Which portrait prime for crop body?

[pstruck]

I want to buy a new portrait prime lens for my Canon 50D, but don't know which I'll be happy with. I know many will immediately suggest a nice little 'nifty fifty', but I've had both the 50 f1.8 mkII and an f1.4, which although both great lenses I found a little too long for what I wanted. They would be perfect on a full frame body, but on my crop body I found I wanted a little wider.

So of the various 28's, 30's and 35's which gets the vote on here? Before anyone suggests it though, I can't afford 'L glass' this time, so although the cheaper lenses are no doubt a compromise on quality, which will give me the best IQ and VFM? Reviews I've read so far are rather mixed.

[Pints]

I'll be watching this thread with interest. I also find my 50mm a bit long for some shots (Canon 60D) and have been pondering a second prime too.

[rottie102]

Sigma 30mm f/1.4

Just under £300 brand new

Edited by rottie102 on Sunday 28th July 12:56

[Mojocvh]

Pints said:

I'll be watching this thread with interest. I also find my 50mm a bit long for some shots (Canon 60D) and have been pondering a second prime too.

Yep!

[Mojocvh]

rottie102 said:

Sigma 30mm f/1.4

Just under £300 brand new

Edited by rottie102 on Sunday 28th July 12:56

Not wanting to start a flamer but have the

1. supposed quality "issues" been addressed

2. if your DSLR does not support AF tuning, can the 1.4 aperture not, in certain dof instances, work against you?


I don't know if these points are still pertinent with the current build, but they have been raised before on the 'net.

cheers

Mo.

ones enough!

Edited by Mojocvh on Sunday 28th July 16:27

[ian in lancs]

A portrait (head / shoulders) lens for me is 85 to 105mm on a full frame and I use a macro version of both and I use a 70-200 a lot too. So on a crop body shortest i'd go is 50 (75) and preferably 70mm (105) or 85mm (127). If you intend to shoot ambient choose a fast one. If youre likely to go flash / studio than 2.9 if fast enough.

Sorry, being a Nikon user I dont know the Canon stuff but those are the focal lengths I use the most.

I did use a 50-150 sigma in the early days on a crop; perfect range - very sharp after sigma had fettled it!

[Mojocvh]

very sharp after sigma had fettled it!

thanks for that, so I didn't imagine it!!

[budfox]

I'd have thought that a fast 50mm prime on a cropped body was the perfect portrait lens. For me on a FX I find my 85mm 1.8 to be spot on.

[flat-planedCrank]

I'd echo other comments, for portraits a 50mm / 85mm would be perfect, but if you prefer a wider prime (and dont plan on going ff any time soon) then i'd go with the Sigma 30mm f1.4.

[pstruck]

Thanks for the comments so far. I appreciate that for some of you a 50 is just right, but for what I want it to do it is a bit too long, hence the request. I'm not just using it for head and shoulders portraits. A lot of what I'm doing is indoors, so the faster the better, butalso because it's indoors getting far enough away from the subject with a 50 can be an issue, which is why I want something more like 28 to 35mm. This would prove a more versatile length for me, which would get more use and therefore be better VFM.

[JustinMinns]

budfox said:

I'd have thought that a fast 50mm prime on a cropped body was the perfect portrait lens. For me on a FX I find my 85mm 1.8 to be spot on.

Agreed, 50mm on a crop is a good portrait lens

[pstruck]

I'm not knocking the abilities of the little 50's, as I said, I've had a couple and they are great lenses, but I want something a little wider. Perhaps I should remove the word 'portrait' from the question. Come on fellas, don't answer my question with a lens I said I've already tried and found to not suit what I want it for.

[RobDickinson]

Sigma 35/1.4mm art lens.

Best 35 on the market and you can us the USB dock to fine tune the at

[Speed addicted]

I use the Canon 35mm f2 as I was finding the 50mm a bit too long for portrait stuff if I couldn't get far enough back.
It's very sharp and focuses more accurately than the 50mm.

[andy-xr]

I work on the basis of 35mm for anything where I need to get the person and a bit of scene in, 50mm for 3/4 lengths and 85mm+ for headshots