indoor portrait lens

casey1823 · Dec 2, 2009

I'd like some help in purchasing a new lens.
I'm really missing a good indoor lens for family pics, and concert shots.

I've narrowed my choices down to three lens.

34 L 1.4
24-70 2.8
17-55 2.8 IS

I have the 17-40L f4 and the kit 24-135 and both really are to slow.
I use the 40D and will upgrade camera to a full frame someday.

If you have any suggestions and why please give me your advice.

Thanks
casey

Sidekicker · Dec 2, 2009

Though I like my 17-55 for portraits, a 50mm prime may serve you better and more affordably as a dedicated indoor portrait lens.

It will also serve you well once you move to FF.

Hans Bolte · Dec 2, 2009

Have you thought about the Canon EF 50 f/1.4?
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dtuason · Dec 2, 2009

casey1823 said:
I'd like some help in purchasing a new lens.
I'm really missing a good indoor lens for family pics, and concert shots.

I've narrowed my choices down to three lens.

34 L 1.4
24-70 2.8
17-55 2.8 IS

I have the 17-40L f4 and the kit 24-135 and both really are to slow.
I use the 40D and will upgrade camera to a full frame someday.

If you have any suggestions and why please give me your advice.

Great indoor lens for family portraits?

For me I prefer the 35mm focal length for crop bodies like your 40D.

35L...

For FF I prefer the 50mm focal length.

Anyway isn't 35mm (effective focal length 56mm) too short for concert shots?

Well...if you're next to the band members of course it's not too short of course.

Cheers!

Danny Tuason

casey1823 said:
Thanks
casey

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jrscls · Dec 2, 2009

35 f1.4 L and 85 f1.8 make a nice pair to compliment the slower zooms. Both are excellent on full frame and your crop body.

SHillphoto · Dec 2, 2009

the 17-55 is better on a 40D than the 24-70 for sharpness.... the 24-70 has better color.....

ed rader · Dec 2, 2009

any lens wide enough and a flash.

ed rader

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William DIllard · Dec 2, 2009

I think I'd go for the better color and get the 24-70 over the 17-55 and my reason is because you can always sharpen the picture providing it is relatively sharp. I have a friend who has that 24-70 and all of her pictures pop so much because of the color. I just love that lens. I think the 35L would be slightly better than the 24-70 but the 24-70 is more versitile so I'd still go for the 24-70 and if he decides to go full frame in the future he will be happy that he has the 24 -70 because the IQ will improve still !

William DIllard · Dec 2, 2009

I agree and flash is an important thing to have. This is the Lumiquest III with the 50 1.4 and the ST-E2 transmitter bounced off the ceiling. If that combination is too bulky there is the Lumiquest 80/20 but I think the III is better but more bulky.

Joe Photo Lover · Dec 2, 2009

casey1823 said:
I'd like some help in purchasing a new lens.
I'm really missing a good indoor lens for family pics, and concert shots.

I've narrowed my choices down to three lens.

34 L 1.4
24-70 2.8
17-55 2.8 IS

For family pictures, of your three I would pick the Canon 35mm f1.4 L but it's quite expensive. I also have a 40D and just picked up a Sigma 30mm f1.4 for less than 1/3 the price of the Canon. It's just only about two weeks but so far, so good.

For concert shots, none of the above. I would pick a Canon 100mm f2 for something relatively inexpensive or a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS if I wanted to go whole hog.

Julius T Santos · Dec 3, 2009

85 1.8 or 135 2.0
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aagirlz · Dec 3, 2009

You didn't say whether you planned on using a flash - the 24-70 won't be fast enough without a flash - not sure about the 17-55 as it has is - personally fwiw i'd go for the 35 - mind you i don't haave any of the lenses that you listed - instead i have the 16-35 f2.8 which i can only use at around iso1600 on stationary subjects indoor no flash, i also have the 50 1.4 and 100 f2 on the 40d - 50 is good but not wide enough for bedroom shots and my kids rooms are pretty big.

casey1823 said:
I'd like some help in purchasing a new lens.
I'm really missing a good indoor lens for family pics, and concert shots.

I've narrowed my choices down to three lens.

34 L 1.4
24-70 2.8
17-55 2.8 IS

I have the 17-40L f4 and the kit 24-135 and both really are to slow.
I use the 40D and will upgrade camera to a full frame someday.

