So I have a budget around 600, and i'm currently looking at some jobs in portrait photography now. Unfortunately, however much i love my tamron 17-50, it's just not quite long enough for a good working distance portrait. I'm looking at a canon 70-200 f4L non IS, and i already know it's a great lens but i was just wondering if anyone had experience using it for portraiture? This would be on an XSi body, so 1.6 FOVCF applies. Thanks!
The 70-200 f/4L is great fro portraits. I've shot a majority of the senior pictures I've done this year with that lens.
Are you looking at it for studio portraiture? Or more on location style? I've done both (to the best of my limited abilities). I'll include some examples of what I've used it for in the portrait arenaHope some of this stuff helps you out! By the way, these were all taken on my 1.6x FOVCF 20D. I hope to move to FF eventually. haha!
Here is a link for a setup shot of the studio setup: S@H Setup Video
Sorry to post a bunch of stuff, but hopefully these help you make a decision.
Would I like to have the faster f/2.8? Yes, at some point I would like to. But for $600, you get L build quality, super fast AF, ACCURATE AF, tack sharp pictures, excellent colors & contrast, and a super useable zoom range.
Bottom line, if it's what you can afford, get it! If you can afford more, get the f/4L and a strobe kit! Learning to and having the ability to light a scene will DRASTICALLY improve your portraits, formal or casual.
-Rodger
well i tend to do a mix, some on location, some studio, but on location is what i tend towards more, as my studio still can't compete with natural light =/. The 85 f1.8 was a lens i was looking at but i decided against it for now because a) I don't shoot so many portraits that i need a lens specifically for them, the 70-200 would also be used for a variety of other purposes, and b) most of the events i shoot that are not portraits and dimly lit are strange in that i either seem to need a lens that's about 30mm or one that's about 135, but nothing in between. Strange phenomenon really.
If you want cheap and quality for portrait stuff, I'd go 85 1.8.
I've owned the 70-200 f4 L and almost never used it. Without IS or a faster aperture I couldn't wait to get rid of it. The only time I used it was for strobe lit portraits. I will say it was really sharp though.
PS
I also noticed it sucked up some dust. It didn't seem to affect image quality though.
Originally Posted by Keith B
Really? that seems unexpected from a lens that doesn't extend at all for zooming or focusing.
I think that you'll do well with the 70-200 f/4. I've used the IS version (with IS off) for weddings (both with and without flash) and it's excellent. Much lighter than the 2.8, which I also have used.
Look at the varied opinions on this lens: Keith B did portraits with it, but couldn't wait to get rid of his. Yet, Roger demonstrated how excellent this lens is for portraits.
Can you see how these opposing views might make people go crazy???
Really? that seems unexpected from a lens that doesn't extend at all for zooming or focusing.
It still has parts that move in and out internally and it isn't sealed. The mount also fit very loose on my 40D.
Maybe sucking isn't the right term, but accumulating is.
I didn't say I preferred it for portraits. It was only good for stuff that was purely strobe lit. You had to use higher shutter speeds to eliminate camera shake and therefore not allowing for ambient light to create atmosphere. If you shot at lower shutter speeds, you negated it's sharpness. This made this lens nearly useless to me and without IS I could not find enough uses to justify ownership, therefore I could not wait to get rid of it.
Keith, neither did I. But, you did mention that you used it for portraits, and so does Roger.
The lens is good for portraits, regardless, as Roger's examples show.
What can be confusing for the OP, though, are the two opinions about it, and how it squares with the lens' actual use for portraiture photography.
I use the 70-200 f4 L IS USM for most of the portrait shots on my "people" section of my website. My hands just aren't steady enough for the non-IS version.
Yes, and it's excellent. Even with just f/4 it's easy to get sufficiently-blurred backgrounds for your standard "deep DOF blurry background" headshot. I do a lot of those, so my 70-200 gets a lot of use. You may find that it's not quite wide enough for some shots.
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