lens question newbie here in need of some help


Mohd Zamri

New Member
Feb 4, 2014
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woodlands
Hi guys im new here and fairly new to photography
I own a canon 500D camera and I love portraiture.

Currently own a 50mm f1.8 lens
And I found it quite limited for me to venture deeper into portraiture. Intending to invest on a 85mm lens

So my question is

There is 2 types im guessig mainly the 85mm f1.8 and the 85mm f1.2
The price difference is really alot. Im intending to invest on the 85mm f1.2 but is my camera compatible to use the 85mm f1.2? Is it only for
Full frame camera? Or Is the 85mm 1.8 good enuf? Assuming I can now take photo slightly further away from
My subject den Using my 50mm which almost might have the same picture quality.

Need some help and suggestions. Thanks
 

Why do you need a 85 mm lens? Per my understanding, 85 mm is good for street photography as you can be far away from your subject to capture the natural expression of your subject.

If you are having a EF 50 mm F1.8 lens, the focal length will be 80 mm taking into consideration the crop factor your camera body.

Personally, I find that it is not easy to work with low F stop due to the shallow depth of field.
 

Hi guys im new here and fairly new to photography
I own a canon 500D camera and I love portraiture.

Currently own a 50mm f1.8 lens
And I found it quite limited for me to venture deeper into portraiture. Intending to invest on a 85mm lens

So my question is

There is 2 types im guessig mainly the 85mm f1.8 and the 85mm f1.2
The price difference is really alot. Im intending to invest on the 85mm f1.2 but is my camera compatible to use the 85mm f1.2? Is it only for
Full frame camera? Or Is the 85mm 1.8 good enuf? Assuming I can now take photo slightly further away from
My subject den Using my 50mm which almost might have the same picture quality.

Need some help and suggestions. Thanks

1) As long as it is of EF or EF-S mount, it is compatible. I assume that your 85mm f1.2 is the Canon 85mm f1.2L lens which is compatible).
2) Whether it the 85mm f1.8 is enough for you or not, is not up to any one of us to say, and it is up to you. Btw, the 85mm f1.8 lens is a great lens - sharp, contrasty and pretty fast AF. But in my opinion, the f1.2 had nicer looking OOF blur.
3) Actually on crop sensor, your 85mm will have an equivalent focal length of 136mm, so you need to stand pretty far back to get a full body portrait, but again, that is up to you.
 

Why do you need a 85 mm lens? Per my understanding, 85 mm is good for street photography as you can be far away from your subject to capture the natural expression of your subject.

If you are having a EF 50 mm F1.8 lens, the focal length will be 80 mm taking into consideration the crop factor your camera body.

Personally, I find that it is not easy to work with low F stop due to the shallow depth of field.

Er... 85mm lens is good for heaps of photography genre, and lots of people use it for portrait. Actually for street photography, many are using the good old 50mm or even 35mm. You need to be in the heat to get the story. You need involvement... unless you fancy paparazzi type of shooting.
 

Hi guys im new here and fairly new to photography
I own a canon 500D camera and I love portraiture.

Currently own a 50mm f1.8 lens
And I found it quite limited for me to venture deeper into portraiture. Intending to invest on a 85mm lens

So my question is

There is 2 types im guessig mainly the 85mm f1.8 and the 85mm f1.2
The price difference is really alot. Im intending to invest on the 85mm f1.2 but is my camera compatible to use the 85mm f1.2? Is it only for
Full frame camera? Or Is the 85mm 1.8 good enuf? Assuming I can now take photo slightly further away from
My subject den Using my 50mm which almost might have the same picture quality.

Need some help and suggestions. Thanks

Not sure if you want to explain abit more about the type of portraits you take (e.g. 1/2 body, full body, head shots etc.)? and or how is the 50mm limiting.

But from the focal length that you are suggesting (85mm on crop, ~135mm on FF), I guess you may be looking at 1/2 body to head shots. Which 85mm can do the job pretty well if you have the space available to move around. *personally, I would have prefer 70-200 for anything tighter than 1/2 body*

As for the question 1.8 or 1.2, only you will know if you can handle the shallow DOF or not. If you are unsure about it, I would suggest renting it first before you make the decision.

For the price point, 1.8 performs quite well (other than purple fringing) as compared to the 1.2.
 

personally I find 85 too long. I'm using same body as you. 85 translates to 135 thereabouts on ff. difficult to get anything more than face shot unless standing far way
 

Hi guys im new here and fairly new to photography
I own a canon 500D camera and I love portraiture.

Currently own a 50mm f1.8 lens
And I found it quite limited for me to venture deeper into portraiture. Intending to invest on a 85mm lens

So my question is

There is 2 types im guessig mainly the 85mm f1.8 and the 85mm f1.2
The price difference is really alot. Im intending to invest on the 85mm f1.2 but is my camera compatible to use the 85mm f1.2? Is it only for
Full frame camera? Or Is the 85mm 1.8 good enuf? Assuming I can now take photo slightly further away from
My subject den Using my 50mm which almost might have the same picture quality.

Need some help and suggestions. Thanks

85 f/1.2 is significantly more expensive than your camera.
Though it's a great lens, I wonder if you've thought this decision through completely.
Maybe you can write about why your 50/1.8 is "quite limited" for you.
 

Oh thx for all the replies personally when I wanna take 1/2 body shots the blur is not that quite impressive. Yah im aware that the 85mm 1.2 is very very expensive im intending go rent either the 1.8 or 1.2 1st before buying one. For the 50mm I notice its great for head shots somewhere chest level upwards is impressive but any further den that or shud I say 1/2 body shots its not quite there. I feel limited in terms of my focal length. Idk if its just me or maybe other feel this way too. But with the 85mm be it 1.8 or 1.2 im assuming I can play around with my FL
 

rent the 85 f1.2 and f1.8 lenses to see for yourself, nobody knows what is your taste like exactly.
btw, since you about going to rent gears, can also rent a 5DMK3 to test test.
 

