After yesterday’s tome of a post, I had a few questions hit my inbox looking for details on my own shooting equipment, specifically on which lenses I use most often.

I love my D300 and was wondering what glass you shoot with most often? For people it looks like maybe an 85 1.4? Great depth of field. Do you use any tilt-shift lenses?

Thought I’d answer this one as a continuation of yesterdays discussion on picking out your first DSLR. First, for the first time DSLR buyer, more often than not, I almost only shoot prime lenses. A prime lens, or a fixed focal length lens is a lens that doesn’t zoom. If you want to make an object bigger, you have to get closer to it. Most starter DSLR kits come with a zoom lens, most often something in the range of 18 millimeters – 55 millimeters, meaning you can zoom out to a moderately wide shot at 18mm, and zoom in to a less moderately wide shot at 55mm. This is not to be confused with a telephoto lens, which is typically considered anything that is larger than 200mm. So, rule of thumb, smaller mm number, the wider the image the lens is capable of capturing. The larger the mm number, the closer you’ll be able to focus on things far away.

Back to me. So, I shoot primes for three basic reasons.

1. I find that the quality of my prime lenses is generally higher than zoom lenses that contain the focal range of the prime. There are a number of reasons for this — the optics are typically tuned for the specific focal range, there are fewer moving parts, fewer elements to get in the way of a good shot. Whatever the reason, my own experience dictates that I have better luck when shooting under pressure when I eliminate as many potential points of failure as I can. Shooting fast with a zoom lens is one of those points of failure for me.
2. Given all that muck above, primes tend to be cheaper than zooms of the same quality. Can’t argue with the benjamins.
3. Primes force me to do things I wouldn’t usually do. I lay on the floor a lot with my lens kit. When I was shooting mostly zooms, I never did that. The floor is absolutely awesome. You should totally try hanging out there from time to time. With a camera.

85mm f1.8D - Courtesy of Nikon

My go-to lens of choice is an 85mm f1.8D Nikkor. The focal length on this thing seems to be the sweet spot for portraits, particularly in natural light situations. Since most people shooting with first time DSLRs will likely not have much in the way of external or fill lighting, having a lens that is a vortex for light is key. This one, I can’t recommend enough.

For people, in particular, the 85mm (and longer) lenses let you achieve those magical “Oprah” magazine cover shots. And that’s the real trick for getting a good shot of a person: back up. Get a longer lens and get as far back as you can, while maintaining a good tight shot. Set your aperture low and see what happens!

50mm 1.4D - Courtesy of Nikon

When I’m not shooting the 85, I shoot a 50mm f.14D Nikkor. This lens is fast. When I say fast, I mean the autofocus to lock is as fast as I think it. When I’m shooting events in close quarters, this is the place to be. The 50mm lens is as close to what the human eye perceives as you can get these days. That means, what you see outside the camera is about the same as what you see in the camera. It has a very natural look to it and it’s one that I can trust to deliver results that appeal, particularly to families and couples.

70-300 4.5 - Courtesy of Nikon

I don’t shoot sports or wildlife, so the only zoom telephoto I carry is a pretty junky 70-300mm. Needs lots of light which makes this lens tough to use on all but the brightest of events and it’s dog slow. Still, if you’re banking on the best camera being the camera you have with you, then the best telephoto has to be the best for the job if it’s the only one in your bag.

16mm 2.8 - Courtesy of Nikon

Finally, my favorite fun lens is my 16mm f2.8 fish-eye. It’s not the widest you can get, but it distorts enough to make the results really eye-catching. I have one client I use it for right now, for shooting big, dramatic scapes of a large warehouse they occupy. Makes for interesting dramatic effect in their advertising.

As for tilt-shift lenses, rarely. For those who haven’t seen one, a tilt-shift lens allows you to shift the optical elements in the lens at up to 90% angle from the sensor element of the camera, normalizing the natural parallax that occurs when looking at long/tall objects.

