Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II
I love this lens. It’s tack sharp on all the camera bodies (even the 5DsR) and it a great story telling focal length/lens.
It gets used for environmental portraits, BTS, Events and Weddings.
Sharp wide open and bright in low light a sure winner. The Sigma ART is a hair sharper but I don’t like how they render images and they seem too clinical for me.
If you are a portrait, wedding or event shooter and run Canon cameras this should be in your bag.
Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM
I use to shoot 50mm a lot but stopped once I upgraded to full frame. I recently added the 50 back in to the bag to change up my usual 35 and 85mm usage.
Sure it’s not the best 50 on the market but it is perfect for my needs and a bargain at £120 new.
Great for low light and sharp enough. The edges are a tad soft wide open but once it is stopped down to F2.8 and up it’s great.
Canon EF 85mm F1.4L IS
I upgraded to this from the Canon EF 85m F1.8 USM but only due to that lens being dropped a few too many times.
The 1.4 is a stellar lens though and much much sharper. The only 85 I have seen beat it on sharpness so far is the Sigma ART but I much prefer the contrast and colour from this lens
A great portrait and head shot lens that is my go to in the studio unless I need to change the focal length for a different face shape.
Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro
This is one of Canons bargain prime lenses and if you can find a good one used grab it.
Super sharp and great for portrait, product and detail work. The IS is rather good and allows you to hand old as much slower shutter speeds that you might think.
I use this for commercial product work, portraits and head shots mostly but it has also seen use on wedding days for detail and ring shots.
Another great alternative is the EF 100mm F2.8 USM. No Is but it’s also very very sharp.
Canon EF 24-105 F4L IS
This lens is a staple in many working professionals bags. Mine has seen better days but still get used a lot.
24-105mm is such a good range on FF for a lot of work and it’s plenty sharp enough. I will use this lens on portrait work and head shots where I don’t want the sharpest of images.
It also has very nice colour and contrast and will handle back lighting very well also.
Canon EF 70-200 F2.8L IS
This lens rarely gets used these days as I much prefer the IQ from my 85 and 100mm primes but it does give the extra reach when needed and perspective compression as well.
It’s soft wide open ( at least mine is ) and great stopped down; but it hates back light as the contrast dies.
I hear the version II and III lenses are much better but I can’t see me upgrading it to one of those any time soon, in fact I am thinking about changing it for the Canon EF 135 F2L.