Canon 50mm f/1.2 OR f/1.4

[EmilyMillerPhotography]

Hey guys!

I'm looking to buy a new lens. I do a lot of family and baby photoshoots, and for the baby shoots I was looking to buy one of these lenses. I'm looking to get some advice and information about the difference in performance and the price!!! Why is the 1.2 way more expensive than the 1.4 and is it worth buying the 1.2 if it's for a business?

Many Thanks!

Emily xxx

[Manfred M]

Hi Emily - welcome to CiC.

What camera model are you using? I'm not quite sure why you are looking at a 50mm lens, it seems a bit too short for baby photography.

Unless you are doing low light photography or need the very shallow depth of field, why are you considering these lenses rather than, say an f/1.8 lens. For baby photography I would assume you need decent depth of field (i.e. you are looking at getting the whole baby in focus), so I am trying to figure out why the need for such a fast lens?

[William W]

. . . I do a lot of family and baby photoshoots, and for the baby shoots I was looking to buy one of these lenses [EF 50 F1.4 or EF 50 F/1.2L]. . . is worth buying the 1.2 if it's for a business!

I have used six of seven the Canon EF 50mm lenses (not used the newest EF50mm F/1.8 STM) and I currently own four 50mm lenses which I use on my EOS Cameras.

The choice of your business purchase will depend on a few elements and requires some more basic information from you, please:

1. What Cameras are you using? (list all of them)

2. What Lenses are you using? (list all of them)

3. What Lighting are your using?

4. What is your available budget?

5. What other (if any) gear do you think that you need to buy?

6. Do you expect to have enough jobs in the next 12 months to cover the cost of the F/1.2 lens - AND – ALL the other expenses to you expect your business will have in the next 12 months

7. Do you have Public Liability – Personal & Property Insurance?

WW

[rpcrowe]

I would think seriously about using a zoom lens and a bounced flash. Infants are not all that difficult to photograph (since they are basically immobile). However infants grow into toddlers and then grow bigger and bigger (and faster and faster). A zoom and a flash can be a really neat combination.

[EmilyMillerPhotography]

I have used six of seven the Canon EF 50mm lenses (not used the newest EF50mm F/1.8 STM) and I currently own four 50mm lenses which I use on my EOS Cameras.

The choice of your business purchase will depend on a few elements and requires some more basic information from you, please:

1. What Cameras are you using? (list all of them)

2. What Lenses are you using? (list all of them)

3. What Lighting are your using?

4. What is your available budget?

5. What other (if any) gear do you think that you need to buy?

6. Do you expect to have enough jobs in the next 12 months to cover the cost of the F/1.2 lens - AND – ALL the other expenses to you expect your business will have in the next 12 months

7. Do you have Public Liability – Personal & Property Insurance?

WW

1. I have Canon 600D but looking to purchase 5D mkiii in the near future.

2. I currently use Sigma 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3

3. For lighting I use two speed lights and softbox on the lowest setting. Sometimes only use one of them. I also use external flash and umbrella depending on how I want to use the light to create my image.

4. Available budget...... £1,200 max.... but preferably as cheap as I can get it!

5. As above, Canon 5D MKiii. I will be doing cake smash shoots in the next couple of months so will be purchasing specific backdrops which are not cheap as I like the best quality!

6. I have enough to cover probably 90% of what I want to buy, but also a holiday may be on the cards....:-D!

7. I do have insurance.

I hope this helps, and if there are any other lenses that might be more specific for the type of photography I'm doing then let me know! Thank you xx

[EmilyMillerPhotography]

Hi Emily - welcome to CiC.

What camera model are you using? I'm not quite sure why you are looking at a 50mm lens, it seems a bit too short for baby photography.

Unless you are doing low light photography or need the very shallow depth of field, why are you considering these lenses rather than, say an f/1.8 lens. For baby photography I would assume you need decent depth of field (i.e. you are looking at getting the whole baby in focus), so I am trying to figure out why the need for such a fast lens?

This lens was recommended to me by another photographer, he actually does landscapes so your opinion might be more helpful. I am currently using canon 600d but looking to purchase Canon 5d mkiii in the near future. I am currently using sigma 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3. I am looking for something to create that fairytale look, more depth of field but beautifully sharp foreground.

