Hey Everyone! Hope you've had a good week. This is a blog that closely follows a blog about shooting one focal length I did a couple of weeks ago. Here's the link.  One Focal Length Challenge. This blog is about lenses that can do almost anything that are primes. Not only are they practical and creative but can be used for Portraits, Landscapes and Street photography. Almost everything. Almost Goldilocks lenses. Just right! Here are a few things that I really like about primes. They are usually less expensive. Of course there are exceptions but overall they are much more friendly to your wallet than a Zoom lens is. You usually can get very wide apertures with these lenses like f/1.8 or f/1.4. These lenses
are smaller and more compact and lighter than Zoom lenses are. And these lenses are usually very sharp.  Prime lenses make you shoot with a purpose and intention. It makes you look at your scene with a more creative eye. Which is good! You're not just pointing zooming and shooting. You're thinking. Now when I say 35mm or 50mm I mean full frame sensor sized cameras. For crop sensor cameras it will be a 23mm or a 35mm respectively. So let's start with one of the most popular prime lenses the 35mm.

35mm- The 35mm almost has a Legendary status among street and travel photographers. It truly has that Goldilocks feel to it. Is not too tight when shooting and it's not too wide either . It's in a sweet spot. It is said that the 50mm is closest to the normal eye perspective. The 35mm is a normal eye's peripheral vision.  It's wide enough that you could use it for many Landscape shots. It is super for environmental portraits. It lets the background in your shot. So when you take a portrait of someone you also can get the environment that they are in. Instead of just getting a portrait of the butcher you also get him working in his butcher shop. With a 35mm you have to get a little closer to your subject when you shoot which takes some practice . The small size of this lens make it not so intimidating to your subject that makes it great for street photography. Many camera's that have fixed lenses that are on the market now like the Fuji X100 series come with a lens that mimics the 35mm. This lens is not great for tight headshot portraits but more environmental  shots. Great for like candid shots at a wedding where you get folks talking at a table or dancing. You can get them in the environment. This focal length is so popular it does tend to be a little bit more pricey than the next lens I'm going to talk about the 50mm.

50mm- This lens known as the "Nifty Fifty" Is one of the most affordable lenses you can purchase as a photographer. To me I can almost shoot everything with it. In the film days when you bought a camera it came with a 50mm lens. Usually a f/1.4 or a f/1.8. Most of us shot with this combo for a couple of years before we got another lens. So old-timers like myself really like the look of a 50mm. This lens like I mentioned before is the closest to your normal eye perspective. This makes it easy to frame and shoot because it's just as you saw it. This lens is a great portrait lens. You can get great headshots of folks and it gives a more natural look than say the 35. If you get too close with a 35 things tend to get a little distorted like Noses tend to get larger. But not the 50. It is great for street but you will have to step back a little if you want that environmental shot like the 35. Really the difference between the 35 and 50 is where you are to your subject. If you are in tight spots the 35 would be better but if you have some room I would say the 50 is better. You can use it for landscape and it's great for product photography as well. I love this focal length and could shoot it all day no problem. You can find these lenses new for less than 300 dollars and used even cheaper. I think every photographer should have a 50 in their kit.

You can get both of these lenses in your camera brand or 3rd party lenses. There are lots of them out there and a used one would be good also. I love going out and just taking one of these lenses with me. It cuts down the decision making process out of the picture and makes you think more about composing and being artsy. Well that's enough for me this week until next week "Get out and Shoot!" 

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link

Hey Ya'll! How's it going? Spring is in the air and a great time for photography. This week's blog is how to take great photo's on a budget. If I were buying a mirrorless interchangeable camera as my first camera. Now I have done blogs on what I think a first camera should be a good point and shoot like my trusty Canon G7XII. Here is a link to that blog First Camera. There are 3 key factors to taking great photo's. First and most important is Your Photography Skills. Second of importance is the Lens. And the least important is the Camera Body. Let's talk about them. In this blog I will reference Sony brand camera's but all camera brands will have similar products at similar prices new and used. 

Photography Skills- These skills are the Most important and something that is learned over time and you don't need a fancy camera to learn them. You can learn them with a phone or a point and shoot camera like mentioned above. These are things like composition, framing and creating an artistic eye. Seeing like a photographer. These are learned things except maybe the artistic eye some folks just have that but composition and framing come with shooting . There is also some technical aspects like the exposure triangle to learn and use. Learning about aperture , shutter speed and ISO and how they affect the photo. And then there is editing. That is as much as important as the taking of the photo itself. Even back in the film days this was important. Ansel Adams was an expert film developer and printer back in the day creating new techniques and processes to get the image he wanted. These are things that you can start right now learning. There are tutorials that can be seen online and workshops that you can attend to help you with this part of the process. It doesn't matter how good of a camera kit you have if you don't have the photography basics and editing basics you'll still have poor photographs. This learning process will last the rest of your life. I'm still learning new stuff every day.

