suggest a good lens for a canon eos 40d

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Whats a good lens for a canon eos 40d indoor use.
the shooting distance will be from 2' away from the subject. (correct distance mistake here)
Sometimes natural light will be used and sometimes lamps, always a tripod.

I`m seriously buying what you suggest so please help me. I want good glass. thanks for your time.

I`m editing this because i gave you no info of any kind!

This picture below is the type of picture I take. Its with my current camera. This is what I do for a living, sell on ebay.

someone here on the form gave me a great link to follow and i did the tutorial and if i did my homework correctly, the lens of MY CHOICE IS... Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 L USM $900.00.
Basically I`m into portrait photography, with natural light. I have to back up some to get the baby's bed completely in the shots. my room is 10' deep. but i don`t back up that far, only about 5 feet. i use natural light, but i do have nice latural colored lights. i use a tripod always. i`m getting the EOS 40D.

I want a zoom lens, i need to do all sorts of poses with the dolls. Laying, sitting, close up shots, hand shots, full body shots.
Plus some family shots too. (if possible with the family part)




I`M SO SORRY, I MADE SUCH A MISTAKE ABOUT MY DISTANCE....
WHAT AN IDIOT I AM! JUST MEASURED ITS 20-24" TO THE BABY'S FACE! AT FAR DISTANCE AND CLOSE UP ITS MORE LIKE 10" yikes. I stand back about 5 feet and take the picture.

ok kick me in the ass. Sorry for all of you who responded to my long distance lens question.

THIS PICTURE IS OF A DOLL I JUST MADE, SHES ON EBAY RIGHT NOW.
DSCF2091.jpg
 
It really depends on what your subject will be ... people, something smaller? larger? the room itself? If it is about interior design, I would consider a really wide angle zoom.

But I suppose it is about something else?
 
On my 40D I use a Tamron 17-50F2.8 and love it. I shoot almost exacty what you described, most of the time. The lens is fast and sharp and not crazy money. You didn't mention anything about the lens your wanting being a prime, but a 50mm F1.8 is good too but no zoom.

I would highly recommend the Tamron.

Freedbaby
 
Whats a good lens for a canon eos 40d indoor use.
the shooting distance will be from 3' to 5' away from the subject.
Sometimes natural light will be used and sometimes lamps, always a tripod.

I`m seriously buying what you suggest so please help me. I want good glass. thanks for your time.

Pretty much anything that is made by Canon and has a Red ring on the end of the barrel. If you see that red ring, hold onto you wallet cause it is usually will cost you $800 to $1000 more than the next lens down in the same focal length.

Seriously, it would help to know what you want the lens for before giving ideas, although the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 is a really nice piece of glass for the price.
 
thanks, i added my info at the top of my first post. I should have done that in the first place.
 
If you're always on a tripod then do you really need a fast and expensive f/2.8 zoom? Do you take pictures of newborns in hospitals as a service to the new parents? Is flash allowed? Is your budget OK with a $1000 lens?
 
You might want to go wider than 24 for what you're doing, with the crop factor considered. And like Mav said, it doesn't really sound like you need a 2.8 lens. I would third the Tamron 17-50 vote. Heck, even the new Canon 18-55mm kit lens might work for what you're doing.
 
I believe with a bit of an effort the kit lens I have can do that shot with the window or door open, albeit with slower SS.

But I like that baby photo above, it produced very natural skin colour of a baby and the surrounding object.
 
Canon makes a 50mm f/1.4. With the Focal Length Magnification factor of your camera, this gives you a 35mm equivalent of 80mm, which is ideal for portraits. The large aperture is great for shooting in low light. The lens retails for around $300. Another good choice is Canon's 85mm f/1.8. I also use the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L series, which is a great lens.
Cheers,
Doug
 
Well 3-5' away is REALLY close for a 40D. Maybe consider the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 prime. Here are some samples taken with a Nikon D40X (same crop sensor size as teh 40D I believe):

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Lens Photo Samples

You will want a fast prime most likely. Most say the Sigma 30mm 1.4 isn't super sharp at 1.4, but stopped down a stop it performs very good.

-Roy
 
From what I've read, the Sigma has very sharp centers but soft corners at 1.4, assuming of course you don't get one of the many with front/back-focusing issues straight from the factory. Sharp centers are all you really need, since almost nothing is going to be in focus at f/1.4 anyways. 3-5' away is still pretty far. The biggest issue with the Sigma for this type of photography is that it gets you nowhere close to your subject. The macro ratio is 1:10 which is a loooong ways away. The Canon EF 35mm f/2 and the f/1.4L will get you in a whole ton closer.

My Nikon 35mm f/2D is similar to the Canon 35mm f/2 and here's what you can do with that. All of these were at f/2.8 for a little more depth of field and some stupidly slow shutter speeds (down to 1/15s or 1/10s), all handheld.

Katie07_019-vi.jpg


Katie07_029-vi.jpg


DSC_5430ed-vi.jpg



The Canon EF 35mm f/2 is about $200. That or the f/1.4L version would all be great for this type of stuff, except that if you're in a hospital room and you have a couple of people that all want to get in a photo with the baby, it won't be wide enough. In that case a kit zoom or a pro f/2.8 zoom would do better, although you'd probably need to be on a tripod and tell everybody to hold really still. You can't shoot wide groups wide open anyways because you'll end up having some in focus and some out of focus due to the small depth of field. You need to stop down to increase your depth of field to make sure you get everybody in focus, which of course either requires a longer shutter speed (more potential for movement blur) or a higher ISO (more noise). For any shots like that, I'd just stop down any cheap lens on a tripod and take at least a dozen photos. You'll get one where everybody looks great.
 
I just edited above, that the picture at the TOP is just a vinyl doll that I made. Sorry I just assumed that you guys knew that I made dolls.

My subjects don`t move around much. But I still struggle with my pictures
I take about 300 shots just to get about 20 good ones. I`m very picky.

Right now I`m selling a very expensive doll for a very expensive lens. Its do or die. I buy it now or never. Its the only way i can afford to do this.

I really don`t want to just to piddle around, i want to shoot to the top, and be there. I`ll figure out what i`m doing when i get there. I`ve been studying the PDF FILE on the Canon 40d for about 3 weeks. No i don`t know it, but i`m learning some things. if i don`t buy the best lens now while i have that doll money, it won`t happen later. it just won`t. its now or never. i`m selling something very important to me so i have to get something very worth while in return to make it worth the sacrifice or why bother. plus if i don`t do it now my husband will freak out if i try to buy the lens a later date because THIS money will be long gone...
 

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