50mm Prime for indoor low light

RedSox

Hi. I am new here and apologize if this is already discussed as I could not find in the search.

Basically I have a Rebel XT and a couple of nice zoom lenses which are pretty good for outdoor shootings. I am interested in taking indoor pictures of my 2yr and 3yr old toddlers and the fast lens I have is a 24-70 f2.8L, which, in over 50% situation is still too slow for the low light situation, even though I push the ISO to 800. I am considering buying a 50mm prime, preferrable from Canon, but open to alternatives.

I am not satisfied with Ziggy's result from his 50mm 1.8. It looks too soft and have least contrast compare to the other lenses. Was that just because of a bad copy of 1.8 and I can expect better result from 1.4? I know that stop down will help with the IQ but I need low light.

I appreciate your advice and suggestions.

PS, there is a nice EF 85mm 1.8 on sell at the Buy & Sell forum. It is really tempting with the asking price, but will it be too long for indoor use, since the camera adds 1.6x?

Red Bull

From what I hear (and what I've seen) the 50 1.4 is a very nice lens, much nicer than the 1.8. If I had the money I would have definately bought the 1.4 and I've seen some spectacular results from it. What I might do if I were you is to rent it and see how well you like it.

SpeshulEd

can you go to ISO 1600 with the XT? I go with that in dark situations and have good results with my 20d and my 28-70mm 2.8 sigma lens.

cmason

you might check out the Sigma 30mm f1.4. It gets good reviews, and I have used in on a Nikon mount camera, and it is very sharp. ~$430

claudermilk

Push the ISO further. I routinely go to 3200 with my 24-70 for low-light shoots--works great. Of course, the 50/1.8 also works great so long as I can compose how I like (limited foot zoom capability normally).

BenA2

Similar topic ongoing in Accessories...
You should probably check out this ongoing discussion over in the accessories forum.

I have the 50 1.4 and love it. But, as you'll see at that thread, I'm also a fan of the Sigma 30 1.4. Others, though, think the 30 results in too much distortion. Really, it depends on what/how you're shooting. Either is fantastic for low-light conditions.

greenpea

I got a 50mm 1.8 for the same purpose (shooting indoor shots of my 2 yr old daughter w/o having to use a flash). The only problem I found was that 50mm wasn't wide enough, maybe my house is too small, but I found a 24mm was the ideal lens.

RedSox

Wow. Thanks all for your advice!

Steven, yes maybe I should go rent both and play with them for a week or so to decide. Moneywise, it is not a too much of a big deal as there is a $255 Canon rebate check on the way.:): That is why I want to settle with what I really want. Do you shoot your 50mm often? How do you like it?

Ed and Chris, I have a XT but I guess the noise level is similar to your 20D, I don't feel comfortable with the noise at ISO 800 for anything larger than 8x10. I tried NeatImage but loose overall sharpness. It is not necessary bad for Portrait but still.. Convert to B&W also helps. Again I am still experimenting. I havn't tried Noise Reduction on the XT yet, does that make any difference? I mean, since I can deal the noise with PP, why bother with the in Camera Noise Reduction? Maybe I should do both? I believe the XT can go as high as 1600 but not 3200.


Ben and Greenpea, that Siggy is really nice. For right now I tend to like a bit longer. With my toddlers, especially the 2 yr old, I try to keep some distance as most time if you stick a lens in front of their faces, say a arm length, they just come over either grab me or my camera. Room size does matter, but I noticed most time I shoot above 50mm, maybe I should get a 85mm?

claudermilk

Don't mess with the noise reduction in the camera. What that does is take a "black frame" image immediately after the real shot to reduc things like hot pixels.

Using noise reduction software takes a bit of practice to get a good feel for how to set a good balance between removing noise and getting too soft. I have Noiseware, and will be getting Noise Ninja (I use Bibble & it's now integrated...zigged when I should have zagged).

SpeshulEd

yeah, with the 20d i usually don't have much luck at iso 3200 but i find iso1600 to be not that bad.

i've only used the noise reduction in ACR tho, perhaps I should mess with some other ones.

Red Bull

I actually don't use my 50mm that much, not because I don't like it, but because I just don't do that much low-light shooting. Mt 17-40 L practically lives on my camera.:D When I need low light and I'm at the right distance from a subject, I do take out my 50 and use it. It's not a bad lens, I just don't do that much low light stuff, but it is fun to play with especially playing with the thin DOF at 1.8.

cwphotos

I just picked a 50mm 1.8 up the other day at amazon for $50. I had a $25 gift cert I got after doing a survey. I get it next week.

erich6

I have the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and it is a great lens. Next to my 17-40 f/4L it is my favorite lens. Awesome for portraits and it works well for indoors. Here's a thread on this lens:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25127

I have the 20D and often shoot at ISO 1600 and get acceptable results. To get great results with noise reduction I recommend the DxO software. Not only does it do wonders for lens distortion and sharpness but it has a noise reduction module that will buy you a couple of stops. Check it out at www.dxo.com. As stated previously, the in-camera noise reduction won't help you. Here's a thread on camera noise reduction:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=36737

Here's a sample shot I took with this lens:



One thing you have to watch out for is the shallow DOF....

Erich

RedSox

erich6 wrote:

One thing you have to watch out for is the shallow DOF....

Erich

That is a great one, very cute babies! Yeah I am struggling with shallow DOF too. I have difficulties dealing f/2.8 with moving target. Stop down to f/5 helps.