Zoom lens recommendations for newborn and toddler photos

[emilykate3]

Hi! I am brand new to photography and have a canon rebel eos t7. I want to take photos of my newborn and toddler and have been using the nifty fifty. I struggle to take pictures with that lense as I can’t zoom in and out. Any other suggestions on lenses or how to maximize nifty fifty?

[deebatman316]

Your camera should’ve came with some variant of the EF-S 18-55mm lens. Unless you bought the camera body alone. The 50mm lens on a crop sensor camera such as the digital Rebel is a portrait focal length. So it will be difficult to take pictures with.

[Tronhard]

Hi Emily and welcome to the forum:
The 50mm is a good lens but, as you have found, offers challenges in that you have to 'zoom with your feet', something that is not always practical.

There are two lenses I would recommend for your camera:
1. The EF-S 18-135 IS USM  is an excellent optic and will offer you great flexibility, not only for your children when they are very young, but for later.   It will pair perfectly with the camera body you have.  It has blazing fast and accurate focus, silent, and can be focused manually or autofocused.
2. Somewhat smaller is the lens that Demetrius mentioned, the EF-S 18-55.  There are multiple variants of this, and I would strongly recommend considering only the STM version of this lens.  That is faster to focus, does so silently, and can be manually focused without having to activate the AF-MF focus required by other versions.

If you want to consider used, if you are in the USA, look for KEH.COM, a company that buys and sells used camera gear.  They rate their gear and it comes with a warranty, so you can have confidence in your purchase.

[March411]

You really can't go wrong with the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM which can be found used, in excellent condition between $800 - $1250. MPB and KEH are trusted resellers and have some pretty nice gear.

Your T7 given it is an APS-C sensor will have an actual FOV (field of view) of a 38-112mm lens. With it's constant aperture of f2.8 across it's entire focal length it will be fast enough to photograph in low light and offer you a decent amount of range to grab some decent portraiture. 

It is a bit expensive though, have you had any thoughts on upgrading into the R system? The EF mount system is transitioning towards end of life with many lenses no longer being supported for maintenance.

[Ron888]

You're getting into photography at a great time😃.Getting great shots of the kids now is something you'll appreciate later. (and if i may joke,they're also handy for embarrassing them as teenagers😂).
The others have given good advice.The only thing i can add is try to choose a lens with quick focus for action shots.This wont make a huge difference on that camera but will increase your keeper rate for certain scenarios ,like when your toddler is running towards you.

Have you learned much about lighting yet? I ask because that's the most surprising thing i learned photographing my son.Young kid's skin responds particularly well to soft lighting.For the brief time i did it,i got my best results with a big studio softbox but soft natural window light (as one example) can be great too. If this interests you there's a ton of info online.Perhaps on this site too.
All the best, Ron

[ebiggs1]

emilykate3 you have found out why I never recommend anyone buy a 50mm lens as a only lens or a first lens. You have found out the 50mm isn't as "nifty" as a lot of folks try to make you think. 50mm is a difficult focal length to live with. And a zoom of any kind is more friendly than the nifty-fifty.

Take Trevor's advice, "1. The EF-S 18-135 IS USM  is an excellent optic and will offer you great flexibility,..." or simply use the kit lens that should have come with your camera the EF-S 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Lens.

[deebatman316]

Close Ernie but that camera ships out with an older non STM variant of the lens. That lens is the EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS II lens. If the op doesn’t have any variant of the lens. I would suggest the EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS STM, EF-S 18-55mm F/4-5.6 IS STM or EF-S 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM. 

[ebiggs1]

We have no idea what lens the OP may have I simply offered a current variant I believe is still available.

[emilykate3]

Thank you so much. I went with the lense mentioned above (18-135) but the issue is that I am looking for a more blurry background and that one seems to not have the lowest apperture. 

I have thought about upgrading my camera but I just started taking photos and I want to make sure I’m consistent before getting something new. 

i also tried to adjust my focus options and use the back button focus with continuous shooting but I find that some pictures are still coming out blurry

i am brand new and truthfully just want pictures of my children so I will keep at it and really appreciate this advicr

[deebatman316]

How much of a blurred background do you want or are you expecting. Also what is your budget to spend on a lens. Canon only made 1 constant aperture zoom and I had one and it is very expensive but for the money its the best lens for APS-C cameras such as the digital Rebel lineup. Can you please post some images of the blurry pictures in questions so forum users can review them. Was flash being used what were the lighting conditions like when shooting.