Lens For Night Photography

I've kind of developed a taste for available light dusk and night photography, and I'm wondering what might be a good prime lens choice for this distraction. I've been using an EF 24-70 f/2.8 L, but it's going to be a while before I see that again. I like the specs on the EF 85 f/1.2 L but they're so darned expensive that no one has one for me to lay hands on. I also wonder if that might not be a bit too much focal length when mounted on a 1.3 crop factor camera. Mostly I'm shooting street scenes, building, street lights, porch lights, etc., sometimes using an off-camera flash or two to backlight or highlight an interesting part of the scene, like a nice tree branch or such. Most of the time with the 24-70 I was in the upper range of the lens, ISO 200, f/8 with several seconds exposure, with EC set -1 to -2. You get some very cool effects like that. When I get off my duff and PP some of my Savannah pictures, I'll post a couple of the night shots.

Any low-light junkies out there care to make some lens recommendations?

I take a LOT of night shots, especially in winter when the sun goes down at 4:30 PM. I use my Nikon 50mm f.18 a lot. It's cheap and very sharp. Canon has an equiv. You might also see if Canon makes a 35mm f2. I also use my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8. When I eventually get a DSLR, I will be looking at either a Sigma 30mm f1.4 or a Nikon 35mm f2. Sigma makes a 24mm f1.8 and a 28mm f1.8. Those should be great for what you want, and are affordable.


Kent in SD

If you're hand holding the shots as it sounds, the tradeoffs between focal length and minimal hand-holding speeds may be huge. That's why so many of the greats in the genre shot very short lenses. With the advances in photography available today ranging from high quality digital files at high ISOs to image stabilization, you might be able to rewrite that "rule." I'm not acquainted with the Canon line any more, but it would be interesting to see what you could do with their shortest IS lens on body with a relatively noiseless sensor. Though not IS and only f/4, I'm curious what I could accomplish with my Nikkor 12-24 on the D2x body at 800, 1600 and 3200 ISO for example.

Canon's 50mm F1.4 is hard to beat price/performace wise (~$350 I think). Very sharp and feels good on the camera.