Canon 50D Night Shot Lens

<p>I recently purchased a 50D with the standard lens 28-135</p>

<p>I travel to the north slope of Alaska for work and am wanting to get some night shots down but am wondering what lens to get. I am on a budget of under $1000.00<br>

Is it possible?</p>

<p>Here is a picture I took last month. There is a few things I have learned since like taking neck strap off. Take a tripod with me. I took this off the tailgaite of the truck. And I need to use the self timer and or buy a remote switch.</p>

<p>Bottom line is I need another lens. I was thinking about the 20mm 1.8 Sigma?</p>

<p>Any advice would be great.<br>

<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4236742382_919363c4f2_m.jpg">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4236742382_919363c4f2_m.jpg</a><br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4236742382_919363c4f2_m.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="160" /></p>

<p>File Name RIG AT NIGHT.JPG<br />Camera Model Canon EOS 50D<br />Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.7<br />Shooting Date/Time 12/3/2009 8:50:48 AM<br />Owner's Name <br />Shooting Mode Manual Exposure<br />Tv( Shutter Speed ) 10<br />Av( Aperture Value ) 5.0<br />Metering Mode Evaluative Metering<br />ISO Speed 100<br />Auto ISO Speed OFF<br />Lens EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM<br />Focal Length 65.0mm<br />Image Size 4712x2344<br />Image Quality Fine<br />Flash Off<br />FE lock OFF<br />White Balance Mode Auto<br />AF Mode AI Servo AF<br />Picture Style Portrait<br />Sharpness 2<br />Contrast 0<br />Saturation 0<br />Color tone 0<br />Color Space sRGB v1.31 (Canon)<br />Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off<br />High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard<br />Highlight tone priority 0:Disable<br />Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard<br />Peripheral illumination correction Enable<br />File Size 4267KB<br />Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting<br />Live View Shooting OFF<br />Date/Time(UTC) <br />Latitude <br />Longitude <br />Altitude <br />Geographic coordinate system <br />Camera Body No. 1620708895<br />Comment </p>

<p>Why exactly do you need a faster lens? You're shooting at ISO100 and a shutter speed of 10 seconds, both of which can be bumped to give you more light.</p>

<p>Maybe some more info?</p>

<p>The EF 24 1.4L and 35 1.4L are kinda decent in low light. The 50 1.2L ain't a turd either.</p>

<p>Increase your ISO to at least 1600 and see if the noise is acceptable at your desired print size. If so, turn it up another stop.</p>

<p><Chas><br /></p>

<p>If you are using a tripod, the speed of the lens really doesn't matter.</p>

<p>I guess I wasn't clear in the beginning. I am a complete rookie at this. That picture is my 3rd picture I ever took at night after doing some reading.<br>

I am looking for wide angle as these rigs are big and tall and I want to be close and I want to be able to bring in alot of light if I want. In the winter obvisously there is a lot of snow which brightens it up a bunch but then there is also the cloud cover. But for the most part the light is either off of the rigs themselves or bright lights for working so it is varried on what you shoot.<br>

I do know one thing. I don't like high ISO as I cannot stand noise and am going for as clear as I can get for my cameras ability.</p>

<p>In the end I want to be able to get atleast a 20x30 print out of this.</p>

<p>Am I asking for too much?</p>

<p>You can make beautiful night shots at f/8 & ISO 100, you just need a long exposure time...which makes a tripod more useful than a fast lens.</p>

<p>I like wide angle night shots taken with my Sigma 10-20mm, the Canon-alternative (10-22mm) would be just fine as well. At f/8 & ISO 100 both will be very sharp. And your budget would then still allow a nice tripod, which will be an important tool anyway for this kind of shots.</p>

<p>I own a Canon 50D too equiped with a Canon EF-S 18-200mm IS 3.5-5.6.<br /><br />Also a rookie since i own my camera for around 5 months, but did already take a few night pictures.</p>

<p>To do so i have the following with me :</p>

<p>Camera<br />Lens<br />Tripod<br />Remote shutter</p>

<p>I want my night pictures as sharp as possible, so i usually want a large aperture value.<br />I manually set my ISO on 100, because i don't want the camera to bump it up, so i might see noise when i enlarge it later.<br />Most of the time, i don't know which shutterspeed to use, so i let the camera give me an indication. By switching your camera to Av mode, the camera gives to a shutterspeed for my settings above.<br />I memorize the shutterspeed and switch back to full manual mode.<br>

<br />Now i can play a little with the shutterspeed to let in more or less light.</p>

<p>I won't go for a faster lens now, because you already have to equipement to do what you want, but lack some experience and knowledge.<br />Buying any lens without good understanding will make you regret later...</p>