Favorite lens for portraits?

[MediaMagic]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but a keyword search didn't show much.

with film, I always loved the 80mm prime for portraits. With the 1.6 crop factor on the 10D, I suppose I'd need to use the 50mm to get the same basic image but the image composition should, at least theoretically, appear flatter or would it? I don't have a 50 to mess with yet.

What are you favorite lenses and/or tricks for portraits?

[D60DIETER]

Hi,

I use the 135/2,0 L USM for portrait work and I love it.
But if you talk about people photography I think this lens is too long (216). I would try the 50/1,4 or for more flexibility the 24-70/2,8, which is an execellent lens.

Dieter

[scottbergerphoto]

I do mostly non traditional, unposed, spontaneous portraits of people I don't know, who usually don't know that I'm taking their picture. I want to capture them in their moment. For this I use the Canon ef100-400 IS L. I know it's not what most people consider a portrait lens, and I wouldn't use it in the studio. See if you like the results:
http://www.pbase.com/scottbergerphoto/faces_in_the_park
For more traditional, posed portraits I use the 50 f/1.4 or the 24-70 f/2.8.

Regards,
Scott

[DaveG]

MediaMagic wrote:
I'm sure this has been asked before, but a keyword search didn't show much.

with film, I always loved the 80mm prime for portraits. With the 1.6 crop factor on the 10D, I suppose I'd need to use the 50mm to get the same basic image but the image composition should, at least theoretically, appear flatter or would it? I don't have a 50 to mess with yet.

What are you favorite lenses and/or tricks for portraits?



I think that you mean 85 mm.

But I like the 50, effectively and ironically an 80. I have a 24-85 zoom and while it's excellent I find that the ability to zoom causes composition consistency problems if I'm doing a number of head and shoulder shots. Perspective changes and so does head size.

If you ever watch a motion picture you wll notice that the perspective of a moving shot never changes since they move the camera on a track, not zoom it. Outside of inexpensive motion pictures - or everything from the 70's ;-) , the zoom is ignored.

If you are just shooting one portrait then this isn't that big a deal and the use of a zoom will give you and the client choices later. But for multiple H&S shots a prime lens might be a better choice.

I could never figure out why Hasselblad had a 150 mm as their portrait lens. I thought that a 180 mm would be a better focal length - which in fact was later adopted. Well after I got a Mamiya 645 and started to shoot weddings with it I realized that in a typical living room you just don't have room for a lens longer than a 145/150. And translated that means a 50 when used with a 10D.

But if you have lots of room then the 70-200 zoom is quite useful. Wide open you get very little depth of field and this - along with the perspective can give very striking portrait images.

[Pekka]

MediaMagic wrote:
What are you favorite lenses and/or tricks for portraits?


70-200/2.8L and 50/1.4.

[KennyG]

70-200L 2.8 IS or 85 1.8

The 85mm 1.8 USM is a stunning portrait lens with excellent bokeh.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Don't forgt the "bargain" 135mm Soft Focus :)

[justme_dc]

KennyG wrote:
70-200L 2.8 IS or 85 1.8
The 85mm 1.8 USM is a stunning portrait lens with excellent bokeh.

I'm with kenny. I love my 85mm f1.8. You gotta stop it down a bit or risk super shallow DOF but it is awesome. I use that or my 70-200mm f2.8. I used to use the 135mm f2.8 soft focus alot but I find it's a little long sometimes with the 1.6 FOV crop so I am using the 85mm much more now. You really can't go wrong with it. it's small, lightweight, fast and sharp as a razor.

[jimmyd]

Hands down... 135mm fixed w/ or w/out soft focus and shot with as minimum depth of field as you can get. at least that's how I've alwasy gotten my best results.

[lightandlife]

The good range of portrait ranges is between 85mm and 135mm, but not 200mm or 50mm, although they will somtimes produce acceptable portraits. 200mm generally gives good head shots only.

With 1.6x crop factor, this means a range 50mm = 85 (I am using a computer in Helsinki, and the keyboard is all mixed up. I am not accustomed to their keyboard).

However, within a year or two, the price of full fram digital cameras would become more affordable, say about ¤1500.

So 85mm seems to be the best choice. I have used 85mm 1.2 L and very happy with the outcome, especially indoors. And it is the main reason I switched from zoom to prime lenses, although 24=70mm or 70=200mm are good zooms. Others with different needs will disagree.