Lens for pet and kid photography?

[jennifer_marroquin]

I own a Canon 10D and looking to replace the lens that the camera

came with, 28-85mm. I have been looking at the Canon 28-135 IS USM

lens. The reason why I am looking at this one is because I don't

have the steadest hands, so the IS seems like it would be helpful.

I will be photographing mainly my pets and my baby.

 

I have been told that the lens that came with my camera is basically

not good, I believe someone called it consumer quality. But the 28-

135 lens I am looking at is considered consumer quality also. So,

my concern is I would be spending $400 on a lens that would not give

me a better quality photo. I know that the 28-135 has more mm and

IS, which my other one does not. I could save up and buy an L lens,

but it doesn't have the IS feature which I think would come in

handy. So far, I have read mixed reviews on the 28-135.

 

So, my question is, do you think it would be worth it to wait for

the L lens and sacrifice the IS, or go for the 28-135? Does anyone

have any recommendations on maybe another lens that might be what I

am looking for? Also, would a teleconverter on the 28-135 make the

image quality poor?

 

 

Thanks :)

Jennifer

[ribook]

Hi, Jennifer. I've never used a 28-85 so cannot comment on it. But I do own and have used the 28-135, and it is a very good lens. Both of the lenses you mention may be considered consumer lenses, but I think the 28-135 is generally considered to be among the best of the consumer lenses (a bit better than the 28-105, for example, which you might consider as well). IS is a nice feature, but only comes in handy if you are shooting in situations where there isn't enough light for a shutter speed fast enough to allow you to hand hold the camera without some blurring of the image due to camera shake. Generally, anything slower than 1/100 would be considered risky, but you can usually go two settings slower than that with IS. If this isn't the kind of feature you're likely to take advantage of, then IS isn't going to be of much use to you, and you will pay extra for it. Another lens to consider is the 50mm f/1.8. It's very inexpensive (maybe $70) and quite fast (large aperture) and sharp. It is another of the very highly regarded "consumer" lenses, and usually cited as the very best lens deal around. It might be a good idea for you to pick up this lens, take pictures with it and see if you notice a difference between the quality of these and the quality of those you've taken with your 28-85. That will be an inexpensive and easy way to determine whether it will be worth it for you to "upgrade" further. </p>

 

Just some thoughts for you to add to the mix. Good luck.</p>

 

Russ

[paul_batalla]

For kids and pets i feel that the ef 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens would be perfect for you. It is without a doubt the highest quality zoom on the market, has a wide aperature which allows you to shoot fast shutter speeds which is perfect for kids and pets, and has IS just like you want. Also being a new user of the lens and taking some outdoor and indoor child portraits you will love how the wide aperature throws the background out of focus (also known as bokeh - the quality of the out of focus part of an image) the backgrounds come out buttery smooth and the object in focus comes out razor sharp. WELL WELL WELL and let me say WELL once more worth the investment. It's a lens i'm sure will last my lifetime. BTW, it's a heavy lens but i find that it is just the perfect weight to help me balance it well. Who cares though it has IS. Definitive answer, splurge and get the 70-200 f/2.8L IS

[jenny_mckee]

Two options. They are so different in price that you shouldn't have any problems deciding which one works for you.

 

Option #1: 70-200/2.8L IS (Paul's suggestion)

 

Option #2: 50mm/1.4 (or even 1.8 if budget is tight). Shoot between f/2 and f/2.8. Take 3-4 pics at a time in continuous mode and hope that one of them will get the focus right.

 

This is two stops faster than consumer zooms, which is effectively the benefit of IS.

 

More importantly, young kids (at least my 18 month old) never stay in one place for more than a couple of seconds. You really need a fast lens to catch a sharp pic of a young bundle of energy before he/she takes off in a random direction. IS won't help with this. Same story with my cats - you can't convince them to look at the camera for more than a couple of seconds.

 

Also it sounds like you are planning to take indoor pics. I generally don't miss zoom indoors since it's effectively equivalent to just a few steps of walking with a 50mm.

 

You will find either lens to be sharper that your current lens or 28-135 IS though the difference may not be noticeable.

[ribook]

Paul,</p>You failed to mention the $1000 price difference between the 28-135 and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS. And I failed to process Jennifer's comment about shaky hands. The IS definitely would be of help to you. And Paul's absolutely right about the quality of the 70-200. But that's an incredibly large leap from what you're working with right now, and the kind of thing you might want to work up to gradually. --Russ

[casey mcallister]

Don't get the 28-135. The IS is an older version that only gives you one extra stop, and the optics in my sample are softer than I expected. The lense is aweful when shot stopped all the way down.

