Best value outdoor portrait lens?

Best value outdoor portrait lens? I just ordered a 60D (body only) and need a lens.

Was thinking either the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 or the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8.


Should I save up more and get a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS? I think with that lens I would desire some bokeh for outdoor portraits. But at 1400 bucks, the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L is a little out of my price range.

Depend on how far ur subjects will be, and how much u want to spend, in my case for portrait the Canon 50mm f1.4 does an amazing job.
Taken with the 60D + 50mm 1.4

The 85 1.8 is one of the best values in Canon lenses in my opinion. I don't take many portraits but outdoors on a crop body it would work well for that purpose. It's not tack sharp wide open but outdoors you most likely would not be shooting wide open anyway.

best value would most likely be the 50mm 1.8 as its only 100$

but you will be able to get a very thin DOF with the 80 1.8 which is what i would get if i were in your shoes

if you don't mind manual focusing you can get some amazing glass for super cheap and use adapters....

yourdoinitwrong wrote in post #12802777
The 85 1.8 is one of the best values in Canon lenses in my opinion. I don't take many portraits but outdoors on a crop body it would work well for that purpose. It's not tack sharp wide open but outdoors you most likely would not be shooting wide open anyway.

Also on portraits, tack sharp is not exactly a benefit. I had a 50mm 1.8 with a T1i and I found I had to get much too close to the subject.

Basically my budget is obviously pretty flexible, but 1400 is over budget. And if the choice is between 85mm f1.8 and 50mm 1.4 would go with 85mm.

I am also looking at the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro though. What about the Canon EF 135mm f/2L? Compared to the 85mm for outdoor I would just have to step further away right? 85mm is already a little long for indoors anyways.

85 f/1.8 is recommended, but sometimes too long.
Pair with 50 f/1.4 would be perfect.

Like KVN said, the 85mm would be a bit too long for you on the crop camera. I would say the 50mm 1.4 would be good.

on Crop, a 50/1.4 would be nice.

Rellik wrote in post #12802877
Like KVN said, the 85mm would be a bit too long for you on the crop camera. I would say the 50mm 1.4 would be good.

I have not found this. To get shoulder/head shots you have to be pretty close even with a 1.6 sensor.

I will probably pair it later on with a ~24mm zoom lens but for right now it is all about outdoor portraits. Outdoors gives me flexibility to zoom with my feet.

Anyways so if it is assumed the 50mm 1.4 and the 85mm 1.8 would be the best value, what would be the pinnacle lens for this purpose? The $2400 70-200mm 2.8 IS?


I will level with you guys, I am doing this mostly for chicks and bokeh is basically something their crappy cell phone pics cannot replicate so the lens would have to provide a bit of it. Would the 85mm 1.8 and 135mm f/2L be a nice combo?

I have a cropper body as well and I really enjoy the hell out of my 50mm f/1.4. I do however want an 85 for the head shots and such but the 50 really gives me some great stuff to work with and can work for head shots well. Remember you can crop 18mp big time without hardly any issues at all....

Well in this pic I got some giggles on how close I had to crawl to get the picture I wanted and it was at 55mm.

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Best value for your money:

Canon 50 f/1.8
Samyang 85 f/1.4
Canon 85 f/1.8
Canon 50 f/1.4
Sigma 70 f/2.8 Macro
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
Sigma 50 f/1.4
Canon 100 f/2.8 Macro
Tamron 70-200 f/2.8
Zeiss 50 f/1.4
Canon 200 f/2.8
Sigma 85 f/1.4
Canon 135 f/2
Canon 100 f/2.8 IS Macro

(In order based on IQ to Price ratio only, does not consider any other factors, does not include all current lenses)

If I was buying one of these on a budget for the stated use I would get the Canon 85 f/1.8.

Jaynez wrote in post #12802773
Depend on how far ur subjects will be, and how much u want to spend, in my case for portrait the Canon 50mm f1.4 does an amazing job.
Taken with the 60D + 50mm 1.4

It's interesting, the 50/1.4 has a reputation for bad bokeh, primarily due to bright ring. I owned one for 2-3 years and while I would not say it was really bad for bokeh it wasn't great either. Overall I wasn't complaining.

So along comes this 50/1.4 shot and Wow! Bad bokeh. The bright ring edges to the blur disks in this shot are making the trees in the background just totally wonky.

Sorry to take the OP totally off topic, but it is always interesting to me how 'bad bokeh' characterisics in certain lenses can make no difference in many shots, but when you get just the right conditions they really jump out.

JeffreyG wrote in post #12803307
Sorry to take the OP totally off topic, but it is always interesting to me how 'bad bokeh' characterisics in certain lenses can make no difference in many shots, but when you get just the right conditions they really jump out.

That's fine with me. i would have never noticed until you pointed it out.

best value is the 50 1.8, then the 85 1.8

if you are looking at the 70-200 f4 you dont need the IS version for portraits and at 200 f4 you will get some nice bokeh especially with up close shots like a headshot or a half body portrait shot i dont know if photographers use film terms but a medium shot or close up