Portrait lens recommendations for the 400D?

SkipD wrote in post #2204698
85mm is the "ideal" focal length only for a 35mm film camera or a "full-frame" DSLR.

That is exactly what I said...

amarasme wrote in post #2205074
That is exactly what I said...

This miscommunication illustrates the reason why all of us should state things about focal length in a manner similar to this...

"For (format), the ideal lens to shoot (specific application) is (XXmm)"

so the earlier statement by amarasme would have read unmistakably,

"For APS-C the ideal lens to shoot waist up portraits on a budget is 50mm f1.8.
That will give you equivalent to 80mm focal length which is close to the 85mm "ideal" focal length for portraits on Full Frame cameras."

amarasme wrote in post #2205074
That is exactly what I said...

Sorry, but it is NOT what you actually said.

amarasme wrote in post #2205074
Indeed, a 50 f1.8 may be a good choice, particularly on a budget. I will give you about 80mm focal lenght, which is close to the 85mm "ideal" focal lenght for portraits, as well as f1.8 maximum aperture, good enough to isolate subjects from backgrounds, etc.

You said "I will give you about 80mm focal lenght". That line, of course, has two mis-spellings - one of which (the I instead of It) makes the sentence easy to misunderstand. Secondly, what you said is just plain wrong. Using a 50mm lens will NOT "give you 80mm". What it will do is provide the same field of view as an 80mm lens on a 35mm film (or "full-frame" DSLR) camera.

You also did not, as Wilt mentioned, provide any reference for what format the 85mm lens is "ideal" for portraits on. 85mm is, for example, a "normal" lens on a 6x6 medium format camera. You really must be specific when mentioning focal lengths and their uses by specifying the format (film or sensor size) that is behind the lens.

I hope I don't sound cruel here, but there are MANY new folks who seem to get confused to the point where they never understand the truth about "crop factor", focal length recommendations, and camera formats in general. I'm just trying to help everybody understand the facts so that they can make intelligent decisions when specifying hardware to buy.

I keep remembering a physics teacher way back in high school who tried his best to teach very basic radio transmitter concepts. His blackboard description of radio signal modulation was absolutely wrong because he had no clue of what he was trying to teach, and for several years I was totally baffled. When I finally went to electronics school (after four years in the Army) I learned the truth - which was really quite simple - and finally discovered why my high school teacher baffled me so badly.

Wilt wrote in post #2202023
Three times. And read my message (#5) and the link to help set it firmly in your mind.

Good informative post. Concise and to the point. Thanks.

grego wrote in post #2201336
On a 1.6 crop camera like the 400D

For wider group shots:
Sigma 30mm f/1.4
For tigther, more traditional:
50 1.8/50 1.4
Even tighter:
85 1.8

Places to buy your stuff:
B&H
OneCall
Beach Camera
BuyDig(same company as Beach)
Canoga Camera
digitaldiscountfoto.co​m
BestPriceAudioVideo.co​m
Dell(when they have their crazy discounts)

www.pricegrabber.com will help arrange the best price for a particular item with just about most of those stores.

BINGO!
However after you have the 30mm and the 85 you'll probably never use your 50. But that's just me

SkipD wrote in post #2207843
You also did not, as Wilt mentioned, provide any reference for what format the 85mm lens is "ideal" for portraits on. 85mm is, for example, a "normal" lens on a 6x6 medium format camera. You really must be specific when mentioning focal lengths and their uses by specifying the format (film or sensor size) that is behind the lens.

And to further illustrate the context sensitivity, I can say "75mm is a perfect very wide angle lens" and be telling the truth...for a LARGE FORMAT camera(4x5 film)! 75mm is wide in 4x5 format, 'normal' in medium format, 'short telephoto' on 20D, and 'medium telephoto' in 35mm SLR. So if I fail to provide a context for a statement about the suitability of a given focal length, I can really confuse everyone!

It's not against portraiture law to use the Kit lens, btw

SkipD wrote in post #2207843
I hope I don't sound cruel here, but there are MANY new folks who seem to get confused to the point where they never understand the truth about "crop factor", focal length recommendations, and camera formats in general.

I am not a "new folk" (whatever you mean with that). I am a photographer with more than 20 years of experience who has just joined this forum. But I am a Spanish native speaker, as you can infer from my description on the left, not an English one.

So I apologize for my spelling mistake, but I do not think that a missing "t" ("I", instead of "It") deserves such an attitude. I was saying that a 50 f1.8 lens (it) will give HIM (a person who has a 400D, an APS-C format camera) the equivalent of an 80 mm lens, close to the classic focal length for portraits.

As a principle, I do not assume that people are ignorant, as you seem to do, so I tend to think that the OP understands the difference between a FF camera and his camera, unless he or she asks about it. For the rest, we are in a Canon forum, not a Hasselblad or Sinar one, so comparisons with focal lengths in a medium or large format seem to be unnecessary IMO; unless we pretend to teach photography. I believe we are here trying to help each other, sharing our knowledge or experience, not lecturing.

Talking about lecturing and the teachers you mentioned, I hope that you did learn some education and manners from them, besides Physics and English. It might be my limited knowledge of English, but your response in general seems quite rude to me, regardless of the fact that you may be right or wrong.

My personal favourite lens for portraits is the Tamron 28 - 75 mm f2.8.
Especially with kids that are always on the move, at 2.8 its pretty fast throughout its focal range, and the lens is very sharp. For the price I personally think it hard to beat.

Yes there are better choices, but depends if you can afford it. You dont mention a budget, so I assume as you have a 400D, that you wish to keep cost as low as possible. Also take a look at the link provided by CyberDyneSystems.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=86975

amarasme wrote in post #2210394
I am not a "new folk" (whatever you mean with that). I am a photographer with more than 20 years of experience who has just joined this forum. But I am a Spanish native speaker, as you can infer from my description on the left, not an English one.

So I apologize for my spelling mistake, but I do not think that a missing "t" ("I", instead of "It") deserves such an attitude. I was saying that a 50 f1.8 lens (it) will give HIM (a person who has a 400D, an APS-C format camera) the equivalent of an 80 mm lens, close to the classic focal length for portraits.

As a principle, I do not assume that people are ignorant, as you seem to do, so I tend to think that the OP understands the difference between a FF camera and his camera, unless he or she asks about it. For the rest, we are in a Canon forum, not a Hasselblad or Sinar one, so comparisons with focal lengths in a medium or large format seem to be unnecessary IMO; unless we pretend to teach photography. I believe we are here trying to help each other, sharing our knowledge or experience, not lecturing.

Talking about lecturing and the teachers you mentioned, I hope that you did learn some education and manners from them, besides Physics and English. It might be my limited knowledge of English, but your response in general seems quite rude to me, regardless of the fact that you may be right or wrong.

I'm sorry that you took my post as a personal insult. The purpose of my post is so that OTHER folks - those with less experience - would not absorb incorrect ideas of the subjects at hand. That is done a lot on these forums.

There are lots of people who read these forums eager for information and there is so much wrong information being written that it's hard for them to really know what is correct and what is not. I just try to help them as do quite a few others who understand the subjects of their questions.