 

The EF-S 17-85 sounds more like your lense, but will not fit on your 10D. (I own one, and for a slow f-stop zoom it does very well!) The new Rebel is better than your 10D. New kit via trade in/up?

 

The best portrait lense for dog/cat photos is the 85f1.8 on a 10D. It will also do great head and shoulder shots of jr.

 

I also use the 70-200 f2.8L IS which is a PHENOMINAL portrait lense, but VERY heavy, large, and $$$$.

 

For kids you'll want a zoom. A EF 24-70L f2.8, Tamron 28-75 f2.8, Sigma 17-50 f2.8 are favourites these days.

 

So there are all kinds of options...and no real one size fits all.

[tommyinca]

Also don't forget the 70-200/2.8L is 3.5 lbs. That is not much less than 6 lbs when attached to a 10D. You can't run after kids and pets for too long with it. The 28-135IS IMHO is a good all purpose indoor/outdoor kids/pet lens.

 

Here is a sample taken at 38mm f4 1/10 sec. The IS works.<div></div>

[tommyinca]

Here is 100% pixel crop of eye area<div></div>

[eos 10 fan]

I'm a zoom junkie, but kids and pets are fast moving - so I would think that fast AF is the most important factor. IS is nice, but not so useful for moving subjects.

 

I would suggest you try shooting your zoom at 85mm only for a week or two and if that works for you, then invest in an 85mm f/1.8 USM. If you find 85mm is to long, then repeat at 50mm.

 

The advantage of using one of these fast primes is that your shutter speeds will go up making your less than steady hands less of an issue (good technique should help here too).

 

--

[lotsawa]

Tommy, I think Jennifer is talking about *living* creatures ;-) They tend to *move* a lot ...

 

Jennifer, are you comfortable with the zoom range of your present lens? That should be one of your main concerns. For me 28mm is sometimes not wide enough, but that may differ for you.

 

I don't think image quality of the 28-135 is a problem. The only thing is that IS doesn't help to freeze motion of your subject. In that case a fast lens might be better. Instead of the heavy and expensive 70-200/2.8 IS you might be better off with a fast prime like the 50/1.x or 85/1.8. Those are beautiful lenses and they are light and small - but lack the versatility of a zoom.

 

Maybe you get the combination of the 28-135 plus the 50/1.8? I wouldn't be satisfied with the 28-85, from all what I read the 28-135 is much better (I had a 28-105/3.5-4.5, which gives very good image quality for a zoom, and the 28-135 is said to be even a little bit better). But I wouldn't be satisfied with a zoom alone, so I would definitely add the 50/1.8. A fast prime is quite a different experience, I like the low light shots and portraits with shallow depth of field a lot!

 

BTW I think a teleconverter wouldn't work well with the 28-135. The Canon made ones wouldn't even fit mechanically, so you would have to get another brand, but in any case image quality would deteriorate a lot. Teleconverters are mainly made for telephoto lenses (mainly primes).

[michael_sydenham1]

I second the 50mm suggestion - due to the crop factor this will give you 80mm equivalent shooting (good for portraits). I also have the 70-200mm/F4L however I personally find the 70mm range is not wide enough when you are close to your baby (especially indoors). That range is better when you are outdoors and further away. For babies this is usually not practical (since you & baby feel more secure when closer), so I'd suggest a 50mm overall - in fact this is the lens I use mostly for baby/kids. You may find this combination is easier to hold steady instead of the 70-200/2.8IS (which is a big lens).

 

Regarding the 70-200mm - if you are interested in this range, I recommend you consider the much lighter F4 version - it is a great lens and optically similar to the 2.8 version.

 

Regards

 

Michael.

[mike kelly]

I own a 10D and find the most useful lens for photgraphing my kids is the 50mm f1.8. It's

great to be able to take photos indoors without flash in pretty much all light conditions.

The 70-200 f2.8 IS is REALLY big and heavy and I think would be more of a hindrance for

catching fast moving kids

 

The other lens I use is the 70-200 f4L which is much more manageable than the 2.8 IS and

produces some really nice results if you have the light. (There are examples of kid shots

with the 50 f1.8 and the 70-200 f4L on my photos page).

