Hi Alan I still don't get it from your description of the photographic situation why you don't photograph the normal way?
Even on crowded places you could look for a place slightly above the people or stand on something to give you a better position. I would not accept a result of 20 out of 600 exposures to be good enough. That means to me that you miss quite a lot of occasions just because of your shooting style. Could you clarify for me *again* what "using a pole" or "shooting from the hip" is all about? Your not afraid of people seeing you taking photos, are you? I'm going to the street parade in Zurich on august 13 to take people candid shots too ;-) greetings Markus >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Alan P. Hayes [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 3:34 PM >>To: [email protected] >>Subject: Re: SV: Need advice on picking a 50mm AF lens >> >> >>This is a great list. If you ask even a reasonably interesting >>question you not only get 5+ answers, but you guys then proceed to >>chew on the subject some more. It's quite enlightening! >> >>Keep going, I'm listening attentively. >> >>This setup doesn't have to work that well for me. >> >>I'm almost infinitely willing to waste card space. I may spend a day >>at the carnival, make 600 or more exposures and end up with less than >>20 that I want to look at more than twice. If I can come up with >>something that increases my technically acceptable shots for a given >>scenario from 1 in 50 to to 1 in 15 I'll consider it. Not all of >>this stuff uses the pole but it's mostly shot with the camera away >>from my face. Currently I'm working in such a way that it's helpful >>not to even have to touch the camera much. For instance, I'll stand >>just a little bit past one of the game booths, with my istD on the >>stick. I'm actuating the shutter with the remote. Spinning the pole >>toward the people playing the game just doesn't register as >>photography. Working this way, I have a lot better percentage than >>shooting from the hip. With a 50 mm I figure I could hit what I'm >>aiming at, but the chances that it would be in focus aren't too good. >>I'm finding that aiming from the far end of a ten-foot pole is a bit >>easier than I thought it would be. It's quite possible that for my >>way of working that I could get that to work with a 50, again with >>the focusing issue out of the way. >> >>I've only got one AF lens for the istD at present, a 19-35 Tokina >>zoom, which I find sometimes seems to get confused in broad daylight, >>then again, it does ok in light like this. >> >>Part of my problem is not having any experience with SLR level AF. >>(When does the enablement start, hint, hint?) >> >> >>At 11:17 PM +0100 8/3/05, John Dallman wrote: >>>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>(Alan P. Hayes) wrote: >>> >>>> I definitely will go on using my wide angles, but I'm wanting to get >>>> some isolated portraits, for which the 50mm seems ideal. >>> >>>It is. I do similar stuff indoors at conferences, and use an >>FA-50/1.4 for >>>almost all of it, usually with autofocus. The 50mm is too long to zone >>>focus in poor light and too narrow for your extension-pole trick to work >>>very well, I reckon. Going up to ISO 3200 might help. >>> >>>The autofocus does take its time in poor light, though. Learning to move >>>in such a way that people register you as a passerby rather than someone >>>paying attention to them helps a lot, but I still reckon to miss a fair >>>few shots. >>> >>>The tricky bit is learning how to use the focus points well. I still >>>haven't quite managed that; I usually just use the central one, but I >>>suspect I could do better if I learned what kind of pattern would work >>>better. >>> >>>-- >>>PDML means I get more e-mail than spam! >> >> >>-- >>Alan P. Hayes >>Meaning and Form: Writing, Editing and Document Design >>Pittsfield, Massachusetts >> >>Photographs at >>http://www.ahayesphoto.com/americandead/index.htm >> >>http://del.icio.us/ahayes >>
