I just got a press pass to a big convention. What lens (indoor)?

If you look in my signature you see that I'm quite limited. I need better glass.

I was thinking of picking up a 85 1.8 or a 50 1.4.

I'll be shooting a lot of celebrities from within range of about 5-10 feet. It'll be indoors in poor light and there's no guarantee I'll be allowed to use flash.

I don't care about being discrete, so my 40mm has to stay or go depending on quality, not size. I might bring it and pick up an 85, or get rid of the 40 and buy a 50. I might even take a risk with F4 and pick up the 24-105L and use that most of the time.

Any advice?

Thanks

What about a 35 f/2.0 IS?

I'll look into that one (the 35). I love IS. I didn't even know they made IS in lenses that short.

Heya,

At 10 feet, 50mm will be a near half body shot. 85mm will get you face portraits.

This is where a 70-200 would be quite important.

The 6D can handle shooting at ISO 12,800 in RAW, expose slightly to the right so that you can work the noise later in post. Shutter speed in low light at F4 should be doable even at longer lengths.

I'd take the 85mm if you already have it.

If you're getting a lens, I wouldn't take a 24-105F4L without flash to something like this. If you're going to spend that kind of money on a F4L lens, buy a 70-200 F4L instead. Make the big lens worth it by having way more options in case you're not just 10 feet away.

Flash would be really ideal.

But the 6D should be able to handle it. But I would still take the fastest glass you can.

What kind of shots are you wanting? Face? Bust? Full body? If you want all that, a zoom sounds right. But if you know you just want bust/face, a long fast prime would really give you awesome results. But in such an uncontrolled environment, a zoom would probably be better for you.

Can't help but think about the Tamron 24-70 F2.8 VC. Or even a simple 28-75 F2.8 Tamron. Every stop of light counts even on the 6D when you can't use flash. Unless you can afford a 70-200 F2.8 of some flavor (Tamron's 70-200 F2.8 VC is affordable and awesome).

Very best,

I might rent as well.

This will pretty much be all the actors from The Walking Dead. I'd prefer head and shoulders for most of them. If I can get the opportunity to pull one to the side for a few minutes (maybe go outside or somewhere private) then that changes everything, and I have to consider what I'll do then.

In the meantime, I'm not interested in full body or even half body shots. I want to focus on the shoulders up. I want detail.

Luckily I'll have three days and two nights to do this. It's a really good opportunity for me.

I'll be bringing my flash (well, all my gear), so that might be a possibility, but I also have an opportunity to interview them as well for a couple local publications. I really want to take shots like you see in some magazines in which you see a strip of photos in which the celebrity has different, animated expressions while answering questions.

The 6D with 35 f/2 IS is a great combo.

First at all in this kind of event if you are not black belt in some martial art you will need a good helmet, protection shoulder and even a shark shield, if you have a very strong mono-pod prepare yourself to use it as a tonfa

Having said that, for head and shoulder a 50mm should be enough, but renting/buying a 24/70 f/2.8 will give you some option of zooming in/out without loosing your place hardly won (if you step backward just a little bit, another photographer will go in front of you ! it's a war there )

EOS-Mike wrote in post #17157032
I might rent as well.

This will pretty much be all the actors from The Walking Dead. I'd prefer head and shoulders for most of them. If I can get the opportunity to pull one to the side for a few minutes (maybe go outside or somewhere private) then that changes everything, and I have to consider what I'll do then.

In the meantime, I'm not interested in full body or even half body shots. I want to focus on the shoulders up. I want detail.

Luckily I'll have three days and two nights to do this. It's a really good opportunity for me.

I'll be bringing my flash (well, all my gear), so that might be a possibility, but I also have an opportunity to interview them as well for a couple local publications. I really want to take shots like you see in some magazines in which you see a strip of photos in which the celebrity has different, animated expressions while answering questions.

Heya,

In that case, you will want reach. 50mm from 10 feet away on full frame will be a small face to crop to. 85mm to 200mm would be the range I'd go for at 10 feet, for shoulders up.

Very best,

Since you already have a 40, I would suppliment that with the 85 f1.8 and 135 f2 L. You could always rent a 70-200 II if you don't mind carrying the weight.

I always shoot with 2 cameras in case the one's card is full, the range is wrong, etc. How about renting another camera and a 35mm lens and using the 6D with the 85 1.8 also. I shoot with my 5D2 and 24-70 or 50 1.4 and then my 7D with 70-200 2.8 IS II for the "not so obvious" shots. This gives me flexibility and lots of options.

If you only can have the 6D, put the 50 on it and hold onto the 85 in your pocket. Those lenses are easy to take on and off, if that's what you need to do. I know anything longer than 50, you won't get a lot of people in the frame. You can always crop later, but you can't always add more to the image you took two days ago.

^^^^

Thanks. Good idea. I forgot about my daughter's Rebel T3. I can bring that along and use the 40 on it and then put something on my 6D ( rented 70-200 2.8)

That might make for a good combination.

SuzyView wrote in post #17157717
If you only can have the 6D, put the 50 on it and hold onto the 85 in your pocket. Those lenses are easy to take on and off, if that's what you need to do. I know anything longer than 50, you won't get a lot of people in the frame. You can always crop later, but you can't always add more to the image you took two days ago.

X2 on this. That's the beauty of a high MP camera that handles noise well. If you want to crop a bit you can with no issue. Certainly better than getting stuck having to shoot so close that you get nothing but a head.
A second camera as mentioned is really the way to go.

If you have the T3, you're good to go with the 70-200 2.8. The longer zooms are amazingly helpful, but sometimes, you just need to go wide. This is why I go with the 24-70 on the 5D. I know there will be some distortion, but you can't help but want to shoot wide so you can compose and crop later.

SuzyView wrote in post #17158038
If you have the T3, you're good to go with the 70-200 2.8. .

That really depends on how bad the lighting is where he's at. Indoors and poor light like he has stated could very well make a 2.8 too slow especially at longer focal lengths. Would be ideal to have a second camera that can handle noise well, but any 2nd camera is better than no camera.

The light will be awful most of the time. I'll bring a 430 ex 2 and a couple diffusers but likely it will be mixed lighting and weak.