35mm 1.4 L or the 24-70 2.8 L for portraits and weddings?

[Colin]

I use to own the 24 1.4 L mkI and I loved it on a 1.6 (38.4 mm). When I upgrade to 5DmkII I found it too wide for personal liking. Now I crave the 35 1.4 in a very bad way.
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Keith. As soon as you're able, you need to treat yourself. We all need you to treat yourself []





Nevermind, I just scrolled down and saw that you did. Good for you! *high five*

[Keith B]

Yeah I caved. I was tired of you taunting me.


I cleared of my Bill Me Later account and took the plunge. I've only shot about 20 shots with it goofing around but I'm already in love. I don't think I ever take it off 1.4.


It is so much better than my 40D/24 1.4 combo. The bokeh is so much smoother and the images are way sharper.

[Colin]

Yeah I caved. I was tired of you taunting me.
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<p style="CLEAR: both"]You're welcome!
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[SupraSonic]

Flexibility i would go for 24-70mm

[Freeday]

You will get better bokeh with the 24-70 over the wider angle any day of the week. It has a minimum focal distance of close to 1ft which will be great for your detail shots also. It is a great lens and you will love it.

[Dallasphotog]

I always have the EF24-70mm f/2.8 L USM on the 5D MKII at weddings. I noticed a couple of folks say they use primes at weddings, but for me, that's just a beating.I spend too much time moving to fix composition with prime lenses and for the most part my EF50mm f/1.4 only gets used on the tripod when I'm doingfixedproductshots.


For studio portraits off the tripod, the prime may be a nice lens, but I still like to recompose with the zoom.


My wedding set-up right now is as follows:


1D MKII with EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM


5DMKII with EF24-70MM f/2.8 L USM


50D with EF300mm f/4.0 L USM (tripod camera for the ceremony)

[HiFiGuy1]

Dallas,


Does that 50D + 300 f/4 combo with its associated 480mm EFL allow a full body portrait from the back of the church?

[ma9ical]

Zoom flexibility is great, but not as important asaperture flexibilityin my opinion. I would go for the 35L on a cropped sensor.


On a side note I got a 5D Mark II and with the 85mm 1.2L it really is great for portrait (but autofocus is not that great, slow + struggling in low light). I am hardly using my zoom lenses anymore (17-40L, 24-70L, 70-200L IS).


I have to admit it's a question of taste as well.

[form]

I sold my 24-70L in favor of the 35L and 85L I purchased a while back, which together see 95% of the use for any given wedding. The 24-70L only got used for macro shots and sometimes the cake cutting. If I still need a zoom I can bring out my old Tamron 28-75.


The 24-70 is a good lens for many things, but it's not a great lens for anything I do. it's also big and heavy.


If I wasnot doing professional work I would probablyconsider the Sigma 30mm for crop sensor cameras because of price.Nowadays, Ioften want a 24L to get wider than my 35L (I use full frame and crop sensor). The 24L will probably be my next lens.

[Dallasphotog]

Dallas,


Does that 50D + 300 f/4 combo with its associated 480mm EFL allow a full body portrait from the back of the church?
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Off the balcony at University Christian in Fort Worth, yes, but it depends on the size of the venue. I usually use the 300 regardless of the framing and supplement with the other cameras if I can't get a ful portrait.


For some reason, my non-IS copy of the EF300 f/4.0 L is ridiculously sharp. It really rivals the copy of the EF400 f/2.8 L IS USM that I use. I end up using the 300a lot because of the WOW image quality.