EOS R50 lens recommendations for church photography

[kingkirby_268]

I’ve searched the forum to see if I could find an answer for my question but wasn’t able to find one. I just bought my R50, upgrading from phone. The kit lens is 18mm - 45mm. Normally I would take pictures of family members at home, on vacation, you know regular life. That guy that will always pull out his phone to capture the moment. I’ve become the de facto church photographer and I wanted to upgrade my equipment and skill set. The church is approximately 160ft x 80ft with a balcony around 3 of the walls. The balcony is approximately 12ft high. I want to be able to take photos at church without getting in persons way. I want to be like a fly on the wall. Not needing to be right next to the person to get their emotions in the photo. I’ve taken sample photos with the kit lens and I don’t think it allows me to achieve my objectives. My budget is $250.00. Can I get some recommendations please?

[Waddizzle]

“ want to be able to take photos at church without getting in persons way. I want to be like a fly on the wall. Not needing to be right next to the person to get their emotions in the photo. “

I am uncertain about your intentions or needs.  You want to capture faces of people in pews?

Or, are you looking to photograph people in or near the pulpit?

[kingkirby_268]

Both actually. 

[Waddizzle]

Okay, it’s going to be hard to capture facial expressions without people noticing someone moving around with a camera that is pointing straight at them.  

Do you have a budget for a lens?  

I would recommend only RF mount lenses, such as the 24-240mm or 70-200mm.

[kingkirby_268]

My budget is $250.00

[shadowsports]

---

@kingkirby_268 wrote:

My budget is $250.00

---

Greetings,

This is mission impossible on your budget.  You chose a great beginner camera, but the 18-45 is only good for landscapes and snapshots

Other lenses to consider:

RF-S 55-210

Shop Canon RF-S55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM | Canon U.S.A., Inc.

RF 24-105 f4~7.1

RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM

RF 24-240

RF24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM

Bottom line.  Depending on lighting, you will be challenged shooting indoors with any of these lenses.  Its important you go into this with proper expectations.

[ebiggs1]

"My budget is $250.00"

I would say, sorry, it's not going to happen. Besides the Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM Lens being around $800 bucks (on sale!) it will almost certainly be too slow unless your church is uncharastically brightly lighted.

The Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens, which would be my best choice and probably could get the job done but it is ten times your budget price.

Caon does have a lens that will be able to get some but likely not all church shots; it is the RF-S55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM and although it isn't in the budget it doesn't smash it either. They are around $350. It is still a very slow lens but the budget is a severely limiting factor.

Two other things that are in the budget because they are totally free is to set the R50 to shoot raw format and not jpg. Second, d/l the DPP4 photo editing app from the web site. Practice holding the camera steady. These things can get you two extra stops, perhaps even more, which I am sure you could use.

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:

Sadly, to echo my respected colleagues comments, for what you say you want to do, a budget of $250 is not going to suffice.   Not only do you have the challenge of wanting to get shots from a distance, which inevitably means a telephoto lens, for which the greater the focal length one often pays more, but in a church you are not going to get a lot of light, so that means a high-performance lens for low light work.  I would not expect that you can shoot with a flash in a church as it is disruptive and generally frowned upon.  Similarly, bringing a tripod or even a monopod into a church gathering may not go down well.

It would be interesting and enlightening to have a measure of how far away you consider enough distance from the subject you want to be able to get the shots  you want of individuals' faces.  Also, since you specifically mention the gallery, is it your intention to shoot faces from that or down within the pews?

I would hazard that for that combination, you are likely talking something like a f/4 aperture, and a focal range of 70-200mm.    You will never get such an RF lens for anything anywhere near your budget and, going on line to KEH.com, the closest I can get that is anywhere close to budget is a Sigma EF lens for $520 that would also require an EF-RF adapter @$79: 
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX HSM Lens for Canon EF-Mount {77} at KEH Camera
Shop Canon Refurbished Mount Adapter EF-EOS R | Canon U.S.A., Inc. $79 (out of stock but you can get an email advisory when they are available.
At that point, for a high-performance RF lens for the RF mount, then a Canon Refurb RF 70-200 f/4 would be the best deal right now:
Shop Canon Refurbished RF70-200mm F4 L IS USM | Canon U.S.A., Inc. at $899.

If the budget is rigid, then you can get the focal range, but not the low light performance with a Canon Refurbished RF-S 55-210 f/5-7.1 Refurbished RF-S55-210mm F5-7.1 IS STM

If you can accept being closer that helps a bit, but I am still considering the dim lighting likely to be found in churches, so I would suggest the Canon RF 24-105 f/4, which Canon offer refurb at $699:
Shop Canon Refurbished RF24–105mm F4 L IS USM | Canon U.S.A., Inc.

The hard truth is that a lens often exceeds the cost of the camera body, more so if you want that challenging combination of distance and low-light performance.

[normadel]

Have you considered whether people in church want you to be recording their facial expressions etc. while they worship?  You ought to ask the priest/minister/pastor if what you want to do is okay.

[ebiggs1]

There is no problem legally but the church itself may have a photography policy.