Is the 50mm f/1.8 actually better for portraits on my Canon Rebel T6 than spending extra on a used 85mm, or am I just gonna regret not saving up for a zoom lens instead? Im honestly freaking out a bit because my sisters wedding is in less than three weeks and she keeps bugging me about taking some proper couple shots beforehand in our tiny backyard since we cant afford a real photographer right now. My total budget is like 150 bucks max, maybe 200 if I push it, and I keep reading totally conflicting stuff online. Half the forums say the nifty fifty is all you need on a crop sensor like the T6, but then others say it makes peoples faces look all weird and distorted because of the crop factor and I should get the 85mm instead even though my backyard is super narrow and I might literally run out of space trying to back up far enough to get a full body shot. Plus Ive never done portrait work outside of my phone so Im super nervous about the low light stuff and getting the focus right at wide apertures. Do I just grab the cheap 50mm stm and hope for the best, or is there something else Im totally missing here...
Honestly, I had issues with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM autofocus tracking on my old T6. It was unfortunately soft wide open. Maybe look for a used Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM instead.
Get the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM right now. In your tiny backyard, an 85mm will pin you against the fence. Crop factor makes the 50 act like an 80mm anyway, which is plenty tight for portraits.
- Watch your depth of field at f/1.8 so noses are sharp.
- Step back a few paces for better compression.