Help Me Understand Which Lens

[Grr]

Hi, Im new to photography, so please excuse my ignorance or improper lingo. I just bought a Sony a6000, I do graphic design.

 

I currently need to take some pictures of food and Im looking for that shallow depth of field capability, where the front and back of the plate are just out of focus, yet still see the whole plate. Im looking at the SEL30M35 macro, SEL35F18 & SEL50F18 oss lenses, and dont know, which is better for this type of photography? Can anybody give me some feedback or opinions?

 

Everywhere I read about feed photography they say a macro is the way to go, but, and again Im a beginner, the 35mm and 50mm have an F1.8, doesnt this mean a shalower depth of field? If I can take good food photography with this non-macro lenses it would be good for me because I can use them for other stuff I do outdoors and portraits apart from close up photos.

 

Hope Im being clear, and thanks for taking the time!

[Gilgenberg]

Hi

If you want to make pictures of food i would go with a manual focus lens with tripod and long focal length for a shallow depth of field.

Also with macro mode would be good. I would recommend something like a Tokina AT-X Macro 90mm 1:2.5 so you have also something good for portrait shooting.

But you will need space because of the long focal length.

If 90 is to long for you i would recommend a Minolta MC 58mm 1.2 (expensive) or cheaper the MC 58mm 1.4.

If you don´t like manual focus go for the SEL50F18  or the sigma 60mm 2.8 (very sharp and big amount of details) but you will need maybe a macro tube with electric contact´s for the af.

 

Or better ....but more expensive a LA-EA-2 adapter and a Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro. Great lens with OSS, very good for portrait´s.... but big.

 

 

all the best Andreas

 

[ViRuS X]

Food and product photographers who are using full frame A7 series usually go for 2 main lenses .. SEL55F18Z and SEL90F28G those are the Sony FE 55mm f/1.8 and Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 macro.

 

For your case with A6000 both lenses will work fine but they will be more expensive.

 

The Sony E 50mm f/1.8 is a good choice but if you want a macro lens for food photography the 30mm f/3.5 will not be very useful.

 

IMO you should try the 50mm f1.8 first then decide to go for 90mm macro or maybe rokinon 100mm 2.8 but this one will be manual focus lens.

[Reinhold_1]

Serious food photography is a very special challenge for every photographer. After my experience with this genre you need the following equipment (for A6000):

- tripod
- Remote Trigger
- Brightener and / or Flash
- 50 mm lens, a macro lens is best.

Since such recordings autofocus mode really only bothers, you should get a 50 Macro as the Minolta 3.5 / 50 mm M. But You can use of course the corresponding Macro lenses by every other manufacturer. Together with the appropriate adapter, it is perfect for this kind of shooting. On the APS-C sensor of the A6000 (I own it myself) the effective focal length corresponds to 75 mm - just right for me. What the 50s Minolta M makes you can see at the link below.

 

http://www.sonyalphaforum.com/topic/746-a6000-minolta-md-3550-macro-with-novoflex-adapter/

 

I bought my copy in nearly mint codition in the USA.

 

Good luck!

[SpaceManSpiff]

Hi, Im new to photography, so please excuse my ignorance or improper lingo. I just bought a Sony a6000, I do graphic design.

 

I currently need to take some pictures of food and Im looking for that shallow depth of field capability, where the front and back of the plate are just out of focus, yet still see the whole plate. Im looking at the SEL30M35 macro, SEL35F18 & SEL50F18 oss lenses, and dont know, which is better for this type of photography? Can anybody give me some feedback or opinions?

 

Everywhere I read about feed photography they say a macro is the way to go, but, and again Im a beginner, the 35mm and 50mm have an F1.8, doesnt this mean a shalower depth of field? If I can take good food photography with this non-macro lenses it would be good for me because I can use them for other stuff I do outdoors and portraits apart from close up photos.

 

Hope Im being clear, and thanks for taking the time!

Hi there Grr,

Congrats on your a6000 --great camera.

 

You can get shallow depth of field (DOF) in a number of ways.

1. Having a large aperture

2. Getting close to your subject

3. Longer focal lengths have shallower DOF

4. the larger the sensor the shallower DOF for a given aperture.

 

While the SEL50F18 is one of my favorite lenses for my NEX-6, it is a sharp, portrait type lens...its minimum focusing distance is about 40cm. You can certainly take a picture of a plate of food with background blur with this lens, but don't expect to be able to take pictures of any closer details.

 

I would expect similar performance from the SEL35F18  (great all-purpose lens) it focuses a little closer (30cm) but with the wider field of view, overall magnification is very similar.  

 

I use the SELM35 Macro for product shots and around-the-house type shots of food.  I think it works well for these kind of shots.  For true macro (100% magnification), however, its short focal length means you are really close to the subject and it is way too easy to inadvertently shade the subject with your camera.  

Keep in mind that macro lenses don't only focus close, you can also use them for other non-macro type subjects.  

