Best prime lens for 30D

[kate_gardner]

Hi,

I am about to purchase the 30D and would like a good, versatile lens for taking

product shots (glass jars) in a light box. I am considering the EF 85mm f/1.8

or the EF 50mm f/1.4. I have an older 75-300mm and a 28-90mm from my Elan 7

days, but I want something less bulky and will produce a "sharper" image. Any

advice is most appreciated. I've been away from this for a while and have grown

too comfortable with my Power Shot!

Thanks,

Katie

[rogernoel]

Katie, I know you said Prime, and then you mentioned the other two lenses, but I can certainly recommend the Canon 17-55mm 2.8 IS USM. It is a bit spendy, but I have it on a new 30D and I push the ISO up to 800 and no complaints.

[Roger G]

Hi Kate

The lenses you mention both feature wide apertures. Great for portraits and other shots needing shallow depth of field, or for low available light. But aren't you going to be using a small aperture [perhaps f/22] for more depth of field when you do your product shots? And you'll have control of the light, right? Maybe there's no need to look for a wide maximum aperture, and incur the extra expense, size and weight involved.

On the 30D the 85mm will be equivalent to 136mm on your film camera. Seems that might be too long for your needs. How big are the glass jars and how far away will the camera be when you shoot them? Knowing that will enable you to pick the most suitable focal length.

So I think your question comes in 3 parts 1. What maximum aperture do I want? 2. What focal length? and 3. Knowing the answers to 1 and 2, which lens will provide the quality I need?

[steven_moseley1]

Hi,

 

If you are taking product shots, I strongly advise you consider a proper macro lens and before you buy any lens you also consider the working distance of the lenses amd the space available to you around the set up, just in case you do not have too much room to move backwards if you choose a lens that has too long a focal length.

 

I use a Pentax DSLR on a daylight studio set up with product shots. I do not have too much room to work with, so had to choose a 50mm lens, as an 85 or longer would have pushed me far too far away from the table top. I ended up with a Sigma 50mm DX macro which has been SUPERB.

 

A macro will let you move in close and give you a flat field.

 

cheers Steve.

[lancemcvay]

Seems like you wouldn't necessarily need the speed of either of those lenses for product shooting, and you would probably be stopped down for depth of field maximization anyway, no?

 

I would look at one of the macro lenses, either the 100mm f/2.8 or possibly the shorter 60mm EF-S model.

[Roger G]

As Roger suggests, a zoom might be your best bet.

[wgpinc]

Kate I like 3 lenses for the type of thing you are talking about; 50mm Macro, 35mm 2.0 and the fantastic 24-105mm L zoom. Good luck.

[steve_dunn2]

<p>The two lenses you cite are both very good lenses, capable of taking very sharp photos in general usage. But I agree with those who suggest that you might be better off looking at a macro lens.</p>

 

<p>Most general-purpose lenses are designed to be at their best at whatever a normal subject distance would be. That's typically going to be somewhere in the range from a couple of metres to infinity. As you focus on closer and closer objects, they tend to suffer more and more from aberrations such as coma. The result is that they're less sharp at close distances.</p>

 

<p>Macro lenses are optimized for use as, well, macro lenses. They're always designed to be sharp at close focusing distances, and usually utilize features like floating elements to enable them to do a good job over their entire range. So even if you're not going to be using the lens at its closest distance to take 1:1 images, chances are you're going to be using it at fairly close distances, distances at which a macro lens is going to produce sharper images than even a high-quality general-purpose lens like the 50 or 85.</p>

 

<p>You currently have lenses covering 28-300, and the right focal length for your product shots will be somewhere in that range, so set up a little test: try to duplicate the shooting environment and see what focal length you end up using. Divide by 1.6 (to take into account the crop factor on the 30D) and that will tell you an appropriate focal length. Look for a macro lens at about that focal length. Speed doesn't matter; as others have said, you'll be stopping down to get more DOF anyway, and since you mentioned a light box, you'll have plenty of light available.</p>

 

<p>Don't be fooled by zoom lenses that say "macro" on them (as I think at least one, and possibly both, of your existing ones do). They're not really macro lenses, and in particular will definitely be less sharp than a true macro lens at close focusing distances.</p>

[gdanmitchell]

Regarding stopping down for DOF, you aren't likely to stop down much beyond f/8 on a

crop sensor camera. Beyond that defraction issues reduce your maximum sharpness to a

noticeable level. Basically you end up trading away maximum focal plane sharpness for

greater DOF but an overall less sharp focus.

 

If you need great DOF on your crop sensor camera for work like this you have a couple

choices. One is to use a tilt/shift lens if that solves your particular DOF issue (it solves

some, but not all), or you could use a software solution (is it called Helicon Focus?) that

combines frames focused at different points.

 

Apart from the DOF issue, I would think that either of those two lenses could do the trick

in regards to basic sharpness. A prime could work well here since you are more likely to

be able to move the camera or the subject to adjust framing with product shots. (Hard to

do that sometimes if you are shooting, for example, landscapes.)

[dan_roche]

For product shots, the 100 2.8 Macro or a 50 1.4 would probably be your best bet. Both are sharp and relatively inexpensive. The 35 1.4L would be another option. It's a great lens, but it costs over $1100.

[casey mcallister]

Katie:

 

Get the 50mm Macro. It'll give you razor sharp high depth of field product shots. The optics perform better at f8-f16 than the other lenses in this group.

 

I own the 50 1.4 and need it for the available light abilities.

 

I've read that the infinity focus of the macro is also much better than the 50 1.4

 

I have the 85 1.8 and do not endorse it for product photography...its optimzed to shoot from f2.8-f8

 

You may also want to consider the Tamron 28-78. This lens would also be ideal for what you want to do, and generally it's a gem all purpose 'walk around' lens!

