Please recommend lens for portraits

[shumonsaha]

Hi.

I am totally new to Photography.

Bought Canon 600d with 18-135 lens. But it has lowest fstop@3.5.

please suggest a lens for portraits

Budget ideally at close to 400$

Maximum stretched budget 600 $ only if it makes significant difference to a very amateur basic photographer like me.

rgds

Suman

[cicopo · Accepted solution]

The Canon 50 mm f 1.4 lens is most likely what your looking for. On a crop body it will act like an 80 mm lens with a shallow Depth of Field (DOF) when shot wide open or near wide open

[shumonsaha]

Thank you. for the quick and conscise reply. I think I will go for this one.

I had checked the 50 mm and also 85 mm lens. Was not sure which one to buy until I saw your reply.

[ScottyP]

I agree with Ciccopo. 50mm is probably the best length for portraits on a crop sensor. And the f/1.4 version is probably the best choice at around your budget.

You could also go for the Canon 85mm f/1.8, but you would need rom to stand back a bit with a crop body, and you would tend to get tighter head or head and shoulders only shots.

If you don't already have Lightroom for post processing, I would get it. Massive improvement/fixes to your images.

If you don't have a speed lite flash I would get one as my next equipment purchase after the lens.

And everyone should have a good cheap collapsible silver/white collapsible reflector. If you get the Chinese knockoffs, they are only about 10 bucks. It provides great fill light to get rid of face shadows. It can work as well or even better than a speed lite flash in the right environment, and then it will work to help your flash when you get one.

Good luck!

[Skirball]

+2 for the 50 1.4

Canon has them in refurbished for $319, you can save a bit of cash:

http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/de/catalog/lenses-flashes/refurbished-lenses-speedlites/ef-50mm-f-14-...

And + 1 for just about everything else Scotty said.  Lightroom, and off-camera lighting should be in a portrait photographer’s arsenal.   I would certain go third-party for the flashes if you’re on a budget.   Get Yongnuo flashes and triggers; you can have a standard portraiture 4-light setup for less than the cost of a single Canon 600ex-RT.  You don’t need ETTL for portraiture, manual flashes and triggers.

[shumonsaha]

thank you for the reply. unfortunately refurbished lens seems to be available only in the US . I am based in India.

[shumonsaha]

Thanks for the reply. I was not sure between 50 mm and 85 mm lens. I think after reading the posts, I will go for the 50 mm.

Rest of equipment... will try out the lens first and then buy. want to go slow on the purchases as I know there can be no end to this.

But really found your reply and tips helpful.