topic Re: Which lens should i buy? in EF & RF Lenses

Which lens should i buy?

Eschacher — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 13:01:41 GMT

Hello,
I have a Canon EOD 600D and i'm looking for the best camera there is for portrait and food photography. Ideally with F/2.8 or lower. Can anybody reccomend something suitable that will fit my camera body?

Thank you!

Re: Which lens should i buy?

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 13:57:10 GMT

Depending on your budget one of the Canon 85mm lenses would be a good choice for portraiture, particularly if you intend to upgrade to a full rame body at some point. A little long FL on a Rebel, but just step back a little.

If you don't plan on upgrading a 50mm lens on a Rebel will give you a 80mm field of view, which close to the traditional portrait lens of 85mm on a 35mm camera.

Sigma also has highly rated 50mm and 85mm Art series lenses.

Re: Which lens should i buy?

ebiggs1 — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 14:23:01 GMT

Your answer really requires more than one lens to totally satisfy it.

However if you are committed to one lens, the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens is what you want.

Re: Which lens should i buy?

kvbarkley — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:01:17 GMT

You might also want to look at the EF-S 60mm Macro.

Do you want a really sharp lens, or a softer look?

Re: Which lens should i buy?

Eschacher — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:06:54 GMT

I'd ideally like to stay away from a fized zoom lens. The sharper the better in this situation. Thanks for your reply!

Re: Which lens should i buy?

jrhoffman75 — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:11:20 GMT

If you Google "best lens for food photography' you get many hits. 50mm lens seems to be a big favorite.

Re: Which lens should i buy?

TCampbell — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 17:10:51 GMT

Use the term "best" with caution... usually the "best" isn't cheap.

For portraiture, where a blurred background is often preferred to help separate a tack-sharp subject from the background, a "full frame" sensor camera is able to generate more blur. Your camera has an APS-C size sensor so things change a bit.

For food photography I typically always use a macro lens. On your camera I'd use the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM. I use the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM but I"m on a full-frame camera. One reason that I use a Macro is because when I'm shooting food I'll often be including detail shots and for that I need the close-focusing distance. Also Macro lenses tend to have optics designed to offer very good detail resolving capability (the "MTF" curve that shows off the accutance of the lens is usually much higher than a lens that you'd use for portraits. In fact... for portraits you sometimes deliberately want to "smooth" the subject's skin, etc... too much detail often doesn't look as attractive.)

For portraiture it really depends on if you're shooting indoors vs. outdoors ("studio" vs. "environmental" portraiture). A longer lens tends to work really well, but you have to be much farther from your subject and indoors you typically don't have the space.

When shooting (especially indoors) there's the notion of the portrait size... is it a "head & shoulders" shot, a "half-shot" (shooting the subject from the waist up), or a "three-quarters" shot ... or a "full shot" (entire body from head to toe). The 85mm is a nice focal length for portaits outdoors, but indoors an 85mm lens will limit you to "half shots" (usually just a single subject in the frame and you can capture them from waist-up) because getting multiple subjects or full-length shots will require a much larger room so you can move back farther. Using an 85mm lens on an APS-C crop-frame body is roughly the same as using a 135mm on a full-frame body in terms of the true angle of view.

A 50mm will buy you more angle of view but you wont be able to produce quite as much blur. The new 50mm f/1.8 'STM' (emphasis on it needing to be the STM) moved up to 7 aperture blades from the previous f/1.8 non-STM which only had 5 blades (and they weren't well-rounded). The quality of blur is noticeable smoother on the STM version of the lens.

BTW, when I shoot food, I seldom use a focal ratio lower than f/4... I typically at least want the main dish to be focused even if I want everything else blurred and when I do want everything else blurred I typically want the items to be blurred... but at least recognizable to the point that they offer the suggestion of what they are (e.g. I want the viewer to notice there's a "wine bottle" in the background even if they can't actually read the label.).

Re: Which lens should i buy?

Eschacher — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 08:44:07 GMT

Thank you for your reply.! Gives me something to think about. Price doesn't really bother me at this point. Can you reccomend one Canon lens that would be perfect for both food and indoor portraits? Also, is there a full frame body that is affordable and would fit this lens?

Thanks!

Re: Which lens should i buy?

ebiggs1 — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 15:30:09 GMT

"Can you reccomend one Canon lens that would be perfect for both food and indoor portraits?"

Yes, already did !

"the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens is what you want."

"... is there a full frame body that is affordable and would fit this lens?"

No.

If you want a lens similar to the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens in a FF version, you want this lens, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens. And, you want the EOS 6D to go with it.

Like I indicated earlier, you really have a multi lens situation. Portraits and food are different subjects ans require different equipment to get the best results. But this is the best thing about a DSLR. You can match the right combo for the conditions at hand.

Re: Which lens should i buy?

ebiggs1 — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 15:34:28 GMT

One note, your Rebel T3i and the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens will do a great job for both. Don't under estimate that combo. Although you said money wasn't your biggest concern, the FF option doesn't come cheap. Comparatively.

Re: Which lens should i buy?

Waddizzle — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:41:28 GMT

@Eschacher wrote:
Hello,
I have a Canon EOD 600D and i'm looking for the best camera there is for portrait and food photography. Ideally with F/2.8 or lower. Can anybody reccomend something suitable that will fit my camera body?

Thank you!

You really are looking for two different lenses. One low budget solution would be to buy a VERY good portrait lens. Several have already been suggested.. Once you have a good portrait lens, then you could "adapt" it for shooting macros with a set of extension tubes. Extension tubes are a poor man's way to shoot macro photos, until you buy a real macro lens.

Extension tubes do not include any optics, so they do not significanly detract from image quality llike close-up filters would do. Extension tubes come in different sizes, measured in mm. and they can be stacked to increase their length. Generally, you want to use extension tubes that are 1/2 the focal length of your lens.

With a VERY good portrait lens, you many not even need a macro lens. Unless you're shooting grains of rice, any lens with an MFD, minimum focus distance, of about 12 inches can serve the purpose of food photography very well. And, you wouldn't need to invest in extension tubes, at all.

Invest in a very good portrait lens, first. Then, test it out on your food photography. Remember, a high quality lens will give you food images that can be cropped slightly, and still maintain high details.

Re: Which lens should i buy?

Waddizzle — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 20:57:39 GMT

"A 50mm will buy you more angle of view but you wont be able to produce quite as much blur. "

Sometimes, it doesn't matter. You can adjust the background blur in post.

This was shot in low loght by a complete novice using an EOS M3 and EF 40mm. 1/60, f/2.8, ISO .