Canon lens recommendations - studio photography

[jzamboni]

Hey guys,


I am an amateur photographer, going into studio photography. I have a canon 400d, with just the standard lens and feel the need to purchase a more, well suited lens in order to achieve perfection with the studio shots.

There are so many lenses and I am not sure what one would be best. The sigma lenses look very appealing. Can anyone pinpoint any particular lenses I should Consider?

Thanks

Jay

[essjaycarp]

It is always wise to invest as much as you can afford at the time in a lens. You will keep them but upgrade cameras. I have a EF 24-70 f2.8. I use if fro wedding but would be good fro studio, depending what your subjet is going to be.
I bought a Sigma, and found it a bit too noisy for use inside a church. Worth going to a shop eg Calumet and testing, before you buy

[BarryM]

Hi mate and welcome to the forum..

A good lens for what your looking at i would suggest would be the 50mm 1.8, its very cheap at around 50 quid, its amazingly sharp, and cos of the crop factor of your camera, its roughly around 80 odd mm, ideal for portrait, being prime too it encourages you to move around finding angles and filling frames etc.

Build quality isnt fantastic but ive had one for a couple of years now, and love it for in studio and closeup portrait shots at weddings. Highly recommended and very good on the pocket.

[Bandit]

When you say studio, do you mean people or product? Either way as barry says the 50 1.8 is a bargain. Any of the canon prime lenses are ideal for studio work.

[brian smith]

My two weapons of choice in the studio are the 85mm f1.2 and the 70-200mm f2.8 is, both nogood to you because of the crop factor, the 50mm is a good lens and the 50mm f1.2 is brill but costly.
Brian.

[fotographe]

The 50mm f1.8 for the money is one of the best lenses I bought, I have spent 20x more than that on lenses but for value for money you will not find anything better.

The best thing is as Barry says, because it is a prime lens, it requires you to move around! This makes you think about what you are doing with your photography.

Although if for products you would be advised to use a tripod.

A decent macro lens could also be useful but it will depend on what you want to shoot.

[Jemmy]

I agree with the others the 50 f1.9 is a good lens but I also recomened the 28-105mm zoom lens, its a really good lens for studio work.

[Alan W]

You haven't said that you you are on a budget so I will answer this as if you aren't. First of all let me say that the 400D is a perfect camera for studio work. Sigma also make some fine lenses. If you are using studio lighting then you don't have to have a really wide aperture lens. If you can stretch to it I'd go for a Canon EF 24-105 f4 IS L (£600) or a Canon EF 24-70 f2.8 (£750) as these undoubtedley the two best lenses you can buy for crop sensor. If you can't stretch to these look for secondhand or if you know anyone visiting the USA get them to pick one up for you. If you don't wish to spend this much I would start with a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC EX Macro as my all round lens and shoot towards the longer end.

Prime lenses are another consideration and prime macro lenses are inheritently absolutely razor sharp, one of the best kept secrets in photography and I would consider the Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro and the amazing new 70mm f2.8 Macro.