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50mm or EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens for portrait

Started Aug 8, 2012 | Discussions thread
totleytom Contributing Member • Posts: 564
Re: 50mm or EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens for portrait

The 'nifty fifty' (aka the plastic-fantastic) has a lot of virtues. It equates to a good portrait length on a crop camera, and with its wide aperture you can certainly do things with it at f2 or f2.8 that you won't be able to do with the 24-105. Just don't expect it to be perfect, because it isn't. The design is quite old, and while it will be agreeably sharp in the middle of the frame you can expect some softness in the corners, especially at wide apertures. Also it's not USM nor does it have IS. Nonetheless, it's very cheap, and it's always worth having one.

One other thought: the new 40mm might also be worth thinking about. Its focal length isn't quite as good for portraits as the nifty-fifty's (64mm equivalent as against 80mm equivalent) nor is it as fast. Nonetheless it's still faster than the 24-105, it's long-enough for portraits, it's STM, and it will go very nicely with the 650D.

That sounds as I'm dissing the 24-105 (of which I have no experience). I'm not, but this lens is a good generalist. It's probably an unfair thing to say but the 24-105 is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. That said, it is a very useful and flexible lens indeed, and could certainly be used for portraits.

 totleytom's gear list:totleytom's gear list
Canon EOS 90D Canon EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM | C Canon EF-S 24mm F2.8 STM
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