I am getting a Rebel xti but I hear the lens it comes with is no good for portraits. What is a good one?

Question

I want to mainly do Portrait photography. Since I am a beginner and new to digital I can't see paying a fortune which of course I couldn't afford if I wanted to. But what can give me good results without me losing an arm (or leg) :) Just basic portrait photography for the small town I live in?

Answer 1

For portrait the longer the focal length the better. The best lenses for portrait are those with focal a length of 75mm or more (the more the better).

The XTi kit comes with a “EF-S 18-55mm” lens, (this lens was custom made for digital cameras and is equivalent to a 28-90mm zoom on a non digital Canon camera) is not the best lens but it gives its best image quality if used at f/8 or f/11, you got to do some tests and see if it work fot you.

At this page you can see some test and reviews done to that lens: http://photo.net/equipment/canon/efs18-55/review/

If you want something better and affordable try the “EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM”; at 135m close-up portraits are just incredible.

Answer 2

Regardless remember that the best investment you can make in your photography is in lenses. The quality of an image is dependent upon the quality of the lens first... then the Camera.

Another thing, if you buy a lens by a Canon lens... don't ever buy an off brand than what you are shooting. The Rebel xti is a great camera I understand.

At 105mm digital on the Rebel would be 168mm in 35mm terms, and should be long enough to take a portrait.

Consider this as well... a picture you take with the cheap lens at 55mm max at 8+ MP can be cropped easily for an 8x10 portrait with out a lose in quality. Just make sure to save the original images as Tiff or Raw not Jpg.

Good Luck...

beaux

Answer 3

The lens that comes with the Canon Digital Rebel XTI is a basic lens. It's not going to thrill any high-end photographer, but if you're an enthusiastic amateur, it takes nice photos.

However, an inexpensive lens to add to your equipment list is Canon's EF 50mm F 1.8 lens. The wide maximum aperture of F 1.8 gives you a great range of aperture options which gives you the ability to really throw the background out of focus (ie: shallow depth of field) which helps your subject really pop in the photo.

Here's a link to the item on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-8-Camera-Lens/dp/B00007E7JU/sr=1-3/qid=1169440781/ref=sr_1_3/104-0521681-1244733?ie=UTF8&s=photo

I purchased this lens myself and I love the results I've gotten with it. It's similar to the standard fixed focal length 55mm lens many film cameras come with, such as the old Pentax K1000 which is a staple camera for many beginner photography students.

Mood is everything in a photograph, but even more so for a portrait. So, the ability to throw the background really out of focus and have your subject be what the viewer is automatically drawn to makes the shot much more powerful.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Best focal length is 75mm to 135mm.

Personally, I think 105mm is perfect.

You can get a cheap one in the 75-135mm range. But you could alos use the lens it came with even though the focal length is probably on the low side.

If you are after quality but are concern about price, get the legendary 105mm Nikon lens and an adaptor for your camera. It is now quite cheap second hand. You will be amazed at the results. BUT you will have to operate the camera in full manual mode.

I hope that helps.

Answer 5

I have a canon digitial xt rebel and use my 28-105 lens - portraiture works great with it. If you want to go into the photo biz, its gonna cost some $-just the way it is. you might look into a 75-200 zoom to cover your bases.

i've heard the packaged lens is crap too, so buy a better one.


sorry, but thats the truth.