What lens do I need to get background blurred

petjordan · Oct 5, 2017

Hi! I am new here!

I have a recording studio for my youtube channel with 3x4 meters.
It's in my garage, actually. The camera stays in the garage gate and I am 1 meter off. I have a canon 70D and a Sony A7r II. What is the best lens to use in both cameras to have the background blurred?
I have a FE 1.8/55 Zeizz for my Sony camera and yes, I am getting the background blurred, but it's not wide enought. I need to show up more of my background/

Thank you for your support.

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480sparky · Oct 5, 2017

1. How far is the camera from the subject?
2. How far is the subject from the background?
3. What is the necessary field of view (in degrees) for the subject to be properly framed?

photo1x1.com · Oct 5, 2017

Hi and welcome to tbe forum! If you need to show more of your background, you need a wider lens. If you still want your background to be as blurry as possible, you need one with a large opening (small aperture number) Like 35mm f1.4). But a 35 mm does have a different look too and will distort your body/face especially if they get closer to the edges of your frame. Also: the background will be less blurred with a wider lens.
You have a nice combo there btw. I too use a7rII and 55mm f1.8 for my youtube channels.

photo1x1.com · Oct 5, 2017

We had a thread about blurred backgrounds lately. It went a little off topic, but it should help you: How do you get the blurry background effect?

KmH · Oct 6, 2017

Controlling depth of field (DoF) is what provides a blurred background .
Several factors have to be controlled to determine the DoF:
• Lens focal length
• Point of focus distance
• Image sensor size
• Lens aperture
Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

Dave442 · Oct 6, 2017

So you want to show more of a blurry background? Can you just make the background less distracting?

beagle100 · Oct 6, 2017

1 meter?
For the Canon just open the garage door and get the inexpensive Canon 50mm 1.8 STM
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

Solarflare · Oct 6, 2017

google "dof calculator"

DoF = depth of field

Shallow depth of field with a wide angle lens wont work well.

A 35mm lens has twice the depth of field of a 50mm at same focus distance and aperture.

A 25mm lens has four times as much.

Thus wide angle wont have much blurr in the background, while for example a 300mm lens will always have a lot - even on larger distances and smaller apertures.

photo1x1.com · Oct 6, 2017

beagle100 said:
1 meter?
For the Canon just open the garage door and get the inexpensive Canon 50mm 1.8 STM
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

But petjordan already has the Zeiss 55mm f1.8, which is one of the best lenses money can buy. The 50mm isn't substantially wider.

jake337 · Oct 6, 2017

Look for something wider than 35mm and faster than f2.8.

Derrel · Oct 6, 2017

petjordan6 said:
Hi! I am new here!
The camera stays in the garage gate and I am 1 meter off. I have a canon 70D and a Sony A7r II. What is the best lens to use in both cameras to have the background blurred?
I have a FE 1.8/55 Zeizz for my Sony camera and yes, I am getting the background blurred, but it's not wide enought. I need to show up more of my background/

Oh myyyyyy: this is a terrible scenario with a crop-sensor camera, and a close camera-to-subject distance combined with a very CLOSE subject-to-background distance, AND a need to show a wide background, AND to have a very blurry backdrop rendering. As I understand it, your prerequisites and shooting situation all combine to create a complex, tricky situation for blurry backdrops.

If you want a wide background angle of view in a small, 3x4 meter area, and blurred backdrop, and on a crop-frame camera, you need a lens that does not exist as a consumer-priced-level piece of gear! Something like say a 16mm f/1.2 would be sweet!

HONESTLY, I think in this situation, a different shooting enbvironment would help the most, followed by a larger-sensor sized camera next, and third, a very "fast-aperture" yet wide-angle lens, like a 20mm f/1.8, or perhaps the Sigma 18-35mm DX-format f/1.8 zoom (saw a nice one used yesterday for $600) for the very-fastest (f/1.8) aperture available in the 18-19-20mm focal length range for use on your 7D.

