Tamron 28-75 f2.8 & low light ????

[ChrisinNJ]

I have my new Tamron lens which so far I am happy with. But, if you have this lens, how does it do for the night shots, spectromagic etc. Will it do the trick for me, or for under $100.00 should I buy the Canon 50mm f1.8 for my trip as well. I wouldn't even consider another lens at this point, having just bought the Tamron, but I would hate to miss some great night shots over an investment of just under $100.00.

I want to play around with some low light shooting with the Tamron, but I haven't had a chance yet.

I still eventually need a good longer range zoom lens too, but not right now.

 

[Boo Bear]

You should be fine with a 2.8. I'm not sure if you would want to take a 50mm fixed lens simply because you'll more than likely find yourself wishing you could get closer to something but you have to walk up to it.

 

[Boo Bear]

I also have two tips for photographing Spectro and wishes...

for spectro... when you photograph the passing parade vehicles... move your camera with the procession as you take the photo. That'll help keep all of those little bulbs from blurring. Also for Spectro and Wishes, you might want to invest in a small gorillapod. That way you can snag a spot early, wrap it's legs around a bench or pole and anchor your camera to keep it steady.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Well, I have to disagree with the pp. I have the Tamron 28-75 and really like it, but do find that I need a faster lens for Sprectro. For that parade, my settings are usually ISO 1600, f1.8 and shutter of 1/90. For Wishes, the Tamron will be fine.

 

[handicap18]

I'm with Steve's Girl. Spectromagic is dark, even with the lights from the floats its still dark. And it is moving.

This is about the brightest of my Spectro shots...

ISO 1600, f/1.4, 1/125th

Taken with my Nikon D50 and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens.

The same image at f/1.8 would give a 1/80th shutter.

With f/2.8 it would give a 1/30th shutter.

With f/2.8 you can push the shutter up to 1/60th but you'll get a darker image.

For what your asking, the 50mm f/1.8 is a great lens. It is also good for indoor rides (PotC, GMR, IASW). IMO, will be better for Spectro and indoor rides at Disney than a zoom f/2.8.

 

[Groucho]

I'm with the last two. F2.8 is simply not fast enough for nearly anything "dark" at Disney - not fast enough for SpectroMagic, not fast enough for on-ride dark ride photos, etc. F1.8 is 1.5x stops faster than an F2.8 lens, and an F1.4 lens (two full stops - 4x the light gathering) is even better.

Can you get a decent Spectro photo with a F2.8 lens? Probably one or two, but it'll be inconsistent at best.

The primes will generally give you a more pleasing image, more sharpness, better bokeh, etc... though the Tamron is a pretty good zoom in terms of sharpness and the ~$100 C/N 50mm F1.8 are, as you can imagine, not the absolute paradigm of prime lens optical quality - they're all about bang for the buck.