Lens recommendations for portraits

[Vaile]

I have a R7 camera and looking to buy a lens for weddings.  I have the lens it came with 18-150 but I did not seem happy with it. I love my extended lens that I had on my Rebel T3i, 55-250mm but I need to be able to take the best quality portrait pictures.  I prefer not to switch adapters but will for the best quality photos.  Thanks for your input.

[WCETECH]

Your question is confusing, weddings are way more than just portrait's. And stressful to shoot. 

I would rather cover a war zone then to shoot another wedding. 

[kvbarkley]

Get the Canon adapter and you can use your 55-250 on the R7.

The R7 might not be best for weddings because of its relatively poor low light response. Do some test runs to make sure you are satisfied with the noise level.

[March411]

Vaile it is difficult for someone to answer this question directly as much of a persons decision is based on shooting style and preference. The most popular lenses are the 50mm, 85mm, 100mm and 135mm can and are being used for portraiture.Many suggest the 85mm, I like the 100mm and 50mm.

On a crop sensor (APS-C) camera, your R7 those would be  something like a 35mm, 50mm, 70mm and 90mm due to the 1.5 crop factor. Using a full-frame lens on an APS-C camera may not be the best way to invest in glass unless you plan to upgrade to a full frame at some point in the future. As suggested by kvbarkley the R7 may not be the best tool for this job.

[ebiggs1]

"The most popular lenses are the 50mm, 85mm, 100mm and 135mm can and are being used for portraiture.Many suggest the 85mm, I like the 100mm and 50mm."

Wow, I almost totally 100% disagree with those FL suggestions for shooting weddings. I have shot weddings for over 40+ years, still doing one once in awhile. I have all those FL in my bag and I almost never use any of them. The goto lens is something like the 24-70mm f2.8L. Not saying there is no possibility to use one but rarely.

Still the best choice for a wedding photographer is the trinity of lenses. The 16-35mm f2.8L, the 24-70mm f2.8l and the 70-200mm f2.8L Even the the 24-70mm f2.8l will be on my camera(s) most of the time.

"The R7 might not be best for weddings because of its relatively poor low light response"

I tend to agree with this warning but for a different reason. A crop camera isn't my top choice but it can be done. You need to convert the FL above that I suggested to fit the same equivale FL of the R7. That is a 1:6 crop ratio. However, the warning about low light is something to consider. It is not an insurmountable problem since I have shot weddings in less than optimal lighting with cameras with far inferior (40 years ago) specs to the R7.

Beside lens choice two other things you must do and are mandatory. Repeat mandatory! You need to set the R7 to shoot raw. You need to edit your photos.  Get Photoshop but if that's not possible get DPP4. DPP4 can be d/l form the Canon web site and it is free.

[March411]

"Wow, I almost totally 100% disagree with those FL suggestions for shooting weddings. I have shot weddings for over 40+ years, still doing one once in awhile. I have all those FL in my bag and I almost never use any of them."

How it going Ernie? Just out of curiosity did you read my response? I never once even mentioned wedding photography but addressed the title of the post and OP's statement: "I need to be able to take the best quality portrait pictures."

When I attended weddings the photographer almost always dropped a piece of seamless and set up studio lighting for portraits. Most of them used one of the four lenses mentioned in my response for those portraits. And many, including myself used one or more of those lenses for studio portraiture. As mentioned, I was a bigger fan of the 100mm and 50mm for studio portraits. Personally I never shot many weddings except a couple for friends and never would because I would have to agree, they are as bad as a war zone.

Maybe I wasn't clear when I stated: "The most popular lenses are the 50mm, 85mm, 100mm and 135mm can and are being used for portraiture." I thought you may want to know since you mis-quoted me.

[ebiggs1]

"I would rather cover a war zone then to shoot another wedding."

Probably not as difficult as a war zone but you as the wedding photographer will be the traffic cop. You will mostly be in charge of how and what is done. Yes the wedding planner will have an itinerary but it is just a guide and sometimes not very accurate.

A typical wedding that I shoot usually has me and a second shooter. We will have several hundred to even a thousand photos to go through. So the four hours or so for the actual shoot turns into four or five days of photo editing in Photoshop. I typically get down to a hundred or some less but they represent the best work. Remember there are mandatory traditional shot you must get.

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome!

To give us some context, what is your budget, please?