Lessons
DAY 1
1Nikon Lens Class Introduction
06:30 2Nikon Lens Basics
14:05 3Focal Length: Angle of View
11:44 4Focal Length: Normal Lenses
06:41 5Focal Length: Wide Angle Lenses
16:09 6Focal Length: Telephoto Lens
16:22 7Focal Length Rule of Thumb
15:59Field of View
10:06 9Aperture Basics
15:35 10Equivalent Aperture
07:17 11Depth of Field
12:58 12Maximum Sharpness
09:50 13Starburst
06:48 14Hyper Focal Distance
18:42 15Nikon Mount Systems
26:41 16Nikon Cine Lenses
07:06 17Nikon Lens Design
20:56 18Focusing and Autofocus with Nikon Lenses
14:15 19Nikon Lens Vibration Reduction
06:28 20Image Quality
04:44 21Aperture Control and General Info
09:40 22Nikon Standard Zoom Lenses
21:56 23Nikon Super Zoom Lenses
06:07 24Nikon Wide Angle Lenses
08:28 25Nikon Telephoto Zoom Lenses
16:48 263rd Party Zooms Overview
06:06 273rd Party Zooms: Sigma
16:02 283rd Party Zooms: Tamron
07:31 293rd Party Zooms: Tokina
03:50DAY 2
30Nikon Prime Lens: Normal
13:50 31Nikon Prime Lens: Wide Angle
14:17 32Nikon Prime Lens: Ultra-Wide
09:29 33Nikon Prime Lens: Short Telephoto
09:14 34Nikon Prime Lens: Medium Telephoto
08:19 35Nikon Prime Lens: Super Telephoto
17:24 363rd Party Primes: Sigma
07:19 373rd Party Primes: Zeiss
03:25 383rd Party Primes: Samyang
05:34 39Lens Accessories: Filters
30:44 40Lens Accessories: Lens Hood
13:40 41Lens Accessories: Tripod Mount
04:41 42Lens Accessories: Extension Tubes
04:23 43Lens Accessories: Teleconverters
12:42 44Macro Photography
19:11 45Nikon Micro Lens Selection
18:29 46Fisheye Lenses
17:59 47Tilt Shift Photography Overview
22:40 48Tilt Shift Lenses
06:00 49Building a Nikon System
05:16 50Making a Choice: Nikon Portrait Lenses
17:43 51Making a Choice: Nikon Sport Lenses
18:47 52Making a Choice: Nikon Landscape Lenses
14:54 53Nikon Lens Systems
11:18 54Lens Maintenance
10:54 55Buying and Selling Lenses
17:36 56Final Q&A
12:08 57What's in the Frame
03:29Lesson Info
3rd Party Primes: Sigma
So just a little bit on the third party lenses, the third party companies don't make as many of the primes as they do the zooms, but there are some interesting wants to talk about. So we talked about sigma yesterday in the previous section, and we talked about their new contemporary art and sports serious of lenses, and so we will continue to see those in here. Remember, d g is for full frame, and d c is for their crop framed coverage in here. First up wide with sigma, they came out with a twenty for one four, and so this is going to compete very much directly with the nikon twenty four one four so very good for low light work, and in this case, the this is part of their new art siri's, so you'll see the ai down there somewhere on the lands, and so that's important to know, because their art siri's is really quite phenomenal and there's, very few negative things to say about this. And so if we compare this against the nikon twenty for the thing you'll notice is that the price is quite ...