If you have any suggestions and why please give me your advice.

Thanks
casey

casey1823 · Dec 3, 2009

thanks for the comments. I already have the 85 1.8 and 135L 2.0 70-200 F4 IS and I do use some flash and almost always bounce the flash. When possible I use natural light.

I'm torn between 35 1.4L and 24-70 2.8

I know the possibilities with 35 1/4L but having a little more range with the 24-70
is also appealing.

casey

biza43 · Dec 3, 2009

1. Sigma 30 1.4 in a crop sensor camera (or Canon 28 1.8);

2. Canon 50mm 1.4 for a full frame sensor camera (or 35mm 1.4 if you prefer a little wider).

anorris1 · Dec 3, 2009

Now I'm totally confused.

Can someone explain, for a cropped body (T1i) why you'd choose a 30 or 35 over a 50 or 85? I realize that the lower the mm the wider the shot, but when the OP said portrait...are we talking 3/4 body, headshots, isolating a person/exchange at a party to tell a story??

Why 30/35 over 50/85?

Joe Photo Lover · Dec 3, 2009

anorris1 said:
Now I'm totally confused.

Can someone explain, for a cropped body (T1i) why you'd choose a 30 or 35 over a 50 or 85? I realize that the lower the mm the wider the shot, but when the OP said portrait...are we talking 3/4 body, headshots, isolating a person/exchange at a party to tell a story??

Why 30/35 over 50/85?

The OP wrote "family" portraits so that implies more than one person at least a good part of the time. An 85mm lens indoors on a crop camera would usually be good only for a one person portrait with a narrow angle of view of roughly 15 degrees. For two or more people the view would be too narrow unless you had a large indoor area. With a 35mm lens on a crop camera the angle of view would be about 46 degrees taking in about three times the width. Really both lenses are useful depending on what you need for any given picture.

casey1823 · Dec 3, 2009

I agree, the 85 on a crop camera is to much lens for indoor shots with more than one person. This is why I need a wider choice. My 17-40 just doesn't seem to have the

look of the primes or 2.8 lens. I really like the 35L with 1.4 but I'm just not sure if it
will set in my bag and only use it for living room group shots.

casey

mbloof · Dec 4, 2009

casey1823 said:
thanks for the comments. I already have the 85 1.8 and 135L 2.0 70-200 F4 IS and I do use some flash and almost always bounce the flash. When possible I use natural light.

I'm torn between 35 1.4L and 24-70 2.8

I know the possibilities with 35 1/4L but having a little more range with the 24-70
is also appealing.

casey

A quick glance at the lenses you have shows that you may have experience with razor thin DOF. I'd suggest a visit to "dofmaster.com" and see how distance, focal length and aperture on your camera come into play. (35mm/F1.4 @ 5' = 0.33', @ 10' = 1.33', @ 15' = 3.02')

Personally, I rarely attempt to image more than 1 person at anything

I own a 28-70L which I rarely mount as: F2.8+50D+5-15' indoors = to narrow of a DOF to have subject matter in focus and I find IS+slow shutter speed to be much much more important for getting good available light images indoors.

Many recommend the outstanding 17-55 2.8IS for this kind of thing. The way I shoot, I find the 17-55 and 28-70 are to short with not enough range and the 24-105L fits my shooting better.

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zappa70 · Dec 4, 2009

Why go for a EF-S 17-55 2.8 IS if you go to FF someday?

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carlk · Dec 4, 2009

I love to use my 17-55 to shoot indoor activities with a flash. I usually set it at ISO400/800, f2.8, 30/60s (in M mode) with just a little fill flash. I would use a prime when flash is not allowed. 35/2, 85/1.8 or their faster siblings are all good choices. However you will lose the convenience of a zoom.

casey1823 said:
I'd like some help in purchasing a new lens.
I'm really missing a good indoor lens for family pics, and concert shots.

I've narrowed my choices down to three lens.

34 L 1.4
24-70 2.8
17-55 2.8 IS

I have the 17-40L f4 and the kit 24-135 and both really are to slow.
I use the 40D and will upgrade camera to a full frame someday.

If you have any suggestions and why please give me your advice.

Thanks
casey

indoor portrait lens

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