My next lens (portraiture): help?

[bigbrother]

Hey all! Relative beginner here and, get ready for this, I now want a new lens :).

I just took some portrait shots with my M50/nifty 50 (via EF adapter) and the results were, to the shock of absolutely no one I'm sure, astounding.

It got me thinking as to what would make sense to step up my game and increase my capabilities and versatility whilst shooting dynamic portraits (think outside a studio), and here's what I've concluded:

- I would love a zoom lens that would allow me to go from about 15mm (the lowest on my kit right now) to somewhere around the 50 mark. 60-70 would be even better. Basically, I've been finding that the 50 is forcing me to get too far away from my subject most times. For doing a full body shot with decent background framing, I need to often cross the street, etc. And with my kit lens, I enjoy 15-20mm shots but nothing more as the 50 handily defeats it there.

- The low, low, low 1.8 f/stop on the 50 has me addicted. I'd say 90-95% of my shots are taken with the aperture wide open, and the small remainder almost exclusively with 2.2-2.5. Doing some cursory searches shows me that a zoom lens that low is near impossible to find/afford... right? It seems to me the best I can hope for is something in the low to mid 2s, say 20 to 60 range.

Basically I want to be able to go from full body shots to head or head and shoulders with a single lens that maintains that background blur so desirable for portrait work.

Notes:

- I am, as said, virtually a beginner. So it's quite possible I've missed some key elements here, stated things incorrectly, and/or overlooked some basic things you all know.

- I'm not yet too familiar with the conversion between standard (EF) lens focal lengths and my M series, so please take into account that my experience is with an EF-M series 15mm on the desirable low end and an EF series 50mm on the desirable high, whatever that means for your recommendation.

- I'm not wedded to the idea of a Canon lens... just seems nice.

Thanks so much!!

[ebiggs1]

Thanx for that Rodger. My only thoughts were to find out the level of "beginner" the OP is. Beginner has a different definition to different people. Perhaps the others and you can help.

[Waddizzle]

Try to stick to native EF-M mount lenses.  Using larger EF mount lenses via the mount adapter will drain your battery fairly quickly.  If you decide to with any EF mount lenses that need the mount adapter, try to keep them small, or entirely manual focus.  Your camera has focus peaking, so manual focusing is a breeze.  

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM would be a good choice for portraits on a M series camera body.

[bigbrother]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

Try to stick to native EF-M mount lenses.  Using larger EF mount lenses via the mount adapter will drain your battery fairly quickly.  If you decide to with any EF mount lenses that need the mount adapter, try to keep them small, or entirely manual focus.  Your camera has focus peaking, so manual focusing is a breeze.  

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I assume manual is to save battery? And what does size do in this case?

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@Waddizzle wrote:

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM would be a good choice for portraits on a M series camera body.

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But that's exactly the one I already have (see post) :).

[Waddizzle]

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@bigbrother wrote:

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@Waddizzle wrote:

Try to stick to native EF-M mount lenses.  Using larger EF mount lenses via the mount adapter will drain your battery fairly quickly.  If you decide to with any EF mount lenses that need the mount adapter, try to keep them small, or entirely manual focus.  Your camera has focus peaking, so manual focusing is a breeze.  

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I assume manual is to save battery? And what does size do in this case?

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@Waddizzle wrote:

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM would be a good choice for portraits on a M series camera body.

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But that's exactly the one I already have (see post) :).

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What does size have to do with it?  Yeah, it will save battery life.  The more mass in the lens, the more battery it takes to move the auto focus motors.  The EF-M lenses tend to be MUCH smaller than EF/EF-S lenses.  

I must have missed the reference to the nifty fifty lens.  it really is one of the lenses for portraits on the M Series body.

"Basically I want to be able to go from full body shots to head or head and shoulders with a single lens that maintains that background blur so desirable for portrait work."

That is [not] how lenses work.  Everything is a trade off.   You cannot change one thing, and expect everything else to remain the same.  Those are two very different shooting scenarios, which translates into two different [focal lengths or] lenses. A zoom that covered that range would be quite large, and heavy for the M series body, not [to] mention a little costly.  The EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is a popular lens, but not one I would use for portraits.  It is too short, and the aperture is only f/2.8.

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-m-22mm-f-2-stm-wide-angle-lens-refurbished 

You may want to try the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM lens for full body shots in tight spaces.   It is razor sharp, native mount, and has a wide aperture.