question using cannon 50mm 1.8 and f-stop

[nightowl64]

Hi all , new here and first time post. I will be doing a family shoot in a few days with 7 family members. I want to use my 50mm 1.8 cannon on my rebel xti. My question is what would be a good f-stop to have all seven members stay in focus. I know the 50mm sometimes has a problem getting all in focus, prob user error lol. My other choice is my sigma 70-300mm 4-5.6 apo macro. not sure which one to use. my sigma seems to lack contrast and a bit soft. any tips or suggestions. thanks in advance.

Tony

[inkista]

If I need a lot of stuff in focus, I tend to start at f/8 and just adjust from there to what I need. You may want to read up in the manual on using the DoF preview button, so that you can check if you have enough depth of field to cover your subject at a specific distance and aperture setting.

[nightowl64]

Thanks for that ... lol i never thought to check the preview button on the camera lol... thanks for insite. Whats your thought on using the sigma 70-300 instead of the 50mm 1.8 ? thats if you have any experience using that lense. I do like the sharpness from the 50mm.

[inkista]

My general feeling is that for a group shot, a telephoto like the 70-300 is going to make you be far far away from your subjects, which is never really that good an idea when doing portrait photography. Also, your 50/1.8 will sharpen up considerably once you've stopped down past f/4. A lot of newbies make the mistake of shooting with it wide open all the time, and don't realize what a great piece of glass it really is.