In reply to codrus :
if renting for more than a week then yes it can get speedy for the really nice glass. That is also why I suggested looking for a local rental house to eliminate the shipping costs. It was more of an idea to try before you buy.
In reply to codrus :
if renting for more than a week then yes it can get speedy for the really nice glass. That is also why I suggested looking for a local rental house to eliminate the shipping costs. It was more of an idea to try before you buy.
Mrs. Wx is does a lot of portrait photography as a side business to pay for her photography equipment. She is a Canon shooter with a decent selection of lenses. She shoots on a EOS 80D, and a 60D before that. Here are some of her thoughts on lenses:
50 1.8 - Nice, especially for the price. We had the 1.8 II. Gear in the autofocus broke, but the image quality was great for the cost. Try to get the newer STM version rather than the 1.8 II version. Better built.
50 1.4 - Nice, but not 2-3x nicer than the 1.8 (price will be about 2-3x greater than the 1.8). Has trouble focusing. Might be the very shallow depth of field, but she is not a huge fan.
35 2.0 non-IS - Older 35MM lens. Sharp. She loved this lens. Nicely sharp, decent focus speed. Lost it at one of the band competitions for our boys. Would get this again if you wanted something with an equivalent view to a 50mm lens on a 35mm full frame sensor. We ended up replacing it with:
35 2.0 IS - New 35mm with image stabilization. Again, very sharp and fast focusing. She really likes this. It is almost always in our bag
85 1.8 USM - If your daughter is going to be doing portraits, get this lens. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200... When my wife was ordering this, one of her friends who also does photography said this will become your favorite lens. She wasn't lying. My wife probably uses this lens at least 40-50% of the time. It is her go-to lens. Razor sharp. Beautiful out-of-focus backgrounds. Very fast focus and great in low light.
17-55 2.8 USM IS - This was a recent addition. She was looking for a good low-light wide angle for when she has to shoot plays for the schools. Good lens, but not a ton of experience with it yet
Older Lenses
28-105 USM II 3.5-4.5 - This was a decent lens many moons ago (film days), but it has been surpassed. I use it on our 60D for shooting video for now.
70-210 USM 3.5-4.5 - This was an early lens in the life of the canon lenses. Better quality. She will like replace this with a 70-200 F4 L lens in the near future
18-55 3.5-5.6 - This was the kit lens that came with our first digital rebel. Its fine for that, but nothing remarkable.... My 12 year old is using it on our rebel to learn photography.
Just a tip. Look at Canon USA's refurbished store. You can get factory refurbed canon lenses at a decent savings. You might do a little better at a local camera store or ebay, but there is a warranty with the Canon store lenses. We've bought a number of lenses from there and have not been disappointed.
I'll throw in my vote for the Canon 40mm f2.8.
https://www.amazon.com/Canon-40mm-2-8-STM-Lens/dp/B00894YP00
Very compact lens that makes my Rebel XT (circa 2006) a very compact camera for what it is. Image quality is great, and the focus motor is virtually silent, which helps with street photography, and times when you would like it quiet. It won't let in as much light as the 50mm f1.8 (which I also have), but I like the size and focal length of the 40mm more, especially on a crop sensor.
Humble opinion; 40mm primes on crop sensors are kind of weird. Too wide to isolate the subject, to narrow to show the environment, they feel like a bad compromise. f2.8 vs f1.8 for portraits isn't going to favor the slower lens, either, all things being equal.
40mm on full frame is something else entirely. Here, I would definitely skip this and go right for the 50.
jj said:I have a fixed 50 1.8. For portraits it is WAY better than the "stock" lens. Hard to shoot indoors though.
Why?
In reply to 02Pilot :
I could see it being hard to shoot full-human-size subjects indoors. Great for pet shots(unless you have a great Dane)...
While I would probably prefer something wider than a 50mm in her situation, we don't really know what she's trying to shoot. Luckily, there's an easy enough way to test what focal length is going to be a good choice for her: use the 18-55mm purposely at 30/35/50mm. She already has a lens that covers the lengths of most fixed-length primes suggested here (albeit with a small apertures). You both can even look at the photos she's taken so far and tell which end of the range suits her style and habits the most. That'll be somewhat skewed by the convenience of zooming vs. walking, but it'll be a data point.
That said, I'd get the Canon 35mm 2.0 or the Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC for the reasons already stated in this thread. Tamron also makes a 35mm 1.8 with stabilization and that's what I ended up getting (because Nikon, price, more reasons, etc.)
I love shooting with nice prime lens but as has been mentioned shooting a 50mm on a crop sensor is not my fav...
others have mentioned some very good options and learning to shoot with a prime lens is great... but for veritably I'm in love with my tarmon 17-50 2.8... the one without VC is optically better and also cheaper... the 2.8 is wide enough for shooting indoors without a flash most of the time.... KEH as one for $140 right now... I paid full price for mine 7 or so years ago and would do it again...
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