3 replies to this topic

[WalkerBait69]

What lenses are best for:

Child's birthday parties?

Graduations?
Family gatherings?
Night shots of the moon?

[Merco_61]

As you list the D7200, I assume you use DX only.

 

For the family situations, the 16-80 is hard to beat. The speed of one of the 17-50 or -55 f/2.8 lenses can be useful in low light, but the missing mm at the wide end and the missing 25-30 mm at the long end are more useful when children are involved.

 

The cheap f/1.8 primes, both the 35 DX and the 50 are very useful when you want a short DOF or the light levels are really low. One thing to be aware of is that getting into primes usually leads to wanting more as the creative experience is so much more satisfying than using zooms.

 

Shooting the moon as a main subject without breaking the bank is best done with one of the 150-600 zooms, unless a long tele prime is already available. If you don't plan other uses for a supertelezoom, renting one might make more sense than buying. If you can find a used one, you can probably use it for a while and then sell it off without losing much money.

[TBonz]

There are graduations and then there are graduations...photographing an elementary school "graduation" is very different than photographing a high school graduation which is very different than college graduations.  For the activities around the graduation, the "family" lens (16-80) would work fine for shooting parents and siblings and friends with the graduate.  It may work fine for everything depending on your access.  If you aren't on the floor and right up front, then you will likely want something longer.  You should probably be looking to have at least a 70-200 or similar or one of those long primes that Peter mentioned above.  Hard to say without seeing the venue, but every graduation (high school or college) that I have attended the lengths are about right.  If the graduation is outside, you might be able to get away with the 150-600 but that probably would not work inside...

[fallout666]

what mecro_61 one said