Portrait Lens? - canon EOS

Mtalicarox

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Hi All,

for christmas my parents let me choose one big gift since my birthday is close after as well....

I want to get a lens that will be good for portraits/low light (without flash when possible). I have a canon EOS camera.. I was wondering what you would recommend for a high quality lens (without spending thousands of dollars) that would be good for portraits, and low light shots. I'm not a professional by any means, but go to a lot of friends bands shows, so being able to shoot in low light would be excellent as well.

Thanks!
 
How about the 50mm f/1.4 USM?

I do not have experience about live bands photography. But from some of the result I saw, 50mm f/1.4 is quite good. Of course, it also depends on where you taking the photos from.
 
I will definitely look into it.

I can get pretty upclose as the gigs are mostly in local barsish places.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Any other suggestions? I have a month to compare and contrast so if anyone else has any other suggestions please feel free to suggest away :)
 
From reading through the review.. USM is some sort of focusing thing? Any details? Also - this mentions it has full manual focus - but it also is AF right? (There's a reason I posted in the noob section haha)
 
Yes, it has AF. I have the 50mm f/1.4 and love it..that would have been my recommendation as well.
 
From reading through the review.. USM is some sort of focusing thing? Any details? Also - this mentions it has full manual focus - but it also is AF right? (There's a reason I posted in the noob section haha)


Full Time Manual (FTM) focus means you do not need to flip the switch from AF to MF in order to foucs manually. In other words, you can turn the focus ring even if the lens is set to AF.

Lens with USM usually focus faster and less noise.
 
Excellent. Thanks again!
 
I would go for 50F1.4 i use mine to shoot bands
ISO3200 on a 5D
1089460290_fhqaF-L.jpg
 
I would go for 50F1.4 i use mine to shoot bands
ISO3200 on a 5D
1089460290_fhqaF-L.jpg

AWESOME, so you would recommend the same one that was recommended? Thanks for the pic too - this is the type of photo I was hoping to get it for (granted your cameras a little more expensive...but It's nice to see what the lens is capable of).

"One big gift" = how much $$$?

Um.. well it can really be many big gifts.. I don't have a limit.. but I'm an adult so I'm not going to go crazy.
 
Also look into the 85mm 1.8, its a longer reach ( depending what distance you typically find yourself from the stage ) Its a very good lens ( as is the 50mm 1.4 ) but the 85mm has a better USM that focuses faster (and from what I hear, more accurately ) than the 50mm. You lose a tiny little bit of light, but the 50mm 1.4 isn't too sharp at 1.4 anyway, so I doubt you would do too much shooting that wide open due to sharpness and DOF issues.
 
I agree with Goonies. Get the 85mm f1.8 unless you want to f1.4 L version. I don't think I would consider the price difference worth it, though. It is an amazing portrait lens (Canon and Nikon versions). It is 100% most definitely my next lens purchase. (Nikon 85mm f1.8D)
 
Well it has to be said but if you can swing it I'd go for the 50mm 1.8, which is cheap as hell but still an awesome performer, and then try and get a 430EX (flash unit/speedlite) as well. It will give you far more options in terms of what you can shoot.
 
I really like my Canon EF 24 - 105 mm F4.0L. Ok, it's a much slower lens than the others mentioned here but, if I have to put one lens on my camera, which I do, this would be the lens. As a professional photographer I have to move fast and I really like the ability of going from a wide angle to telephoto mode without having to change my lens.

Also, in lower light situations I crank the ASA to 1600 or more on my Canon 5d at 1/30th of a second (or slower at times) and I get a sharp image because it has that image stabilizer built into the lens. It's a little over $1000 but I feel it's worth it.
 
I really like my Canon EF 24 - 105 mm F4.0L. Ok, it's a much slower lens than the others mentioned here but, if I have to put one lens on my camera, which I do, this would be the lens. As a professional photographer I have to move fast and I really like the ability of going from a wide angle to telephoto mode without having to change my lens.

Also, in lower light situations I crank the ASA to 1600 or more on my Canon 5d at 1/30th of a second (or slower at times) and I get a sharp image because it has that image stabilizer built into the lens. It's a little over $1000 but I feel it's worth it.

IS is a great feature, but it's useless for freezing motion of a moving subject. Shutter speed is the only thing that can help you there, and for that you will need a much faster lens than f/4. In your case you also have the luxury of good high ISO performance from your 5D, the OP only has a rebel which don't typically go to well over 800 ISO.
 

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