35mm Camera lens ? Need help ASAP?
I have a vivitar v2000 35mm camera that I use for my photography classes. It came with two lens, one of which is a 70-210mm macro 1:4 lens. I have no idea what this lens does?! LOL I know it is for taking pics farther away but what else will it do to the image I am taking a photo of? Will it kill my depth of field and flatten the image if I extend it all the way out at a horizontal angle, what will it do for vertical images?
Please HELP ASAP as I have an assignment due and I need to get to taken pictures
Understand that time and money are of the essense in taking these photos I have 2 weeks to get this done, which is plenty of time, however I do not want to waste my time shooting with this lens and then my time and money developing and printing the enlargements if the lens isnt going to give me the desired affect, most especially since in addition to everything else I am using infrared film which is also more expensive, I wouldnt waste time asking online if i had the option of just putting it on my camera and going to town! Thanks for the help
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The 70-210mm is a zoom lens. It allows you to stay in one position and take a picture as though you’d moved physically closer to your subject. Why don’t you put it on your camera and experiment with it?
Since Depth of Field (DOF) is a product of three factors: 1) Lens focal length, 2) The f-stop chosen and 3) Subject distance, the 70-210mm will give you less DOF than a 50mm lens at 70mm and substantially less at 210mm.
These sites will help you understand DOF:
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
http://www.illustratedphotography.com/photography-tips/basic
As far as I’m aware a macro lens is for close-up work. Not sure about depth of field considerations…
The Vivitar v2000 is a good little camera for your class, fully manual and cheap to buy. What exactly have you been doing in your photography class?. All this information on the lens should have been explained to you in detail right at the start of the course. From now on when the teacher is talking I suggest you pay attention.
70-210mm – This is the focal length of the lens, the lower the number the wider the angle.
1:4 – This can also be said to be f/4. ie the maximum aperture is f/4. I am not going to explain about apertures, you should have covered this at the start of the course.
Macro – This allows for close up work, although this is in no way a true macro lens at all. Expect to be able to focus a little closer than most lenses of this focal length, but don’t expect to be filling the frame with an ants head.
Why are you questioning portrait and landscape orientations?. Why on earth do you think it will affect DOF?.
I think you need to approach your teacher, tell him/her that you are sorry but you have been paying no attention at all in class and you need to learn the basics. With questions like these I doubt you will pull off even one good shot from that roll.
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Your 70-210mm is a telephoto zoom.
- Zoom means that the focal length is adjustable. That’s a convenience – it saves you from purchasing multiple lenses to achieve multiple focal lengths.
- it is a telephoto lens. That means that the focal length (ANY of the focal lengths that are available in this adjustable lens) is longer than ‘normal’. In the 35mm world, a ‘normal’ lens is one that has a focal length that is about equal to the diagonal dimension of the 35mm frame. "Normal’ tends to approximate the view possible with the human eye. All telephoto lenses have the characteristics of shallower depth of field and compression of the image (the tendency to make objects that are lined up along the lens axis appear to be squeezed together – another term is ‘flattening’). These characteristics are stronger and more pronounced as the focal length increases. That is, you may not notice them at the 70mm setting, but they will be apparent at the 210mm end of the zoom range.
-is is designated as a ‘macro’ lens. That’s marketing-speak for a design that allows the lens to focus on objects that are relatively close to the camera. True macro lenses are optimized for use at close subject distances – telephoto zoom macro lenses allow for closer focusing, but they aren’t necessary ‘optimized’ for maximum sharpness at close distances. One lens can’t be optimized for many variables – your lens was intended as a general purpose lens for folks who don’t want to spend the money needed to buy multiple special purpose lenses.
- it doesn’t matter whether you are composing horizontal or vertical images – these effects are the same.
The best thing is to put it on your camera and see what it does. It has the same effect in vertical as in horizontal, as does any lens. Basically it’s a medium tele lens, as you note. With a reflex you can more-or-less observe the depth of field through the lens – the d of f gets reduced in a tele lens. It flattens images by compressing distant objects together, as you observe. Being brutal, just use it and see!