Camera Labs

Yes I agree .

Considering the focal length of a lens is totally up to you and your imagination, what do you want to include in the frame.

Using the wide angle lens will give you unusual abstract look especially if you tilt your camera in portrait mode. It works the best of you include something in the foreground as a main subject but for this you need to use small aperture to get everything in focus and if you use your 50mm @ f1.8 you will not e able to achieve that. That means you should stop the lens down to let's say f11, f16, you could go to f 22 but usually all lenses are soft at smallest and widest aperture.

Using GND filters will allow you to properly expose the sky and the foreground (depends all on the situation and weather conditions how strong filter you need to use and again on what do you want to achieve with the photo)

Check out this guy and his photos, he joined my group on flickr last week and I was amazed with his work. He does not share the exif data in his photos so you might wanna drop him a line if you have some questions, I am sure hi will answer back to you (he did to me).

He used to use Pentax film cameras and continued with Pentax when he switched to digital but later on he went with Nikon because Pentax just didn't have the equipment that he wanted. Now he is using D700 and D90.

Here is the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattcornell/

Took this tonight with my new 50mm F 1.8 Mark II lens who said you cant use a 50mm f 1.8 for land scape ! i can i have , sure its not wide but you can still do it! ummm id post it but how the heck do u poke a photo in here????

_________________
" The Choices We Make Today, Will Make Us What We Will Be Tomorrow " 2x Tripods, Canon SX1 IS Camera and Canon EOS 550D Lens 18-55mm, IS 55-250mm IS, 50mm F/1.8 Programs, Gimp 2.6.7, Mystical Focus, Mystical Lighting and Ambiance 2.0, Topaz Adjust 3, & 4 and Topaz Simplify 3 also Virtual Photographer and Photomatix 3 Pro YEAH!!!

You can't get a suitable DOF for landscape photography with F1.8. You need to stop it down thus buying this lens for "low light landscape" is pretty pointless.

The only way you could achieve a large DOF with F1.8 is if you do focus bracketing or if you are Ken Rockwell (he doesn't focus. Everything moves into his DOF).

Check out the thread How to post pics.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Shot these two with my 50 1.4 @ F/1.4 at night, handheld.

_________________
I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

.
Nice ones. Great use of the shallow DoF at f/1.4 to capture the grass.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thanks! I hoped to convey that you don't neccesarily NEED a large DOF for "landscaping"

_________________
I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Citruspers, That first shot is nature photography and the second is urban/street photography.

You could say that is landscape but that's just confusing everyone.

Fine, call it (sub)urban landscaping. All I wanted to do is demonstrate how you can use a fast lens for those types of pictures, without the DOF being a limitation.

_________________
I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

But you couldn't do something like this with a 1.4 aperture.

.
My favourite Teletubbies sketch involved noisy walking!

Back on the subject of this thread, it's a mistake to assume that landscapes should always have huge depth of field. As autumn approaches here in the temperate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere members may enjoy the Canon Digital Learning Center article Quick Tip: Fall Foliage Photography (2008). One image, from several candidates, in that article makes my point:

That's not to say that most landscape shots don't generally work best with large depth of field but then just because a 50mm lens can reach f/1.4 that doesn't mean it should always, or even often, be used at that aperture. But if such a lens is in budget then it certainly offers extra capability and could be a valid choice as it can also be used as a portrait lens on a cropped sensor camera.

That said, my personal take on this is that if the emphasis is totally on landscapes/sunsets then a better investment, if one isn't already in one's possession, might be a tripod as that will allow longer exposure times allowing the shot to be captured without either unwanted shallow DoF or high ISO noise.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.