for macros).
The 60-250 I use mainly to isolate subjects in landscapes, like a three with beautiful light falling on it.
For best result I use firm tripod, remote control and MLU.
I have also started o shoot birds (with camera&lens) but find 250mm to fall short many times and a 400 to 500mm seems to be better for this type of work.

[MJL]

Questions
* What do you shoot with your telezoom lenses?
* What are your favorite subjects?
* How did you get the best out of your telezoom?

Now I see your 3 Q's are up. Hope the following answers give you an idea on my use of zooms in general.

* Telezoom is great when there is a distance you have to keep but still want to get a reasonable image size. That include public performances such as airshow, concert, distant landscape, sport or wildlife.
* I shot from Astro to Marco in digital/film and love them all. For important images, I will use only prime lens & RAW file.
* Each zoom has its' best range of focal length and/or aperture, I try to stay inside that range. Like Reyton said, a tripod or monopod is your telezoom best firend. I found OS slow down shooting speed and eat battery.

[DVaughan007]

Hey,
Shot no.2 looks amazing. Keep doing what your doing !
With my telezoom's, I mostly shoot Surfing. Often stand on the waters edge or mount on tripod in the back of my ute.
I attached a sample however the da 55-300 was used and lighting was very dim.
Cheers!

[soalle]

First, it is too big, people often react negatively to big camera or lens,

* I would love to improve my street photography, but I wouldn't see myself using the 60-250mm for it... just too... noticeable ;-)

The 60-250 I use mainly to isolate subjects in landscapes, like a three with beautiful light falling on it.
For best result I use firm tripod, remote control and MLU.

Thanks for the advices! Sorry for the newbie question... what is MLU?

Shot no.2 looks amazing. Keep doing what your doing !

Thanks! Actually what I like particularly is the picture of the gondola. It fell just a tad short to make it to the Exclusive Gallery ;-)

Anyone else willing to share his experience and show me his/her best take with telezooms?

[reytor]

[i]*

Thanks for the advices! Sorry for the newbie question... what is MLU?

MLU = Mirror Lock Up
You can find it in drive mode menu (though not sure about K30).
What it does, it lifts up the mirror with first shutter release press and with second press activates the shutter.
You should use it only with remote control as then it gives the real benefit minimizing the camera movement at the moment the photo is taken.
I recommend to use it every time you have inmobile target and you have time to set up the tripode & remote control.
It's not really suitable for street photos though.

[soalle]

MLU = Mirror Lock Up
You can find it in drive mode menu (though not sure about K30).
What it does, it lifts up the mirror with first shutter release press and with second press activates the shutter.
You should use it only with remote control as then it gives the real benefit minimizing the camera movement at the moment the photo is taken.
I recommend to use it every time you have inmobile target and you have time to set up the tripode & remote control.
It's not really suitable for street photos though.

gotcha! Clearly and easily explained... thanks!

[bdery]

I would love to improve my street photography, but I wouldn't see myself using the 60-250mm for it... just too... noticeable ;-)

I mainly use my DA21 for street photography. It's great as a cityscape lens.

Now I am moving towards a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 + Pentax 60-250mm kit.

A great combo.

I would love to learn better the 60-250mm. I see it as potentially outstanding.

It is amazing. I don't see it as a hard lens to use, however.

I would love to learn: techniques but most of all subjects.

Fair enough.

What do you shoot with your telezoom lenses?

My son, candids, any person that I do not want disturbed by the camera, faraway buildings, sports,

What are your favorite subjects?

My 2 years old son and my wife.

How did you get the best out of your telezoom?

With my previous lenses, here goes:

Vivitar 70-210 : a great lens, all manual so shots took some time to plan, but I did manage to grab some great candids. Plan, pre-focus, anticipate. It has teached me well.

Pentax 100-300 f4,7 : 300mm is harder than I would have thought. That lens is plenty sharp but too slow for my needs. DOF control is important with a telezoom. A light lens has its advantages.

My current love affair : 60-250. I just snap it on and shoot! If I plan on shooting a lot, I use a monopod or tripod, otherwise I just attach it to my neck. Light enough. Regarding people, I have learned that it is much better if they are not aware that you are shooting. It's great for candids. Do pay attention to DOF. And to movements. Far away subjects might be affected by air turbulence. Use the hood. That's it!

[soalle]

My current love affair : 60-250. I just snap it on and shoot! If I plan on shooting a lot, I use a monopod or tripod, otherwise I just attach it to my neck. Light enough. Regarding people, I have learned that it is much better if they are not aware that you are shooting. It's great for candids. Do pay attention to DOF. And to movements. Far away subjects might be affected by air turbulence. Use the hood. That's it!

Thanks for the tips! Do you find it the AF fast enough for shooting at kids? I have the feeling that the screw driver lenses are faster (generally... not always ;-)

[bdery]

Do you find it the AF fast enough for shooting at kids?

In decent light or better, no problems. I shot some canadian football and kids sliding down a snow mountain, those are the two most difficult situations I have faced speed-wise. And that's with a K20D, the newer cameras are supposed to be much faster.

Of course, it pays to anticipate, pre-focus (so the lens only has to do minor corrections) and plan your shot. Using a full manual lens for a time has helped with this, for sure.

[Sagitta]

Zooms for me are pretty much for:

1. "I'd like to be closer but I can't because something is preventing me" (like a river, a crowd, a cliff, hungry alligators, my inability to levitate, whatever)
2. "I want to shoot stars"
3. "I want bokeh but I don't want to be up in someone's face with the camera/want a full body shot."
4. "I'm using the macro mode that that long lens has on it." (ie, I'm actually shooting up close and tiny)

Examples:

1:



2:



3:



4:

[JinDesu]

I own a Tamron 70-200 F2.8. For reference, I also own a Sigma 50 F1.4, Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4, Tokina 35-70, and Sigma 50 F2.8 macro. My most used lens is the Tamron 70-200, followed by the Sigma 50 F1.4.

To provide answers to your questions:

* What do you shoot with your telezoom lenses?
I shoot almost everything with my Tamron 70-200. Subjects include people, street photography, some landscape photography, general flora, general fauna (squirrels, cats, etc), some macro (1:3 reproduction ratio), etc.

* What are your favorite subjects?
My favorite subjects to shoot with the Tamron 70-200 are portraits, flowers and animals, and general scenes that benefit from the telezoom compression and the bokeh.

Example:


* How did you get the best out of your telezoom?
A fast telephoto zoom is best used to generate fantastic bokeh and great background compression. This allows you to create beautiful portraiture and lovely isolation nature shots. In addition, you may be surprised at how well a fast telezoom can do in street photography. Being restricted by the longer focal length and the size of the length forces you to move to certain vantage points that lets you take a lot more photos of people and locations without subjects looking at you.

For example:

[Clarkey]

I'm certainly no expert. Here is my 0.02c. I have the 55-300mm, which has slow and loud AF, but manual (=quiet) quick-shift.

Good responses above. Compression of elements in the fore and background to create interest and depth is a good use. I've also found tele-zoom lenses to be (relatively) free from distortion, which makes shooting things involving lines or levels easier. Contrast loss can be an issue, so try to always use a hood.

I have an excellent basic book in my possession by Tom Ang (Digital photography). I think the best piece of advice I read (that has stuck) is to ensure that each part of the zoom is used, not just each end (it tends to be the long end). He also advocates using your zoom like a prime and setting a single focal length (FL), and then looking for and creating pictures by framing at that FL, rather than pumping the zoom each time.

To your question, pretty much anything.

Portraits:



Landscapes:



Animals: