Help with Canon EF mount prime lenses

[OregonT3i]

For Christmas, my fiancee got me a Canon EF 50mm f1.8, and I have been having fun with it. It got me interested in prime lenses again, and I have been looking at a few.

My question is, what are some good, useful focal lengths for prime lenses? I like to take pics of just about anything. The other primes I have seen are the 50mm f1.4, the 20mm f2.8, and an 85mm.

Please list some others.

 

[Derrel]

14mm,24mm,35mm,60mm,100mm,135mm,180mm,200mm,300mm--those are all useful primes which can be used hand-held by "normal people", without the need for a monopod and a bank loan. The 50mm,20mmand 85mm lengths you mentioned are also pretty useful.

If I had to pick, the 100mm f/2 OR the 135mm f/2 would be my first tele primes, and the 300mm f/4 prime would be next. The 85mm f/1.8 is also very useful and affordable too!

 

[bratkinson]

What primes to buy is more a question of what do you take pictures of? What would be used for indoor family gatherings would not be well suited for basketball, for example. City scenes would call for something in the mid-range, whereas open prairie or wildlife shots would call for longer focal lengths. Macro photography has different requirements, as well.

In short, figure you what you want to shoot, then decide what lenses to get.

 

[MLeeK]

I like the 28mm on a crop sensor for wide. The 50mm and 85mm's on a crop and on a full frame for portraits. A LOT of people like something around 100mm...
It's kind of a personal fit.

 

[OregonT3i]

Thank you for all of the replies. I shoot a lot of landscape, some city scenes, macro, and portraits. A bit of everything. I have been considering a 14mm for landscapes, and use my 50mm for portraits and cityscapes.

The Canon 14mm is out of my price range, so I have been looking at Sigma or Tamron for a 14mm.

What would be a good prime lens to use for macro? Maybe the 85mm or 100mm?