 

if you are feeling adventurous and don't mind experimenting with manual focus lenses, the ones in the 50-55mm with an aperture of f/3.5 or f/4 focal length are common and not much money (maybe about $60 USD) and coupled with an inexpensive adapter ($15) make for an affordable macro experience.  Your a6000 works really well with these older lenses.  For macro work, I really don't miss having autofocus at all (I use an old Nikon 55mm f/3.5 macro lens).

 

Hope this Helps,

SpaceMan

[Moody]

I do own the A6000 and the SEL35F18, and I used it to shoot a few food shots. While this lens certainly isn't the "best" one for such photos, it will do the trick in most cases where you simply don't need extreme close-ups or magnification.

 

A real macro lens isn't necessary in my opinion, those are usually needed when you want magnifications of a detail. I don't think you'd need that for food photos.

 

For a given focal length and distance to your subject, the larger your aperture (the smaller the f-number), the shallower the DoF.

 

Have a look at online DoF calculators to get a feeling on how DoF depends on aperture, distance and focal length (see for example: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html )

For example, a 35mm at f/1.8 mounted on the A6000 will have a DoF of 4,6mm if you subject is at the focussing minimum distance of 30cm and of 1,35cm at 50cm. This should be shallow enough for most applications.

 

The 35mm focal length on the A6000 corresponds to a 52mm focal length on a full frame sensor (35mm sensor equivalent) and will give you a rather undistorted photo of what your eyes are seeing. I also use that lens as night lens when visiting cities, for example (loved it in Bangkok). The fact that it has OSS and AF is really nice for night scenes.

 

The 50mm lens will work fine too, at f/1.8 and the minimum focussing distance it would have a DoF of 4mm...

In normal food photography, you don't need smaller DoF than that.

And that's a great portrait lens.

 

I will have a look later on once I have access to my photos and see if I can post typical samples of what you could expect with the 35mm lens.

[Grr]

This is great, thanks for the very useful replies, itis just what I needed! I will look into all the suggestions carefully, Ill let you know what I buy, and hopfully post some photos of the results. Again thanks for taking the time.

 

And Moody I would love to see some examples from your 35mm.

[Moody]

Here a few examples of what you may expect to do with that 35mm on an A6000 (or hopefully better, lol):

 

 

A6000 & 35mm at f/2.2, 1/640s & ISO-100  (sunny day under the shade)

 

 

A6000 & 35mm at f/1.8, 1/1000s, ISO-100  (bright sunlight under the shade again)

 

 

A6000 & 35mm at f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO-2500  (dimly lit restaurant)

 

Those are just basic food snapshots done in restaurants while on holiday, nothing fancy. No lighting support nor tripod.

 

Here just two examples where I use that same lens during nightscenes.

 

 

A6000 & 35mm at f/1.8, 1/15s, ISO-1250

Taken from a boat cruising underneath that bridge (somewhere in Bangkok). 1/15s handheld on a shaky boat, a miracle that it came out ok.

 

 

A6000 & 35mm at f/1.8, 1/60s & ISO-100

Playing with DoF, and missing the focal point too, I guess ;-)

[twistedsound]

I ran into a similar situation while picking my lens for my NEX-6 for product photography (non-pro) work.

After a few trail and error testing, I find the SEL50F18 and SEL35F35 to work well with proper lighting, while it is probably the cheapest combo for quality images on Sony APS-C.

(not including manuals here)

 

After some research, i found the less-popular Zeiss Touit 50mm F2.8 Macro E Mount, this would be my most ideal lens but it's quite expensive at $1000 range. It is a Zeiss + Macro + 50mm + F2.8 (vs 30mm f3.5) and I wouldn't need to get "extremely close" to the subject that led to more light adjustment like the SEL30F35.  

 

If you have the budget, I would recommend it.  There are great reviews of this lens online, it serves as a nice portrait lens too.

[Gilgenberg]

i have to say that i´m not a great fan of the sony 35mm f1.8

 

but the Sony 50mm 1.8 OSS is a great lens and much better than the 35 IMO

 

you can use the Sony 50mm 1.8 OSS lens also with electronic contacted macro rings

 

NEX-7 + SEL50F18 with and without FOTGA10mm extension tube NE1

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[mtaz362071]

Fujinon glass FTW!!

[Grr]

Thanks to everybody, your replies really helped me decide which lense to buy. I went with the Sony 50mm 1.8, it may not be the most pro option but Im really happy with it, right what I wanted. Again Im just learning so dont judge, but you can check my first pics in this blog ( http://mangoychile.com ) and see what the lense looks like. Again, BIG thanks to all who replied!

[Austerror]

The 50 1.8 e lens is a great lens!

 

I recall someone here on the forum was using that lens to make panorama photos.  I'm not sure what software he was using for that.

[Moody]

Just had a look at your blog, you seem to be a very quick learner!

 

Excellent food photos, I really like your play with colors and geometrical forms.

That 50mm 1.8 is put to very good use, and you managed to get me hungry for mexican food at breakfast time ;-)

[Memed]

 

taken with the mighty 35/2.4 Zeiss Flektogon

would recommend this lens for close-up stuff, as long as you have good light, focuses down to 19cm...