Canon 85mm f/1.8 vs Canon 135mm f/2

[gsbuah]

Hi, I have Canon 1100D and Canon 50mm 1.8 lens.

I want to buy another lens and i need to take full body shots with it and to have a lot of bokeh (or depth of field)

and i want it to be sharp.

now because i have a crop camera the 85 will be 136mm..

but my question is if to upgrade the 50 to 135 or to go straight to the 135?

there are a lot of difference between the 50 and the 85??

Thanks 🙂

[ebiggs1]

" If the entire image is in focus, the term "bokeh" doesn't apply."

Oh, but it does, Bob from Boston.  All lenses have 'bokeh'.  It is simply the degree that seems to be afftected by DOF.

It may be easier to say bokeh is either soft (pleasing) or harsh (unflattering).

Bokeh happens in parts of the scene that lie outside the DOF.  It is most often seen around background highlight points.

It is caused by aberations in the lens, aperture shape and number of aperture blades and other parts of the lens' design.

DOF simply moves it's appearence closer or farther away in the photo.

All this is tied together.  It has a great deal to do with where you stand in relationship to your subject.  Along with focal length and aperture.

This young photographer probably wants a large aperture medium focal length lens.  The 50mm f1.8 is giving him what an 80mm f1.8 will see basically.  Considering cost this may be as good as it gets for him.  The 85 mm f1.8 could be a choice (close to 135mm in relationship).

(BTW, I got my first real 35mm camera in 1955.  It was an Argus C3 and I still have it.)

[RobertTheFat]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

" If the entire image is in focus, the term "bokeh" doesn't apply."

Oh, but it does, Bob from Boston.  All lenses have 'bokeh'.  It is simply the degree that seems to be afftected by DOF.

It may be easier to say bokeh is either soft (pleasing) or harsh (unflattering).

Bokeh happens in parts of the scene that lie outside the DOF.  It is most often seen around background highlight points.

It is caused by aberations in the lens, aperture shape and number of aperture blades and other parts of the lens' design.

DOF simply moves it's appearence closer or farther away in the photo.

All this is tied together.  It has a great deal to do with where you stand in relationship to your subject.  Along with focal length and aperture.

This young photographer probably wants a large aperture medium focal length lens.  The 50mm f1.8 is giving him what an 80mm f1.8 will see basically.  Considering cost this may be as good as it gets for him.  The 85 mm f1.8 could be a choice (close to 135mm in relationship).

(BTW, I got my first real 35mm camera in 1955.  It was an Argus C3 and I still have it.)

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I guess yiou're lumping coma, chromatic aberration, and other aspects of sharpness and distortion under the rubric of bokeh. Which is fine, although virtually every instance of the term that I've ever seen was a reference to the OOF portion of an image. So I guess I'll stand by my definition while acknowledging the validity of yours.

As I recall, I got my C-3 for my 16th birthday in 1953. And yes, I still have it. I think I may even have a telephoto lens for it. It may be worth more now than my Nikon F-2, since it's more of an antique.

[ebiggs1]

"... was a reference to the OOF portion of an image."  

It does.  And, yes, all the characteristic of a lens contributes to the bokeh.

Bob from Boston, you do know how many C3's Argus made? Plus all the various models and variations of it? But it does make a nice paper weight!

[ScottyP]

If you adjust the shooting distances to create equivalent subject framings, the 85 will give more of what you are thinking of as bokeh than the 50. The 135 will give more than the 85. Be aware of how far back you would need to be to shoot 135 on a crop body though. Probably could not get the framing you want in most indoor rooms and you might find that frustrating unless you shoot outdoor portraits most of the time. Or in big auditoriums or something.

See if you can try out a lens at 85 and at 135 just to experience the length. Maybe just borrow someone's 55-250 zoom lens. You won't see the bokeh because those lenses don't have the wide apertures but you can see how practical it is for framing your subjects.

Good luck and enjoy shooting! I wish I had started at 16.

[PhotosbyMJ]

I have both an 1100D and a 60D, along with the 'Nifty 50" 1.8, a 28mm f2.8 and the 85mm f1.8 USM. Both of the cameras are crop sensor and I find the 28mm to be good for full body (with some surrounding space for cropping in post), the 50 for 3/4 length/H&S portraiture and the 85 for head and shoulders/head shots. I've recently purchased a Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 OS which I'm quickly finding is far superior for senior and family portraiture simply becuase of the OS and no need for the tripod. My next purchase is the Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 OS to round out the focal range. Unless I need the 1.8 for low light I'll be using the zooms most of the time.

[ebiggs1]

" I've recently purchased a Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 OS ..."

This is a geat lens.   To bad Sigma has discontinued it.  They still make the highly rated 70-20mm f2.8 which is nearly an exact dupe exact for focal lenght..

[ScottyP]

As for the bokeh, you say it goes away when you back up. That may be a problem with an 85 or a 135 if you are not careful to make the background far behind the subject, and make sure you are as close to the subject as possible. Positioning of camera close to subject and background far from subject increases the bokeh on any lens. No lens will give you much bokeh if the subject is leaning on a wall (or standing right in front of one) and the camera is far in front of the subject.

[ebiggs1]

Scott you are spot on with that advice.