Lens for fast and unpredictable kids indoors

Hello,

I’m new to this forum and to photography and am seeking your wisdom in choosing more lenses.

I am wondering what lenses you like to use to take pictures of your fast and unpredictable kids indoors.

My current equipment is 650D/T4i with 18-135 STM and 50F1.8. I do intend on getting a flash, which should help.

The difficulties I have is mainly with the 50F1.8 which seems to have a hard time focussing in low light.

Maybe a Sigma 30 F1.4 is a good solution, allowing thinner depth of field than my zoom when that is wanted and wider view than the 50mm for indoors and to get both kids in the picture?

Or maybe a zoom with IS like the canon 17-55 F2.8 (or Sigma or Tamron) is more practical to follow kids around and the IS useful in low light when shutter speeds can be slower? But I already have a zoom covering this range which should work well indoors with a bounce flash and F2.8 gives me just a little more depth of field control. Is the image quality that much better with the F2.8 lenses? I find the image quality great with the 18-135 STM, but I am a beginner.

My daughter is close to 3 years old and my son is 7 months old.

So what do you experienced photographers prefer to use for kids indoors?

Thanks for the help.

Thierry

Get a flash. Bounce it off the ceiling or wall. The 17-55 is what I would use because it is the most versatile/sharp lens Canon ever made. You will appreicate the 17-55 as your kids change from indoor to outdoor and they also get faster.

I'd go with the Sigma 30mm lens, but I prefer natural light when possible.

The 17-55 and a flash is the best solution as already mentioned.

I had sigma loved it but I agree get something like 17-55mm f2.8 and a flash.

use video mode.

Get a decent flash first, and then decide if AF and IQ of your zoom lens is up to the task. If not, than one of the 17-5x f2.8 zooms would be a nice upgrade (especially Sigma OS or Canon flavors - the Tamron's slower AF might be a problem in low light indoor conditions with fast moving kids). If it is expensive, than Canon's 18-55 IS "kit" lens can do the job almost as well (with a flash) - it has decent IQ (I bet it's much better than in 18-135), and pretty decent low light AF performance.

Have the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and kids, results will be the same as your 50mm F/1.8 just more wide. Flash would be the best option.

Got to go against the flow here--if the lens chosen will not keep up with the motion in servo mode a flash will just provide a better exposed OOF image.

I've got a lot of 3'rd party lenses in the bag--but for fast moving subjects you get what you pay for--a Canon 50 f1.4 or a Canon 28 f1.8 would be my budget choice--or a 17-55 or 24-70 on a larger budget.

In addition to bringing more light to the equation, the flash's AF assist lights will help too.

but only in One Shot AF. In servo (which they might be using to try to track the children) I'm pretty sure the AF assist lights do not operate

get a flash! (as has been mentioned)

smythie wrote in post #15076120
but only in One Shot AF. In servo (which they might be using to try to track the children) I'm pretty sure the AF assist lights do not operate

Right. I don't use servo indoors with kids anyway since my camera can't keep up in tight spaces anyway.

I recommend an f/2.8 zoom lens equipped with ring-USM and teamed up with a flash that can be tilted and swiveled. The EF-S 17-55 is a good choice if you can afford it.

If you think you can live with just one focal length, a single prime that also has ring-USM within this range is another option. Somewhat affordable choices would be the 28/1.8, 60/2.8 macro and 85/1.8.

You will note that I don't recommend the 50/1.4 from Canon. This lens does not have ring-USM, and in my experience it's micromotor USM is not as good as the real thing. My 50/1.4 that I sold would give up and hunt for focus in light levels that my 24-105/4 lens had no problem with.

ThierryF wrote in post #15075462
50F1.8.

There's a fast and unpredictable lens right there - just what you need for fast and unpredictable kids.

I have both a fast prime (Sigma 30mm) and bounce flash that I use (primarily) with my 15-85 for indoor kid shots. Horses for courses, really. I leave the Sigma on the camera for quick shots when I just pick up the camera and go. The Sigma performs well, but you obviously get a narrow DOF (and therefore small margin of focus error) the wider your aperture. When I have time, and want to have a better chance of nailing the shot, I use the 15-85 and flash. The results are quite different, so I don't see it as an either/or option.

I also use my 100L macro for indoor portraits of the kids - it is a stellar performer at 2.8- sharp, fast and accurate focus - but these are tight crop portraits, generally headshots or even partial head shots.