Oh thx for all the replies personally when I wanna take 1/2 body shots the blur is not that quite impressive. Yah im aware that the 85mm 1.2 is very very expensive im intending go rent either the 1.8 or 1.2 1st before buying one. For the 50mm I notice its great for head shots somewhere chest level upwards is impressive but any further den that or shud I say 1/2 body shots its not quite there. I feel limited in terms of my focal length. Idk if its just me or maybe other feel this way too. But with the 85mm be it 1.8 or 1.2 im assuming I can play around with my FL

The fastest way to find out is to rent and test. As also mentioned by catchlights, rent a ff body to test with also.

That said, some of my favt 1/2 body and full body shots came from my 50mm 1.8 (ff body)
 

Oh thx for all the replies personally when I wanna take 1/2 body shots the blur is not that quite impressive. Yah im aware that the 85mm 1.2 is very very expensive im intending go rent either the 1.8 or 1.2 1st before buying one. For the 50mm I notice its great for head shots somewhere chest level upwards is impressive but any further den that or shud I say 1/2 body shots its not quite there. I feel limited in terms of my focal length. Idk if its just me or maybe other feel this way too. But with the 85mm be it 1.8 or 1.2 im assuming I can play around with my FL

Other than the 85mm lens... Might I interest you with the 24-70mm f2.8L MkII.

In my opinion the 24-70mm f2.8L mkII is a more versatile lens, sharpness is definitely there (the mk2 version), it had slightly shorter focal length as the 85mm lens though. All in all, I believe the 24-70mm f2.8L mk2 is an incredible lens.
 

80 f1.2 does produce dreamy like photos, if you know exactly how to manipulate it. But it's no wonder lens, especially if one is not ready for the lens. To each their own but around 85mm, 135mm is great for portraits
 

Thanks for all the replies guys. Yeah I would really wanna try out the 85mm lens. Yup I do like the great dreamy texture.
Anyone knows how much the rebt would be? Intending to rent like over the weekends.
 

About $20 one day for the 85mm f1.8 and $50 one day for the 85mm f1.2L.
Multiply accordingly but they may offer a little discount if you take it for the weekend/couple of days.

Do google for camera rental shops in Singapore. Quite a few operators so you can shop around to see which one offers the best rental policies and rates.
 

Oh thx for all the replies personally when I wanna take 1/2 body shots the blur is not that quite impressive. Yah im aware that the 85mm 1.2 is very very expensive im intending go rent either the 1.8 or 1.2 1st before buying one. For the 50mm I notice its great for head shots somewhere chest level upwards is impressive but any further den that or shud I say 1/2 body shots its not quite there. I feel limited in terms of my focal length. Idk if its just me or maybe other feel this way too. But with the 85mm be it 1.8 or 1.2 im assuming I can play around with my FL


It sounds like you want a really thin Depth of Field. You might regret it later on when most of your shots are out of focus ;)
If you understand your 50/1.8 better, perhaps you will understand its limitations, and work around them.
Pick locations where the background is more distant, allowing you to really throw it out of focus.

... and, 85mm doesn't allow you to "play around with your FL (focal length)", since, like the 50mm, it is a fixed focal length lens.
 

Don't spend too much till you fully understand your preference for the type of portraiture photos you'll be taking often especially when you have yet to appreciate what a fast lens can do (might end up with a DOF that you can't manage :D)

Get a cheap lens to start off so you won't end up having to leave your top-end lens in the dry cabi and end up selling at a loss :D
 

Why do you need a 85 mm lens? Per my understanding, 85 mm is good for street photography as you can be far away from your subject to capture the natural expression of your subject. If you are having a EF 50 mm F1.8 lens, the focal length will be 80 mm taking into consideration the crop factor your camera body. Personally, I find that it is not easy to work with low F stop due to the shallow depth of field.

Pat I'm quite sure I can catch you taking a photo of me with a 85mm lens even with a 1.5 crop factor jk jk . It's really not that far :D
 

my suggestion ia to purchase 100mm macro lens. weather it is an L lens or the normal USM its good on portrature and the blur effect is very good. you might also want to study your cameras basic function like ISO, DOF, shutter speed etc. to get a better metering :). Also dont forget to enjoy what your shooting. playing with dslr is fun :)
 

Thanks for all the replies guys. Yeah I would really wanna try out the 85mm lens. Yup I do like the great dreamy texture.
Anyone knows how much the rebt would be? Intending to rent like over the weekends.

Firstly, you can achieve blur background effect with any of your existing lenses completely free of charge by using a free online utility.

http://www.fotor.com/features/blur.html

But if you prefer to buy the lens and like dreamy blur background behind the subject, consider a 70-200 F2.8 zoom, or 200mm F2 or a 300mm F2.8.

By a 200mm F2 photo credit: the-digital-picture.com
Canon-EF-200mm-f-2-L-IS-USM-Lens-Sample-Photo.jpg





By a 70-200mm F2.8 photo credit: Boon Wee Ming

008wZq-18894384.jpg






By a 300mm F2.8 photo credit: ophrysphotography.co.uk
monkeypair.jpg
 

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Thx alot for the info. And thx again guys. Yeah dont worry I know very well not to jump into pond and like buy my lenses on impulse. Ive ady research and study quite alot over the weeks. And finally I made a decision to rent out the
70-200mm f2.8L IS USM. With my 500D im guessing my FL with it would be around 110mm above, shud be fun to try and yeah from the looks of it there is quite alot of limitations on the 85mm 1.2. Well best part is we get to rent and try!