Do you have any suggestions? Many Thanks xxx

[Manfred M]

fairytale look, more depth of field but beautifully sharp foreground.

You definitely won't need anything nearly as fast as an f/1.2 or f/1.4 lens. The bulk of your shooting will likely be in the f/8 or f/11 range, if you are looking to maximize depth of field. I think a decent mid-range zoom is going to do a lot more for you than a normal prime lens. I'll leave it up to the Canon shooters to make specific suggestions here.

[DanK]

This information is for full frame; you would have to adjust focal lengths and apertures (for DOF) for a crop. For shooting babies and kids, I mostly use a 24-105 and 70-200, both f/4, and most of my shots are 90mm or longer. I used to carry an f/2.8 with me but found that I never used it, as I almost never found I wanted a narrower DOF than f/4. I shoot most kid pictures between f/4 and f/5, which gets all of what I want in focus but begins to blur the background. I use indirect flash with a bounce card and diffuser a lot of the time.

The one time I would want a wider aperture is for doing soft photos of infants, where a narrow DOF is desirable. For that purpose, I have thought about buying a nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8), and I have occasionally thought about a 50 f/4, which is the lens I grew up with. However, I have never given any thought to spending the extra $$ for the f/1.2.

YMMV.

[rpcrowe]

My favorite portrait lens (both humans and dogs) for either my crop (Canon 7D) or my full frame camera (Canon 5Dii) is the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS. That lens can provide excellent selective focus and really nice creamy bokeh. The f/4 aperture is about as wide as I ever desire to shoot because it will provide enough DOF to get both eyes in focus while still providing an OOF background...
Here is a shot using a 200mm focal length on a 1.6x crop camera at f/4...

The DOF is narrow enough to have her shoulder and ear begin to fall off. Yet, both her eyes are in focus and her nose retains focus...

I will often shoot portraits at f/5.6 or even f/8. I am not a fan of razor thin DOF. Even f/5.6 will provide a blurred background with really nice bokeh using a long focal length. Here is an image shot at f/5.6 using 165mm on a crop camera...


The 70-200mm f/4L IS lens has rounded aperture blades which smooth out the bokeh.

I don't know about the availability of refurbished Canon gear in the U.K. (I assume that you are in the U.K. because you priced your purchase in Pounds Sterling). I try to purchase all of my Canon gear as refurbished items, although I recently purchased the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens new because it was not available as a refurbished item.

Cake smash shots could easily be done with your present camera and lens or a 24-105mm f/4L IS lens on your new 5Diii. Cake smash shots are usually wedding related. If you are shooting weddings (free or for pay) it would behoove you to have a backup camera and lens. This needs to be of decent quality but doesn't need to be a full frame camera with an L quality lens...

Actually the infant portraits could also be accomplished with your present camera/lens combination or the 70-200mm f/4L IS lens on your 600D camera...

[ionian]

Hi Emily, welcome to CiC. I presume you are after that dreamy bokeh look and so you after a very thin depth of field - hence the wide aperture lens. When my little one was a baby, we took her to a baby photographer who used a Nikon d800 and a 50mm f1.2 lens, at around f1.8. Shooting from 1.5 meters away, this produced very shallow depth of field. Although the results were good, some of the best pictures weren't perfectly sharp because of the lack of depth of field.

It's the quality of blur that you are looking for, and that's why you've had these expensive lenses recommended. You will want to stop them down a touch, around f3.5 is probably ideal for sharpness. The depth of field will still be very thin at this distance.

As to why a 50mm? It's because you are likely to be standing over the baby a lot of the time and you need to be able to fit everything in without moving away too far. Engagement with your subject is key to getting those cute faces, and this is key to great photos. If you were shooting from down low, an 85mm or even the 70-200 would be a much better choice. Remember that a 50mm will have a different field of view on full frame to your crop - if you'll be staying with the crop for a while, you may be better getting something closer to 35mm.

As to lighting - I'd recommend looking at a continuos light set up. Your subjects won't be moving and you don't want to eat into shooting time while they get used to the flash.

Hope this helps. I know it's slightly different advice to some of the stuff above, and I note that all the advice above us given by excellent photographers, much more experienced than me - but it comes from experience and observation. There are several ways to get excellent results, so you will need to think about what is right for you.

[William W]

Thanks for answering the questions. It’s good that you have insurance which covers Personal and also Property damage – I note that so many people set up a business and do not have insurance.

