whats lens to buy

Pro-Edge Photography

:dunno Hello I do a lot of diffent types of photography but recently I've been doing more and more band pics. The scenery is usually very dim with little to no light and smoke filled rooms. The people I'm trying to capture images of are usualy moving all around very quickly so lowering my shutter speed below 200 to gain more light is out of the question. I need a lens that will give me a very sharp picture with alot of detail. I also do alot of portrait shots in my studio so a lens I could use both for portrait and band work would be great. I know using a lens with a smaller F stop below a 3 will help but I'm just not sure where to start. Any advise would help

PS. Im only looking for canon equipment

DoctorIt

Hi Pro, welcome to DGrin.

I've moved your post into the Cameras forum - for discussion. The flea market is specifically for buying and selling. If you get the advice you're looking for here, come on back to the market with a WTB: "specific lens"

And in answer to your question, it's really no mystery: FAST glass makes all the difference. Save up for good lenses and you'll have them for a long time. Any one of Canon's L lenses will fit your bill (maybe not your wallet though ).

thanks,

swintonphoto

The Canon L lenses are great. If you don't have the budget for them look at the following:
Tamron 17-50 2.8
Sigma 18-50 2.8
Tamron 70-200 2.8
Sigma 70-200 2.8

[Deleted User]

Would primes work for your band shots? I know they would work for portraits.
The 50mm F/1.8 is very inexpensive (<$100) and more than a stop faster than the 2.8s. On a crop body it works out to be a very short tele/portrait lens. Many people love this "nifty fifty." The 50mm f/1.4 is even faster and costs in the low $300 range. DPreview has a review of the 1.8 MkII with comparisons to the 1.4.

Good hunting,
Jim

Scott_Quier

Don't know your budget, but ... consider a series of primes:

• EF 50 f/1.4
• EF 85 f1.8
• Sigma 30 f/1.4

Between the wider aperture and a decent ISO, you should be able to maintain a shutter speed above 1/200.

You might be hard pressed to do the same with a zoom as the fastest zoom I'm aware of is f/2.8.

Photoskipper

Need an IS or VR lens to enjoy additional 2-3 f-stops. The 70-200 F2.8 L IS allows me to push the shutter as low as 1/5 sec with handheld. Combine with f2.8, ISO 800, handheld at 1/5 sec, I manage to take this photo about 20 meters away under the dim stage light of night safari. It is not ideal photo, but just to demonstrate something is do-able.



More dim night stage performance picture can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photoskipper/sets/72157604310437843/
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/photoskipper/sets/72157607147289488/

Kinkajou

it's a kinkajou!

anyway, i have a 50mm f1.4 and it is my favorite lens for portraiture. as others have mentioned, getting down to 1.4 or 1.8 is probably your best bet for low-light exposures.

the thing with a fixed-length lens, though, is that you'll have to move around more in order to set your composition since you aren't able to zoom in and out, so that might be something to consider.

jonh68

Go with a 1.8 or 1.4 prime. IS is helpful if you want some creative motion type shots, but IS does not freeze the action. If you want to stop the motion and get the highest shutterspeed, a 1.8 or 1.4 prime is the way to go.