Good luck! And as mentioned above, perhaps make the background itself less-distracting!

photo1x1.com · Oct 6, 2017

Derrel said:
petjordan6 said:

Hi! I am new here!
The camera stays in the garage gate and I am 1 meter off. I have a canon 70D and a Sony A7r II. What is the best lens to use in both cameras to have the background blurred?
I have a FE 1.8/55 Zeizz for my Sony camera and yes, I am getting the background blurred, but it's not wide enought. I need to show up more of my background/

Click to expand...

Oh myyyyyy: this is a terrible scenario with a crop-sensor camera, and a close camera-to-subject distance combined with a very CLOSE subject-to-background distance, AND a need to show a wide background, AND to have a very blurry backdrop rendering. As I understand it, your prerequisites and shooting situation all combine to create a complex, tricky situation for blurry backdrops.

If you want a wide background angle of view in a small, 3x4 meter area, and blurred backdrop, and on a crop-frame camera, you need a lens that does not exist as a consumer-priced-level piece of gear! Something like say a 16mm f/1.2 would be sweet!

HONESTLY, I think in this situation, a different shooting enbvironment would help the most, followed by a larger-sensor sized camera next, and third, a very "fast-aperture" yet wide-angle lens, like a 20mm f/1.8, or perhaps the Sigma 18-35mm DX-format f/1.8 zoom (saw a nice one used yesterday for $600) for the very-fastest (f/1.8) aperture available in the 18-19-20mm focal length range for use on your 7D.

Good luck! And as mentioned above, perhaps make the background itself less-distracting!

Hey Derrel, I hardly ever "disagree" with you: the Sony a7rII is a full frame camera

Derrel · Oct 6, 2017

photo1x1.com said:
Derrel said:

petjordan6 said:

Hi! I am new here!
The camera stays in the garage gate and I am 1 meter off. I have a canon 70D and a Sony A7r II. What is the best lens to use in both cameras to have the background blurred?
I have a FE 1.8/55 Zeizz for my Sony camera and yes, I am getting the background blurred, but it's not wide enought. I need to show up more of my background/

Click to expand...

Oh myyyyyy: this is a terrible scenario with a crop-sensor camera, and a close camera-to-subject distance combined with a very CLOSE subject-to-background distance, AND a need to show a wide background, AND to have a very blurry backdrop rendering. As I understand it, your prerequisites and shooting situation all combine to create a complex, tricky situation for blurry backdrops.

If you want a wide background angle of view in a small, 3x4 meter area, and blurred backdrop, and on a crop-frame camera, you need a lens that does not exist as a consumer-priced-level piece of gear! Something like say a 16mm f/1.2 would be sweet!

HONESTLY, I think in this situation, a different shooting enbvironment would help the most, followed by a larger-sensor sized camera next, and third, a very "fast-aperture" yet wide-angle lens, like a 20mm f/1.8, or perhaps the Sigma 18-35mm DX-format f/1.8 zoom (saw a nice one used yesterday for $600) for the very-fastest (f/1.8) aperture available in the 18-19-20mm focal length range for use on your 7D.

Good luck! And as mentioned above, perhaps make the background itself less-distracting!

Click to expand...

Hey Derrel, I hardly ever "disagree" with you: the Sony a7rII is a full frame camera

I thought the OP was on a Canon 7D, but he has a 70D--and the Sony...I missed the part about the FF camera, but he needs a FAST and wide-angle lens for the crop-body.

Still...changing the set-up and placing the backdrop FARTHER behind the focus point would be a very helpful revision of the shooting scenario.

TCampbell · Oct 7, 2017

To increase background blur, you’d normally factor in...

1. close subject, distant background
2. Long focal length (narrow angle of view) - not short focal-length (wide angle of view)
3. Low focal ratio

It sounds like #2 is a problem... the OP mentioned that he Sony does it with the 55mm f/1.8 lens (and that makes sense) but the OP thought the 55mm lens was too narrow and wanted a wider lens. Going wider is going to reduce the background blur (assuming everything else remains the same).