Should I sale my 85mm 1.8

I've been having trouble shooting around f/ 2.2 - 2.8. I shoot my wife and my 1 year old together and have trouble getting them both sharp. I know I could shoot f/ 11 and take care of this but that is not why I purchased this lens. So I started doing the depth of field calculator and found that it would be easier to get more total depth of field with a 35mm lens. I've been saving for the Sigma 35mm. Should I sale my 85mm because of this issue?

No. You just aren't using it right.

You don't need to shoot at f11, even f4-5.6 is plenty to accommodate 2 person.

You might get more dof with a 35mm, but the 'look' you get is different.

Keep practicing, use your lens the way they are meant to be used and you'll be fine.

You may get more DOF with a 35mm but you'll also get a completely different perspective.

I often shoot my kids & their teddies etc & I just find you have to close the aperture a little & make sure they are both/all on the plane of focus.

You are not getting them sharp because your shutter speed is most likely too low. I don't think it has anything to do the f-spot.

If you can't get them together in the same frame, that is a whole different thing.

I'm getting one sharp and not the other. It's not the shutter speed.

A picture is worth a thousand words........

What mode of autofocus do you use? Do you use a single autofocus point or "auto" (whatever it's called when it never selects what you want to focus on)?

Please post a picture.

hawkan wrote in post #16405241
What mode of autofocus do you use? Do you use a single autofocus point or "auto" (whatever it's called when it never selects what you want to focus on)?

single most of the time focusing on the eyes

When using very shallow depth of field for group shots, you have to make sure everyone is in the same plane of focus. At f2, if the person you focus on is even slightly nearer to or further from the camera, the other will be out of focus. Stop down the lens a bit, to get more depth of field, and place your subjects are a bit further away from the background, to obtain separation.

Post a few examples with the EXIF intact and it should go a long way toward helping you. 35 will look much different than 85, and if you're seeking highly blurred backgrounds, going to a wider lens is going to make that harder.

Without seeing the images, the general suggestion would be get their eyes on the same plane relative to the camera, if they're not in focus then put more separation between yourself and them and them and the background and refocus. Putting them further from the background will help you achieve the same background subject separation. Again, seeing where you're at with the images and what kind of room you have to work with can change that.

Also work off of what you see in the images. The DOF calculators are an approximation, and from what a little searching will turn up, you'll see they work on a model that implies less DOF than there usually is in practice. Also it's important to keep in mind the distortion of the lens at the wider angles.

In practice I've found that f4-5.6 is plenty for small groups, for larger groups I can start at f8, f2 is more for individuals unless I'm using a larger working distance.

brian4646 wrote in post #16405085
I've been having trouble shooting around f/ 2.2 - 2.8. I shoot my wife and my 1 year old together and have trouble getting them both sharp. I know I could shoot f/ 11 and take care of this but that is not why I purchased this lens. So I started doing the depth of field calculator and found that it would be easier to get more total depth of field with a 35mm lens. I've been saving for the Sigma 35mm. Should I sale my 85mm because of this issue?

I had a few fast primes. I sold them all in favor of zooms. This was a big issue for me. I don't like the razor-thin DOF thing, so I never shot them wide open. I want at least my entire subject in focus. I usually shoot people using f/4 to f/8. I replaced all those primes with a Tamron 28-75 and a Sigma 70-200 2.8. That works for me. The only prime I have left is the EFs 60mm f/2.8 macro. One concession I would make is the 24mm f/1.4 II, if I could afford it. My 28-75 f/2.8 is neither fast enough or wide enough, sometimes.

ceegee wrote in post #16405257
When using very shallow depth of field for group shots, you have to make sure everyone is in the same plane of focus. At f2, if the person you focus on is even slightly nearer to or further from the camera, the other will be out of focus. Stop down the lens a bit, to get more depth of field, and place your subjects are a bit further away from the background, to obtain separation.

Agreed. The distance between your wife's eyes and your child's is at least 8-10 inches I'd guess. At wider apertures and closer camera to subject distances, that's too much variation for both subjects to be in focus.

stop it down more..... or shoot further away. If that cant work for you, then the focal length is not for you. that long focal length just takes a bit of practice to get used to. After a few months, you should be able to see the picture before you make it, and know where to position yourself.