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Best lens for Church and stained glass photography?


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So I am about to buy a Sony a6400 and a Laowa 2x lens for macro: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1542830-REG/venus_optics_ve6528se_laowa_65mm_f_2_8_2x.html

But I also want to buy a lens for taking outside pictures of stone churches and inside pics of the stained glass.

Since I'm already getting the 2x Laowa, I'd figure I'd take a look at their other options, do either of these work well for doing this type of outside church/inside stained glass work:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1647490-REG/venus_optics_ve7520mftaeblk_laowa_7_5mm_f_2_mft.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1712870-REG/venus_optics_ve9028fe_laowa_90mm_f_2_8_2x.html

Is there another lens by Laowa that I should consider?  I'd like to stay around $400-$500 if I can

Are there any other lens I should consider for this kind of work?

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I watched a video about church photography and the person said a 24-70mm was the best all around lens for this type of work.  They also suggested a longer lens for additional perspectives.

So using those specs the only one I found on BH was this Sony:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1411906-REG/sony_vario_tessar_t_fe_24_70mm.html

Higher than I wanted to spend, but I'm sure this is a great lens and it seems this may be a niche that only has a few options, this Sony lens being one of them.

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It appears you still need to learn a lot about the camera you bought. First of all, it has a Sony E-mount, which can only take E-mount lenses. The 7.5mm f/2 is a Micro 4/3rd lens (mft) which neither fits on your camera nor does it cover the total area of your image sensor.

Secondly, your a6400 has an APS-C sized sensor, which is a different format from Fullframe (it is a bit smaller). Sony E-mount comes in both formats. To understand the relevance of this, you need to understand the concept of 'equivalent focal length'. The video you watched was likely talking about the Fullframe format. To get the same field of view on your APS-C camera, you need to divide the focal length of the lens by the crop factor. Since an APS-C sensor is 1.5× smaller than a Fullframe sensor (24mm wide vs 36 mm wide), it has a crop factor of 1.5. To get the same field of view on your a6400 as a 24-70mm lens on a Fullframe camera, you therefore need a 16-47 mm lens (= 24/1.5 to 70/1.5). In the $400-$500 price range, I'd recommend the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 DC DN if you value good low light performance indoors, or the Sony 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 if you value extra zoom range. Some of the worse low light performance of the Sony is compensated for by the optical steadyshot (OSS) of that lens, especially when shooting handheld: your camera doesn't have a stabilized sensor.

Some last question: why are you specifically considering Laowa lenses? The ones you listed cover totally different focal lengths and neither is designed for your sensor format. This leads me to think you're pretty new to photography and in my opinion it would be sensible to buy a zoom lens, to better understand wich focal length works for you and your specific use case.

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Small addition: I'd strongly advise against the Sony/Zeiss 24-70, especially on an APS-C camera. It is an older, mediocre lens design and because it is a Fullframe lens, it is larger, heavier and more expensive than what you need on an APS-C camera.

If you can stretch your budget a little (which I assume you can since you're considering the Sony/Zeiss 24-70), I'd advise the Tamron 17-70 f/2.8. Slightly wider at the wide end than the Sigma and Sony zooms I suggested in my previous post, which is a benefit with architecture photography (though possibly, 17mm still isn't wide enough). 70mm on the long end on APS-C should be plenty narrow for tight shots indoors. Also, it includes stabilized optics, which is a real benefit on the a6400.

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I'll add to Pieter's great advice/questions, by mentioning that much depends on the size of these churches and stained glass windows.  Usually churches are pretty big while stained glass windows are pretty small.  That suggests to me two very different lenses -- whether fixed or zoom.  And much depends on how close you are to the churches or the stained glass.  The closer you are the more distortion there will be in the perspective  -- such as the lines of the steeple or glass not being straight.  In this situation, a perspective control lens might be a good idea.  These are more expensive, and as far as I know, none are zooms.

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Ok thank you for your detailed explanation!

Yes I am very new to photography and really unsure about a lot lol

I was only considering Laowa because I was planning on getting their Macro lens (I think from a suggestions of your from another thread of mine) and figured I would see if they had other options for architecture.  So I can easily pick another better option from your suggestions.

Even though it's more expensive, I'm now leaning towards the Tamron lens you suggested if you feel that will be a better option for architecture style photos.

Now after @XKAES post I don't know if I should just forget this venture all together lol

Ugh I don't know what to do now.  Ahh if only money was in more abundance I'd just buy everything lol

 

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Though @XKAES's advice is sound, it is also on a more advanced level of photography: perspective control lenses are pretty niche and (as far as I know) are only made for Fullframe format. If you have no point of reference what focal length works for you, a zoom gives you a lot of flexibility to experiment with different points of view and allows you to play with perspective and composition. Once you've used a zoom lens for a while, you'll start to know which focal lengths you like (or miss).

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I think you'll be fine with that setup for years to come. Sony hasn't released any new APS-C cameras in the past couple of years (except the video centric ZV-E10) because they're primarily focussed on Fullframe. No doubt one will come sooner or later, but it'll likely be more expensive than the a6400. Since you're pretty new to photography, I expect the a6400 will have plenty of headroom for you to learn and experiment. I doubt you'll ever find the camera to be lacking in your creative process.

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  • 1 month later...

If you want to maintain your small/compact footprint, I would suggest the Sony Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens  - It will handle interior duty for stained glass and outside building photography as well.  I've done plenty of interior church photography all over Europe with f4 with great results since the lens has stabilization.  However, the best deal from price, and size, perspective is to get the A6400 with the 16-50 kit lens, use it for a while and slowly decide what other lenses you might want/need based on your experience with the 6400 and not from reading about it. 

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I like my Laowa 15mm "zero distortion" lens for wider shots, or if I can't stand far enough back to capture the shot, otherwise.

Although this is designed for full frame, it still fits APS-C cameras- but becomes the equivalent of 21mm - so it is still a nicely wide angle lens and, being rectilinear, does not bend all those straight lines you find in architecture.

This lens also has the ability to take macro photos (x1) with the unusual effect of capturing a wide background at the same time. 

Although bigger than a 20mm lens for APS-C, it is still small enough to fit into your hand.

As always, I'd recommend going to a reputable 2nd hand photography specialist.

 

Edited by thebeardedgroundsman
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