Prime lens for portraits on my 7D

anniephoto

anniephoto

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Annie
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Hi! For once I'm actually looking for the really technical amongst you to baffle me with science! I've been using my 50mm 1.8 on my canon 7D for some time for portraits and have been reasonably happy with it however I have some much better lenses that produce far superior images in terms of their sharpness and bokeh etc. including the 100mm macro and 70-300mm which I use a lot at weddings. However I'm looking to invest in a replacement for the 50mm and naturally looked at the 50mm 1.4 and 1.2 (despite the massive price differences!

I'm leaning towards the 50mm 1.4 but have also considered a 30 or 35mm lens as occasionally I need something a bit wider (I mainly shoot on location or in clients homes, families and new born babies etc.

I struggle to find time to do much research at the moment, running my photography business, a second job and 2 toddlers is keeping me busy enough... So can I pick your technical brains please? What should I look at and why? Point me in the right direction before I loose a week trying out different lenses!
 
I like primes and personally I went for the Sigma 50mm f1.4. I think it's a good lens but the 85mm f1.4 is even better. Having said all that if shooting portraits for money I think I'd go for a quality zoom for practical reasons and flexibility and for including some context, unless intending to shoot wider than f2.8. For APS-C a 17-50mm f2.8 is a good general purpose lens but maybe a 24/28-70mm f2.8 would be a better choice for paid portrait work as I imagine that a good percentage of the time you'll be shooting with smaller apertures than f2.8 and possibly with flash. A quality 70-200mm f2.8 might be good for occasions when you have the room to frame your shot with it.

I love my primes but I wonder if they're the best tools for paid work. A couple of quality zooms would therefore be my choice with a prime or two in reserve for the occasions when a wider aperture than f2.8 is needed.
 
Thanks, the 85 does appeal but on many occasions it's just not wide enough as I'm shooting in people's homes a lot, new born and maternity using natural light, will have a look at this recommended thanks.
 
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