Which lens for Yearbook photos?

[mitchald]

I am the yearbook adviser at Rawlins High School in Wyoming. My staff and I take a large number of group pictures at school events and then crop them for placement of individual faces in the year book. We currently use a Canon XTi with a Canon EFS 17-85. The results are good, but need to be better in terms of sharpness once we crop. Most shots are indoors.

Any advice on other lens that we might use that would be better.

Thanks,
Mitch

[Bob Atkins]

You may be asking too much. If you want to take group shots and then crop down to individual faces at high quality,  you are asking quite a lot.

You'd certainly do better with a full frame sensor camera such as the 1ds MkIII, but that's probably not an option due to cost. Even an EOS 5D would be better and a prime lens of the appropriate focal length stopped to to around f8 would probably produce sharper images than the 17-85 zoom. If you need a zoom, the 24-70/2.8L or 24-105/4L IS would probably be the lenses of choice.

Your other alternative would be to shoot tighter shots of the groups, maybe taking two shots zoomed in to half the group instead of one widangle shot with the whole group in it.

[mitchald]

Thank you for the advice. Cost is always a huge concern for us. This is the first year we have not used point and shoot digitals. The Canon XTi is a big improvement over the previous year’s work.

One of the places where we could take great pictures would be in our fine arts auditorium. The light and sound booth is 120 feet from the stage, but the angle is great. If we were wanting to take pictures from that distance, which lens (having to stay under a thousand dollars, still using the Xti) would you recommend?

thanks,
Mitch

[Bob Atkins]

Depends how wide an area you want to cover.

You'd probably want a zoom so you could adjust framing and the highest quality lenses in the focal length range you'd be looking at would be the 70-200 zooms and the 70-300IS. For under $1000 you could get the 70-200/4L or the 70-300/4-5.6IS both of which are around $550. The 70-200/2.8L is $1200 and so out of your price range. In fixed focal length lenses, the 200/2.8L is very sharp and priced in the $700 region.

From 120ft at 70mm you will cover 26ft x 46ft
From 120ft at 200mm you will cover 9ft x 16ft
From 120ft at 300mm you will cover 6ft x 11ft

Mouseover these links for current price

• EF 70-200/4L 
• EF 70-300/4-5.6L 
• EF 200/2.8L

[mitchald]

thank you for the recommendations. I’ll let the forum know how things go.

Mitch

[KeithB]

If you are trying to get any kind of action, the 50mm F1.8 will let you get the fastest shutter speed at the best price.  The angle of view is pretty wide, but being on a 1.6 camera makes it equivalent to an 80mm lens on a Full-Frame.

At the cost of a stop or so, the 100mm F2.8 macro might be an interesting choice, it will be the equivalent of a 160mm lens on the Rebel, and I imagine it would be handy to have a macro lens for posters and other flat artwork since the distortion is practically 0.

Ken Rockwell raves about it - as only he can!
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/100mm-macro.htm

[mitchald]

Working on the yearbook today, I was cropping pictures that I had taken with the 17-85. The lens did a pretty nice job. The improvement over previous years is noticeable. I think that whichever of the recommendations, that you were kind enough to make, I finally follow will create some remarkable pictures for our annual.

There is a 135mm-2.0 on sale for about a $1,000 right now. I would imagine that this lens would also work extremely well.

Once again, thank you for all the advice.

Mitch

[Bob Atkins]

The 135/2.0 is probably the sharpest lens that Canon makes. If it gives you the framing you want I wouldn't hesitate to go with it.

However I'd caution that you will be limited by the resolution of the camera sensor. Even a perfect lens probably wouldn't get you more than about 10% more resolution than the 17-85 zoom, if that much, though of course you will magnify the subject more if you shoot from the same distance, which will help.

And there's no digital camera out there that does much better either. The highest pixel density probably belongs to the Pentax K20D (14MP APS-C) and that's only about 20% higher than the XTi in terns of linear resolution.

$1000 for the EF 135/2.0 is no bargain. You can get the EF 135/2.0 for $935 through Amazon  and that includes free shipping.

[mitchald]

My eyes are beginning to cross from finishing the yearbook this week. As I look at the pictures, I notice that the group shots taken in classrooms and meeting rooms are not as sharp as I would hope for next time. Most of the pictures were taken at a range of about 20-25 feet and had a spread of about 18-20 feet. Most of the shots were taken with the 17-85 mm. Most were taken indoors with the Canon 420 Speedlite attached. All were hand-held.

Any advice: prime lens, work off tripod next time, or quit worrying, it’s just a yearbook?

Thanks,
Mitch

[Bob Atkins]

Possibly all of the above, though if you're using flash for the main illumination you probably don't need a tripod. If the flash is just used for fill and your shutter speeds are low, then a tripod might help. I'd certainly use a tripod for that type of work.

Ways to get higher image quality would be to move up to an EOS 5D, shoot a couple of stops down from wide open for best image quality with almost any lens and use a prime lens if possible.

[mitchald]

This is a follow-up to let everyone know how the yearbook picture situation went.

1.  All of the pictures taken with the Rebel XTi and the 17-85mm lens were significantly better than any of the pointnshot camera pics we took.

2.  The portrait pics taken with the 17-85 compared well with the portrait pictures supplied by outside sources.

3.  The group shots that we cropped turned out good sharp enough for yearbook work.

During the summer we bought the Canon 70-300 IS lens. We have shot a lot of sports and dance performances with it this fall. The pics look good on screen, so far.

We bought the Canon 85mm f1.8 for portraits and low light work. The students have taken some great casual portrait work with it. Very pleased with it.

The local newspaper photographer has a 400 f2.8 that we hope he will set down some day.

Thanks again for all the great advice last spring.

Mitch

[mitchald]

Luckily, my wife bought me a Canon 50mm 1.8 II for no good reason, other than she is a good person. That has become the do-everything lens for my students. Setting the XTi at 800ASA lets them run all over the building taking pictures without difficulty. This lens creates sharp pictures under normal indoor lighting conditions. The candid shots of school life are captured wonderfully with this lens.

The 70-300 takes great sports shots indoor and out. Wonderful lens that fit our budget.

thanks for all the help,
Mitch