Low light, indoor and portrait lens for 70D

AndrewSt

AndrewSt

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Help me decide which lens to add to my current set up (70D and 18-135mm STM). Budget is unto £500 but could see 18-135 to fund if it produces a better combination. Quite enjoy some landscapes stuff but I want to move more to people with a few weddings coming up this year.

Options:

18-35 1.8 Sigma - Nice range and essentially a collection of primes, quite pricey and focus issues seem to have been reported. Also fairly large

30mm Sigma 1.4 Art - Reasonable price and FL but not sure on image quality

35mm Canon 2.0 IS - Has IS so good for low light but not sure if it helps with people.

35mm Sigma 1.4 - Perhaps too expensive

17-55 F 2.8 Good range and IS but only 2.8, Do I need more?
 
I think you'll find most fast lenses are quite hefty! I just got the 18-35mm F1.8 and I love it :D

I also ordered the USB docking station to fine tune the focusing because it did need some. The focus from liveview is spot on but the focus via viewfinder needed some correction.
 
I only shoot with the viewfinder, can't get on with live view. How easy is it to adjust with the usb dock?
 
30mm is very short for a portrait lens, even on a crop - much as I love the Sigma 30/1.4 (and I have used it for portraits) it's an unflatteringly short focal length for anything other than a 1/2 or 3/4 length portrait.

I'd look at the Canon 85/1.8 or the Sigma 85/1.4 - unless you're certain that the shorter focal length is what your style needs.
 
AndrewSt said:
I only shoot with the viewfinder, can't get on with live view. How easy is it to adjust with the usb dock?
Click to expand...

Well I'm still pretty new at the whole micro-adjustment thing but I was able to zero it in with a bit of trial and error :)
 
I have to agree, you need to get very close to people with a 35mm or shorter FL.

The 85mm F1.8 has lovely bokeh and was my most used lens for portraits when I had my canon system, the bonus is that you could get both the 85mm & the 50mm f1.8 within your budget if you shop around.

The alternative is to go second hand and see if you can pick up a cheap 35mm F2 & 50mm F1.4
 
AndrewSt said:
17-55 F 2.8 Good range and IS but only 2.8, Do I need more?
Click to expand...

The first question I'd ask myself is what aperture, shutter speed and ISO I wanted to shoot at.

You may or may not be happy with the DoF you'll get at the wider apertures but stopping down means slower shutter speeds and / or higher ISO's so decisions will have to be made. Will you want more DoF than you'll get at f1.4 or will you accept thin DoF as a price to pay for keeping the ISO down / shutter speed up? And if you decide to stop down for deeper DoF will you be stopping down passed f2.8? If you do there's the question of what primes offer over a f2.8 zoom.

The DoF issue isn't as challenging on APS-C as it may be on FF but it could still be something to think about, as could the final image size and how it will be viewed. Thin DoF - one eye in and one out- may or may not be an issue (maybe that's what you want?) or even be seen in the final image depending upon how big the image is and how it's viewed.
 
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