I've been testing out various cheap Canon lenses as well as my normal Canon L series that I normally use for shoots. If you are looking for a cheap lens to shoot portraits with then you can't get much better value than the Canon 35-80 lens that was sold with many cameras such as the Canon 500N during the 1990s. For portrait photography the Canon 35-80 is far better focal length than the Canon 18-55 lens that comes supplied with the camera.
I picked up an example of the lens on Ebay recently for £22 and tested it yesterday on a shoot using my Canon 550D camera. During the same shoot I also used my Canon 5D with the new Canon 100mm L f2.8 IS macro lens as a comparison. How will a £900 lens compare to a £22 one?
The answer is very well. The results in a controlled studio environment were very good although clearly the advantages of the Canon 100 macro are far more than the improved optical quality. You also get the f2.8 aperture as well as the image stabilisation.