[pto189]

Canon 50mm 1.4 and 70-200mm 4L.

[beauh44]

Hi Jennifer, I have a 28-135mm IS lens but rarely use it anymore. It's an OK lens but not as sharp as I like. I have a new addition at my house, a two-month old white manx cat, so I've been taking quite a few pictures of her. In my humble, I think you'd be better off with a 50mm lens - I suspect the inexpensive 50mm f/1.8 would do nicely because it's sharp and fast for available light shots. When I don't want to interrupt the action of my three cats playing with each other, I'll use my 70-200 f/2.8L IS. It too is pretty fast and has the Image Stabilization - but it's not cheap. I'll include a shot taken with my 50mm f/2.5 compact macro and a shot taken with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS zoom. These two are the ones I use most - although you can get interesting shots with a wide-angle too. Good luck!<div></div>

[beauh44]

Hmmm... gotta click on the link. Oh well . . . here's another!<div></div>

[beauh44]

Aww Heck, here's one more taken with a rarely-used Sigma f/1.8 20mm lens with a relatively wide-angle perspective. Incidentally, it's true that the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS is a heavy lens, but IMHO the shots I get from it are worth lugging it around. I love that lens!<div></div>

[J.W. Wall]

I (and, reportedly, others) consistently get at least two "extra stops" with the IS on the Canon 28-135mm. Of course, it isn't an L lens, but you get what you pay for and it delivers quite a bit for the buck. For what you want - pets, kids - even with shaky hands (like mine too), the 50mm f/1.8 (which I have) is very sharp, the extra stops let you increase shutter speed, and there's less worry if it gets broken as it is a $70 replacement (vs. at least 20 times that for the zoom 70-200 f/2.8). If you're going to make large prints, or are concerned about flare or other issues, you may want the extra quality and pay the price.... As always, YMMV. HTH.

[eric merrill]

Jennifer:

 

Can you post a few examples of your best pictures that you're getting with your current lens? What exactly about the picture quality makes you unhappy?

 

I wouldn't recommend either the the 28-135 or the 28-85 for indoor photography of pets and your baby. They're both really slow. I think you'd be better off with the 35/2 and/or 50/1.8, depending on your preferred focal length.

[gerry_szarek]

For indoors close up, a 17-40F4, outdoors doing sports at a reasonable distance either the 70-200F4 or 100-400. No matter what you used expect a lot of bad pictures (about 1 in 100 for nice shots that I would actually frame).

 

The parent of a 5 and 6 year olds.

[glen_evans1]

The six-foot minimum focus on the 70-200 will drive you crazy with kids and pets. You need to get a lens that works well with servo focus. Large aperture and sharp/contrast will help. IS will not help unless you have duct tape and superglue for the kids. Probably, your best bet will be the 85mm f1.8 especially since the crop factor of the 10D will give you nice tight head shots when you want them. G.E.

[kenghor]

No one lens fits all.... but these are some of the good lenses to have:

 

Tamron 28-75mm<div></div>

[kenghor]

17-40 is also a great lens at affordable value.<div></div>

[kenghor]

50mm f1.4 or 85mm f1.8 for fast speed and excellent bokeh!<div></div>

[jim_larson1]

Geez. I wonder what it takes (on this forum) to NOT get a 70-200/2.8L-IS recommendation.

 

I think *everyone* is missing the mark. What is the problem here? Shakey hands? What is causing that.. .shutter speed too slow? ISO set too low?

 

Are you shooting ISO 400 and are the shutter speeds under 1/60th? If that is the case. . then the basic problem is *NOT ENOUGH LIGHT*.

 

****I think you want a 420EX flash unit ($170). That will allow you to shoot 1/90th - or higher****

 

The 28-135/IS is nice. . .but this lens is basically like the 24-85 with a $200 adder for the IS gizmo. Yes, IS is nice. . .but if you are shooting a moving object at 1/20th. . you shall be disappointed because the SUBJECT MOVES.

 

As for "L" lenses. . .forget about it unless you are looking for better photo quality. And there are no mid-range zoom IS "L" lenses. Yes, there is the 24-70/2.8L, but going FAST affects DOF, which has it's own issues.

[doug_garrett]

I vote for the duct tape and super glue. Other than that, if you are looking for a long term investment, once I got used to an L series, my 28-135 IS is gathering dust.