85mm f/1.8 vs. 50mm f/1.4

<p>I am an avid portrait and sports photographer. I shoot some sports in the sun, but mostly in gyms and at night in stadiums. For at night in stadiums I have a 70-200mm f/2.8. However this lens is my schools and when I shoot in my own pleasure, or for gigs that I'm hired to shoot. I need a lens that will suit court sized games like volleyball, basketball, and other sports in gyms. I have been using a 28-135mm usm is lens, which is not giving me the shutter speeds that i need even at ISO12800. I need a low aperture lens that will give me fairly consistently good results. </p>

<p>I also shoot many portraits, whether it be for fun, for school, or for money. :) I need a sharp lens that will give me a very good depth of field. I also wan to be able to shoot full body portraits, however keep a nice depth of field. I shoot mostly outside though.</p>

<p>I'm looking for a good focal length and fantastic sharpness. The prices are just about the same. I've been having this problem for several months and doing research and i need help! DD:</p>

<p>Both lenses are very good and sharp - with the edge going to the 85mm lens - that lens is very hard to beat! You don't say what camera you are using, which will heavily influence what lens to get. On a crop body, I would opt for the 50mm for portraits and full body shots, but you might miss the reach for your sports pics. The right answer is to get both! BTW you might alos look at the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens - it has better bokeh than the Canon version.</p>

<p>For full body portraits I believe either lens would be fine. For waist up or closer portraits, I think the longer focal length (85mm) is preferable. As far as sports in gyms, I would think you would need at least an 85mm lens if not longer. <br>

When you mention "good depth of field" in relation to portraits, I assume you're referring to a shallow depth of field that will make the person stand out from the background... correct? If so, then the 85mm 1.8 would be better than the 50mm 1.4. </p>

 

<p>I shoot a 50D so a crop body. How far will i have to be from the subject in general to get a fullbody?</p>

<p>Sean,<br>

I use the 85 on my XSI. I find it to be pretty long on a crop body. For head and shoulders, maybe waste up, it is wonderful. I haven't used the 50 1.4, but I think it would probably be a better lens for full body portraits.<br>

Have you considered getting the 85 1.8 and the 50 1.8 at the same time. Then, if the 50 1.8 doesn't suit, you can save for the 50 1.4. Many people seem not to like the bokeh of the 50 1.8, while others find it to be just fine. So, you'd have to decide.<br>

I've not shot indoor sports, so I'll not go there. I will say this though, I shot indoor dance a few weeks ago. The 85 was fine for the light level, but was very limiting in the regard that it was not a zoom and I had no room to reposition. Dance is just too fast to try to run around getting distance and angle when a dense crowd is watching. So, the fastest zoom you can afford may be the direction you want to go for indoor sports such as volleyball where the action may be on the near side of the court and then on the far side of the court. The constant change between near and far action makes it tough to shoot with a prime. If the Canon 70-200 2.8 is out of the question, you might look at the Sigma 50-150 or the Tokina 50-135, both are 2.8 and it seems a good number of folks use them for outdoor portraits too. The Nikon pic of the week thread last week has shot taken with the Sigma 50-150 if you want to look through it and see the results.<br>

I hope this helps.<br>

DS Meador</p>

<p>You don't say what camera you are using but I use a 50d now and did a lot of low light indoor high school gym basketball and vollyball photogarphy for the school last year and will this year.<br>

Our gym is very low light and the 28-70mm L lf/2.8 lens produced photos still too dark for my liking so I switched to the two primes: 50mm F/1.4 usm and the 85mm f/1.8 usm and stopped down to F2.<br>

Considering all my shots were taken mostly from the corner of the side line / base line area.<br>

I found the 85mm good for shots that were half body, etc..on my side of the court,....and whole body further away. This lens is very fast and sharp.<br>

I found the 50mm good for shots full body on my side of the court. Also fast and sharp.<br>

All my shots with both of these lenses are at F2 and around 400th second shutter speed at ISO of 800 and 1600 depending.<br>

This has produced the best results in the school gym lighting and from where I shoot.<br>

The 50mm on a crop body (1.6) is 80mm and the 85 on a ff is 85.</p>

<p>I ended up with both. If your talking better? mechanically the 85 wins but both lenses are very good. My 50 1.4 is even sharp at 1.4 if used correctly. The 85 gives me a better background blur but that is more due to focal length. See what FL you use your 28-105 at most and go for that one first. </p>

<p>The two lenses are both excellent and equivalently sharp. Both FLs are often used for portrait shooting on cropped sensor bodies.</p>

<p>The real question, I suppose, is what focal length you want. If you aren't certain, why don't you take your zoom to the environment where you'll use the prime and just try out different FLs to see which is closest to what you need? I think that that getting your own sense of the effect of different FLs is an important thing, and also a better thing than trying to figure out the coverage they provide by asking others.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>I shoot a 50D... How far will i have to be from the subject in general to get a fullbody?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You need to stand 15' away to shoot a 6' standing adult's full body with a 50mm lens on a 50D or other Canon crop-sensor camera. If you check the technical reviews of the 50mm f/1.4 you'll note it's soft at f/1.4, but great at f/2 and up. I use f/2 when I want blur and f/4-11 when that's not necessary.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/photo/9594076 50mm f/1.4 @ f/2</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/photo/9607195 50mm f/1.4 @ f/4</p>

<p>My school has a 50mm I can use for school events, but I still like the depth of field and bokeh of the 85mm</p>