Photography: SLR Lenses for Golf Landscapes?

[Paul_Turner]

A question for the expert golf course photographers (Robert Walker out there?).

Which spec lenses are best?  Prime or zoom.  How much wide angle is typically needed for the best shots from behind a green?

Worth getting an image stabilising lens?  I'm not lugging a tripod around.  A monopod in the bag?

Which filters are best?

Thanks

[Tom_Doak]

Paul:

I asked the same questions of Brian Morgan 20 years ago.  His advice:

1. wide angle should be 24 or 28 mm
2. the standard 50 mm lens that comes with the camera is optically as pure as they come
3. a polzarizing filter is a must
4. graduated filters are helpful when the sky is hazy or bright

Brian did not believe that the zoom lenses produced back then were as sharp as the 50 mm, and he would rather enlarge and crop the photo than to use a lens that wasn't sharp.  This could be the one area where technology has changed the answer.

[Paul_Turner]

Thanks Tom.

Yes I think that the glass 20 years ago was just as good as today's.  But the zooms I'm sure have improved.

[Brad Swanson]

Paul,
  I'm certainly no expert, but I think for the $$ a few good wide primes would be optically equal or better to their zoom counterparts and usually far less expensive.

Cheers,
Brad Swanson

[Wayne_Freedman]

Look closely at aspect ratios and light.
For mounded courses, early mornings and evenings are best.

Re: lenses. One of the best portrait SLR portrait lenses might work well on a golf course. It's the trusty Nikon 105mm.
Granted, the lens is a 2x telephoto, but that can be an advantage in certain situations, and  it has an excellent range for depth of field.  It makes anything look good.

Two other good lenses would be  Nikon's 24 or 28mm. The 24, especially, gives a broad panorama, but doesn't inject that usual wide angle distortion.

[Robert_Walker]

Today's Zoom lenses are very sharp.
If you are not going to get a tripod, then the IS lenses are worth every penny.
Prime lenses force you to compose with the lens and position.
Zooms let you change composition without changing perspective  (point of view).
I have never used anything wider than 24.

[Mark Brown]

Golf Purist -- Photography Purist

Have photographed about 200 courses, a lot when I was at Links.

1. To get the best "golf" shots all you need is a 50 and a 24 -- once in a great while I use a 70

2. I will never use a color filter - it's fake, and you can tell it. It's cheating also.

3. From 150 yds. use a 50, and from behind a green you almost always need a 24.

4. The two keys to artistic golf photos are great natural light and using the light to the maximum by shooting from the best angle.

5. The other key is finding (with a minimum of scouting and planning) the right hole with the right light and drive the course loop after loop as the angle of the sun changes.

6. There's also some great tricks of the trade such as shooting into the sun after you've hidden it behind a tree -- then you get magic -- and that's what it's all about -- just like a great golf shot. Morning dew shots can also produce magic.

7. Alert! Fuji Vevia 50 or 100 is far, far superior to any other film. You can get great shots with an old Canon AE1 as long as you don't have to blow it up more than a page although medium and large format camera are quite superior as the image size increases.

[Mike Nuzzo]

I second Fuji Velvia 50 and use only a 28 mm Nikkon lens - no IS.  I Don't use a polorizer or filter.
The 28 mm produces a bluer sky than a zoom?
20 x 30 enlargements look great.

[Dan_Callahan]

If you are using a digital camera, remember that the sensor diagonal is 1.5 times smaller than the diagonal of 35mm film, so that a 28mm lens turns into about a 40mm. Great for zoom but makes wide angle more difficult.

[Paul_Turner]

I had to go with digital:

Just bought a Canon Rebel body with a 28-135 IS lens which should be good for most situations.  

From my brief research.  It seems that Canon are kicking Nikon's ass in the digital SLR product (eventhough the D70 looks great).  Mass exodus by the pros from Nikon to Canon in the last year or two.