Lens upgrade for portraiture

Morbid

Morbid

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Ian
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Hi, I'm currently using a Canon 50mm F1.8 lens on a Canon 70D - mainly for shots of the kids. I sometimes find this a little restrictive for indoor work, and I guess 35mm would be a good length on crop body (56mm equivalent). It would no doubt help with group shots too. I've been looking around at options and the F1.4 L series would be nice.....but is expensive. The Sigma 35mm F1.4 art has some great reviews, so this may be a more affordable option. Does anyone on here use this Sigma lens and have any thoughts they could share? What I am also looking for is an increase in image quality vs the Canon 50mm - which is already pretty good IMO. Don't really want to spend over £500 if image quality is similar to what I am already getting. Any other options I should be looking at?
 
ST4 said:
Sigma ART is staggering, I've just got one. Have a look for second hand ones.
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Thanks for confirming is a worthwhile lens to get. Can't see any second hand ones apart from on eBay. Will have to keep an eye out.
 
Morbid said:
Thanks for confirming is a worthwhile lens to get. Can't see any second hand ones apart from on eBay. Will have to keep an eye out.
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They come up here occassionally. I snapped one up as its a steller lens and the F1.4 lets so much light in its epic. Lovely isolation of subjects due to the incredibly shallow DoF and its sharp at F1.4 and epic stopped down. Do AF fine tune it, mine was out and soft as mush, but -10 AF fine tune its on the money and great value (if heavy) prime lens.

I've got a couple of events lined up I will use it for and then just for pleasure.
 
ST4 said:
They come up here occassionally. I snapped one up as its a steller lens and the F1.4 lets so much light in its epic. Lovely isolation of subjects due to the incredibly shallow DoF and its sharp at F1.4 and epic stopped down. Do AF fine tune it, mine was out and soft as mush, but -10 AF fine tune its on the money and great value (if heavy) prime lens.

I've got a couple of events lined up I will use it for and then just for pleasure.
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Would love to see some images from it Steve:)
 
I'd also be interested in seeing some shots. Thanks for the AF tuning tip as well.
 
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Look on amazon Italy. You can order them new for just over £500
 
Thanks Mike, that's a good tip and with the Euro being weak I'm sure that helps.

@ST4 thanks again for the AF tuning tip. Have had a Sigma 70-300 for a couple of years that has never been sharp. Did the tuning last weekend, I didn't even know you could do this! It was way out at wide and tele ends, about +16 needed on both. It's like a different lens now!
 
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I've got the Sigma in Nikon mount, yes it's abit of a beast and fairly heavy but i really do like it. I use mine on a FF but i was always a fan of 35mm on crop too.The only portrait I have available with this lens at the moment is this one :) Whether it's any better than your Canon 50mm i can't say, as i've never used one!

Max by andyroberts1868, on Flick
 
By way of closing this thread, thanks to everyone for the advice. In the end I bought a second hand 17-40mm F4L from the classifieds here on TP. It has taken a little while to get used to this lens, but I'm now getting incredibly sharp images, with noticably better colour and contrast (compared to the nifty fifty). The AF is so quick too....and it's certainly well built if the weight is anything to go by!
 
Morbid said:
By way of closing this thread, thanks to everyone for the advice. In the end I bought a second hand 17-40mm F4L from the classifieds here on TP. It has taken a little while to get used to this lens, but I'm now getting incredibly sharp images, with noticably better colour and contrast (compared to the nifty fifty). The AF is so quick too....and it's certainly well built if the weight is anything to go by!
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The 17-40L is a fantastic lens and the 50mm 1.8 is a plastic kids toy, lol Glad you're happy :)
 
Have a look for an 85mm f1.8 = terrific lens for portraits

Les
 
Jenny, I agree the build quality of the 50mm isn't great but I've had some shots I've been happy with using it, but that was before I got this lens and to be honest the 50mm hasn't been used since!

Les, the 85 is a great lens too from what I've heard. I'm thinking the 24-70 f2.8 for my next one but maybe I'll think about the 85mm too. Might be a bit long on a crop inside but would be great for outside use. I have a Sigma 70-300mm which is great for outdoor portraits.
 
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