Best Lens for Baby Pictures.

[thekingb]

As many have said, the 17-55 is a great choice. Can't go wrong with it, and it's useful in so many ways.

A big question is whether you expect to use a flash or not. I know you said you're looking into the 430exII, which I also own. But it's not always at the ready.

My experience is that f2.8 is often not wide enough for indoor shots without a flash unless you have a 5dIII or 1 series body that can really push the ISO. That's why I really like fast primes for indoor shots of kids (I have 2, aged 4 and 6). I think the 35L is the holy grail here. Alternatively, for far less money, the Sigma 30 f1.4 has served me pretty well. If money is not a limiting factor, go for the 35L.

FWIW, I found the 50mm focal length on a crop sensor like your t4i to be too long for many indoor uses.

Good luck!

[Richard Lane]

I found this new website selling Baby Lenses!

http://lensbaby.com/lenses


Rich

[ahab1372]

I would not worry about water sealing. It would not help much to have an L lens if the camera body is not weather sealed too, and the Rebel is not. But they won't break just because of a few rain drops or some spray from the breaking waves (at least mine didn't).
On a Rebel, I think you will get much more out of the 17-55 than out of the 24-70. 24mm is not really wide for a general purpose lens on a crop camera, and the 17-55 is optically at least as good if not better. There is a reason why Brian (the TDP Brian) recommends it for crop cameras (see here http://www.the-digital-picture.com/C...pose-Lens.aspx):

The Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens and Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens were introduced after both of the aforementioned L lenses and I now highly recommend them to APS-C/1.6x body users.

Adding a 70-200 is a great idea IMHO, but I would not buy it before the general purpose lens.

Arnt

[Magijr]

Thank you again for your help. I'm searching the web and reading other threads similar to my post. Other lens that have been suggested are:
-Canon EF 85 MM F / 1.2 L II USM
-Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM

Any feedback on the above lens?

[Magijr]

I think the 35L is the holy grail here.

Thank you for your response. Can you shoot with the 35L outdoors as well as indoors? This lens seems very nice?

[Magijr]

Regarding the body not being water proof, thats a great point. For ow, its seems like I need to decide between the 17-55 and the 35L, and in the future work my way into and save up for the 70-200.

Thank you again.

[Scott Stephen]

I guess you DO have a "kit" lens that came with it, right? Was it the 18-55? If you already have that kit lens you might consider getting the 35mm prime for dark work and all, though it would be wide for portraits.
If you DON'T already have a kit lens, then I doubt you want you only lens to be a 35mm prime. Primes are awesome, and sharp, and great in low light, and all that, but you will want to zoom in and out sometimes.

[Magijr]

I do have a kit lens, its the 18-55. I'm a layman, and what does too wide for portraits mean? I have a class next Monday to hep me understand, but right now, i'm pretty ignorant.

[Richard Lane]

Remember they're talking about weather-sealed not water-proof.

I think the 17-55 is a great general purpose walk around lens for a crop body, but I think the the f/2.8 aperture will be a little too slow for indoor use without a flash, so what will end up happening is that you will have to shoot at higher ISO's so your shots will have a lot of noise in them. If you ever upgrade to a full frame camera then the EF-S 17-55mm will not be compatible. The 24-70mm f/2.8L is a great lens and is FF compatible but the 24mm may not be wide enough if you decide you would like to get into landscape shots. The 24-70mm is also pretty large and heavy.

I think the the 35L f/1.4 would be the perfect focal length on a crop body for baby and family shots whether you're indoors or outdoors and the f/1.4 will really cut down on the image noise indoors.

When you're ready to expand your lens collection, then I really like the 85mm f/1.8, for baby portraits indoors or outdoors, but it's a little long for indoor family group shots. The 35L would be better for that.

The next lens upgrade for outdoor use would be one of the 70-200mm lenses.

The 85mm f/1.2L is great, heavy and expensive but very slow focusing, so I think you will miss some quick spontaneous shots with it. The 85mm is also long for indoor family group shots.

Rich

[Magijr]

Thank you for your response Richard.

Quick questions; if you were on a desert island, and you were only able to take one lens with you, what lens would you take?