Camera Lens- This is the most important thing you can Buy to improve your photography. This is what you and your camera see through to capture the image you want. You don't need to spend a ton to get a good quality lens although you certainly can. When you're first deciding on your first kit you have to decide on what sensor size you want.  Full Frame or APSC sensor size. Here is a blog I wrote on APSC sensor types. APSC Sensor Cameras And Here's one o Full Frame Sensor. Full Frame Sensor Camera's.  No matter what type of sensor size camera you choose here are a few tips on getting a good lens on a budget. First you need to know what you're going to shoot. If you are going to shoot portraits or things in low light a wide aperture lens will be preferred. With Prime lenses you can get wide apertures like f/2.8, f/1.8 or even f/1.4 or wider much cheaper than a Zoom lens with a similar wide aperture. Another way to save money is by buying used. Here is a blog I wrote on buying used Buying New or Used. Third party lenses like Sigma, Viltrox, and Tamron are good choices for lenses for folks on a budgets. Just keep in mind that most camera companies put restrictions on third party lenses like maybe shutter burst rates. This may be important if you are a sports or wildlife photographer. If you are a Landscape or travel photographer another option is to get lenses with a f/4 AMT2016-sony-a6300-review-0423-2Photographer: Anthony Thurston maximum apertures where a very wide aperture is not needed. These lenses will be smaller and cheaper. Thats what I use on my Sony camera's. All camera companies have their top of the line lenses. Sony's is the "G Master" lens. I only have one of these lenses a 100-400. I bought it used and an older version than the most current version. But it is great quality. Research is the key. Reading blogs, reviews, watching youtube videos and talking to other photographers will help you decide on what you need and the best way to acquire them.

Camera Bodies, No matter what you see on the internet or advertisements the camera body is the Least important item in the three things I mentioned above. I use a camera body that came out in 2018 (Sony A7III) and it gives me great photo's. The only time I would recommend getting the newest body is if you are a full time Wildlife Photographer or Sports Photographer. Everyone else an older used camera will work great. The camera companies make it sound like you can't live without all of the fancy features that they offer but really you don't need all of that to get great photo's. Just about all of the photo's on my website were taken with a APSC 24 mega pixel camera or my phone. I still shoot a 24 mega pixel camera now. For my type of photography I don't need the latest and greatest. The camera body I use now can be had for 900 bucks used. Compared to a 2500 dollar newer version Sony A7V.  Things to consider when getting your camera body. Of course APSC or Full Frame but also battery life and type is important. Anything 24 mega pixel or larger will work. In body camera stabilization is great to have. If buying used shutter count is like the odometer reading on your car. Lower is better. If buying used buy from a quality dealer they will have the shutter count on the camera. Again Research is the key and go to fellow photographers they will love to talk about their camera's and will usually let you shoot them and handle them.

Taking great photos can be done on a budget but remember it's just not the camera or lens it's your photography skills that will make a great photograph. Camera brand doesn't matter even though every Nikon owner will say theirs is the best and Canon will do the same but they all know Sony is the best. LOL Just kidding . Any brand made in the last decade will produce great photo's. I chose Sony because they were the first company to really adopt the mirrorless camera's and I switched from Nikon to Sony and have been with Sony ever since .  In my camera club I one of just a few that shoot Sony.  Remember research is the key! Until next week . Get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link

Hey Ya'll! I just wanted to say this is my 400th blog! Whoop! Whoop! Who would have thought that I would have so much to say? Let's see 400 divided by 52 equals 7.6. Over 7 and a half years of doing a once a week blog. Whew! How's everyone doing? Me? Not too bad. But I've been in a photography slump. I have been working on the MAV (Max's Adventure Van) so much that my photography has taken a hit. Also the weather has not been too good for photography either. But spring is in the air and I want to get out and shoot but I need to do something to kick start my photography mojo. I think once I get started I'll be okay.  Now I have been in slumps in the past and sometimes just getting a new piece of gear will knock you out of that slump. But I'm pretty set on gear. Sometimes just changing genres of photography does the trick. Maybe trying a new and different technique to get those juices flowing again. This week I want to share a technique that has helped me in the past and helped me see more photography minded. Shooting with one focal length. Some may call it a one lens challenge but lots of people all they have are zoom lenses and if you just restrict to one lens you could have a focal length of 24-120mm which isn't much of a challenge because you have so many focal lengths to shoot from. So if you only have zooms you can use a piece of gaffers tape and tape your lens to one specific focal length. Say 35 or 50 and leave it there all day. For me I like using primes for this exercise and put a 35, 50 or even a 85 and only use it for a day. This exercise will get you more into seeing the scene. You will have to use your feet to zoom in and out and framing will become easier as the day goes on.  Usually with zooms we tend to shoot at the long end or the short end and not much in the middle. But if you restrict yourself to one focal length it makes you see things differently. 

How do I do this? I usually take a photowalk somewhere. It could be somewhere I've done many times like my hometown or somewhere near by. But by restricting your focal length you have to see the same scenes differently. Now if you like to do landscapes this could work also.  A year or so ago Robert my photography wing man and I decided to do this challenge. It was a one lens or (Focal length) challenge. We decided to go to Wilmington NC and shoot the downtown area with one lens. The first thing that the challenge did was to lighten our load of camera gear that we were carrying. One lens and one camera body makes for a light load! When we got to our destination it started to sprinkle and light rain a little making the challenge even more difficult. Now we had to think about keeping our lens dry and looking at the scene with only one focal length. What a great time we had. I chose an old 50mm macro that I had. It was a slow to focus lens but pretty sharp. I think he had something like a 35mm ish lens that he was using. I do believe that the shots I got that day were some of my best of Wilmington that I have ever shot. Some of them have even made my website that is reserved for some of my best shots. Using that one focal length made me look in places I don't normally look for shots and at things that I would have never seen before but because I was restricted to the one focal length it made me look . Now I'm only proposing doing this for a day but some people do it for much longer.  Maybe a week, month or even a year. I don't think I could do a month or a year. That would be just too long. But a week I could do. Anyway if you are having problems getting your photography mojo going again try this exercise and you might find that you really like doing it and end up shooting more with just one focal length. Well that's enough for today until next time . Get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link