Parents: What are/were your most used lenses for your small kids?

I mostly use the RF28mm pancake lens nowadays. The 50STM and 85STM take some consideration, with the small european rooms, like you mention.

When they are practicing on the (balance) bikes outdoors , the 100-500 shines.

I bought my first DSLR (a T1i/500D) in 2009 after my first kid started walking and the AF in my P&S couldn’t keep up. I skipped the kit lens and got the EF-S 17-55/2.8 instead, along with the 85/1.8.

I soon migrated to FF. When my kids were younger, I used mostly the 24-70/2.8 II and 70-200/2.8 II, and the 85/1.2 II for portraits.

Now that they’re older, portraits are mostly the family with a backdrop, so any lens works (f/8-11 is a great equalizer). But for events (concerts, plays, etc.) I will be using the 24-105/2.8 (or 28-70/2 for low light) and 100-300/2.8. For field events I’ll put the 1.4x behind the 100-300/2.8.

Overall, I think fast zoom lenses are best for kids. They move quick, and when indoors the wider the aperture the better. I prefer a zoom for flexible framing. With EF, I had the 35L, 85L, 135L and 200/2.8, but I found myself preferring the flexibility of zooms for framing.

For small kids, I think MP-E 65mm f/2.8 must be the best lens.

neuroanatomist said:

Overall, I think fast zoom lenses are best for kids. They move quick, and when indoors the wider the aperture the better. I prefer a zoom for flexible framing. With EF, I had the 35L, 85L, 135L and 200/2.8, but I found myself preferring the flexibility of zooms for framing.

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I did sort of the same as you, except my youngs are a few year younger and I already had a nifty fifty when the first was born. Absolutely gorgeous baby photos. As long as I could keep up with their pace, 20-30mm on APS-C and 35-50mm on fullframe made some of the best images I've taken. When I added an 85/1.8 my second child was already a couple of years old. Figured the reach would let me isolate kids from an otherwise distracting background. Worked well as long as I could run fast enough. Then I added a 200mm f/2.8L and lost it. Got very few but very nice images, so I switched to a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and haven't looked back since. I also haven't been running around nearly as much. But the images aren't as good as when I was running around.

Wide with large aperture for up close and personal. Slightly longer for as long as your legs can let you run circles around them. Long zoom for when they're doing sports or running around playing.

The size of the sensor, never mattered much when I took pictures of my children, but my behavior counted a lot. If your child is 3 years old and you take pictures without the child knowing than almost anything with a decent speed will do. But if you interact with your child and you hide your face behind a black R3 monster with 24-105 with shade on you will get a reaction.

For small children and close combat I usually used a white EOS M3 and via a canonwhite hand painted cheap Chinese adapter the EF 40mm pancake (also in white) as the Japanese had them for the EOS Kiss models.

There is not so much choice for a white EOS R model at the moment but…

If you want to do portraits of a group of kids you will need a fast wide angle zoom, but the most important piece of equipment in that case is a PEZ dispenser. That little candy dispenser fits perfectly in the hotshoe of your EOS and suddenly you have all eyes open and focusing on one point.

Another thought, your lenses will be around with you for some time and kids do grow fast. So if you invest in glass think a little about the few month when they are small, but think a lot about the time when they start to do sports for real.

My kids are now 26, 16 and 12 they did surfing, windsurfing, fencing, soccer, basketball, karate and now mainly ice hockey. It took me a lot of time to learn how to take good pictures depending on the sport. Unfortunately, it took me even more time to learn that amateur gear requires a lot of luck to get anything worth to keep and leaves you in the end with plenty of documentary material but very few pictures that stand up to your own standards.

Before I started to frequent Canon Rumors I had one or two decent lenses. Here I infected with GAS but in hindsight, I’m sad that I did not start this 10 years earlier. I have perfect pictures of the two younger children but almost nothing from the oldest. The hassle to explain to your spouse why you again spent 2.5 Grand on some used old piece of Canon glass fades to zero when said spouse looks at a picture taken of your child in the moment of confidence, triumph or surprise in a quality that shouts front cover. So I treat any Money spent on perfect family memories as a wise investment.

I tend to use the 1200mm, with an extender or two, to not violate the restraining order. That way I can shoot my kids a few zip codes away and everyone will continue to be happy.

On a slightly more serious note, without having any known children: Kids are all over the place, and if you want to catch a bit of that motion and commotion I would aim for a wide angle zoom. F-stop! the f stop and shallow focus depth or priiiiity bokeh! You want to catch moments of joy, not perfection. Something worth remembering and chit-chat about when you're old and sitting in a rocking chair drooling.

The 50 1.8 and the 24-70 2.8 have always been a staple for the kids when they were young. As they got a little older and faster I had a Sigma 18-300 that was pretty nice, light weight and the extended reach limited my chase time. Still have the 18-300 today, it's one I could give up.

My most used lens when the kids were little was definitely the 35 f1,4. and I’m really glad it was. It included more surroundings that are now just a memory and really fun to look back at. Especially where we live where there has been added many, many new houses were before it was more or less just woods. Toys, our color on the walls, our old kitchen etc etc is really anjoyable part of their growing up. I also have loads of 85 f1.2 images that are close up portraits, but they do not have the same impact lacking perspective and context.

My 24-105mm f4 was probably my most prolific lens with my son growing up. Followed by my 70-200 f2.8. I tried to keep the camera ready for action with 1/500 or faster shutter speeds and FPS as fast as possible. I almost always kept the camera on Auto ISO so I could adapt quickly indoors or out. Kids are sports...