Best canon zoom lens for studio portrait

[carlwakefield]

<p>I would agree with Scott and Jeff. I would take the 24-70 first as I find you need more often to go wider. You can always move in closer. I think with studio if you have not got a lot or room appeture is not the issue, if you shoot a couple with F8 head and shoulder you will be tight on the DOF getting both head and four eyes sharp. Also if you lights are on bottom power you will will not be able to open up more. If your looking for soft lights you will want the lights in quiet close or you will not have room to move them very far away. The 70-200 is for sure a winner its focal lenghts. I personally have shot the 50mm 1.4 and 24-70 at 50mm and I can not tell the prints appart when I feel all was perfect. I would recommend buying the 5DII and 24-70 in a bundle as only then will really save bucks. But you have to go with your gut feeling. If I only had one lens it would be the 24-70 2.8 L. But I am glad to have more.</p>

[jeffrey_c1]

<p>Raj,</p>

<p>You should rent couple of lenses to see what works best for you if you're not sure which lens to get. It's difficult for people to suggest a focal length of lens based on a studio that they haven't seen. In addition to that, your shooting style will be different that everyone else's. Go with your gut feeling and rent the ones you think you'll need. Test it out for couple of days. If you feel like you need/want it, at least you'll have the security that you bought the right lens.</p>

[philip_wilson]

<p>You really need to think about the dimensions of the room, camera in use and how tightly you want to frame the portrait. In terms of zoom lenses I would suggest the 24-70 f2.8 is you plan to shoot with APS-C bodys as well or you want wider shots or have a very constrained area and shoot full frame. Of the 70-200 zooms I would choose an F2.8 model over the F4. I have both the 70-200 F4 IS and 70-200 f2.8 non IS while I love the F4 lens and use it as my travel / outdoor lens the F2.8 lens is the one I use for portraits and sports. On a full frame body I personally find the 24-70 F2.8 a little bit to wide for most shots. Indeed of the three classic F2.8 zooms that Canon makes (16-35 II, 24-70 and 70-200) I find that I use the standard zoom the least. If you are loking for a lens that does more than portraits and don't need the 70-200 f2.8 (for sports) then the 24-70 f2.8 will be the most versatile.<br>

If you are prepared to consider a prime lens then the 85 F1.2 and 135 f2 are both great lenses although you may find the 135 a bit long for studio use. I have both these lenses in the old FD mount but have not yet bought them in EF (the 85 F1.2 will arrive in the next 6 months). Cheaper but good primes are the 85 f1.8 and the 100 F2 - I own the 85 F1.8 and find it slightly better than the 70-200 f2.8 non IS zoom for portrait use. Similarly I have been quite impressed with my fairly new 100 f2.8 IS Macro as a portrait lens but this is quite an expensive lens.</p>