24mm Tilt-Shift - Courtesy of Nikon

One common use is in architectural photography, particularly of tall buildings. With a standard lens, there’s no way to capture a tall building with a 50mm  in total. If you slap a super wide angle on, you may get the whole building, but the lines will be bent with the curve of the optics. With a tilt-shift, you keep the wider angle, capture the building, and maintain nice parallel lines as the building rises.

They’re spendy. I rented the Nikon 24mm f3.5D for a downtown shoot some time ago and got some interesting results. If I were going to make my trade in architectural photography, I’d pop for the $2,000 and change to carry that bad-boy around, but for now, rental suits me just fine.

So, that’s what I carry with me day to day, shoot to shoot. If anyone’s interested in gear porn, I’m happy to shoot a quick tour of my gear bag — all the other goodies that helps make the pictures. Post in the comments or on facebook and let me know.

The point is, last night, for the first time, I received an email through my Google profile from a friend. A friend who didn’t know my email address, and found me through Google. Profile. Man, this system is rock solid. He wanted to know if I had any thoughts on picking up his first digital-SLR camera. Well, I’ll let him tell you.

I want to get a DSLR camera for Christmas, but I do not know much about them. I was hoping that you could shed some light on what would be a good first DSLR camera for a first time user. I am interested in Nikon or Canon, but that is only because of name brand recognition. I am looking to keep the cost around $500.00 for body and lens. Any thoughts?

Do I have some thoughts? Sure I do. This one’s for you, Dave.

I’m a Nikon shooter myself, but haven’t always been so. My first DSLR was a Canon Digital Rebel XT. It was a terrific camera. Lightweight. Soft to the touch. Gentle on the wrists. It was a budding photographer’s dream. I’d been shooting Canon for years prior in the high-end point and shoot range, so the move to the XT was a piece of cake.

When I made the move myself, the ProPhoto guys were so gentle with me. And still, they left me with brochures about competing cameras, camera lines, lens availability, features out the yin-yang, too much stuff. Now that I’ve been shooting in more of a professional capacity for a few years, I’ve boiled my needs down to a simple 4-point system that can be summed up in two gorgeous words: User Experience.

Here are the two things that don’t matter at all when searching for your first DSLR camera.

1. Brand religion. Nikon. Sony. Canon. Panasonic. Unless you’re on the market for a Hasselblad, the brand matters very little. See, all these camera guys do is spend their time trying to figure out how to get the upper hand on one another. That’s it. Low light? They’re all great. Noise reduction? Terrific. Lens speed? Damn near zippy. Every camera is leaps and bounds better than the nearest competitor for all of about 32 days on the market. It’s just something we get used to.
2. Megapixels. Let this go, too. Unless you’re spending gobs of money on a camera with a giant sensor in it, all you’re getting in an entry-level DSLR with high megapixel count is a company jamming more pixels on the same sized sensor and trading off quality of image for the right to impress their dates. You are their dates. You should be unimpressed. A good 6-8 megapixel camera will give you more than enough picture for your buck once you learn the ropes, and you’ll have trouble finding one of those these days. Don’t be fooled.

But there are things that set cameras apart. This gets us back to my handy 4-point system. See, the single most important thing that you are buying in a DSLR camera is your ability to interact with it quickly. You have to be able to plug in to the thing, to make it bow down to you, to do your bidding when you think about what you want to do with it, not when you bend over in the shade so you can read some obscure dial or nob and pull out the instructions. By then, he’s already kissed the bride, left for the honeymoon, and secured their second mortgage on the family home.

What you’re buying is speed, and speed is in the User Experience. Some manufacturers get it, others don’t. So here’s the test, in four points. If you can look at the back of the camera and find these four features quickly, you’re in good shape.

