How many of you use a 70-200 for studio work What are the benifits of using a lens this long in the studio. Is it common practice of course if the studio is big enough to use a lens this long.
Using a long lens provides compression of features and working distance considered optimal in beauty and fashion and glamour work.
I don't use zoom lenses myself, but the advantage of the 70-200 is that you can get close or back off at your discretion, allowing you intimacy for portraiture and working distance for fashion and beauty models.
Near / far perspective is a function of distance using a longer lens is better for extreme close-ups and for altering perspective to make very narrow faces look a bit wider.
The problem with the 70-200mm, especially the IS model, it that its so heavy, and a bit intimidating to some subjects. Its also longer than practical indoors at the 200mm end with a crop body, but very nice outdoors where there is more room.
I usually shoot with my 24-105mm, and most of the time I hover around the 50mm to 100mm range, rarely I go under 50mm. I see videos on the net where most shooters use a 70-200 variant to shoot studio or outdoors. I don't know if that is the norm for most shooters.
A long lens does give a better look as Justin said above. I would call it a much more natural look. A wide lens gives the look of being too close or distorted. I almost never do headshots under 100mm using a full frame camera.
I recently used my 70-200 in a studio setting. Handheld, tripod and monopod are all good. It allows me to keep my distance, so the light reading is contant, as I frame the subjects. Both were shot at f 9.
I think it really depends on the camera and the amount of studio space you have to work with:
On a crop camera the 70-200 is on the long side for me.
On the full frame it is the ideal focal range for our general studio use and portrait photography.
But again, in a really tight home studio it might be a bit much even with a FF camera.
We actually have one that is dedicated to the studio and it pretty much stays on a rolling tripod most of the time. The ability to use the tripod grip ring to go vertical with out changing camera position is a big advantage too.
We do have a number of fast primes, but unless the situation calls specifically for one, there is no advantage to them over a zoom at typical working apertures in the studio. Plus, the ability to crop from a comfortable shooting zone and alter perspective without changing lenses makes the 70-200 zoom our lethal weapon of choice.
The 70-200 is a great lens for the studio, especially for a FF camera. The crop sensors can make the lens a bit long unless you have a nice big studio.
The longer lens will help give you nice separation from the background too. You shouldn't need your IS for studio conditions. Your flash and shutter speeds should stop any blur even at the long end.
To rebound off something Chuck said: Distance governs perspective. Focal length governs framing.
In most cases, getting closer than six feet or so presents exaggerated perspective in a head-and-shoulders portrait that is usually unwanted.
If the pose causes parts of the subject to extend toward the camera (shoulder, knee, feet), the distance must be even greater to avoid exaggerated perspective.
Getting that distance and then getting tight framing usually requires lenses in the 85-and-up range.
I use the 80-200 for about 75% of my studio work lately, and most of that is on the long end doing 3/4's, the compression allows me to shoot in my studio space which is long but narrow.
What are the benifits of using a lens this long in the studio. Is it common practice
