Questions about lenses [Beginner]?

Question

Hello everyone, I bought myself a Canon EOS 650D/Rebel t4i last year, along with the EFS 18-135mm lens. The lens is good for videos, but it does not satisfy me when it comes to close up pictures of people, potraits etc etc. When compared to 50mm/35mm to potraits, my picture looks extremely not sharp.

Therefore, I am planning to buy a new lens, specially for sharp pictures when it comes to taking potraits of people, I was told to get the 50mm lens. I have a few questions to ask:

1) 50mm or 35mm? What are their major diffrences, is the 35mm a lot more better than the 50mm? Because there are a few types of 50mm for Canon, and I'm afraid that one of them can beat the 35mm.

2) If so 35mm is better than the 50mm, there are three types of 35mm by Canon which are:

f/1.4L USM
f/2
f/2 IS USM

f/1.4L USM would not be probably be one of my choices because of the price, and I'm also a beginner with not much money. Between f/2 and f/2 IS USM, can you please explain the diffrences, advantages and disadvantages of them both, (pricing, quality, etc etc.)?

3) How about Sigma lens? I've heard that Sigma's 35mm 1.4 is better than Canon's f/2 IS USM. Can you please explain?

4) For the 50mm, there are:

EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
EF 50mm f/1.8 II

Out of these three, the L lens is not one of my choices, too expensive for a beginner. My question is, between 1.4 and 1.8, are there a lot of diffrences in the quality of the image?

5) Between Canon's 50mm 1.4 and Sigma's, which one is better? Can you compare both of them (pricing, advantages, disadvantages, quality etc etc).

6) Do you think I'm making the right choice? All I want now is sharp images, especially when it comes to taking small group pictures of people, my 18-135 oftenly looks dull when compared to 50mm or 35mm. What would you do if you were in my shoes? I love taking pictures of people, like 5 people in a group, and I want my pictures sharp.

I'm sorry if I talked crap, I'm new to this and I really need to make the right choice.

Answer 1

I'm going to make this as simple as possible. Don't get either the 35mm or 50mm.



For PORTRAITS with your camera, get the 85 1.8. Shoot it at 2.8 and you will have nice soft background and a very sharp subject. This will be an effective 136mm with your camera, but that is fine, just be sure you have enough working space between you and the subject.



DO learn how to set your camera so only the center focus point is activated. Place that point on the subject's eye that is nearest to you, half press the shutter to set focus, keep holding the shutter at the half point to lock in focus, recompose the scene, then take the photo.



steve

Answer 2

Wow, there's a great deal of questioning in there!



The biggest mistake beginners make when taking portraits is that they tend to get in too close. If you are working against a background or in a confined area then the minimum focal length you should be looking at is around 50mm (you can go lower in some special circumstances). If you are shooting outside you can get a much nicer "defocused" background if you go into the "near" telephoto range from say 90-200mm. Using too short a focal length exaggerates features, going too long flattens features!



When it comes to sharpness this may be down to the settings and technique being used to take the photograph. You need to pick you aperture carefully not closed down too far, and not so open that you cannot get all the features in focus. Use a tripod to stabilize the camera, with all lens stabilization turned off!



I don't shoot Canon, so I can't give you specific information. I can tell you my own 50mm lens is f/1.4 but it never gets used at f/1.4 as the depth of field is so shallow you cannot get the subjects nose and ears all within that DOF range. So most of the time it's probably use between about f/2 and f/3.2, with the stabilization (in my case in camera) turned off. I have 35mm and 28mm primes too, but they are not so hot for portraits, though they do work better as street lenses. *I do use my 35mm LensBaby for portraits though!



My personal opinion is that the biggest improvement you could make to your portrait photography right now would be to get a tripod!

Answer 3

When it comes to portraiture you really want to be going for 50mm and above focal lengths - 85mm is another popular choice.



The 35mm, although it gives an equivalent field of view on a crop sensor of about 50mm on a full frame, it still has the slight distortion of a wide angle. However, if you are doing small groups in a limited space, the 35mm might be the only option.



As for max aperture - f1.4 is nice if you can get it, otherwise f1.8 is fine for shallow depth of field. You wouldn't necessarily shoot these wide open in any case, as your depth of field will be TOO shallow, and lenses don't perform bets when wide open (or fully stopped down for that matter).



Sigma lenses are very good quality - so your choice between Canon/Sigma is really down to your budget.



Most portrait photographers have a number of lenses in their 'stables' - I have a 50mm f1.8, an 85mm f1.8, a 24-70mm f2.8 and a 70-200mm f2.8.



You also need to consider some off camera lighting for serious portrait work, so that you can have full control over the amount, direction & quality of your light.

Answer 4

On a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR a 50mm lens is considered a "normal" lens because its angle of view approximates that of the human eye.



On a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR a focal length between 85mm to 105mm is considered an ideal portrait focal length.



With the 1.6x "crop factor" of your T4i a 50mm lens has the equivalent angle of view of an 80mm lens on a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR which makes it a good choice for portraits with your T4i.



A 35mm lens on your T4i will have the equivalent angle of view of a 56mm lens on a 35mm film camera or full-frame DSLR son on your T4i it would be considered a "normal" lens and would be used when you want to record a scene close to how it looked with your own eyes.



The Canon 50mm f1.8 is a good choice for portraits.