a bit cheaper, but if you get the lens in your hand, it feels really, really good it's a very nice lands now something that I will mention about sigma is that they're not nikon and sometimes there's compatibility issues, but so far, there's no compatibility issues you need to worry about as far as working the lens well, you don't need to be concerned about is that on all cameras and all lenses, there are certain tolerance is that they're made within, but there could still be some fluctuations where things are not perfect and the area that you would should be concerned about on a lens like this or any of the other signal lenses is, does the land's focus exactly where it's supposed to? And if it doesn't and it's quite possible that it won't. I highly recommend getting what is called the sigma doc it's, a docking system that looks like a rear lens cap and has a usb cord and connects into your computer and there's some software, and you can tweet the focusing of the lens with the sigma doc. And I know this is immediately going to scare off a number of people and okay, rightfully so just be scared, it's not that scary. Nikon has this problem as well. It's called fine tune adjustment, and we're going to talk about it later in this class because it can happen with any of the nikon lenses. Justus willis the sigma and so don't think that I'm bashing sigma and anyway but in order to fix this on the lens you should get the doc and so I bought a sigma heartlands and I heard enough stories that I said, you know what? I'm just going to buy the sigma doc which was around fifty bucks and I did have to tweak my lands quite a bit but once I tweaked it home man it's sweet now okay it's perfect and so in order to do that I highly recommend getting the doc with any of these sigma really fast art lenses but it's a really nice lands and I would probably take that over the nikon if money was anywhere near an issue in that because it's so good this was their first art siri's and this is the one that knocked everyone stores off. This is just one that everyone has been so very happy with. Very well constructed nice manual focus field tow it manual focus override very sharp, good wide open I would recommend getting the sigma doc for those of you who are fussy and plan to shoot this at one point for who want to get that shallow depth of field and really nail the focus one of the nice things about the dock vs other fine tune adjustments is that with a standard fine tune adjustment what you're doing is you're kind of tweaking whether it's a little bit forward or backward of where it needs to focus in most systems you get one number you move a little bit forward you move it a little bit backward with the sigma you actually measure it at four different distances because the camera may focus differently at maximum close up ten feet away twenty feet away and then infinity so you can adjust it so that it is right at those different areas and so the level of adjustment is even greater than you can do in the night cons but price wise on this one well, you know if I know there's certain nikon loyalists that just can't imagine using anything other than the nikon and nikon makes a great lens there's nothing to knock on it with other than the fact that sigma has produced something that I think is equally a sharp for a lot less money and equally well built for the standard prime this is for the crop frame users so if you were a crop frame user say like a a d seven thousand siri's and you wanted a really nice normal prime lands this would be my first choice you could get the nikon thirty five one eight the sigma I think it's going to be sharper I think it's better built it is faster it's a one point for rather than a one point eight and it is a fair bit more money than the nikon lands and so you will pay more for sigma then you will nikon but you're getting several things that I think are better now is that a better value? Well that depends on what you value all right and so for a basic entry level d three thousand level user it's probably not as big a deal I'd probably go with the night of the nikon thirty five one eight in that case but really nice well made lands this is part of their art syriza's well which is a very premium product from them the fifty one four this thing is amazing absolutely love this this it really doesn't compare with a nikon fifty one for I mean it's the same focal length it's the same aperture it competes on a quality level of the fifty eight one four and it's a lot less money and so for a will built fifty millimeter lands this would be my first choice my complaint on this is this is a heavy lands I mean it's the worst way it's almost two pounds one point eight pounds this is this is something that you really got to be able to appreciate for to build up the energy to carry this around your neck for a long period of time and I am I'm excited to shoot with this lens and I'm willing to carry that way yeah a little bit of a sore shoulder after hours and hours to using this, but I am just really, really happy with this last this is the one this is the signal art that I have. I did get the doc with this, I'd highly recommend it because you are often shooting this at one point for and that depth of field is really shallow and you've got to get that focus nailed right? And so just don't have enough good things to say about this weight is heavy but that's the price you pay for having really good quality this is a slightly older lands it's still not that old I mean it's maybe five years old, but it's jet it came out just before the whole art siri's and it's a great little one point four lands and if you're thinking about a portrait lands you could think about the eighty five one point eight or the one point four from nikon or this one because this one allows you to get down to one point four for much less money than the nikon one point four and so if you really value that one point for aperture and you want to save a little bit of money, this is a very sharp way to do it that kind of flies under the radar for a lot of for most people it's out there and it's good
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
cliff538
Outstanding class! This is a must own. You will refer back to this class many times during your photog career. John has put a ton of work into this class and it shows. Being able to download the slides and other Nikon glass info is wonderful. Even if you're not a Nikon shooter you will still gleam tons of information from this class, John covers in great detail the strength and weaknesses of each lens and when you might consider using it. I was expecting a good class, but this turned into an epic class. I watched multiple videos several times. The only bad thing I can say is I "had" to order a few more lenses! Thank you John Greengo for making a truly amazing class.
Anna Fennell
Wow! What a course! Very in depth, lots of valuable information. John instructs with great knowledge and integrity. I have taken other online courses, NOT from Creative Live (my bad!) and was left feeling like a monkey who had learned tricks without understanding or knowledge. Now I feel I have the confidence to move forward on my photographic journey securely knowing how lenses function, what to look for and what price range I can expect. Bravo John! I'd love to see a 2020 update video as an addendum.
Fusako Hara
Finally I have some sense of what lens do, know what I have, what I would like to have, what lens to use, and how I can get images that I see. Best part of this session is it was made so clear, simple, logical, and practical. I am glad that I purchased this product. Now, I am going to look for more from John Greengo so I can take better understanding and take better images. Thank You.
Student Work
Related Classes
Fundamentals