prom and individual portraits lens

[marcm1]

Ok I have a 5dMrkIII, 24-70 2.8 IIL canon, 70-200 2.8 IIL canon, 16-35 2.8 IIL canon lenses, I am finding that when I go and take pictures of my daughter and like senior pictures of friends kids they are wanting a lot of focused up close and boken behind, SOOOOO we have Canon 50 1.2L lens and the Sigma 50 1.4 art lens. I really don't know how much I will use this lens so I don't know if spending 1500.00 on the canon is worth the money I'm spending.
I'm looking for any suggestions on these lenses from people who have them and looking for real world testing is the Sigma for the 950.00 or so the best buy of the two? I'm not so much worried about how I have read that the auto focus on the sigma is not quite up to the canons yet, but anyway just looking for any suggestions to a person who is not really anything more than a casual user to all of this.

Thanks!!!

 

[Random Orbits]

If you're trying to minimize the background, longer focal lengths are better than larger relative apertures. I have the 50L and it is a good lens. It's definitely not the first prime that I'd recommend because it does have its foibles. If I had to do it again, I would consider the Sigma Art first. Just check that the AF works well with your camera. It seems like a lot of the Sigma AF issues are with Canon's more advanced AF systems in the 5DIII and 1DX, and it's more of a crapshoot if you use off center points.

 

[tolusina]

I suspect you can deliver exactly what the kids want with the old standby and very inexpensive cheap 50mm f/1.8.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup/ef_50mm_f_1_8_ii
Sure it's all plastic, built like a throwaway toy, works just fine though.

 

[RLPhoto]

If your a casual user of 50mm primes, the normal canon 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 will be more than adequate to throw the BG out of focus. The sigma 50A or canon 50L are for people who adore the 50mm focal length and will appreciate the small differences in how they render or will use the extra sharpness.

 

[geekpower]

I enjoy the crap out of my 50L and it is great for individual portraits but if you want to get two or more people in the shot and everyone in focus, you wont be able to shoot it anywhere near 1.2. I would think you already have the best lens for the job in the form of the 24-70/2.8.

 

[gqllc007]

I will also be taking prom pictures with my 5Dmk3 and will be using the 24-70 mk2 2.8 I wanted to blow out the background as well but decided that I will use the 24-70 at either f/4 or f/5.6 because the only thing worse than a non blown out background is the kids out of focus with too shallow of a depth of field

 

[marcm1]

Well what I'm really trying to do is there are shots where my wife wants to say focus on something like say a prom ticket that they are holding out and have it in focus but everything else out of focus or they are holding out the hands in say a heart in front of them and I shoot down through it to focus on their face through it so looking for that shallow depth of field to play around with in these kind of ways.

 

[Deleted member 7828]

^ The 24-70 @ 70mm 2.8 should suffice. I took a few shots at a party last year similar to what you are describing and they came out nice. There is plenty of background blur to be had, especially when near MFD.