- May 13, 2008
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I'm a total photography noob. In fact, technically, I'm not even taking the pictures in this scenario, my GF is... but I'm the one who may be buying a $300 macro lens as a Christmas present, and I want to make sure it's actually going to do what she thinks it will (after spending a few hours researching, I think the answer is no, but I'm not certain).
What she uses the camera for:
She uses it for lots of stuff, but the specific "problem" scenario is taking close up pictures of food (something like this).
Cameras she uses:
A Sony NEX-C3 mirrorless large sensor camera (with this 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens) and some random old Sony point and shoot of unknown model number.
The problem:
When she takes those close up food shots, she complains that the good mirrorless camera "won't focus" and uses the point and shoot instead, which obviously has *much* worse image quality (and tends to be blurry since the shutter speed will also be much slower). I'm 99.999% sure that "won't focus" means that the depth of field is too shallow.
The potential solution:
This 30mm f/3.5 macro lens. My goal is to find something that will significantly increase the depth of field on those close up food shots. Sony also has a 50mm f/1.8 lens, but I'm pretty sure the depth of field on that would be even worse... although it would be further away so maybe that offsets the higher mm and larger aperture enough?. The kit lens seems to have a the smallest apertures though so I think it would actually be the best for depth of field.
Will the macro lens fix the situation? Is there another kind of lens I should be aiming for? Is there another way to fix this problem that us photo nobs just don't know about?
Please help!
What she uses the camera for:
She uses it for lots of stuff, but the specific "problem" scenario is taking close up pictures of food (something like this).
Cameras she uses:
A Sony NEX-C3 mirrorless large sensor camera (with this 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens) and some random old Sony point and shoot of unknown model number.
The problem:
When she takes those close up food shots, she complains that the good mirrorless camera "won't focus" and uses the point and shoot instead, which obviously has *much* worse image quality (and tends to be blurry since the shutter speed will also be much slower). I'm 99.999% sure that "won't focus" means that the depth of field is too shallow.
The potential solution:
This 30mm f/3.5 macro lens. My goal is to find something that will significantly increase the depth of field on those close up food shots. Sony also has a 50mm f/1.8 lens, but I'm pretty sure the depth of field on that would be even worse... although it would be further away so maybe that offsets the higher mm and larger aperture enough?. The kit lens seems to have a the smallest apertures though so I think it would actually be the best for depth of field.
Will the macro lens fix the situation? Is there another kind of lens I should be aiming for? Is there another way to fix this problem that us photo nobs just don't know about?
Please help!