Portrait / Studio Lens

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobbieW
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RobbieW

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Hi,

I am looking for a new lens to go with my EOS 350D, I currently have a Canon 18-55mm and a Sigma 70-300mm. I have recently joined a group who do studio and portrait work, I am finding that I probably need a zoom lens which goes to about 80mm, I have found that Canon do a 28-105 F3.5/4.5 II USM lens, and was very tempted.

But I would like some advice if possible, my budget is about £200 and this lens come in at about £190.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Many Thanks for reading this.

Rob
 
I can't speak from experience with that Canon lens you mention. However, I use the Tamron 28-75 F2.8 for almost all of my portrait/studio work. For commercial and pleasure use.
Primes are argued to be the best way to go. the "old" 85mm Nikon being very highly rated, even 105mm macro lenses. Personally I prefer the flexibiliy of the short zoom.

Good luck.
Regards, Rob.
 
With 35mm film a lens around 135mm was considered the ideal portrait lens. Wider lenses tend to distort and longer lenses tend to flatten facial features. 135mm also gave a comfortable working distance from your subjects - they dodn't feel too intimidated by the camera being right up close.

With digital cameras with a 1.6X crop sensor, an 80mm lens gives you the equivalent of 128mm so something around that focal length is ideal. Dedicated prime portrait lenses tend not be cheap, usually having fast max apertures. It's probaby worth the expense if you intend to do a lot of portrait work, although good results can be obtained with a short zoom covering the range, and the flexibility a zoom gives in framing your shots can be very convenient.
 
Tamron 28-75 for me.
 
I use the Tamron 28-75 ( Mainly because it is the only lens I have at the moment ).

I have found it to be a little too long for full length shots even at the wide end.

This lens is great but would have prefered it to be a 17-85!!!
 
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