Lens needed for 3 uses...help!

caitlinjade95

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caitlin
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I'm a somewhat beginner and I was using my canon 600d with the 50mm lens.

I have now switched to the canon 700d and Im looking for a lens I can use for 3 things. First one being to take nice sharp portrait photos with a nice blurred background but also one I can use to film my youtube videos and take my product photos for my blog.

I had ordered the 85mm 1.8 sigma lens but realizing it's a good lens for portrait but not for any of the others! I'm really stumped and would appreciate any guidence and suggestions!
 
My guess is that you found the 50mm lens on your 600D ok for your three purposes. So you got the 85mm for your 700D because it would have roughly the same angle of view and behave like the 50mm on your 600D. Which is roughly true -- it will have a slightly narrower angle of view. Why do you think it's not good for the other purposes? If you found the 50mm ok on your 600D I can't see why you'd dislike the 85mm on the 700D, apart of course from being bigger and heavier.
 
My guess is that you found the 50mm lens on your 600D ok for your three purposes. So you got the 85mm for your 700D because it would have roughly the same angle of view and behave like the 50mm on your 600D. Which is roughly true -- it will have a slightly narrower angle of view. Why do you think it's not good for the other purposes? If you found the 50mm ok on your 600D I can't see why you'd dislike the 85mm on the 700D, apart of course from being bigger and heavier.

ahem - the 700D isnt full frame - if the 50mm was the right lens on the 600d it will equally be on the 700d. That being the case i'd have said that the 85mm will be too ong for portraits unless you are working from a distance
 
ahem - the 700D isnt full frame - if the 50mm was the right lens on the 600d it will equally be on the 700d. That being the case i'd have said that the 85mm will be too ong for portraits unless you are working from a distance
Rightly or wrongly a lot of people consider 135mm to be a pretty good focal length for portraits and the Sigma 85mm f1.4 is a lovely lens and 85 x 1.6 = 136.

Don't know what products you want to shoot... if they are small you may need to crop.
 
I didn't like the 85mm for video because of how far away you have to be and for what I need I need to be fairly close so I can see from the viewfinder whats going on and i just don't have the space in my bedroom to set it up to be far enough away. I struggled with video for my 50mm.

I forgot to mention the reason I'm getting a new lens is because the 50mm I had is broken, I noticed while snapping picks of my neice the focus just wasn't right and no matter how much i tried on AF it just wouldn't so I switched over to manual focus and adjusted it myself using the ring on the edge to hear an almost 'gritty' sound as though I had sand around it, yet it never leaves the house with me..upon the weird gritty noise the inside was rattling...i think its just dead lol!

I changed my mind from the 85mm after watching each 3 things I needed being done with the 85mm. I'm 99% settled on the sigma 24-70mm lens. What do you all think?
 
the 18-135 IS STM is actually a very good lens. pin sharp, great for portraits and other work and being STM silent and perfect for video
 
never considered the 18-135! thanks for the suggestions!

I was going to get the tamrom 24-70mm but im slowly settling on the sigma version. It's such a big decision!
 
The 18-135 looks to be a good lens but if you're looking to really throw your background out of focus, especially for portraits and video work, you might want to look at something with a smaller aperture (2.8 or lower).

You'll be used to getting a shallow depth of field with your prime lenses and, after that, it can take a while to adjust to lenses with variable apertures that you won't be able to stop down as much.
 
surely there must be a affordable decent 28 to 35mm prime for canon?

the 2.8 kit zoom replacements are nice too, and as for the 50mm , consider a cheap older film camera one, plus adapter
 
never considered the 18-135! thanks for the suggestions!

I was going to get the tamrom 24-70mm but im slowly settling on the sigma version. It's such a big decision!

24-70 is a great lens on a full frame camera but its not a good idea on a crop sensor (having the effective field of view of 38.4mm - 112 ) - as danny suggests you'd be better off with a 17-50 , which offers approximately the same field of view a 24-70 would on FF

if you want a prime to replace the 50 - id suggest the 50 f1.4 , which is better built than the f1.8 model but not excessively expensive
 
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Im going to replace the prime when i have a little more money but wanted another lend to help me gain more experiance and challenge myself a little more!
thanks for all your suggestions everyone!
 
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