out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Im looking to buy a new or used lens for portrait and night time photography if that is possible. Right now I have about 300 to spend and just not sure what to look for in that price range. I'm leaning toward a canon 50mm 2.8 stm. Any opions would be helpful. I shoot mostly landscape and wildlife but would like to do some portraits and photograph the milky way. My budget just isn't there for anything more expensive.

Christopher James Loc: Zeeland Mi

Most people say to get the best portrait or face picture the focal length is around 100mm

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

What body do you have - crop or full frame? A “nifty fifty” is fine on a crop, and if low light is a priority, the EF 50 f1.4 would be a good choice. Alternately, the 50 f2.5 Macro is an excellent lens for the $. Slower, but quite sharp, will double as a Macro (1:2) and can provide 1:1 with the addition of the life size converter in the future. For a full frame (and a longer portrait lens on a crop body) the EF 85 f1.8 is hard to beat. All of these are in the $300 range.

out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Thank you for your reply I shoot with a crop T3.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

I love the 85mm f/1.8 but it would probably be better on a full frame than a crop body for what you want to shoot. It would have a narrow field of view on your crop body. But it is very sharp and fast focusing and a nice portrait lens...

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

I definitely have a better option for you.....

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-522345-1.html#8858803

I also have available the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX HSM, and a Canon 50mm f/2.5 Macro. I just purchased a Sigma 50mm Art lens having made the decision to sell my other 50mm lenses to help cover the expense.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Check out the Tokina 100mm. I think you'll be impressed.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

For Milky Way photography and other nighttime star shots you'll need a very wide angle lens if you don't want star trails.

https://petapixel.com/2015/01/06/avoid-star-trails-following-500-rule/

If you are on a full frame camera, the 50mm would require no less than a 10 sec exposure and on a crop sensor no less than a 6 sec exposure - to avoid star trails.

This would mean that you'd need to boost the ISO really high, to 1600 or 3200 or higher.

https://www.davemorrowphotography.com/p/tutorial-shooting-night-sky.html#exposure

Using a wider lens, like a 14mm, would allow for a 36 sec or 22 sec for full frame and crop respectively. The nearly 2 stop increase in exposure provided by the longer shutter open time means you can lower the ISO for a cleaner image.

Rokinon/Bower/Samyang has a very sharp 14mm F2.8 that costs around $400 - its a full manual lens - but it is a good choice for start shots. It does have a lot of distortion which can be mostly fixed in post processing with a good lens profile.

The 50mm would make an OK focal length for portrait, but an 85mm would be better -

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

For an effective 100mm on a Canon crop body you would need a 62mm.
A 50mm will get you an effective 80.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Milky way and portraits are going in the opposite directions, especially for your EOS T3. The EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is a nice lens, but not a reasonable compromise for these two directions. You might consider which is more important or which will get more usage opportunities in the next 12+ months. The 50 is fine for portraits and doesn't burn all your budget. The EF 85 f/1.8 is an amazing lens, if you want one of the 'the one' choices of portrait lens for the rest of your life. The lens is old, buy a used one.