I am looking for equipment advice. I am a member of a group that does night hikes on a regular basis. I would like to take photos of the people in the group during the hikes, and am wondering what I should look for when shopping for a low-light lens.
I would like to shoot people and dogs as they hike the trail. Sometimes, we have bright moonlight, and sometimes we are deep in the trees in darkness. Everyone carries either headlights or handheld lights, so there is some light from that.
I would like to capture the people, and also the environment. I feel flash, in addition to being an annoyance to dark-adjusted eyes, would eliminate everything except things closest to the camera, which I feel may not make interesting shots. I can’t expect people (especially dogs) to hold especially still, so long-shutter photography would be difficult.
I am thinking of shooting people at a range of 5-20 ft. Moderate zoom would be nice, but is not a requirement.
It sounds like I am looking for a very high aperture lens. Does such a lens exist, or am I hunting for a snipe? Would such a lens make such a narrow DOF to be almost unusable?
I have a Canon EOS Rebel T3. My budget is in the couple hundred dollar range (less than 100 if possible).

  • mrfixitx@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Budget less than $100 but large aperture zoom these are contradictory statements. Even a good cheap zoom is more than $100 used.

    A large aperture telephoto zoom would be something like the 70-200mm f2.8L which is even a used older version is still $800+ and it is going to be a 2-3lbs and a fairly bulky lens.

    Not using flash and shooting in the moonlight or with no moonlight means that anything with a smaller aperture is not going to be able to get enough light even at ISO 6400+.

    At $100 the only large aperture lens option that is in your budget is a used 50mm f1.8 or buying used manual focus lenses unless you find some insane deal from a private seller.

    I would suggest if your hiking group ever does campfires to get some picture around a campfire instead.

    If the light is not great or leaves peoples faces with to many shadows you could use a fill flash to fill in the shadows. Put an orange gel + diffuser on the flash and dial the power way down and it will not be nearly as distracting as a full power bare flash and you will keep the nice warm glow of the campfire.