Best prime for group shots with APS bodies?

[steve_hovland]

I'm seeing interesting test results on Photozone.de, but I'm looking for some real-world feedback on:

 

Focal length for larger groups of 20 people or more.

 

Good edge sharpness.

 

Low Chromatic Aberration.

[Matt Laur]

All depends on how much room you have to work. Once you get much wider than 25 or 30mm, the people on the

outside of the group will not love you when they go to look at the proofs. On an APS-C sensor (say, the "1.5x" crop

found on a Nikon DX body), a 30mm lens will let you comfortably frame a 15-foot-wide group of people from about 20

feet away. You can fit a lot of people into a 15-foot-wide formation, and that distance from them is reasonable in most

social gathering places. And that 30mm lens will give you a nice, flat, undistorted shot, and won't make the folks on

the wings of the formation look like gargoyles.

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If you have to work closer than that, then you have to quickly get wider. One of the popular wide zooms starts to

make more sense than primes at that point. Tokina's 11-16, Sigma's 10-20, Nikon's 12-24, etc. Those are very

versatile tools to have in your bag of tricks anway. But then, a 17-55/2.8 would tackle almost any typical people-

grouping situation like that, and save you some lens juggling. If you're really in a prime mood, I love the Sigma 30/1.4

for that sort of thing - makes for a very nice, bright viewfinder in indoor settings - and it's proven to be great on CA,

distortion, and edge sharpness (unless you're using it wide open, which you're not going to be doing on groups of 20

people).

[jmichaelc]

Steve, i don't think there can ever be a single answer to these type of questions. Lens selections are often made and dependent on realitive-to-subject distance that you have to work with. For instance, if i have a lot of distance between me and my subjects, i love to shoot compressed telephoto shots for large groups. If i have very little distance between me and my subjects, then i'm forced to go wide. It's not uncommon for me to shoot my groupings at the 150-200mm range. As much as i love my primes, and i've got a ton of them, i much prefer the dynamics of a good zoom for formals. Which is why i typically do them with either a 24-70 or 70-200. If however, i choose to do them with primes, i'm fully equipped. I have a Sig 20mmF1.8, Sig 30mmF1.4, Can 50mmF1.4, Can 100mmF2 and a Can 200mmF2.8. All of these are top notch lenses but none of these are a do-it-all prime...absolutly impossible IMO. If i had to say which one would be the most versitile on a 1.6 body....i would probably say the 20 or 30.

[pulpmojo]

Unless you're trying to go for some sort of creative look or effect, the longer you can go the better. So only go as wide as you have to based on the room that you have available.

[picturesque]

Whatever decent prime will give you about a 35mm focal length (non cropped sensor). Since groups are normally shot with medium apertures, most any decent lens will work. Avoiding really wide focal lengths automatically means better edge sharpness (not to mention distortion). Anyway, don't put people on the edges for that reason, as well as preserving an 8x10 proportion.

[Ed_Ingold]

Use the longest lens which will encompass the group at a comfortable working distance. For a large group (20-30 people or more) this will generally be a "normal" lens or a medium wide-angle (appropriate for the camera format). Working too close will result in egg-shaped heads at the sides and corners of the frame. You will also need serious flash power and tall stands. The further you work, the more light you will need to cover the subject. Little shoe-poppers aren't going to be enough, and any light that close to the lens will make red-eye an increasing problem the further you get.

[arie_vandervelden1]

You're probably looking for a 20 mm or 24 mm lens. 20 mm full-frame primes are expensive, 24 mm less so.

 

Rather than a wideangle FF prime on a crop body, may I suggest a 17-55/2.8 type APSC standard zoom (e.g. Nikon, Canon, Tamron). f/2.8 zooms offer plenty of aperture - you don't want thin dof when shooting groups. Zooms are more flexible and allow you to increase focal length when you have more working space.

 

My Tamron 17-50/2.8 is tack sharp at 24 mm f/4 and up. At this setting there's no detectable c/a, pretty much no distortion. This lens easily beats my Canon 20/2.8 prime in terms of sharpness and c/a, even vignetting. The Tamron flares much, much less than the Canon prime.

[wedding-photography-denver]

Steve,

 

I have been using the Tokina 16-50 for this lately. I have the NIkon flavor but its bulky and not as pretty in the color dept. IMO. The Tokina as an ethereal quality to the OOF areas and a sort of softening effect on skin. Love it.

 

The Tamron is also good.

 

If I could have the optics of the Tokina with AF-S, I would.

[wedding-photography-denver]

BTW, I generally don't go past about 20mm (30mm in FF terms).

 

I love the Sigma 50/1.4 on the D300's for a crop couples portrait lens too.

[steve_hovland]

Arie- the Tamron tests well:

 

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/289-tamron-af-17-50mm-f28-sp-xr-di-ii-ld-aspherical-if-canon-test-report--review?start=1

 

I've had several Tamron SP lenses and they are usually very good.

[steve_c.5]

I use the Sigma 30mm f1.4 for many singles or couples portraits, or small groups, and the Sigma 20mm f1.8 for larger groups in churches. My camera has an APS-C sensor. I also use a Sigma 10-20 superwide zoom for lots of things too, but it's not quite as sharp as the primes, and at 10mm the distortion on the sides becomes very evident, so you have to use it carefully.

[photom]

Mr. Ingold said: ..."The further you work, the more light you will need to cover the subject. Little shoe-poppers aren't going to be enough, and any light that close to the lens will make red-eye an increasing problem the further you get."

 

I would just suggest getting the flash off the camera and on a stand so the camera distance is not relevant.

[lightsmith1]

The best LENS for group photography with an APS-C body is the 17-55mm f2.8. With an APS-H body it is the 16-35mm f2.8 lens. I often found myself needing 17mm to photograph a large group on the alter area when the distances were tight. An option in theory is to shoot everyone from the waist up but that crops out the children - ring bearer, flower girls, etc.

 

With the Canon 16-35mm it is very hard to find a good copy. I got lucky but I know a photographer who sent back the first 3 copies due to terrible problems with edge to edge sharpness and with the 4th copy had to send it to Canon for servicing to get it aligned properly. With the Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 I have had great success at all apertures and focal lengths.