Help lenses

[monicadraper]

I am a new photographer, I have a canon T1i, and 50mm 1.8 lens. I want a new lens but don't want to spend a lot of money. I wanted something for portraits that takes more crisp and sharp pictures. Something like the 24-70mm but not as expensive, any suggestions? Thanks

[mshockley]

Many will say that that nifty fifty you already own is a great portrait lens! I have had extremely crisp and sharp results with that lens. Are you unhappy with that? Maybe it's more your camera settings then the lens. Can you post a picture you've taken with the lens and give us the EXIF data?

[inkista]

The "sweet spot" for sharpness with the 50mm f/1.8 II is around f/4.

[Doug Sundseth]

The kit 18-55 is "something like a 24-70", but cheaper. On a crop sensor body like yours, it has a similar field of view and magnification to the 24-70 on a full-size sensor. It's a better lens than it is sometimes given credit for being and it's dirt cheap.

The quality (in several ways) isn't as good as the 24-70, but you can't get "exactly the same, but cheaper" from the store.

Alternatively, Sigma and Tamron (and possibly other 3rd party manufacturers) have lenses similar in range and aperture to the Canon. They are generally thought to be somewhat inferior to the Canon 24-70. At their best, they can be quite good, and they're certainly cheaper than the Canon lens (if more expensive than the kit lens).