Newbie with newbie question.

[Alvaran]

I'm new to photography and I just purchased a G6. I read the manual and I saw that there was telephoto (TC-DC58N), a wide angle (WC-DC58N), and a close up lense (250D) available for this model but I'm really confused because I see a gazillion other lenses availble for this model but not from Canon.

I want to do fashion photography, mostly portraits and runway shows. I start photography school soon to get educated but I wanted to get a head start so I researched on the web and one site recommendeds that a 85mm - 105mm lense would be best for this type of photography. Please let me know if this makes any sense.

What lense(s) is availble from Canon that will let me achieve this? Any fashion photographers out there that can give me advice would most appreciated.

[Bryan Bedell]

For fashion work, especially runway and action shots, you'd be way better off with a dSLR (for example, the rebel XT, which is a great camera at the bottom of Canon's dSLR range)

The G6 does not have interchangeable lenses, only adaptors. Canon makes the ones you mentioned, but other companies make them too. They're OK, but no substitute for the hundreds of lenses you can get for an SLR.

Plus, the G6 is weak as far as focusing in the dark, the manual focus is hard to use quickly, and it's tough to capture an exact instant of motion with consumer digital cameras, especially in low light. Also, it's grainy at high ISOs.

I love my G6 and it's the perfect camera for me and for many people, but if you have aspirations of doing runway photography, I think you're going to be really frustrated with it. It's doable, but you'll be up against obstacles your competition won't have. If you're learning about photography with that as a long-term goal, then you might enjoy the G6, it's a great camera to learn with, but if you hope to be doing it in the near future, I'd try to exchange the G6 for an SLR and the lens that was recommended to you.

Bryan

[Robert_Lay]

Just one little aspect of your issues, and that is the 85-105 lens. I will go way out on a limb and make a guess that such a lens recommendation is based on the assumption that 50 mm is the "normal" lens for comparison purposes. That would suggest that what they are recommending is a moderate zoom telephoto lens. That means that it is zoom, not fixed, and that it is not a "long" telephoto - more in the short telephoto to medium range. Sounds good for what you have indicated as your objectives.

However, the gotcha is that digital cameras do not generally have 50 mm as the "normal" focal length - instead, they are typically shorter than 50 mm as "normal". That means that for your G6, as an example, you are covering that range of zoom as it comes out of the box. But you cannot use the range of focal lengths on that camera's lens for comparison with their 85-105 recommendation. You would have to know what focal length is "normal" for your camera's sensor. I can't give you a specific, numeric answer to what would be the comparable range of focal lengths for the G6, but I think I can say without any possibility of significant error, that the range of that lens's zoom capability will nicely cover the equivalent of their recommendation.

In other words - you're good to go without buying anything extra.

[Andy_T]

To put what Robert said in a nutshell ... according to the specs, the G6 has a lens with an equivalent focal length of 35-140 mm (as compared to a 35 mm camera, which your book most likely refers to). The figure written on the camera (7-28 mm) you can forget, it's the technical focal length that has to be adjusted for the smaller sensor.

That covers the 85-105 area nicely, use the camera at its longer zoom setting and keep your distance from the models. This way, you ensure that the models faces are not distorted ... can happen if you are too close to your model and use the wide setting. But on a fashion show this should not be possible anyway, because you're in the audience and there's no way to get too close to the models.

Read up on focusing here in the forum, try to manually pre-focus with a smaller aperture (e.g. f/5.0 or f/5.6), then you won't have any problems.

You need a teleconverter or wide converter only if you want to achieve longer focal lengths (e.g. 200 mm equivalent) or if you want to take wider pictures (e.g. 28 mm equivalent). Get more familiar with your camera as it is, and then you can decide whether you need that or not.

Best regards,
Andy

[Alvaran]

Thanks guys for the great advice and making things a little clearer for me.

I would love love love to get that dSLR. The Rebel XT is my dream camera as of now but it took me a while to save up for the G6 and I got that second hand and dirt cheap. I'll have to wait till I finish school before I can afford the XT. I'll practive with the G6 for now.

Thanks again for the info!