Another lens question

[brighteyesphotos]

Yes.... it's another lens question. I have about 5 lenses on my wish list but not the money to buy them all.

Right now I have a choice between a 50mm f/1.4 and a 105mm f/2.8 lens.

Which would you choose? Part of me says the 50mm but I also picked up a 17-70mm f/2.8 so wouldn't the 50mm be moot? At the same time, I'm not sure if I want a 105mm. Most of my stuff is shot at 50-75mm.

If it helps any, I usually do portraits and weddings.

 

[Big Mike]

Just to clarify...I believe your 17-70mm is F2.8-4.5. So while the max aperture is F2.8 at the wide end...it's only F4.5 at the long end. At 50mm it might be F3.5 or F4.

So while you could use that lens instead of a 50mm prime lens...the 50mm F1.4 would be 3 full stops faster (not to mention the much better image quality).

We can't tell you what lens you want...you have to decide that. If you don't think you need or would use a longer lens, then don't get a long lens.

Maybe you need to find out why you think you need a new lens. Maybe another lens isn't the best way to spend your money. Or maybe you should save up until you can afford a top of the line lens.

What else can you tell us about what & how you shoot?

 

[Sun Devil Rob]

The 105mm can help with portraiture as it tends to compress some features that people tend to be self-conscious about (i.e. noses). But Mike is right, you need to decide based on your individual needs.

 

[Antithesis]

The extra stop you'd get with the f1.4 usually helps more than you'd think. It often means the difference between hand holding and a tripod when shooting indoors. Also, if most of your stuff is in the ~50mm focal range, the 50mm makes a lot more sense. I'd look into 35mm primes as well, I realized that the 50mm is actually a short telephoto on a crop sensor making it less useful than say a ~35mm prime that would be closer to the perspective of the human eye. I used the 50mm a couple times on one of my film bodies and found it to be a much more useful focal length.