talk me out of swapping 35L and 85L for 50L

Got all of them RARELY Use the 50L, Use the 35L all the time, and then the 85L......

50 was a waste for me. I have 24L I rarely use, but I still use it more than the 50 and I usually use it on a 7D so it works out to about a 35mm on a FF camera........

Mark H

You can always try a used 50 1.4 and see if you can live without the 35 and 85, if 50mm is your cup of tea then by all mean unload whatever you no longer need.

Personally, Not in a million year would i ever trade my 35L and 85L II for the 50L, with those two primes I found the 50mm useless for me, it's neither wide enough or long enough, I wouldn't even add the 50L to supplement the other two left alone to replace them. I have always found 50mm to be boring and uninteresting, that's just me.

The 50L sucks, I'd never buy it. The focus shift kills this lens. I don't know how any shots in the sample shots thread were made. I think the owners simply got lucky.

The 85L is awesome! Even if it was the wrong focal length, I'd use it just because of the bokeh and 3D-ness of the results. And because everyone else says it's the best.

Ok, in all seriousness, when I found out that the 35-85 combo wasn't for me, I sold and went for the 24-50. (135L turned into a 70-200). I'm MUCH more happy now because I can compose shots with focal lengths that are comfortable for me. And it sounds like that's the bind you are in now: you have lenses that while great just aren't jiving with your creative eye. Don't listen to the hype here, do what you need to do to get the shots YOU want. The 85L is stunning, but stunning falls far short of usefulness when it's time to get that shot.

I'd sell the 35 and 85, get a 50mm of some sort, and that's it, done. You mentioned that you've got the wide end covered, and that now all you need is your normal/walk around prime. BOOM, you just pocketed $$$ from selling the 35L and you are shooting at your preferred focal length. Check out the Sigma 50, and you just saved even more $$$.

Go full frame then you'll start loving your 35 and 85
If you find yourself missing the 85mm on the crop, then you can pick up a 135mm too!!

shinyknights wrote in post #14564979
Go full frame then you'll start loving your 35 and 85
If you find yourself missing the 85mm on the crop, then you can pick up a 135mm too!!

Are you posting this to me? I already have the 5DII and 135L (as mentioned in my first post).

troypiggo wrote in post #14565077
Are you posting this to me? I already have the 5DII and 135L (as mentioned in my first post).

Ahh, my apologies, I thought you were shooting crop. The 85mm should be the perfect focal length for portraits.

MatthewK wrote in post #14564715
The 50L sucks, I'd never buy it. The focus shift kills this lens. I don't know how any shots in the sample shots thread were made. I think the owners simply got lucky.

The 85L is awesome! Even if it was the wrong focal length, I'd use it just because of the bokeh and 3D-ness of the results. And because everyone else says it's the best.

Ok, in all seriousness, when I found out that the 35-85 combo wasn't for me, I sold and went for the 24-50. (135L turned into a 70-200). I'm MUCH more happy now because I can compose shots with focal lengths that are comfortable for me. And it sounds like that's the bind you are in now: you have lenses that while great just aren't jiving with your creative eye. Don't listen to the hype here, do what you need to do to get the shots YOU want. The 85L is stunning, but stunning falls far short of usefulness when it's time to get that shot.

I'd sell the 35 and 85, get a 50mm of some sort, and that's it, done. You mentioned that you've got the wide end covered, and that now all you need is your normal/walk around prime. BOOM, you just pocketed $$$ from selling the 35L and you are shooting at your preferred focal length. Check out the Sigma 50, and you just saved even more $$$.

I'm with this. Shoot what FL works for you and forget what anyone else says. 35 and 85 appeal to a lot of people, but I find both kind of hard to work with. I tried shooting the 35 for a few weeks as an experiment, and it was very hard to deal with for me. Had to get too close to get a mid body shot, and not wide enough for a lot of times. If I had two bodies, I'de use the 24L and 50L combo, as I feel like I'm doing similar with my zoom lens. Friends and family always get a kick out of me when I slap on the nifty fifty. It does the job when I want to shoot 50, but of course I would rather have the 50L

Ah, I love POTN. I agree with the decision to keep both great lenses rather than get an iffy one.

That 35L is probably junk anyway. I could probably be talked into taking the smelly thing off your hands. I'm good at using broken equipment for the kind of stuff I do (junk lens photography). I could probably give you a solid $500 or so for it. Just let me know... :/

sure. give me both for my 50L

Haha. Looks like the thread has run its course, eh? Thanks guys.