Upgrading my kit lens to a Portrait and/or Landscape lens

Mark

Good day everyone, I just bought my Canon 60D a couple of months ago and it comes with two sets of kit lenses an 18-55mm & 55-250mm. I would like to upgrade my 18-55mm kit lens. I enjoy taking portraits and landscapes. The salesman suggested a Tamron 17-55mm f/2.8 and a Canon 50mm f/1.2 L. The question is, which one should I consider? Is there a difference if I go with the Canon 50mm f/1.2 L lens, which is almost triple the price? Thank you in advance. I just found this site couple of hrs ago and by just by reading some of the comments I've already learned a lot.

Auston

Hi @Mark - Welcome to the site. To your question, Moose the guy in charge, has commented on both of the lenses you are talking about. As you have most likely come up with, the Canon 50mm L is the TOP of the line prime lens and will be just what it states. It will give you SUPER sharp and clean shots. I would suggest that you take a look at the 50mm F/1.4 or F/1.8 prime lenses. Although not in the class of L series lenses, folks on here have talked about the good results and great photos they get. By removing the "L" designation, you remove a big chunk of the price tag, but still get a sweet lens.

With the Tamron 17-55mm, I have heard nothing but good things. I haven't used it myself, but I have seen photos taken with one and they look super. I like the idea of the Tamron due to the focus range. At 17mm you can get some very wide landscapes, but also get to pull it in if you want to tighten up and really bring out a feature. On your portraits you will have a good range to work with if you find yourself shooting in tight quarters.

This is just some information that I have come across on my research and from people I have talked to. I hope this helps and I am sure that others have some great input. Good luck and Good Shooting! - Auston

Moose

Howdy @Mark - Before we jump head first into some recommended lenses, let's take a look at the ideal focal lengths for portraits and landscapes...

For portraits, generally you want to shoot with an effective field of view between 50mm and 150mm. Any wider than 50mm and features (like noses) tend to look larger than life. Any longer than 150mm and faces start to look flat.

For landscapes, generally you want to shoot with an effective field of view between 10mm and 28mm. The wider field of view will give you sweeping landscapes and big skies.

When I say "effective", I'm referring to the field of view produced with a lens attached to an APS-C DSLR, like the 60D. The 60D has a crop factor of 1.6x, which basically means that a 50mm lens on the 60D has the same field of view as an 80mm lens on a film SLR or full frame DSLR (like the Canon 5D).

Beyond the ideal focal lengths, you'll also want to consider the effects you're trying to capture.

For portraits, generally you want a sharp subject with everything else deliciously out of focus. This effect requires lower aperture's between f/1.2 to f/2.8 in order to capture a shallow depth of field.

For landscapes, generally you want everything to be in focus so the need for super low aperture's isn't necessary.

With all of that in mind, I would say the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 (see here) is probably the best fit for YOU. It fits inside your budget. It falls inside the ideal focal length range for portraits and landscapes. And it allows you to obtain a low constant aperture of f/2.8 for isolating subjects against silky smooth backgrounds.

Yes, Canon "L" series lenses are fantastically sharp, but they come at a price. If you're just getting started with digital photography, the Tamron is more than capable of capturing the types of shots you're after.

Hope that helps and happy shooting! :)