Which lens to buy (EOS 500D)

[Big Mike]

I think what I found lacking at least with my Sony was, it was not fast enough. There had to be some very specific conditions for the camera to capture very clear images, namely, VERY bright light (under the sun for instance I took photos of water drops falling and they were crystal clear).
My problem was always low light so I need a lens that will work in low light *even without a flash* and stop time if you will.
I need for wiggly babies to be still but I can't do that. With my Sony I ended up with a LOT of motion-blurred photos sometimes even with the slave flash AND the studio lights.

Even very fast lenses will be limited in low light. It's your responsibility to keep an eye on the shutter speed. You can also turn up the ISO to get faster shutter speeds, at the expense of digital noise, however.

Total noob here. Auto-focus lenses are manual enabled aswell right? I would want the option to manually focus obviously.

Yes, pretty much every interchangeable auto focus lens, can be manually focused as well.

 

[Chocoholix]

Even very fast lenses will be limited in low light. It's your responsibility to keep an eye on the shutter speed. You can also turn up the ISO to get faster shutter speeds, at the expense of digital noise, however.

Absolutely! But I've already found my Canon to be by FAR superior and faster to the Sony. I've taken the same photo with both camera (on tripods, side by side) and I am already happy

 

[Chocoholix]

Ok people I am down to 3 lenses... which one of the three?
Remember, fast, good with low light, mostly portraits or photos taken outside of children running, moving etc.
Opteka 85mm f/1.4 IF Portrait Lens for Canon EOS SLR 85 - eBay (item 370299606227 end time Dec-07-09 16:45:59 PST)

Canon EF 85mm 85 mm f/1.8 F1.8 USM 50D/450D/500D-0303 - eBay (item 370258201550 end time Dec-08-09 19:44:50 PST)

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 F1.4 USM Lens for EOS 50D 5D 7D NEW - eBay (item 200409850694 end time Dec-23-09 13:34:07 PST)

A local photographer friend suggested the 50mm one...
So what do you think? (if I can sell my Sony, I might actually get two lol )

 

[mdruziak]

A lens that captures good detail in macro mode (because I photograph small items as well)

Neither the non of the lenses you mentioned are Macro lenses.

A lens that is fast and works good even with low light

By this I assume you mean fast focusing in low light? Since the Opteka is manual focus this lens is eliminated. But if you mean that it has a large f-stop (ie f/1.4 or f/1.8) either the 50mm or the Canon 85mm will do. I own both and my 85 is sharper wide open than the 50mm wide open.

However, you may find any of these lenses difficult to use wide open until you get a lot of practice with them. At 5 feet, the Depth of Field wide open, on the 85mm is only about 1/2" and 2" on the 50mm. With moving babies, even if you nail the focus initially, the baby may move and be out of focus. Or you may sway back and forth a little and move the camera out of focus. I always use AI-Servo mode when using either of these lenses wide open.

If you really want a macro, Canon makes a 100mm and Sigma makes a 105mm f/2.8 macro lens that are great for portraits also.

As you might be noticing, the purchase of any lens is a trade off. It might be great for one type of photography and horrible for another.

 

[Chocoholix]

Oh boy!! lol
You are SO right!!! Ugh... Well MOST of the photographers I've spoken to and love their work, told me to get the 50mm one... for the outdoors, general variety photos, the lens the Eos came with (the 18-55) is quite decent and I know loads of people don't use this one much as soon as they get another one but it works for me so far with no complaints.. but I do need a portrait lens...

I've found that with the studio lights and my two flashes, even when babies moved (while I was using the Sony that is) the photos were still good... at least MOST of them
But only (obviously) when I used the flashes...
I think I might go with the 50mm one for starters and see if I can pop around some studios locally to test some other lenses before I decide!
In any case, I am buying from the US because I just checked out the prices here in Athens, Greece and OH BOY! About x2 as much!! (i.e. the lens I wanted costs 2000 EUROS here which is $2700!!! whereas in the US you can get it for $2000 or less!!) yikes!