 Alexandra Smith |
17-55 too sort for portraits? Hi everyone, Yesterday I made a leap and bought my first DSLR -Canon 7d. I also bought Canon 17-55 f2.8 lens. However, I feel like 17-55 is too short for my taste.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hello Alexandra, The Canon 70-200mm are fantastic portrait lenses and there are 5 versions to choose from. f/4L (non-IS) is a real bargain for about $600 - the f/4L with IS and the f/2.8L (non-IS) run about $1200, the f/2.8L with IS is $1900 (this is the one I use) and the new 70-200mm f/2.8L IS version II is about $2500. I love my 2.8L IS and it is preferred by many portrait shooters. I also have the 24-70mm f/2.8L and it is a great lens but the compression of a longer lens is much more flattering. The 135mm f/2L is also a great portrait lens. I do recommend L glass as I have bought cheaper lenses only to sell and buy the L glass later because I wasn't satisfied. FYI - I currently have a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 that I am selling in case you are interested. It is much sharper & built much better than the Canon 1.4. Good Luck with your decision,
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Alexandra Smith |
Cariton, Thank you very much for your response. I actually might be interested in the 50mm lens, I read the reviews on Sigma, it is an outstanding lens!
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stephen j. weidley |
I have the 85L and the new 100L lens. I would suggest the 100L 2.8 for 4 reasons. First you get the portrait capability plus the macro capability, second you have the image stabilization, third there is a learning curve shooting with the 85L. It makes super portraits but it is hard to control the focus and depth of field for non-professionals like myself. A 4th reason would be the lower price.
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Alexandra Smith |
Thank you, Stephen for your feedback!
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Jerry Deutsch |
Wouldn't the length of the lens depend on the size of the sensor? I would think that a 70-200 on a 7D would be too long - especially indoors, while on a 5D Mark II it would make a lot more sense. (70mm x 1.6 = 112mm) You would be too far from your subject. Does the compression change with the size of the sensor as well? - DOF does.
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- Dennis Flanagan Contact Dennis Flanagan Dennis Flanagan's Gallery |
If the 7D has the 1.5 lens multipliation factor, 17-55mm is a great focal length for portraits.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
If you don't keep a narrow definition of what a portrait should look like, any lens can be a portrait lens. And people shouldn't think of smaller sensors as changing to a longer telephoto. It's a crop factor, not a telephoto factor. The sensor doesn't change depth of field. That's due to focal length and subject distance. Nor does it change the compression effect. That's due to focal length.
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Jerry Deutsch |
I don't know about compression, that's why I am asking however, if film size and sensor size didn't matter then DOF tables wouldn't ask for that information as input...see http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html or http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Those are based on the need to either change distance or focal length to maintain the same perspective, as in the cambridge link. Or with the dofmaster link, how the crop factor of the sensor makes a lenses actual focal length equivalent to a longer lens. If you have a Canon 1Ds and a 1d sitting on a tripod at the same distance from something, if you take a 50mm off the 1Ds and put it on the 1d, the depth on field isn't going to change. What you'll have is, if you print the two images as is, is one photo that appears to be taken closer than the other. And that's not even an advantage because with the 1Ds image, you could just crop and print to the same ratio as the 1d photo, and have them looking identical.
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Jerry Deutsch |
To get the same image from the two different sensors, you get different DOF. Just like if it was an 8x10 view camera, a 6x6 or a 35 mm all using a 210mm lens. To get the same magnification, the distances would be different and the DOF would be different. And according to a Canon instructor, who I just spoke to, the compression would also change for the same reasons...so if you are deciding on a lens for portrait, you must consider the body it's on.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
I am shooting more portraits with an 8mm lens now :) It aint easy being cheesy... Cheers, Carlton
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