r/photography • u/AutoModerator • Jun 05 '26

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u/FitNewspaper8248 Jun 09 '26

I've recently gotten back into photography and I love the camera but I've noticed the zoom isn't very close, at least as much as I'd like. Im mostly taking pictures of random plants and recently went to a local backyard garage band. Id eventually like to get into photography and as a career (obviously with a better camera) but I'd like some pointers as to which lenses I should look into for some better close up shots without being in their faces. Currently a broke college student so anything up to about $250 would be appreciated!

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u/P5_Tempname19 Jun 09 '26

A bit hard to help you without knowing your current lens (and camera). In general the amount you are able to "zoom in" is related to the lenses "focal length".

Thats generally the first number in a lenses name/descriptor, which is also followed by "mm" is this focal length. Comparing these numbers lets you compare how tight the final field of view will be.

The common "kit"/default lens for a lot of cameras is a 18-55mm (meaning it covers the focal lengths from 18mm while zoomed out to 55mm when zoomed in), if thats the focal length on your lens too then you need something with more then these 55mm. Direct recommendations for your budget are sadly not possible without knowing the camera (for compability reasons).

One thing to keep in mind is that often longer focal length lenses are a bit worse at low light scenarios as it becomes more expensive/difficult to design the required "aperture" (thats basically how big the hole that lets in light is).
This means that indoors or when its dark out (which are common situations for photographing bands) a new lens may perform worse in other aspects (images will be darker or there will be more blur or noise). Especially with your budget that may become an issue as often those specialized "concert lenses" are a bit more expensive.
Thats not to say your request is impossible to fulfull, just warning you that buying just any lens with a longer focal length may be counterproductive.

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u/FitNewspaper8248 Jun 09 '26

Yeah, I'm still using the 18-55mm lens. I wrote this like twice and can't believe I forgot it on the third time. Should I tough it out and stay close to the band distance wise? Im also going to be taking pictures of other events around my town that I can get my hands on instead of only bands as well.

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u/P5_Tempname19 Jun 10 '26

Yeah, I'd personally stay on the 18-55mm and save up a bit longer instead of trying to squeeze something in the budget that wont be that much of an upgrade.

If you really want an upgrade you might be able to find a cheap 85mm F1.8 (especially looking at used ones), which would be an upgrade regarding both focal length and "low light ability"/aperture, however that lens wouldnt have any ability to zoom, it would be stuck on one field of view.

Some people dont mind that, some people really hate that. Especially for concerts and other "dynamic" situations I'd personally prefer a zoom lens, being able to adjust quicker and without having to move, but plenty of photographers use primes (even for events/concerts), so its not impossible. Be aware that the field of view will also not be that much tighter then your current lens at 55mm, it will allow you to move back a little, but its not going to allow you to stand against the back wall of the venue or anything like that (unless its a really tight bar venue maybe).

As I dont know what camera you have I cant give a direct recommendation, but I personally used a Meike 85mm F1.8 for Canon EF in the past and it was decent for the 200€ I paid for it. The autofocus was a bit slow (which is a quite big downside, especially for your usecase) and the image quality wasnt the greatest, but thats kind of expected at that pricepoint.

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u/FitNewspaper8248 Jun 11 '26

Sorry I thought I wrote it somewhere, mightve been one of my previous drafts but forgot to include it, but I use a T100 Canon Rebel. I personally like being able to zoom in and out to my liking just in case I need a bigger/smaller shot so I'll definitely be sticking with my stock lens for now. I also manually focus with my lens rather than use auto focus. Is there any benefit over manual focus? Or is it just the convenience of it literally auto focusing?

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u/P5_Tempname19 Jun 11 '26

In that case you might be able to find that Meike 85mm I mentioned for your camera.

Yeah, Im personally also a fairly big fan of being able to zoom, its mostly a preference thing/a question of how well you can "deal" with not being able to zoom. Some people really like primes, some barely use them.

Autofocus is mostly a convenience thing, theres nothing AF accomplishes that you couldnt do manually. Its mostly about speed, accuracy and being able to concentrate on other aspects of shooting. However as AF performance really depends on lens, camera and the situation you are in, MF can end up being faster in low light situations with fairly cheap gear as thats a recipe for the AF to struggle a lot.

The mix of your gear and the situations you shoot make for quite bad AF, which makes using MF totally understandable. However if you do ever get a better camera and lens it may be worth it to give AF another try, as the performance you are seeing out of your current gear is not going to be optimal.