ISO canon point and shoot camera for professional pictures

Stars

Fri, May 08 2020, 5:51 pm

Success10 wrote:

Sorry to hijack the thread, but there seem to be some photography experts here. We have had a canon rebel 3 for a few years and we love the pictures, even indoors they are better than point and shoot, and outdoors the pictures are amazing. It's obviously much bulkier than a point and shoot so we don't always take it on trips. Our lens got knocked and now autofocus doesn't work. IT can still be focused manually, but I'm not good at it. You just have a tiny viewhole to see if it's focued properly, and it never is once I load it to the computer. Plus it takes too much time and the kids have run away by the time the lens is focused. What's a good lens to buy that will fit this camera, can be a slight upgrade from the basic lens that came with the camera. I plan to get on ebay something super affordable.

The canon 50 1.8 but I suggest you get it new. It's about $100

lilies

Fri, May 08 2020, 5:59 pm

Success10 wrote:

Set the focus to back-button focus.
Second vote for 50mm f1.8 for portraits or 24mm f2.8 for wide angle pictures.

CiCi

Fri, May 08 2020, 6:29 pm

Stars wrote:

The canon 50 1.8 but I suggest you get it new. It's about $100

50mm on a crop sensor camera= 75mm focal length. It's very tight for shooting photos indoors. It only works indoors for 3/4 length and a little tighter portraits and very tight candid shots. It's not good for group (family)shots, environmental shots, kids running around, indoor full length portraits (unless you are in a very large space...) It's very limited for traveling. You have no advantage with a 50mm 1.8 except for single subject portraits. For more than one subject f1.8 is too shallow and will often blur the second subject. 17-50 f2.8 is a much better choice for all-around photography. At f2.8 its good in low light too and blurs the background nicely at that aperture as well.

Stars

Fri, May 08 2020, 7:13 pm

CiCi wrote:

You have a point. Kind of. You won't really get any background blur at 17mm or even 30-40 even at 2.8 but for some people zoom lenses are a better choice. I prefer my primes.

Success10

Sat, May 09 2020, 2:50 pm

Wow, so much fancy jargon here. I am humbled. I am a graphic designer and very artsy, but I have no clue how to use my camera properly. I see with the lens I can't get everything, so if I had to prioritize, the key factors I'm looking for is I like taking outdoors portraits of my kids in good lighting, with nice background blur. The camera doesn't have to perform great under fast motion, but that would be the second most important thing to me. Indoors shots are the least important to me, since I think all indoors shots look lousy without professional equipment.

CiCi

Sat, May 09 2020, 10:39 pm

Success10 wrote:

To me this language is not jargon, it's almost my first language 😀so let me know what you don't understand because to me it's plain English.

If you want a lens only for portraits and not for everything else then the cheapest option is the 50mm f1.8 lens . It doesn't pay to buy used. Canon has such a lens for $125.

I dont go for the 50mm lens for portraits, especially outdoors. I think it's much too wide. For outdoor portraits I'd go for an 85mm lens. Canon has an 85mm f1.8 USM lens for $350. This lens is very limiting for everything else, including group photos, but you can get gorgeous portraits with it.

Personally though, I'd never get a portrait only lens if I would only buy 1 lens. I love zooms, it's for everything. With a 17-50 f2.8 lens, zoomed in to 50mm set at f2.8 you get nice blurry backgrounds for portraits, especially if the subject moves 2-3 feet away from the background, then it equals that of a 50mm f1.8 lens thats basically only for portrait use. Indoors you could get better photos as well if the lens is set to f2.8.

If you do want a lens only for outdoor portraits only, I'd go with the 85mm lens.

Outdoors in daylight you shouldn't have a problem stopping fast motion in any case, regardless of the lens.

If you are artsy then learn to use the settings on manual mode. It may be a little confusing in the beginning but it's very easy after you practice a bit. You get the best photos from knowing how to use your camera.

CiCi

Sat, May 09 2020, 10:52 pm

Stars wrote:

You have a point. Kind of. You won't really get any background blur at 17mm or even 30-40 even at 2.8 but for some people zoom lenses are a better choice. I prefer my primes.

I think at 35mm and up you can start getting blurry backgrounds. Certainly at 50mm you could. You can control out focus backgrounds by subject distance to the background, you don't particularly need a larger aperture, especially if the difference is only 1 fstop.

Certainly a 35mm f1.8 prime is really not worth is over a 17-50mm 2.8 zoom. You will barely see a difference in the background.

CiCi

Sun, May 10 2020, 3:41 pm

Success10 wrote:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-EF-S-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-III-Standard-Zoom-Lens/274299354333?hash=item3fdd83fcdd:g:ZygAAOSwZhpeY~5O
Is this compatible with my needs? It's in Jerusalem and so am I.

That's not a good lens...It will make create photos that are more like from a point and shoot camera.

This is better but much more expensive zoom lens
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324160735099

But if you anyway wanted it mostly for portraits then get this. It's a new lens and it's excellent for portraits and much cheaper than the zoom
https://www.ebay.com/itm/111787973679

But to get the most out of your lens you have have your settings right.
1. Set the dial to manual
2. Set the fstop to 2.2 (if you get the 50mm lens)
3. Set the shutter speed to 1/250 or higher
4. Set the ISO to auto

Play around with the shutter speed and ISO to get the best settings for your camera.

Last edited by CiCi on Sun, May 10 2020, 3:53 pm; edited 1 time in total

Success10

Sun, May 10 2020, 3:53 pm

The link I sent you, I actually think it's more or less the same lens that came with the camera, only my lens has image stabilizer. So of the two you sent me, the cheaper option, the 50, how is it an upgrade? Better aperture = better light? Better blur? I do sometimes wish I had better zoom when we're outdoors in the park, but the zoom lenses are huge and we're not professionals, we're a family, we won't be able to keep it safe and sound very long, it will get damaged. Plus, we're cheap.

CiCi

Sun, May 10 2020, 4:14 pm

Success10 wrote:

Yes, it is a kit lens often paired with the Rebel cameras.

If you want a longer zoom then the more expensive option of the zoom lens I sent you the link of is not good option anyway as it goes up to only 50mm which is even shorter than the lens you had till now (if you had the 17-55mm).

You are right about the 50mm lens. The reason it's better than the lens you sent me the link to is because it let's in more light to the sensor. And it blurs out the backdrop nicely at f1.8-2.2 which the lens of the link you sent me doesn't. At f5.6 it doesn't blur the backdrop and it let's in much less light so the photos are not of such good quality (in most instances) and it's not nice for most types of portraits.

If you want a longer zoom then get the second option in my first reply to you. It will not be so good in low light but you will have a nice zoom. Personally I go for longer zooms when shooting portraits. Not only fstops blur the backdrop, but also focal length. If you zoom in to 70mm at f4 you should get nicely blurred portraits. Just leave the zoom at 70mm for all types of portraits and they'll be beautiful. Move away from the backdrop for even blurrier backgrounds. But for indoors f4 is lacking for the sensor that your camera has. You can use external flash but it's another expense and learning curve.
This is for the longer zoom lens. It's the second option in my first post to you
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254591647010

I would never get a smaller aperture than f4 (like f5.6 ).