Photography - Live Statue Festival Sessions

Hi there!

It's been a while since I held my beloved camera and captured some pics. I've missed it, but I couldn't find a reason to go out and shoot. This week the reason was served to me on a silver platter... our city was hosting the annual live statue festival, only half a block from my apartment ! So naturally,  It was my duty to go down the stairs and to do that 30 seconds walk.

This time I decided to visit the festival twice. On the first evening I was using my 18-200mm Sigma lens and on the second one - the Canon 50/f1.4 mm. The event has started at 18:00 until 23:00, since I got there at 19:30  I had only half an hour of natural daylight.

I'm going to post here 6 photos. 3 of each lens/day, hopefully you could see and feel the difference between them.

Sigma 18-200 f/3.5-6.3

Let me start with the Sigma 18-200 mm.
I love this lens.
1. It is so flexible, you can shoot a wide angle pic, and in a split of a second a super zoom shot, without changing lenses.
2. It's easy on your back. Instead of using 2 different lenses you can conveniently use this one, for the whole day.
3. It has a decent price. Half a price if you think to buy a similar Canon lens. Come to think of  it, it's even  cheaper if you think of buying this lens instead of a whole set that will cover the entire range.
4. It looks very impressive :) Some people like that, to show off (not me).

On the down side
1. It has a slow auto focus, especially at night. If you are using an original Canon lens, even the kit one, you will be very frustrated at times.
2. The pic quality is average, especially at 200mm shots. That means that this lens is very good for travelling and occasional shooting, but not for a serious studio shots or professional sessions.

Let's take a look at some pictures that I took during the festival. 
Starting with the Sigma 18-200 :

F 5 1/200 ISO 800 63mm

F5.6 1/60 ISO 800 96mm

F5 1/50 ISO 800 51mm

As we can see we can produce some nice pictures out of this lens. I couldn't take some of them without the flexible zoom. The crowd around the actors, and the high stages were quite challenging. I definitely needed to use the optical zoom in order to captured some situations.
However,
Those pictures were originally darker (I was using photoshop to brighten them). I hate to use the flash, especially on events like this. I always prefer to use the natural light, to preserve the ambiance - even if the cost is a darker and grainier pic. The maximum aperture (f key) for my normal zoom use (50mm and up) is around 5 and up, and the result is a darker pic.
In order to solve this problem I have to use a higher ISO (in the pics above - 800), the downside is... grainier pictures.

And now for the Canon 50/f1.4 mm lens.

Canon 50/1.4 mm

I am absolutely crazy about this one!
1. It is super light lens, you can hardly notice it in your bag
2. Auto focus is very fast - very important when you need to capture a situation in a split of a second, excellent for candid pictures.
3. Maximum aperture (f) is 1.4 - maximum use of available light. Comes in handy on night shot sessions, allows you to use a faster shutter speed, and to prevent a motion blur.
4. The low f (1.4) produces a wonderful depth of field. This lens is perfect for portrait shots - a sharp subject surrounded by a soft and blurry background always looks good.


On the down side
1. A prime (fixed) lens. No zoom whatsoever,  a good old footwork will do... some people don't like it at all.
2. This lens is fragile - looks and feels like a toy
Let's take a look at some photos that were taken using the 50mm lens.

F 1.4 1/125 ISO 400 50mm

F 1.4 1/160 ISO 400 50mm

F 2 1/200 ISO 400 50mm

As you can see, the ISO is only 400 (instead of 800 on the Sigma lens shots). As we all know,  lower ISO helps us to prevent grain in our images, and to produce a crisper image.

Another difference between the first session and the second one is the shutter speed. With a maximum aperture of 1.4 we can use a faster shutter speed, which means less chance of a motion blur. 

The 50mm set is significantly sharper and less noisy, especially when the natural lighting is low.

In conclusion

The flexibility of the Sigma, the possibility to shoot from a distance or to have a wide angle shot, to my opinion was not a match to the fast, crisp images of the Canon 50mm. Yes, I can have more opportunities and possibilities with the zoom, but the result is far from perfect. In fact, the post production process is irritating and sometimes doesn't help a lot. 

I must confess that with the 50mm, the session was quicker and more enjoyable, the post production was less than minimal, and the final result was most of the times amazing. 

If you ask me go and buy your 50mm lens now!

Next post will be also related to the festival - candid shots of the crowd and the staff.

Thank you for visiting, have a lovely day!

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