Which is the better portrait lens?

[dphoto]

Hello all,

I bought my 300D just a month ago. Thanks to the many who recommended it here, I also bought a Canon 50/1.8 lens. It's an awesome lens, and it works great for portraits. However, sometimes it requires me to be a little "too close" to my subjects. So, these are the lenses that I'm currently looking at:

1. Canon 85/1.8 USM
2. Canon 100/2 USM
3. Canon 100/2.8 Macro

For portraits, can anyone tell me whether the 85mm or the 100mm is going to "work out better"? Also, I'm wondering if I can get away with losing a full stop of light in order to also get a macro lens into my collection. Any suggestions?

Thanks! :)
-Deva

[EXA1a]

Hello all,

I bought my 300D just a month ago. Thanks to the many who recommended it here, I also bought a Canon 50/1.8 lens. It's an awesome lens, and it works great for portraits. However, sometimes it requires me to be a little "too close" to my subjects. So, these are the lenses that I'm currently looking at:

1. Canon 85/1.8 USM
2. Canon 100/2 USM
3. Canon 100/2.8 Macro

For portraits, can anyone tell me whether the 85mm or the 100mm is going to "work out better"? Also, I'm wondering if I can get away with losing a full stop of light in order to also get a macro lens into my collection. Any suggestions?

Thanks! :)
-Deva

For portraits the 85/1.8 is, besides your 50/1.8, unbeatable. I own the 100/2.0 and the 100/2.8 macro myself and find them a bit long.
The 50mm lens equals the "classical" portrait lens at your 300D (has a view like an 80mm) and the 85mm is the long portrait lens for you (acts almost like a 135mm).
BTW: a macro lens is in principal not a bad lens for portraits but the AF might hunt for focus because of the great distance range it can cover.

Hope that helps
--Jens--

[Yance]

I have the 85mm and love it but either should be just as good. Pick whichever fits into your kit the best.

[DaveG]

Ironically with the 10D there is no real portrait lens available. In full frame cameras the "portrait" focal length is between 85 mm and 105. The 50 on your Canon is a bit short at effectively 80 mm but the next lens up - the 85 - is going to give you an effective focal length of 135 mm or so.

Now you can do nice portraits with a 135ish lens except that you probably won't have enough room to back up far enough. So a lens that I'd suggest (and I own, so take this with as many grains of salt as you'd like) is the 24-85 f3.5-4.5.

With that lens you will get all the portrait focal lengths which fall between 53mm and 65 mm.

[yalemba]

Having tried both 50/f1.4 and 24-70 f/2.8L, I believe the results are a tiny bit sharper with the 50/f1.4; however, the 24-70 provides me with a lot more control over the composition (given my small studio room)...

[CyberDyneSystems]

That 85mm f/1.8 is another "miracle lens" up there with the 50mm.. between the two of them on a 10D your portrait lens range shoud be covered.

People use and recomend the 135mm on a full frame as a portrait lens all the time,. (Canon makes two 135mm Portrait lenses),. so the 85mm is a great option with the 10D.

[Conor]

i use the 85mm 1.8

love it

next purchase is a 50mm 1.8 for slightly wider shots.

[dphoto]

Wow, thanks for the great input, guys. I think I'm going to give the 85/1.8 a try. This will be a great complement to the 50/1.8. I have a birthday coming up soon, and my wife wants me to make a "wish list". I don't know whether to put this lens on top or the Speedlite 550EX. Hmmm... decisions, decisions. :o

Thanks again for all the input!
-Deva

[MarkH]

Ironically with the 10D there is no real portrait lens available. In full frame cameras the "portrait" focal length is between 85 mm and 105. The 50 on your Canon is a bit short at effectively 80 mm but the next lens up - the 85 - is going to give you an effective focal length of 135 mm or so.


Surely the 50mm on the 10D can be used at the same distance as an 85mm on a FF camera, then a slight crop will give the same results?

If I had the money my pick for a portrait lens would be the 24-70 f2.8L.

[DaveG]

Ironically with the 10D there is no real portrait lens available. In full frame cameras the "portrait" focal length is between 85 mm and 105. The 50 on your Canon is a bit short at effectively 80 mm but the next lens up - the 85 - is going to give you an effective focal length of 135 mm or so.


Surely the 50mm on the 10D can be used at the same distance as an 85mm on a FF camera, then a slight crop will give the same results?

If I had the money my pick for a portrait lens would be the 24-70 f2.8L.

Of course it will. But I feel sort of funny when I hear "slight crop" because you can "slightly crop" anything. The idea to use a lens and NOT crop so you get less noise, it's sharper and so on.

The 50 mm f1.4 IS the lens that I use for portraits, especially when I'm doing a bunch of H&S shots and don't want to have a bunch of different perspectives that a zoom will give me. Although it lets me work in smaller rooms I still would like to have something a tiny bit longer.