Lens for Cannon EOS 550D

[Matevž]

Hello, how are you?

I have Canon EOS 550D, and I want to make pictures of people in the gym, when they are doing some exercise or just posing. So can someone recomend me which lens should I buy? And that it will be really great quality of picture.

Thank you, 

Matevz

[TTMartin · Accepted solution]

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@Matevž wrote:

Hello, how are you?

I have Canon EOS 550D, and I want to make pictures of people in the gym, when they are doing some exercise or just posing. So can someone recomend me which lens should I buy? And that it will be really great quality of picture.

Thank you, 

Matevz

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Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM or the EF 85mm f/1.8.

Do not bother with the EF 50mm f1.8 II it is an older lens with slow unreliable focus.

I like the EF 85mm f/1.8 as a gymnasium lens because it has a little more reach than the EF 50mm f1.8 STM. However the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is one of Canon's latest lenses, it has fast accurate focus and good image quality at a price that can't be beat. So you might want to start with it, and plan on doing some cropping initially, and then later supplement it with a longer prime like the EF 85mm f/1.8 or the EF 100mm f/2.

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

"can you recomend me something for budget 300 eur?"

No, I can't.  Unlesss you don't want a quality photo. Do you want a zoom lens?  Are you willing to walk and move about?  All around your subjects?  If, yes, get the Nifty Fifty Canon ef 50mm f1.8 prime lens.

[RobertTheFat]

EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS.

[Matevž]

Thank you,

can you recomend me something for budget 300 eur?

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

"can you recomend me something for budget 300 eur?"

No, I can't.  Unlesss you don't want a quality photo. Do you want a zoom lens?  Are you willing to walk and move about?  All around your subjects?  If, yes, get the Nifty Fifty Canon ef 50mm f1.8 prime lens.

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

Agree with the 50mm f/1.8 STM.  It is only $125.00 US.   Gets more light into the camera. Incredible bang for the buck. 

[TTMartin · Accepted solution]

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@Matevž wrote:

Hello, how are you?

I have Canon EOS 550D, and I want to make pictures of people in the gym, when they are doing some exercise or just posing. So can someone recomend me which lens should I buy? And that it will be really great quality of picture.

Thank you, 

Matevz

---

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM or the EF 85mm f/1.8.

Do not bother with the EF 50mm f1.8 II it is an older lens with slow unreliable focus.

I like the EF 85mm f/1.8 as a gymnasium lens because it has a little more reach than the EF 50mm f1.8 STM. However the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is one of Canon's latest lenses, it has fast accurate focus and good image quality at a price that can't be beat. So you might want to start with it, and plan on doing some cropping initially, and then later supplement it with a longer prime like the EF 85mm f/1.8 or the EF 100mm f/2.

[Matevž]

Ok thank you. I bought 50mm f 1/8 STM. It is great, really nice focus and sharp pic. So can you now recomend me next upgrade? Maybe something less than 50mm?

Thank you

[ebiggs1]

Yes .... the,

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens

... like noted above but it is still is over your price limit.

[TTMartin]

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@Matevž wrote:
Ok thank you. I bought 50mm f 1/8 STM. It is great, really nice focus and sharp pic. So can you now recomend me next upgrade? Maybe something less than 50mm?

Thank you

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If you like the 50mm f/1.8 STM, you might consider the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM. 

[TCampbell]

On a similar budget, there is the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM "pancake" lens (it's thin... hence "pancake")  It costs roughly the same as the 50mm f/1.8 STM lens.  This 24mm isn't going to capture as much light as the 50mm.... the 24mm is only an f/2.8 lens (which collects more light than your "kit" lens but not as much as the 50mm when these two cameras are using a "wide open" aperture.)  (The Canon 28mm f/1.8 would collect just as much light as the 50mm and the advantage of 28mm is that's actually a "normal" focal length (neither wide-angle nor telephoto focal length -- but that lens is about $450.)

But since this is an "EF-S" lens it can ONLY be used on Canon EOS camera bodies that have APS-C size sensors (all "Rebel" bodies have APS-C size sensors.  The 6D, 5D series, and 1D X are "full frame" sensor bodies and cannot use EF-S lenses so if you ever buy a full-frame camera at some point in the future, you wouldn't be able to use this lens.)

As you get to wider angles, things that should be "vertical" in your images can start to lean and you'll need to be watchful of that.  If the lens is angled upward then vertical objects will lean "in".  If the lens is angled downward then vertical objects will lean "out".  Vertical objects will only remain vertical if the lens is "level".

Wide angles usually aren't desirable for portraits because of the distortions... but if used carefully you can get some great results.  Here's a photo (not mine) by Clayton Karas taken using a full-frame camera with a 14mm lens (ultra ultra wide) and it looks great!  But the photographer would have needed to take care to keep that lens axis "level" to avoid having a trapezoid shaped wall behend the model.   

https://www.flickr.com/photos/claytonkaras/5587130821/in/photolist-9vHvkK/lightbox/

Edit: Forgot to post the link - fixed that.