Help to buy a new lens please :)

[layna...@yahoo.com]

Hi, I am looking to do some wedding photography.
I have a Minolta autofocus, about seven years old.
Model: Maxxum Stsi
All I have is the lens that came with the camera which appears to be:
AF Zoom 28-80 0.38m/1.3 feet.
I am trying to learn what this all means, and I have read a number of
photography books, but still the tech stuff isn't clicking (I have got
some suggestions from another site, which I will try).

What I am having problems with, is that I can't get a close enough shot
with this camera, to give the a clear facial shot or what not,
especially during the ceremony, without getting right up close to the
bride/groom, which is not appropriate really.

Please help with any suggestions of lenses: I am just a rooky that is
trying to learn photography on a budget.

This suggestion has been made already:
The 135mm lens is a standard for portrait work. This gives you some
comfortable distance from your subject. I and some other folks
also like fast 50mm lenses and the old Minolta 70-210 f/4 as well
when doing portraits. I'm no pro but I'm sure someone here can
advise you better.

Any feedback as to whether this would be a good buy?
I am also interested in learning how to do basic portraits as well as
wedding photography which would require some telephoto capacity in my
mind, more than the zoom lens which i now have.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

thanks a million,
Layna

[Noel Stoutenburg]

Layna:

> Hi, I am looking to do some wedding photography.
> I have a Minolta autofocus, about seven years old.
> Model: Maxxum Stsi
> All I have is the lens that came with the camera which appears to be:
> AF Zoom 28-80 0.38m/1.3 feet.
> I am trying to learn what this all means,

Let me give this a try keeping in mind that there is a number you you
have not supplied, the size of the lens. iAF means your lens has auto
focus capabilities, that is, that on the proper body, the lens will
automatically provide information to the camera as to what the aperture
(size of the opening through which light can pass) and magnification (a
function of the distance from the front of the lens, to the film, or in
the case of digital cameras, the sensor), and the distance at which you
have the lens set so that objects will be in focus. Zoom means when you
propose to take a picture of some object, you can make the object appear
closer or further away, and that when closer, you will see more of the
surroundings, and when further away, you will see less. 28-80 is the
distance (in millimeters) of the front of the lens from the film. Since
this is a zoom lens, there are two distances: the minimum, and the
maximum. When your lens is set so that the front of the lens is closest
to the camera body it is 28 mm from the film; when your lens is set so
that the front of the lens is furthest from the camera body, the
distance from the front of the lens to the film is 80 mm. The .38 m /
1.3 feet is the distance from the front of the lens at which an object
is in best focus when the lens is at the closest position to the body of
the camera.

> What I am having problems with, is that I can't get a close enough shot
> with this camera, to give the a clear facial shot

> Please help with any suggestions of lenses: I am just a rooky that is

> trying to learn photography on a budget.
>

...<snipped>...

> I am also interested in learning how to do basic portraits as well as
> wedding photography which would require some telephoto capacity in my
> mind, more than the zoom lens which i now have.
>

I'd say the advice you were given

...<rearranged>...

> The 135mm lens is a standard for portrait work. This gives you some
> comfortable distance from your subject. I and some other folks
> also like fast 50mm lenses and the old Minolta 70-210 f/4 as well
> when doing portraits. I'm no pro but I'm sure someone here can
> advise you better.
>

is probably spot on. For group shots, I'd probably go with the 50mm,
and for close-ups, the telephoto zoom, or a single focal length
telephoto. lens.

ns

[layna...@yahoo.com]

Thankyou so much noel....

that's the best explanation that I have encountered, incuding the ones
that I have found in photography books. You have connected the dots for
me. It's funny how many times I can read books and manuals, and it
doesn't click.

thanks again.
L