Prime Portrait Lens

mattchewone

mattchewone

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Which would you say is the best value for money for a Canon 40D?

I would like a good lens for portraiture, my current 50mm is playing up and just hunts and makes strange noises, its only the mk1 so its getting on a bit.

Thanks
 
If you can afford it the 1.2 50mm if not a mk 2 50mm f1.8 its a great length on a cropped sensor
 
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is great value and the best by far. The Canon 50mm f/1.2 is just okay for the money.
 
What about the Canon 50mm f/1.4?
 
The23rdman said:
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 is great value and the best by far. The Canon 50mm f/1.2 is just okay for the money.
Click to expand...

Ive got a sigma 70-300 and have had it a few years and am disappointed in the quality and focus speed. Would you say the sigma 50mm is good quality would it be as good as the canon 50mm?
 
I would go for the 85mm 1.8, it was one of my favourite lenses when I was using Canon. Good for tight crops and candids, head and shoulders or if you step back a little, head and torso. I once shot a whole relaunch party with just that 1 lens :lol:
 
Thumbs up for the Canon 85mm f/1.8, lovely length and fast enough. I recently picked one up mint condition for £200.

Bargains out there...
 
Canon 85 1.8 :thumbs: Ideal for portraits on a crop-format 40D, and one of Canon's gems. Good value too.
 
In threads like this the norm seems to be long lenses for tighter shots... but another view could be that a wider shot containing some context and something different from a tight head shot makes a refreshing change.

I was looking at some portraits shots on line recently taken with 24/35mm primes on full frame, lovely.

BTW, I have the Siggy 50mm f1.4 and it is lovely. It's not blindingly sharp at f1.4 and you get some blooming at f1.4 and there's CA to keep you happy in photoshop but overall it's a joy and a match for my Canon 50mm f2.5 at all apertures whilst being faster to focus and slightly more consistant at it too.
 
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I own both the Canon 50mm 1.4 and the Canon 85mm 1.8 and use an APS-C body. If I was going to move to a single portrait lens I'd go for a 50mm (Sigma or Canon - lots of other threads on this if you search) over the 85mm. It's a bit more versatile - you can usually get pretty close to what the 85mm will do with the 50mm by moving a bit closer, but you can't do anything about the occasions where the 85mm doesn't let you get the frame you want because of how 'zoomed in' it is.
 
HoppyUK said:
Canon 85 1.8 :thumbs: Ideal for portraits on a crop-format 40D, and one of Canon's gems. Good value too.
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I'd agree with that. I regret selling mine and I'm looking to buy another now.
 
mattchewone said:
Which would you say is the best value for money for a Canon 40D?

I would like a good lens for portraiture, my current 50mm is playing up and just hunts and makes strange noises, its only the mk1 so its getting on a bit.

Thanks
Click to expand...

do you like the focal length of the 50mm?
 
I've found the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 to be the best performing mid-range (in terms of cost) 50mm. Beats both the Canon f/1.4 and Nikon f/1.4G in terms of sharpness, bokeh and vignetting, in my opinion.
 
As the best value for money, I guess it's got the be the 50mm f/1.8 II! But whether that's the right lens to get or not, is another matter.

As people have said, the 85mm 1.8 is an absolutely awesome little lens, but the sigma 85mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.4 also come in very high regard. I guess it depends if you want to stick with the 50mm length (which I'm not a huge fan of on cropped sensors) or go a bit longer.
 
Look at it this way you could get an 85mm F1.8 and a MK2 nifty fifty and cover both bases.. the 85mm really is the mutts nuts when it comes to head & shoulders shots when close to the subject or all shots when further away.

**85mm gives me good upper torso and head shots from 8 ft away.

Here's a couple taken with the 85mm on a 500D (close shot was cropped)

VikkinewM6BW.jpg



vikkinewM4vintage.jpg
 
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