Regarding your question about which lens to buy: choosing between the EF50/1.4 and the EF50/1.2L – then the EF 50/1.4 is a better business choice for you. The main reasons are in respect of the limited budget and the limited tools you have already, thus the return for capital spent on the 50/1.2L will be so low it would be a very poor choice between the two.

Having stated that, my view is buying ANY 50mm Prime would be a poor business choice. This is considering the (limited) capital you have: the (limited) gear that you have; and the type of business that you’re maintaining.

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It occurs to me that your business is growing and you want to reinvest in some more gear. That’s a good idea. My advice is that you guide your business purchase choices by three principles and give approximately equal weight to each:

1. Flexibility of the kit
2. Redundancy within the kit
3. Usage for Capital invested

A few concrete examples/comments:

I have Canon 600D . . . I currently use Sigma 18-300mm f/3.5- 6.3 . . . for the baby shoots I was looking to buy one of these lenses [either EF 50/1.4 or EF 50 1.2L]

Analyse the value add that you would supply to your baby shoot product comparing making the same shots with the 18 to 300 set at 50mm or either of those prime lenses: I really can’t see much value add at all – much of the finesse of Baby Portraiture is in the: lighting; the timing; the props and the camera viewpoint.


{Technical / Business Rationale:
The 18 to 300 at 50mm will be at about F/4 when wide open – if (for example) you want very SHALLOW Depth of Field and you want to use the perspective that the framing of a 50mm FL will give – then shooting with a 50mm lens at a Subject Distance of 1500mm you’ll easily frame a ‘baby laying at 45 degrees’ (Framing is about 660mm X 440mm) and the DoF at F/4 will be about 100mm (just enough for the nose, face and ears ) – at F/8 (where that Sigma Zoom Lens will be near its sharpest) you’ll have a DoF of about 200mm – just enough for the whole head - that's reasonably shallow DoF. Certainly we can debate BOKEH - but note that BOKEH is not solely about the lens's architecture - the quality and texture of the background and the lighting of the background has a substantial impact.}

So, on the face of the information supplied I can’t see any value on buying any 50mm Prime lens specifically for the baby portraiture.

Moreover the addition of any 50mm Prime lens does not add very much general flexibility to the kit and it does not add any redundancy to the kit and it certainly will not pull in an high rate sales per capital invested.

A lens that will add greater flexibility; redundancy and have higher usage in the kit would be a fast, non varying aperture standard zoom lens.

Typically, for an APS-C camera we’d look at something like a 17 to 55 f/2.8, but as you have mentioned that you will be shortly buying an EOS 5DMkIII then a fast 24 to 70 or similar might be a better choice. BUT - having stated that - with your limited capital I advise against buying a 5DMkIII.

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Bottom line:

1. If you are running a Portraiture Photography business, you NEED SYSTEM redundancy: basically if you arrive at a shoot and your 600D is dead, you may not only lose the Client but (worse) you could also lose credibility and professional integrity – people talk - you NEED a second camera that should be your first priority.

2. The same logic applies to you having only one lens – you NEED a second lens.

3. Good you have at least two Speedlites

4. Having limited funds there must be many alternatives to buying a (relatively expensive) 5DMkIII - think long and hard about that

5. Having limited funds there MUST be alternatives to buying expensive backdrops for a (one off?) ‘smash the cake” shoot - think even harder about that

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Suggestions:

> EOS 6D package with 24 to 105/4L IS – shop hard and do a deal.
> Fast and inexpensive 35 Prime or similar
> Fast and inexpensive 85 Prime or similar (examples EF 35/2 and EF 85/1.8).
> Keep your 600D as it provides you with a dual format kit.

Rationale:

> With those two Primes you have at fast aperture an FoV lens equivalent - 35/2; 56/2; 85/1.8 and 136/1.8 (arguably the ideal range of the best four equivalent FoV and all at very fast apertures for the best flexibility for all aspects of general family portraiture)

> With the 24 to 105/4L IS and the 18 300 to you have an FoV zoom lens compasses – 38 to 168/4 IS and 24 to 105/4 IS and 29 to 480 F/3.5~6.3

> The System Redundancy is obvious from the above.

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I strongly advise against using continuous lighting for any Portraiture.

WW