Canon 70D Lense Suggestions

[andantesash]

I am looking for some advice on lenses for my Canon 70D, I have been doing a few wedding shots for friends and want to get some more new lenses and a new flash gun.

I am currently shooting with 18-135 canon lense.

What lenses would you recommend for doing candid and wedding shots for this camera?

 

[Rick50]

I prefer the Sigma 17-70mm 2.8-4.0 for crop sensor camera. It lives on my 80D.

 

[beagle100]

I am looking for some advice on lenses for my Canon 70D, I have been doing a few wedding shots for friends and want to get some more new lenses and a new flash gun.

I am currently shooting with 18-135 canon lense.

What lenses would you recommend for doing candid and wedding shots for this camera?

Sigma 17-50 2.8 but for portraits you need a large aperture prime (along with good lighting), e.g. 85mm 1.8, 100, 135mm f/2
it also depends on your budget

 

[Rambojonil303]

I am looking for some advice on lenses for my Canon 70D, I have been doing a few wedding shots for friends and want to get some more new lenses and a new flash gun.

I am currently shooting with 18-135 canon lense.

What lenses would you recommend for doing candid and wedding shots for this camera?

I'm new to this as well but someone gave me a canon 50mm and they said it works well for low light and portraits

 

[TCampbell]

Weddings do well with a low-focal ratio zoom (e.g. f/2.8) such as the 17-50mm ... and during the ceremony I use my 70-200mm f/2.8 which lets me shoot from a distance (caution... f/2.8 isn't a very broad depth of field so if you're shooting that low don't expect everyone at the alter to be in sharp focus)

The newer 50mm f/1.8 STM (and make sure it says "STM") would be a nice addition and it's low cost. It's good for low-light. The 85mm f/1.8 is also good in that regard.

I use the 135mm f/2 but I have a full-frame camera. I wouldn't necessarily suggest it on a crop-frame. It turns out if you multiply 85mm by 1.6 (the crop factor of the camera) you'll get 136mm. So basically an 85mm on a crop-frame camera will give a similar result to using a 135mm on a full-frame camera. You need a lot of room to frame subjects at those focal lengths unless you're doing head & shoulders framing (not full-body shots).

If you pick up a flash gun then also consider picking up a decent flash modifier. I've gone through a pile of modifiers and have settled on the Rogue Flashbender as my favorite so far (in the "large" size because they do come in sizes). In order for light to appear "soft" (not create shadows with well-defined edges -- having a well-defined shadow of the bride's nose on her cheek is not a good look) the light needs to come from a broad area and not a pin-point source. That's the idea behind softening... the larger the area of the light source, the softer the light will look (shooting through a tiny milky cap doesn't soften the light because it's still tiny). The flash-bender gives you a roughly 1 square foot panel that you can bend and shape. You fire the flash into it and it increases the apparent size of the light source.

When shooting outside in the sun you should still use the flash, just dial back the power so the subject is primarily lit by ambient light (or sunlight) but the flash fires at a slightly weaker power to help reduce the intensity of any shadows. When using E-TTL I usually set the "flash exposure compensation" (FEC) to somewhere between -2/3rds or -1.