Canon Lens advice.

[beanbandit]

My sister is after a new lens for her Canon 450D. Main use is for portraits and taking pictures of her daughter. She's had a look around and has seen the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens. Question is, is this going to be what she wants, or does anyone else have any other suggestions. Max price is about £300.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

i got this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EF-50m...5166933&sr=8-1

much cheaper then the one above and does an amazing job.

[this_is_gav]

Agree with the above. The Nifty Fifty (50mm f1.8) is one of the most popular lenses, both for Canon and the Nikon equivalent. Absolute bargains.

They're not quite up there with the f1.4 you've spied, but then there certainly isn't £200 difference in quality!

If you'd prefer a bit more of a candid-like approach of not having a camera in the face of the subject, then the 85mm f1.8 is a strong portrait lens too (just over budget at £313) - have a look at the user reviews on WHE. I'm considering the Nikon one myself.

[Bobster]

85 1.8

[beanbandit]

Thanks for the advice, i'll pass this on to her and let her decide what she wants to do.

[IBM]

85 1.8

+1 (x10000000000)

Awesome lens. Best portrait lens in the world for under £300.

But, if you really don't want to spend the cash, the 50mm (plastic fantastic) is incredible value for money. Everyone should have one since they're that good, and that cheap.

[Clunk]

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/prod...px?sku=1007430

Great for all kinds of stuff, razor sharp, great image quality and available for around £100 less than the price in that link if you shop around.

[Rebel]

Dont rule out the Canon f:2.8 100mm Macro which whilst its more expensive will do two jobs for the price of one lens OR maybe save a little more and go for the f:4 70 - 200L

Finaly to throw a joker in the pack consider the Tamron f:2.8 28 - 75 its optical quality is right up their with Canon L glass at a fraction of the price, whilst it hasn't got the build quality of Canon "L" lenses it doesn't have the price tags either.

[kitschiguy]

The 50mm prime is a 'standard' lens - close to what the human eye sees, although with the crop factor of a DSLR it's more like 80mm so it's perfect for portraits, but it's generally good for all kinds of photography.

The 85mm is more of a portrait lense. I would go for the f1.8 version over the f1.4 version, it's much cheaper and for someone who just wants to take pics of kids and stuff I think it's a better choice when you weigh up cost over usage etc.