Cropped body?

[EskimoRose]

Sorry i have no idea where to properly post this but heres my question(s)

I own a Canon EOS Rebel XSi 450D i was wondering if anyone could tell me if thats cropped body? and what lens would you recommend the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM or Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM? i cant decide. i want to dabble in kinds/styles of photography to find my nitch like landscape and wild life but starting with portraits i'll be doing a session with a newborn in a few months, is there a lens thats really versatile? or what few lens do you Rec. i should have in my collection?

Thanks in Advanced for your help!

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[rockhead]

Sorry i have no idea where to properly post this but heres my question(s)

I own a Canon EOS Rebel XSi 450D i was wondering if anyone could tell me if thats cropped body? and what lens would you recommend the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM or Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM? i cant decide. i want to dabble in kinds/styles of photography to find my nitch like landscape and wild life but starting with portraits i'll be doing a session with a newborn in a few months, is there a lens thats really versatile? or what few lens do you Rec. i should have in my collection?

Thanks in Advanced for your help!

The 450d is a crop frame camera. The 2 lenses you mention are both nice glass. As far as allrounders go.......maybe not what you want. I mostly shoot wildlife nature and people. I really like the 17-50 tamron or 17-40 canon for the wide end........I do like to shoot wider and own the glass to do so but it's a learning curve. I also like the 24-70 2.8 it's been around for awhile and is a little soft wide open but the price is right. With the 70-200 for pulling in details.
These are just what I enjoy.......The 50mm for prime would likely be a more comfortable working distance for portraits.
I would really recommend beg,borrow,steal or rent copies of the lenses you are interested in. Sucks dumping 500-1000 bucks for glass.....you may or may not like.

[EskimoRose]

The 450d is a crop frame camera. The 2 lenses you mention are both nice glass. As far as allrounders go.......maybe not what you want. I mostly shoot wildlife nature and people. I really like the 17-50 tamron or 17-40 canon for the wide end........I do like to shoot wider and own the glass to do so but it's a learning curve. I also like the 24-70 2.8 it's been around for awhile and is a little soft wide open but the price is right. With the 70-200 for pulling in details.
These are just what I enjoy.......The 50mm for prime would likely be a more comfortable working distance for portraits.
I would really recommend beg,borrow,steal or rent copies of the lenses you are interested in. Sucks dumping 500-1000 bucks for glass.....you may or may not like.

HAHA! Thanks! yea i just found out you can RENT Lens! i order the 85mm f/1.8 first so i cant wait to get my hands on it! Thanks for all the great Lens suggestions i'll defiantly be looking in them!

[TCampbell]

To simplify... the only Canon DSLR cameras that are NOT cropped body are the 5D and 1Ds. Everything else is cropped. There's a 1D (without the 's') that is an APS-H sensor (30% crop factor) and the rest are all APS-C (by far the most common) which is a 60% crop factor.

They're both great lenses. The 50mm will probably seem a bit more versatile. To give you an idea... the human eye can comfortably view about 42º... maybe 50º*tops without feeling the need to "look around" to take in more of the view. The lens that comes closest on a full-frame digital camera or 35mm film camera is the 50mm lens (angle of view is just barely shy of 40º). On an APS-C crop-frame camera that lens would be a 31mm (which nobody makes... but you can get close. Lots of people make 28mm and 35mm lenses)

The reason I mention this is because that same 50mm lens on a crop-frame camera will seem mildly telephoto (it'll behave like an 80mm lens on a full-frame camera). Whereas the 85mm will seem like a stronger telephoto (it'll seem like 136mm). A 50mm is a great portrait lens on an APS-C crop-frame camera. The 85mm is also great BUT... if you're taking portraits indoors you might feel like you have to go stand in the next room to take a photo of someone (you may feel the need to walk back a bit to get everything you want in the picture.)

If you were to use either a 28mm or a 35mm lens, it would seem like a "normal" non-zoom lens (neither wide-angle nor telephoto) on your APS-C crop-frame camera body.

Though you mentioned you are looking at the 50 & 85mm lenses... you didn't mention which lens(es) you already own. Most people with an XSi would have purchased the camera with the 'kit' lens... which is almost always the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens.