Is Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro good for family portraits ( one behind the other)? Hi there, I am a newbie to photography, but interested in taking portraits. I was wondering about the sharpness of this lens and the image quality when taking family photos - say parents standing 6-12 inches behind the kids. Will the sharpness of all be retained instead of one set blurring out at the same time maining a good bokeh of teh background. Please advice. If this is not the right one, what are the alternatives. I am looking for something within the $700 range. Thanks! Is Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro good for family portraits ( one behind the other)? Hi there, I am a newbie to photography, but interested in taking portraits. I was wondering about the sharpness of... » Read More Is Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro good for family portraits ( one behind the other)? Hi there, I am a newbie to photography, but interested in taking portraits. I was wondering about the sharpness of this lens and the image quality when taking family photos - say parents standing 6-12 inches behind the kids. Will the sharpness of all be retained instead of one set blurring out at the same time maining a good bokeh of teh background. Please advice. If this is not the right one, what are the alternatives. I am looking for something within the $700 range. Thanks! « Show Less
142426
at f2.8 it will be tough, since the DOF is pretty shallow, but you don't want to shoot portraits that wide open as they tend to be soft wide open on most lenses. if you want nice bokeh just increase the distance of your background behind your subject, while closing down the lens a few stops. but this lens should take sharp photos.
1477491
Actually I find out the the much cheaper Canon 55-250mm IS lens which is on sale today for 144 bucks does a superb job of taking portraits as well. You can set it to 100mm to get equivalent of this lens (of course you can't go down to f2.8 but for your situation you don't want to) also you get an excellent telephoto lens - just not a MACRO lens but again that's not what you're looking for. I would save my 300 bucks and get that lens instead - I can tell you as i have both these lenses.
354492
I personally love this lens. But then, I am not trying to photograph bugs with it. My photos are perfect and have caught some great photos of hummingbirds I was shooting recently. I have a Canon T3. It does Macro.
419326
I wouldn't think so at all. It's a great, versatile lens. Not sure how it could be "too sharp"... You would normally want the eyes in any portrait to be "tack sharp." With the f2.8 aperture, you're gonna get good "bokeh" in your background to soften it all up. As with any picture-taking, being mindful of your light and backgrounds will get you a great picture.
427330
A 85mm F1.4 if is for full frame cameras in my personal opinion would be a great great lens to use for portraits. Expect to heve more head-shoulders type of portraits inside buildings due to 85mm and not being able to be far enough from the person you are taking the photo to capture more of the body but it should be more than enough.
855771
The lens you have would be perfect for the family portrait. I use my 35mm for most of my work.
204307
85mm f/1.8 EF USM is a good choice for portraiture and standard photography, especially if you're shoot'n low light conditions using natural light with the wider aperture. 60mm macro would be fun..May I suggest the Canon EFS 17-85mm f/3-5.5 USM Ultra wide...it has a wide focal range, still wide aperture and GREAT for all photography ($750)...my Canon is always wearing it until I put on a larger 90-300mm lens :)
607808
This is not a lens for the purpose you ask about. On your camera it would be equal to a 200 mm lens which is not useful for group photos. I'd stick with your 18-55 mm lens for family photos
1763823
This is a good quality lens for the price, but what you have to take into consideration is the distance you are shooting. To get true 1:1 you need to get very close with this lens (Use a filter to not mark the lens, yes that close.). For the flowers it will probably work great, but if you want to do the eyes of an insect it might not be the best choice look at a 105 or a 150 macro. Still I really like it both as a "normal" lens and as a macro for flowers.
1927314
I use two lenses for most of my work although I do have a number of other lenses for special tasks such as macro. for most of my landscapes I use a Sigma 18-250 macro lens. It's very versatile and give me photos with little chromatic aberrations. It's fairly fast at F3.5 and the nice thing is I can keep it on the camera 75% of the time. The other lens I use a lot it the Sigma 150-500 Auto focus. It's great for shooting wild life shot such as song birds near a bird feeder or a bear you don't want to get too close to. I have other lenses I use also but nearly as often as I use these two. Don
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I would not recommend for portrait photography, I find it far too "long" for that, especially if you have a non full frame camera. I stick with my 85mm for portraits. It could however be used as "a telephoto lens in the day time" but there are other lenses that would be better choices for that as well. I only use a tripod if I am doing product photography, otherwise I use it handheld. Overall this is an absolutely fantastic lens, I just use it for more along what it was designed for, macro (and product) photography, but have used it as a telephoto lens once or twice in a pinch. I would not recommend for portrait photography, I find it far too "long" for that, especially if you have a non full frame camera. I stick with my 85mm for portraits. It could however be used as "a telephoto lens in the day time" but there are other lenses that would be better choices for that as well. I only use a tripod if I am doing product photography, otherwise I use it handheld. Overall this is an absolutely fantastic lens, I just use it for more along what it was designed for, macro (and product) photography, but have used it as a telephoto lens once or twice in a... » Read More I would not recommend for portrait photography, I find it far too "long" for that, especially if you have a non full frame camera. I stick with my 85mm for portraits. It could however be used as "a telephoto lens in the day time" but there are other lenses that would be better choices for that as well. I only use a tripod if I am doing product photography, otherwise I use it handheld. Overall this is an absolutely fantastic lens, I just use it for more along what it was designed for, macro (and product) photography, but have used it as a telephoto lens once or twice in a pinch. « Show Less
987397
I have a Nikon D800, and this is my go to lens for portrait photography. The bokeh is amazing, and the lens creates very even skin tones. I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who takes a lot of photos of families, children, newborns, and weddings. Examples can be seen on my website: www.tagenbakerstudios.com
505749
I also have not seen this reference in any printed material. All true macros should have this. I have been satisfied with the image quality. My only problem is on auto focus. If the focus has to search and cannot lock focus it falls back to infinity focus even if the close limit is chosen. Otherwise it is a fine lens.
1135873
We carried both on our European honeymoon. The 50 mm f/1.8 lens is GREAT for portraits when you want to blur the background, but it is not good for landscapes or where you need to stand pretty close to the subject but want a normal field of view. We found that it was hard to just carry the 50 mm lens without having the 18-55 lens in back-up, but the pictures with the 50 mm lens are our favorites. If you really wanted to just carry one lens, you could probably get by with the 50 mm lens plus a camera phone.
910058
Photofun123-I am in a similar situation. What did you decide on and what do you think of it? I will be getting a 50d and only one lens. My main subject will be my toddler. I am considering 24-70 and 24-105. Thanks.
1551101
That is exactly why I purchased this lens and I love it! The focus is a bit soft if you try and go below f2.2, but as I'm generally shooting moving children I usually keep it around f2.5 or 2.8 anyway. Hope this helps!
1891732
I have used it for taking portraits, as well as for macro shots. You have to stand back a bit for portraits, especially full body shots. It works great and it's my favorite lens!
1483057
YES...... I would highly recommend this lens and it is now used as my general lens of choice. To use the macro, it is necessary to stand back further than most lenses but it still produces a very crisp image. The weight of the lens helps to keep the camera steady as it is weighted well making the whole unit more sturdy. So far I have no regrets.