which lens for close up for head shot

hi guy's i have a 30mm sigma and a 135 prime i have tried to fill the frame with a head shot but i can't do it. it goes out of focus. which lens would do the job. i don't want any back ground in the shot and i hate cropping in pp.

What camera?

You could do an experiment and work out the answer yourself.
Stand where you need to to get the perspective you want.
Take a headshot with your 135.
Look at the result.
If you want the image of the head to be 50% wider in the frame, you'll need a lens 50% longer: about 200mm.
If you want it twice as wide, you'll need one twice the length: about 270 mm.

Etc.

charliechuck wrote in post #12685076
hi guy's i have a 30mm sigma and a 135 prime i have tried to fill the frame with a head shot but i can't do it. it goes out of focus. which lens would do the job. i don't want any back ground in the shot and i hate cropping in pp.

What camera? Full Frame or APS-C?

The 30mm is usually seen most on a 1.6 crop...that said the 135 would be a bit long in the teeth; perhaps a 50mm?

85mm 1.8?????????

I don't see why you can't take head shot with 135L, if the perspective you want is tighter, you may want to look at 200mm lens.

i got a 7D i only want the eyes and lips in the frame real close crop.

the 30mm goes out of focus when i get to close same with the 135

Sounds like you may want to consider a 100mm macro.

135mm would be the best for head shot, as 30mm is bit intimidating close to the subject; and 135mm on crop work just like 200mm on FF - 200mm/f2 is the best 'Portrait Lenses'.

charliechuck wrote in post #12686873
i got a 7D i only want the eyes and lips in the frame real close crop.

Try a macro lens.

Extension tube will achieve what you want. Just a small tube on the 135.

Small tube on the 30 might work. It may be too extreme, ie you may not be able to get both eyes....

charliechuck wrote in post #12686873
i got a 7D i only want the eyes and lips in the frame real close crop.

You run out of vertical right?

You could take a pic on a 7D with 135mm of my face and you would get both eyes easily. Problem is you'd only see my top lip

Calculated on 135mm lens 0.19x max magnification and 22.3mm sensor width resulting in 117mm horizontal frame coverage, I'm about 100mm across the eyes.. edit - about 100mm needed for lips, only get about 78mm vertical to work with.

edit - my example shows you should be able to get close enough unless you subject is a child? I was thinking in reverse.
My example is minimum frame coverage which is too small for my face... You're not running out of vertical space, you can't reduce it enough? Now I'm confused.....

Back to the small extension tube suggestion....that will work

charliechuck wrote in post #12686873
i got a 7D i only want the eyes and lips in the frame real close crop.

What about the nose?...............