Your Favorite Lens Shooting Family, B&G Format Portrait

Hi all,
I am a rookie who is getting into shooting Wedding and currently using my Bread and Butter Tamron 17-50mm non-VC for Family, B&G formal portrait.

What do you use that is work best for you? I am shooting crop bodies and I am asking b/c I am planning to upgrade for better/quicker focus and adding IS/OS for better handheld.

My other lens are:
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS = Candids, Ring exchange, Kissing, etc.
Canon 100mm non-IS = Ring and Details shots
Also adding Sigma 30mm = Getting ready & and back-up for 17-50 just in case it stop working.

Thanks for sharing in advance!

The EF-S 17-55 IS is money for this kind of work.

I use the 24-70mm for group shots. I hear this is comparable to the 17-55mm IS. The reason I use this (I am really moving more towards primes more and more) is because Ill be shooting tighter than 2.8 anyways, and this gives me the flexibility for large and small groups.

17-55 is my go to lens for the family group photos. It's awesome for that. Your 17-50 should do the job fine. Just focus on the groom's white shirt and black lapel and you're money.

I typically shoot at F/4-F/5.6, but if the light is really crappy and I'm shooting inside a church, and I need lots of flash power, I can still get a group of 20 people in three rows in focus at F/2.8 @ 17mm. It's awesome!

If I'm outside, then I shoot at 55mm F/5.6 and back up. It's really a great lens.

Thanks SCB!

ScullenCrossBones wrote in post #12177110
The EF-S 17-55 IS is money for this kind of work.

Thanks Bryan! You are so quick that I think you can just stick with all prime at all time.

Red Tie Photography wrote in post #12177369
I use the 24-70mm for group shots. I hear this is comparable to the 17-55mm IS. The reason I use this (I am really moving more towards primes more and more) is because Ill be shooting tighter than 2.8 anyways, and this gives me the flexibility for large and small groups.

Thanks Lloyd for sharing the go to lens and focus point tip!

picturecrazy wrote in post #12177773
17-55 is my go to lens for the family group photos. It's awesome for that. Your 17-50 should do the job fine. Just focus on the groom's white shirt and black lapel and you're money.

I typically shoot at F/4-F/5.6, but if the light is really crappy and I'm shooting inside a church, and I need lots of flash power, I can still get a group of 20 people in three rows in focus at F/2.8 @ 17mm. It's awesome!

If I'm outside, then I shoot at 55mm F/5.6 and back up. It's really a great lens.

As I say so often, it depends. I would probably not use the same lens for a group shot as I would for the couple portraits.

For groups, I use my 24-70 most often for convenience. But if I have a lot of space and can move back as far as necessary, I'd rather use my 35 1.4.

For couples, IMO, nothing beats the 85 1.2 on a FF. Most of the time, this lens would be too long on a crop so I would look at one of Canon's better 50's, though I don't personally own any and can't guide you on the right one for you.

That said, the 24-70 still does a real nice job on couple portraits if need be.

Thanks Robert for you valuable and detail info!

What F stop do you normal use to make sure that everyone are in focus during the Formal shooting session with the 35mm 1.4 for group and 85mm 1.2 for couple?

Like so many things in photography, there's no one right answer. To the extent there is one, it's the smallest aperature possible. It depends on distance to the subject, the depth of their plane, etc. I like to be ~2.0 when possible, but will shoot as high as f8 when necessary.

Thanks Rob. and Bob.!

bnlearle wrote in post #12184180
I shoot family formals usually with the 50 1.2 and sometimes with the 24 1.4 if I need the width (which is very rare). I'm usually at f/2-f/2.8.

This really surprises me. I try to be 3.5-5.6 if I can, and I know that sometimes that everyone cant be in focus, but are you worried about shooting too shallow?

Red Tie Photography wrote in post #12186732
This really surprises me. I try to be 3.5-5.6 if I can, and I know that sometimes that everyone cant be in focus, but are you worried about shooting too shallow?

The beauty of doing it with the 50 is that once you step back far enough to get everyone in the shot, 2.5 is enough DOF.

Correct me if I'm wrong Bobby.

And this is the stuff so many forget (or never knew) about DOF; it's not just aperature. It's how close or not you are to the subject. It's also the length of the lens; 2.8 on a 35mm is MUCH deeper than 2.8 on an 85mm.

Peacefield wrote in post #12188407
And this is the stuff so many forget (or never knew) about DOF; it's not just aperature. It's how close or not you are to the subject. It's also the length of the lens; 2.8 on a 35mm is MUCH deeper than 2.8 on an 85mm.

I know that but i don't consider 50 to be very wide. Shooting at 2.8 using a 24 or 35 seems it would make moee sense.

depth of field is also related to framing, and I believe you get roughly the same DoF at similar apertures across most focal lengths IF the subject framing is similar. Background blur is a different story from depth of field, and the background blur effect is stronger at longer focal lengths.

I often prefer the effect of full body formal/group posing at f/2-2.8 with 85mm than with 35mm with similar framing. I like the background blur, and I like the comparative lack of subject distortion. I commonly use wider lenses for larger group formals, mostly because of need and convenience.

I want to learn to like 24mm and 50mm, but my 50mm sigma is just not a very satisfactory lens to me and I don't currently have the budget to get the canon 50L. I didn't like the Canon 50 f/1.4.

I am glad that I posted this. I just read the whole thread again.

Thanks everyone for tipping in!!!