Lens advice!

[cooldude]

For my Canon XS, should I get the Tamron 17-50mm or the Canon 50mm f/1.4 Usm for a walk around indoors and portrait lens.

 

[analog.universe]

That depends on what you're priorities are. A prime will give you sharper images with less distortion, and of course a larger wider aperture... I find 50 to be tight inside sometimes though... Really only sometimes, it's great for portraits, but usually I find a 35mm is more flexible inside when I don't know what I'm going to be shooting.

If you're looking at 50 1.4s though, you should be considering the Sigma, not the Canon. Canon's 50 1.4 is one of their oldest lens designs, and it's not really keeping up with the competition anymore.

 

[subscuck]

To further confuse the issue, I wouldn't go with either of those. I'd get the Sigma 30 1.4 (I own it) or the Canon 35 2.0. The Siggy's $100 and a bit more than the Canon, but better optically. It is however a DC lens, Sigma's nomenclature for crop body only. The Canon is still a nice lens, and would follow you to full frame if you ever went that route.

50mm is pretty tight on a crop body, and in the average interior space you would find yourself shooting in, you may not always have enough room to back up. 30mm in field of view equivalent is similar to 50mm on full frame or film. 50 is equivalent to 80 on ff or film. It would be better for portrait, but IMHO a 30 or 35 is better by far for a walk around for candids. My 30 1.4 is on my 50D almost all of the time.