1. Camera Mode. On most DSLRs the camera mode is on a dial that offers some wee heiroglyphics along with cryptic alpha-numeric combinations. If you hit the right pattern, you’ll open a Stargate to Isis. Otherwise, you’re asking the camera to get itself all ready for shooting in certain preset conditions. Portrait, Landscape, Night, Action/Sports… those are pretty reliable, but most shooters I know spend the vast amount of their shooting time on “Aperture Priority,” which allows them to set the aperture setting manually, but let the camera get all the other settings just right given that aperture. Aperture determines how much light you’re letting through the lens — the lower the aperture, the more light; the higher the aperture, the less light. If you can figure out how to set your camera to Aperture Priority (usually marked by an “A” or “A1″, you’re in good shape.
2. ISO. This is what sets the speed equivalent to film. ISO 100-400 for outdoor shooting — nice and fast, low noise, great for bright lights. ISO 600-800 for darker, indoor environments. Today’s DSLRs have insane low-light sensitivity; even the lower end Canon X1i hits 12,800 in it’s highest mode. Taking pictures in the dark with that one.
3. Aperture. Now that you’re in Aperture Priority, you have to set the aperture. On my Nikon D3, aperture is controlled by a lateral scroll-wheel under my index finger, right by the shutter release. It’s completely intuitive, and it has to be. Learn to set aperture appropriately and you’ll master Depth of Field — how to get the backgrounds fuzzy and your subjects crisp. You’ll be using it a lot.
4. Exposure Compensation. Look for the little plus/minus symbol and the button that goes with it. That’s an important button. Can you press it when you hold the camera up to your mug? Exposure compensation is the “nudge” that you give the shutter to make your photo brighter or darker, given all the other settings you’ve fixed. It’s the last bit of nuance in shooting the perfect family photo, and one that will make you the photographic hero of the crazy side of the family that you only send cards to.

Simple, right? If you’re really looking for your very first DSLR, it might not sound simple, but take it from me: if you can walk into a camera store and find those four options on the camera, you’re well on your way to taking absolutely terrific pictures. But don’t just find them. Change them up. Dial aperture way up, then way down. See how quickly you can move from setting your ISO to setting your aperture. Can you really set exposure compensation with the camera up to your face?

The most important bit here is that the control scheme makes sense to you. Nikon makes sense to me. The menu system is clean and very linear. The buttons are spaced appropriately for my hands and, in the case of button-dial combinations, they’re well thought out and intuitive after just a few tries. For me, Canon made less sense, and even after years of shooting with Canon, the menus seemed to be getting even less transparent. I switched. It just wasn’t how my brain was wired.

Dude. What about the photos?

They all take great photos. That’s the beauty of this discussion. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be taking great pictures and expertly navigating your camera like a Japanese schoolgirl on her DoCoMo. Here are a few models to check out.

Canon EOS Rebel T1i

Here’s a gander at the back of the new Canon EOS Rebel T1i. It’s a bit out of the $500 range at $799 MSRP, but the overage may just be worth it when you consider needs and usability.

Images courtesy of CanonUSA

If you can get the buttons working, this baby brings you full HD (1080i) video recording onboard. If you haven’t seen some of the footage coming from video shot on DSLR cameras, check out “Reverie” by Vincent Laforet to get a feel for what you can do. New baby video has never looked so good, plus you get the bonus of shagging only one camera on diaper changes.

Nikon D5000

Image courtesy of Nikon USA.

The Nikon D5000 shoots video, gives you 12.3 megapixels, and has some of the most intuitive controls I’ve used in the line. This camera is wicked fast where it counts — when you press the shutter. Nikon’s new line of digital lenses — a concept most photographers have frowned on for many moons — are starting to get noticed as well, meaning you’ll have lots of options when it comes to kitting out your new D5000 with new glass as you get to know your own shooting style.

Both of these cameras are in the $600-$700 range and frankly, that’s where I’d be starting my search. The D40 is the $499 Nikon starter, and the EOS Rebel XS is the $569 starter for Canon. Both are good cameras, but with the features they’re jamming into the line up with only a few extra pennies, you’re getting pro-level equipment at a fraction of the price that will last you years.

There you go, Dave. My thoughts on getting your first DSLR. Wherever you go with this, make sure the buttons and the menus work for you. Test them. Go to the store and take lots of pictures on them. Make sure you can be one with your new camera. Because the real secret to great photography is this: no one cares what kind of camera you used, if you can take pictures that make grandma cry.