equipment recommendation - Which prime lens to get after the 18-55mm & 55-250mm?

I started out with the 18-55mm IS kit lens on my Canon EOS 550D over a year ago, and added the 55-250mm IS a couple of months back to augment my telephoto reach (based on the recommendations in one of my earlier questions). After shooting almost 5000 photos with the former and 1000+ with the latter, the biggest limitation I find is their low light shooting ability and I've ended up shooting a lot of images at ISO 3200 and\or slow shutter speeds resulting in subject blur. AF performance has also been a bit iffy in these situations. On the subjective front, I've generally preferred to shoot portraits.

To this end I did some analysis on a selected subset of my photos using Exposureplot and exiftool+Excel to quantify my results (also below), and found that 55mm is the most shot focal length followed by 18mm, both of which correspond to the lens range limits (so likely to be skewed). The usual portrait ranges (80-110) also feature reasonably given that the range was added only recently.

I also checked out the Canon lens lineup and have settled on the following shortlist based on my above analysis (given my budget of around $500):

Lens(length+Av) Macro   USM     IS      L-series
50 mm   f/1.8   No      No      No      No
35 mm   f/2     No      No      No      No

50 mm   f/2.5   Yes     No      No      No
28 mm   f/2.8   No      No      No      No
24 mm   f/2.8   No      No      No      No
50 mm   f/1.4   No      Yes     No      No
100 mm  f/2.8   Yes     No      No      No
135 mm  f/2.8   No      No      No      No
60 mm   f/2.8   Yes     Yes     No      No
85 mm   f/1.8   No      Yes     No      No
100 mm  f/2     No      Yes     No      No
28 mm   f/1.8   No      Yes     No      No

100 mm  f/2.8   Yes     Yes     No      No

The EFS 17-55mm f2.8 would serve my requirements, but is beyond my budget at present. I do plan to get it eventually. I also doubt that I'll be upgrading to a full frame DSLR, so EF-S lenses are also good for me.

To summarize, I need the following from the next lens:

1. Good low light performance


2. Suitable for portrait (haven't tried playing around with depth of field much so far, as I end up shooting wide open most of the time anyway)


3. Macro ability would be a plus (does it make sense to get a non-macro & a macro for similar focal length?)


4. Better AF performance (should be a given for the lenses as they are f2.8 or wider, and many are USM)


5. Canon lenses preferred as I'm not sure of the reliability & service\warranty options of 3rd party lenses in India

So, given this scenario, which would be the recommended lens to get?

Answer

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM

Suits (1) (2) ad (3) perfectly, and it is not expensive.

While it makes sense to get a non-macro and a macro lens for a similar focal length, I see that you are on a budget, so that wouldn't be your best choice.

I did not suggest the 50mm f/1.4 because 50mm is very slightly short for portrait, and you cannot do macro at all, even the kit lens offers a better magnifying ratio.

Lastly, allow me to point out that you can learn very little from shooting 6000 photos. You will, however, learn a lot if you try to delete 5900 photos from the 6000 you shot.

If you constantly find yourself shooting in low light condition, getting a flash may not be a bad idea at all, provided you know how to use it right.

I thought my photography would improve if I have bought a better lens. So I did, and I see less noise but no improvement. So I experiment with different ways of shooting, I shoot EVERYTHING in all kinds of situation. I no longer limit myself to shooting indoor. I try everything I can.

Then, my photography improved, and I am now able to create much much better photos, using the exact same lenses that I once said is limiting.