I am honestly so fed up with my current setup. I've been using the 18-135mm kit lens for portraits and while it is fine for general travel stuff it is just not giving me that creamy background I actually want. Every time I try to do a shoot, like the one I did for my sister last week, the images just look flat and kind of... mushy? I dont even know how else to describe it but it is driving me crazy. I have my cousins graduation coming up next month here in Seattle and I really want to get some professional looking shots but I am just getting so frustrated with the softness of my current gear. I even tried that cheap nifty fifty but the autofocus is so slow and it misses half the time on my 90D which is annoying because the camera body itself is actually really fast. I have about 700 bucks saved up and I need something that actually makes the subject pop and handles the 1.6x crop factor well. I was looking at the Sigma 85mm but maybe that is way too long for a crop sensor? Or should I just stick with a higher quality 50mm? What is the absolute best portrait lens for this body that wont make me want to throw my camera out the window...
To add to the point above: I actually disagree about needing that expensive Sigma Art. Honestly, I am super satisfied with my Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. I used it for a friends graduation and even standing far back, the background blur was gorgeous. It works well on the 90D if you have room.
- Way cheaper
- Fast autofocus
- Very lightweight Saved enough buying it used to get a flash too.
Honestly, been using the 90D for a while now and I totally get the frustration with kit lenses. They just dont have that soul. I am super happy with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for Canon EF on my crop body. It works well because the 50mm focal length ends up being around 80mm equivalent, which is basically the gold standard for headshots and portraits. No complaints about the autofocus either... it is snappy and hits way more often than the basic Canon 50mm. You mentioned the 85mm, but yeah, that gets really tight indoors since it behaves like a 136mm lens on your 90D. The Sigma Art series gives you that pop you are looking for because the glass is just way higher quality than the plastic nifty fifty. It is a bit heavy, but honestly the results are so worth it for your cousins graduation. Feel free to ask if you need more info on how it handles low light!
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i am literally in the exact same spot with my gear right now and it is honestly so disappointing... i have been fighting with this for about three months and still have zero clue what to do next.
- i bought the 90D specifically for the high resolution but the diffraction and softness issues are making me want to quit photography entirely.
- it feels like no matter what i try the images just dont have that crisp edge you see in professional work.
- i have been researching technical data and mtf charts for weeks but nothing seems to translate to real world performance on this specific crop body.
