Zoom lens for portraiture on crop camera

Hello all. I am thinking about a zoom lens for portraits on my 40D. I take pictures of family, mostly. Lots of little kids and their parents. I really like my lenses (Sigma 30 and Canon 85 1.8) for portraits but sometimes I feel like I am running all over the place trying to catch the kids who running all over the place. I am thinking that the 70-200 range would be too long (never tried it, but the 85mm seems long sometimes). Something in the 24-70 or so range might be that I am looking for. I'd have to sell both my lenses to get something expensive or save a long time. What lens would you recommend for this purpose? Thanks for any input.

SIgma 30 is perfect for indoor portrait. For outdoor, your 85 1.8 is great.

How is 70-200 too long??? Outdoor it's perfect imo. You get better oof area and compression due to longer focal length. Also getting too close will not allow you to capture those perfect candid shots.

If you insist, look into the 17-5x range.

17-55 2.8 IS

Check this out....

http://www.sigmaphoto.​com …mm-f28-ex-dc-os-hsm-sigma

There is also the older, smaller, discontinued, non-OS version, that you might be able to find cheaper:

http://www.sigmaphoto.​com …28-ex-dc-apo-hsm-ii-sigma

But if you want something inexpensive in the 24-70 range with good IQ for portraits the Tamron 28-75 is the lens for you....

http://www.amazon.com …/B001955P8W/ref​=pd_cp_p_3

Or for almost twice as much you could get the Canon 24-105, not quite as good for portraits, but it has a great zoom range and very good IQ:

http://www.amazon.com/​gp/product/B000AZ57M6

arentol wrote in post #14522975
Check this out....

I hadn't seen that. A bona fide 70-200 alternative for crop sensors. Looks interesting.

When searching for reviews, I found some criticisms of the older versions of this lens. Here's a (slightly goofy) review of the brand new version.

Edit: Did some more reading. I think this is going to be a must-have lens for crop sensor cameras and will perfectly complement the 17-5x zooms. I was looking for a Canon 70-200 f/4 but now I'm going to aim towards one of these.

That 50-150 range sounds interesting. Thanks for the links.

I am not sure a 17-5x is long enough for portraits outside.

cacawcacaw wrote in post #14523025
I hadn't seen that. A bona fide 70-200 alternative for crop sensors. Looks interesting.

When searching for reviews, I found some criticisms of the older versions of this lens. Here's a (slightly goofy) review of the brand new version.

Edit: Did some more reading. I think this is going to be a must-have lens for crop sensor cameras and will perfectly complement the 17-5x zooms. I was looking for a Canon 70-200 f/4 but now I'm going to aim towards one of these.

It's a big heavy beast.. basically the size of a 70-200/2.8, so may as well go for that.

1Tanker wrote in post #14523067
It's a big heavy beast.. basically the size of a 70-200/2.8, so may as well go for that.

Only if you're always shooting at the long end. On a crop sensor, the 70-200 delivers a field of view that's equivalent to a 112-320, longer than most people like for a portrait zoom lens.

Since it serves (about) the same purpose as a 70-200 on a full frame, the size and weight seem acceptable. The comments I've seen compare it favorably to the Canon 70-200's. The Mk II's are slightly sharper but far more expensive.

Yeah, i guess from a portraiture perspective...it's a good range, but i rather enjoy my 70-200 on crop for a long walkaround lens.

Tokina 50-135 if you can find it. One of the Sigma 50-150s if you can't.

70-200's are all great, but miss out on the 80mm and 100mm equivalent lengths which are key for portraiture (IMHO)

1Tanker wrote in post #14523160
Yeah, i guess from a portraiture perspective...it's a good range, but i rather enjoy my 70-200 on crop for a long walkaround lens.

They say that most people shoot their 70-200's towards the long end of the range. If you're looking for maximum reach, the 70-200 would be much better.

So I take it that you would recommend the 50-150 range better than, say, a 28-75 or a 24-70? Would you switch out my 85mm for the Tamron 28-75, for portraiture purposes?

tkbslc wrote in post #14523186
Tokina 50-135 if you can find it. One of the Sigma 50-150s if you can't.

Agreed, an excellent range for kids. With a 2.5yr old, I can tell you that for my purposes, primes ended up being more frustrating than anything. Image quality was great, but I always felt limited, and ultimately abandoned varying combos of 30, 50, 85, in favor of a 50-135 and am very happy. For me, a quick 2.8 zoom turned out to be a good solution.

If you are inside and trying to catch moving kids, you can get any sharp zoom you want (in the normal zoom range - 17 short side to 135 long side). That is because you are also going to need a good shoe mounted flash to "stop" the movement of the kids. Then if you want decent portraits using the flash, mount it off camera and learn to bounce or diffuse the light in some way. Then since you will be using the flash, my lens suggestion would be a 24-105L for its range. Though I would rather have a 24-X f2.8.

If outside, a 70-200 IS. The aperture would be up to you, but again I would pick an f2.8.