 

Casey

[robert lee]

The 85mm f1.8 is a favorite of mine. However, it has a rather long minimum focusing distance. You may not be able to get close enough to the glass jars.

[crelight]

If you want "the best" prime for 30D, get 35mm f/1.4 L. :-)

 

The 28-90 that you own is probably one of the worst Canon lens ever. Thus if your goal is to get better image quality, pretty much ANY prime lens will do nicely.

 

From the practical side, I suggest 85mm f/1.8 and some wider prime, like 28mm.

[kate_gardner]

Thank you all so so much for this advice. I cannot believe it came free! I am printing these responses to review them more carefully.

I will have very limited space to work with (less than a 4 ft (approx 1 meter) distance from my product). I should have known the 85mm would require me to be too far back. See, I have a lot to relearn! I must confess that part of my interest in the 85mm was for personal use. I have a new baby and would love a good portrait lens as well. Thank you all, again.

[kate_gardner]

To those of you who recommend the 50mm Macro, are you referring to the f/2.5? There are a couple out there and I wan to be sure I'm looking at the right one. THANKS.

[steven_moseley1]

Hi,

 

Kate..with that limited space, as I mentioned you are limited to a 50mm or a 60mm macro lens. Any from the EOS range or the Sigma range will give you super results..just pick whichever suits your budget and you feel happy with.

 

cheers Steve.

[casey mcallister]

Yes it is the f2.5

 

It costs $240 @ Adorama

[t_n1]

Yes the 50mm f2.5 is excellent.

[james_sawle]

I have the entire Macro range from Canon, and a few extras from other manufacturers as well, personally I hate the 50mm Macro, it is my most un-used lenes, as opposed to my 100mm Macro which is one of my most used lenses, to get the best out of the 50mm you will need to really add a Life Size Adapter, but then this might make it useless for your needs, and as a quick mention, the Life size adapter is not just for the 50mm lens as Canon State, I use it with most of my other lens for some cracking stuff, especially works well with the 100-400 L IS Lens, but I degress a bit.

 

Look into the 100mm Macro, pop to your local Camera store and ask them to fit it onto a camera and have a play for an hour, if you have a good shop, they will not mind, if the do, never shop there again, I use my local Jessops, and although they are slightly dear, they are VERY helpful, and will always let you play for a while to make sure that what you see is right for you.

[steve_dunn2]

<p>To get 1:1 reproduction from Canon's 50mm f/2.5 macro, you will need to add the life-size adapter. The lens itself only does ½ life-size. But maybe you don't need to go beyond ½ life-size; given the (roughly) 22x15 mm dimensions of your 30D's sensor, the 50/2.5 on its own will fill the frame with an object that's 44x30 mm or larger. Is that good enough? If so, the lens on its own will do the job.</p>

 

<p>That is, if 50mm is the right focal length for your application. There are high-quality macro lenses available at a variety of focal lengths, and if you're working in a confined space with a subject whose size you can't control, the combination of the subject's size and the range of distances available for shooting it will determine what focal lengths you can use - which is why I suggested trying a mock-up first.</p>

[frolickingbits]

I absolutely love my 100mm macro, and have used it for product shots of just about everything imaginable-pottery, jewelry, figurines, pewter, everything from well over a foot tall down to tiny details. I hardly ever use it for general use, though, as I tend to go for the wider end, and the 100mm is very telephoto. With your limited space, though, it may not work out-I shoot in a large warehouse space with about 300 feet to back up :)

 

One advantage of the longer lens-you can position yourself so you don't see your reflection in the glass jars, which is a problem if you're shooting way up close to the pieces.<div></div>

[steven_moseley1]

Hi,

 

I was wondering whether those posters recommending the 100mm macro lenses had actually read and digested Kates problem? she has very limited working space! the 100mm may be fine for you..but not Kate? she is also going to use the lens on a 30D, so the 100mm suddenly becomes a 150mm equivalent..so you need plenty of space..

 

Posting is fine, but reading and actually understanding the OP's problems helps too..

 

cheers Steve.

[dves]

50mm 1.8 at f8 is pretty sharp and cheap as chips

[kate_gardner]

Hi again,

This is all good stuff. It is really forcing me to think a lot. The new recommendations about the 100mm are interesting. How far back would I have to be? The magnifying effect is something I must try out before I'll really understand it. Out of curiosity, does the Life-size adapter I would need to use on the 50mm downgrade the image quality? Would I be better off reconstructing my "studio" so I have the option of stepping back and using the 100mm? I think my plan is to purchase the 30D today, and then use it with my old crummy lenses for a while to get a feel for distance, etc. I hope I can find a nice shop that will let me try out the 50 & 100. Thanks, guys.

[robert lee]

"...purchase the 30D today, and then use it with my old crummy lenses..."

 

Oh, I think this would be a mistake.

 

The attributes that may make the 30D a superior field camera (higher frame rate, extended shutter life, and perhaps more convenient form factor) don't mean much in the studio. The higher sensor resolution of the XTi is in fact a decided, albeit marginal, advantage.

 

The price difference between the XTi and 30D is about $500. This sum is better spent on optics, lighting, stands, software, and even perhaps something as simple as a remote release if you haven't one. You might consider the older XT as well if the further price reduction is significant enough.

 

One more thing, Kate. If you're shooting purely for web publication then you've much more freedom to crop. The resolution requirements are so low that you can discard large parts of the captured scene and still have excellent images for the web page. I suggest trying things out with the lenses you have first; purchase expensive stuff incrementally, when you really know why you need them.