Help me 365! I need a lens for portraiture and gig photography. I was thinking about the Canon 70-200mm but although I'm a strong little thing, I worry about the weight of the lens and low light situations and I can't justify the extra grand for IS.
This leaves me with a few options but what stands out most is the 100mm f2.8 macro and the 135mm f2.0. I'm shooting on a Canon 5D MkII so on full frame.
Thanks Vik but I need a longer lens than that for gigs and portraiture. I had that lens and I agree it's good for the price but it doesn't work very well in low light.
It's an f/1.8 - it lets in a lot of light; in fact it lets in more than the two you've mentioned. The only problem in low light I can think of is the auto-focussing, perhaps. I'm surprised you think it's not good for portraiture because it's a popular one for that. I cannot vouch for the experience of using it for gigs.
Well, I'll say that from a portraiture standpoint, I bought a 105mm for Nikon. And a 105mm for a non-full frame camera (is what I am about to say the same for full frame?) was similar to about 150mm on 35mm film. So it was way too strong for portraits. I found that something around 70mm for non-full frame digital to be more like it. I don't know what sizes Canon has, but a 60mm prime would be ideal. Zooms just don't have the aperture in a lot of cases, and you may be better off with lenses.
I've done a fair bit of gig photography and the light is a 'mare (but the best feeling when get something good!). I absolutely would be lost without my nikon 80-200 f2.8, deffo need the f2.8, made a huge difference - and apart from a few wide shots of the band taken on a wider lens, I use the 80-200 for most of the shots.
Best of luck shopping! New lenses are lovely :-)
wow...sorry, emma i've got nothing to share. i just said wow because i know nothing of what you guys are talking about. it's like you're speaking a different language. i should read up on what different kinds of lenses can do.
again, sorry for barging in your thead =) have fun shopping.
Have you tried 85mm f/1.8, Emma? I think it's quite a decent lens for portraiture. I have it on an APSC sensor though, and it's even better than when I use the 100mm f2.8 macro for portraiture, IMHO.
@Vik - that lens hunts quite badly for focus, I took it out to a few gigs and it was near unusable without manual focusing. Shame as it is a nice lens. I upgraded to the f1.4 but I got nothing good from it, took it back and the guy agreed and thought there had been a bad batch.
@agnesy, I have the 85mm, maybe I should use it more. I think I'm going to go for the 135mm f2.0 L though as I do find the 85mm a little bit soft, maybe it's just my copy.
@Freida - I wish Canon did an equivalent that wasn't 3 times the weight! I looked at a Sigma but I heard bad things. Grrrr!
@Rainee - haha, you'll get up to speed. The main thing to remember is the mm is the focal length and the f number is the aperture (how wide the camera lens opens). The smaller the aperture number the wider it is so f1.8 would be very wide therefore letting in lots of light. A wide aperture also gives you depth of field so this is where you get blurry backgrounds etc. It sounds confusing but once you get your head around it it's fine :)
I see your point about the focussing, at a gig when you want to take a spontaneous shot it isn't the best. But it's tack sharp and great at portraiture. In fact, my day 12 shot was taken using the nifty fifty! http://365project.org/vikdaddy/365/2010-05-28
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My 2 cents. Thanks.
Best of luck shopping! New lenses are lovely :-)
again, sorry for barging in your thead =) have fun shopping.
@agnesy, I have the 85mm, maybe I should use it more. I think I'm going to go for the 135mm f2.0 L though as I do find the 85mm a little bit soft, maybe it's just my copy.
@Freida - I wish Canon did an equivalent that wasn't 3 times the weight! I looked at a Sigma but I heard bad things. Grrrr!
@Rainee - haha, you'll get up to speed. The main thing to remember is the mm is the focal length and the f number is the aperture (how wide the camera lens opens). The smaller the aperture number the wider it is so f1.8 would be very wide therefore letting in lots of light. A wide aperture also gives you depth of field so this is where you get blurry backgrounds etc. It sounds confusing but once you get your head around it it's fine :)
I see your point about the focussing, at a gig when you want to take a spontaneous shot it isn't the best. But it's tack sharp and great at portraiture. In fact, my day 12 shot was taken using the nifty fifty! http://365project.org/vikdaddy/365/2010-05-28
Good luck with the lens search!
http://365project.org/kerfin/365/2010-05-29