T3i 50mm prime and 60mm on a zoom lens 55-250 kit lens

Which lens will distort the photo more?

You're going to need to better define distortion and specific lenses.

vengence wrote in post #18106429
You're going to need to better define distortion and specific lenses.

With the 50mm,take picture, put on my 55-250 telephoto set the lens to 60mm take picture.
Which one would distort the image more, will the 50mm make the model fat faced compared to the 55/250 telephoto lens set at 60mm

use your kit lens to take it at 50mm, and then try 60mm...i don't think you'll really see much of a difference...it will mainly come down to how far you are from your subject

DigitalDon wrote in post #18106437
With the 50mm,take picture, put on my 55-250 telephoto set the lens to 60mm take picture.
Which one would distort the image more, will the 50mm make the model fat faced compared to the 55/250 telephoto lens set at 60mm

I believe you are mistakenly thinking that lens focal length controls perspective (relative sizes of various elements in the photo which are at different distances from the camera). This is not true. It's actually the distances from the camera (or even your eyes) that changes the perspective.

Please read our "sticky" (found in the General Photography Talk forum) tutorial titled Perspective Control in Images - Focal Length or Distance?.

DigitalDon wrote in post #18106437
With the 50mm,take picture, put on my 55-250 telephoto set the lens to 60mm take picture.
Which one would distort the image more, will the 50mm make the model fat faced compared to the 55/250 telephoto lens set at 60mm

Step back and use the 55-250 at 135-200 to broaden her face if that's the look you want.

Thank you all for trying to teach an old dog new tricks, I guess there are some things in life that some people can't do no matter how hard they try, I guess photography for me is one of them.
I know most of you guys own ff cameras, when y'all say 85mm is a great lens for portraits , well with my 50mm prime lens and looking at the app called Set My camera Pro I set it to 50mm with a 1.6 crop factor I get the equivalent of 79mm.

If I take my 55-250 mm kit lens and set it to 85 mm then I get a crop factor of 134mm.
My 55-250 lens numbering on the lens starts at 55mm, at 55 mm there is a space (no numbers) in between 55 and 70 mm then the space (no numbers) from 70 to 100 the 75- 80-85-90-95 is not printed on the lens, how do I find the 85mm of that lens.

If I were able to get 85mm set on my 55-250 lens then what is the difference in the 50mm prime at 50mm and my 55mm-250 at 85mm distortion wise, making the subject blotted or stretched, I know I would have to move the camera to get the same framing, example: head and shoulder shot.

First off, if youve never used a FF, or film camera, id disregard the conversion...it's not really all that useful

Your 50mm on the kit lens and 50mm on a prime should look the same, if taken from the same distance, there may be some lens distortion differences...

As far as findinf 85mm...you gotta just guess on that one, you can review exif after to see your focal length...but all of these are just general guides, you can take portraits at many focal lengths

You're making it more complicated than it is, just get a model(anyone will work)...go out and experiment with different distances/focal lengths

DreDaze wrote in post #18107073
First off, if youve never used a FF, or film camera, id disregard the conversion...it's not really all that useful

Your 50mm on the kit lens and 50mm on a prime should look the same, if taken from the same distance, there may be some lens distortion differences...

As far as findinf 85mm...you gotta just guess on that one, you can review exif after to see your focal length...but all of these are just general guides, you can take portraits at many focal lengths

You're making it more complicated than it is, just get a model(anyone will work)...go out and experiment with different distances/focal lengths

I think getting anyone to stand or sit still long enough for me to do any in depth study of photography would require I pay them, which I can not afford with a yearly worth of under 20 thousand a year.
So I'm the model and photographer and its pure h*ll trying to setup then switch to model mode take the picture, switch to photographer to check the image and tweaking the camera, then more of the same, if nothing else it sure, I'm sure focusing is hard to nail.
I should be satisfied that I can take snapshots that could later in life be pictures that would have never been had I not shot them.
You are right, making it more complicated than it is, but my OCD obsessive compulsive disorder will not ever let me be satisfied with nothing.
I truly appreciate all of you guys bending over backwards to help me, but I think it is time for me to except it is what it is and be satisfied with it.

DigitalDon wrote in post #18107124
I think getting anyone to stand or sit still long enough for me to do any in depth study of photography would require I pay them, which I can not afford with a yearly worth of under 20 thousand a year.
So I'm the model and photographer and its pure h*ll trying to setup then switch to model mode take the picture, switch to photographer to check the image and tweaking the camera, then more of the same, if nothing else it sure, I'm sure focusing is hard to nail.
I should be satisfied that I can take snapshots that could later in life be pictures that would have never been had I not shot them.
You are right, making it more complicated than it is, but my OCD obsessive compulsive disorder will not ever let me be satisfied with nothing.
I truly appreciate all of you guys bending over backwards to help me, but I think it is time for me to except it is what it is and be satisfied with it.

I fully agree with DreDaze. Put anything regarding full frame out of your mind. It is not relevant to what you are doing.

Portraits can be taken with any focal length. It does not have to be 50mm or 85mm. It can be 400mm, or 28mm.

In the studio, when doing portraits, we are constrained by space (model can't be farther away than the wall). Another consideration is that if the model is a bit far away, say 15 ft, communication becomes awkward because you have to shout. So place the model a bit closer. Now if the model is too close, then you get distortion with the big nose. You need a compromise. With those considerations, you pick a shooting distance that works. It will vary depending on whether you are doing full length or head-shoulder, or intense closeups. Most APS-C shooters find a focal length of 50mm to be convenient and versatile indoors. But it won't be right for every indoor situation.

Outdoors it can be anything, depending on your creative vision.

DigitalDon wrote in post #18106437
With the 50mm,take picture, put on my 55-250 telephoto set the lens to 60mm take picture.
Which one would distort the image more, will the 50mm make the model fat faced compared to the 55/250 telephoto lens set at 60mm

The answer is simple.
With the same subject framing, the shorter focal length will result in more perspective distortion.
However, going from 60 to 50 is barely noticeable.

Thanks to all of you for replying to my post.