Canon 5dmkII or 50D?

[usayit]

On full frame for portraits, I personally wouldn't go any wider than 50mm... in the beginning. I prefer to compress space not expand on it. Focal length is not only about distance to subject but also how space is portrayed.

Of course, there are uses for wide angle focal lengths... in vary artistic ways. There are many examples of this from TPF posters. Just in the beginning, you want to stay with standard to mild telephotos.


I personally haven't found the CA too bad on the 85mm f/1.8 Perhaps I just never noticed it... don't know.

 

[zipperfoot]

I have also been considering some Sigma and Tamron lenses as possibilities, such as the 17-70mm Sigma and the 17-50mm Tamron, but I'm far more attracted to the Canon primes right now (a factor of this being price, also).

 

[gsgary]

i think the 50F1.8 is a great lens if you are on a budget
I don't think this shot is too shabby, 1Dmk1 iso1600 1/15
I have the 1.4 now, not sure i would have use the 1.8 on my 5D

 

[Dao]

I have also been considering some Sigma and Tamron lenses as possibilities, such as the 17-70mm Sigma and the 17-50mm Tamron, but I'm far more attracted to the Canon primes right now (a factor of this being price, also).

The Tamron 17-50mm is for cropped body.

 

[zipperfoot]

I have also been considering some Sigma and Tamron lenses as possibilities, such as the 17-70mm Sigma and the 17-50mm Tamron, but I'm far more attracted to the Canon primes right now (a factor of this being price, also).

The Tamron 17-50mm is for cropped body.

... So it is. xP
I've got my lists of lenses for the cropped and FF confused.

 

[Derrel]

The OP keeps inquiring about chromatic aberration from the 85/1.8 EF lens, so I thought I'd direct her to this photozone review page, where the lens is reviewed Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM (full format) - Review / Lab Test Report

The test scenes are pretty good examples of scenes where the lens's weaknesses can be made to show. Not all scenes will have the characteristics that cause longitudinal chromatic aberration to show up--in fact most scenes will not show any problems. It has however, become fashionable to shoot scenes with out of focus specular highlights as a major background element, and you can see the longitudinal chromatic aberration or "LoCa" or "bokeh chromatic aberration" in that type of case, as well as when photographing finely-spaced printed out focusing rulers placed on the diagonal (lol).

I don't shoot a lot of black and white printout "focusing rulers" in my own work, so I don't worry about picking the 85/1.8 as a portrait lens; in the real world it offers very high sharpness and decent, if unspectacular bokeh. Shot in front of normal, real-world backgrounds, those without bright specular highlights, the LoCa or bokeh CA (same thing, different names) will be virtually invisible. But if you break out a computer print-out ruler....well...

 

[zipperfoot]

The OP keeps inquiring about chromatic aberration from the 85/1.8 EF lens, so I thought I'd direct her to this photozone review page, where the lens is reviewed Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM (full format) - Review / Lab Test Report

The test scenes are pretty good examples of scenes where the lens's weaknesses can be made to show. Not all scenes will have the characteristics that cause longitudinal chromatic aberration to show up--in fact most scenes will not show any problems. It has however, become fashionable to shoot scenes with out of focus specular highlights as a major background element, and you can see the longitudinal chromatic aberration or "LoCa" or "bokeh chromatic aberration" in that type of case, as well as when photographing finely-spaced printed out focusing rulers placed on the diagonal (lol).

I don't shoot a lot of black and white printout "focusing rulers" in my own work, so I don't worry about picking the 85/1.8 as a portrait lens; in the real world it offers very high sharpness and decent, if unspectacular bokeh. Shot in front of normal, real-world backgrounds, those without bright specular highlights, the LoCa or bokeh CA (same thing, different names) will be virtually invisible. But if you break out a computer print-out ruler....well...

Thanks very much for your input. c: