Portrait lens, suggestions?

Been looking for a bokeh/dof/portrait lens for awhile now. My major gripe is that it's all to expensive (horrible hobby when your not rich) so my budget is limited.

I really want the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 due to it being all manual, it will sharpen my photography skills, make me think twice and reallt take my time. And it's within my budget.

Everyone i talk to mention the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 as an awesome lens, it's almost twice the money though.

Then there is the Canon 100mm and 85mm also way more expensive then my budget allows.

Any other lenses around $200-$300/Euro 240-280/£180-£220.?

Been trying to look for PO lenses but here in Sweden the used market isent as big as i wished for.

bent toe wrote in post #14865186
Been looking for a bokeh/dof/portrait lens for awhile now. My major gripe is that it's all to expensive (horrible hobby when your not rich) so my budget is limited.

I really want the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 due to it being all manual, it will sharpen my photography skills, make me think twice and reallt take my time. And it's within my budget.

Everyone i talk to mention the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 as an awesome lens, it's almost twice the money though.

Then there is the Canon 100mm and 85mm also way more expensive then my budget allows.

Any other lenses around $200-$300/Euro 240-280/£180-£220.?

Been trying to look for PO lenses but here in Sweden the used market isent as big as i wished for.

Are you shooting FF or crop? If crop, the 50 mm f/1.4 is a good lens. A bit more than $300 but worth it and the crop factor makes it nearly the equivalent of an 85 mm on a crop. The nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8) is a very cheap but very good lens. If FF, how about the Canon 85mm, f/1.8. Decent lens as well. Again, a bit over $300.
Good luck with your search and I commiserate with you. I have two girls in college and buying equipment is a challenge. But it can be done.

Use your 50/1.8. Crop.

gv0861 wrote in post #14865211
Are you shooting FF or crop? If crop, the 50 mm f/1.4 is a good lens. A bit more than $300 but worth it and the crop factor makes it nearly the equivalent of an 85 mm on a crop. The nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8) is a very cheap but very good lens. If FF, how about the Canon 85mm, f/1.8. Decent lens as well. Again, a bit over $300.
Good luck with your search and I commiserate with you. I have two girls in college and buying equipment is a challenge. But it can be done.

I thought my signature gave me away
Thansk for the reply, but they are all above my budget though

Lens forum would have few similar threads...
I use Tamron 90 2.8 for portraits. It is nice lens with very good colors and bokeh for portraits. Sharp wide open for portraits. But AF isn't optimized for portraits range. It works fine if you take street candids from some distance. It works for macro. But for portraits it starts to through focus all over, big waste of time, because for this range inner tube moving a lot, it moves slow and makes noise worst compare to 50 1.8 and 35 f2 I used to have.
Do Samyang has focus confirmation chip? If not it is going to be difficult to focus on eyes with large apertures.
Search for used 85 1.8.

Do you need a f/1.4 aperture or not ? If not, a used 85 f/1.8 (or Canon 100 f/2) should be a better idea. If you think a f/1.4 lens is a real plus et you are'nt afraid of full manual lenses, the Samyang is a very good choice.

Titi

kf095 wrote in post #14865295
Do Samyang has focus confirmation chip? If not it is going to be difficult to focus on eyes with large apertures.
Search for used 85 1.8.

It does not, full manual i'm afraid.
Can't find a good 85mm f/1.8 used with a good pricetag.

titi_67207 wrote in post #14865505
Do you need a f/1.4 aperture or not ? If not, a used 85 f/1.8 (or Canon 100 f/2) should be a better idea. If you think a f/1.4 lens is a real plus et you are'nt afraid of full manual lenses, the Samyang is a very good choice.

Titi

Don't know if i need it per say.. but it does sound nice with a f/1.4 and full manual.
My nifty fifty is very hand.. but i want even more bokeh and dof.

Jupiter 9?

I'd go with the 50 1.8

bent toe wrote in post #14865605
It does not, full manual i'm afraid.
Can't find a good 85mm f/1.8 used with a good pricetag.

Use your 50/1.8 until you can save up enough for a 85/1.8.

Yea, the 50mm is a nice little lens... maybe i wont notice much difference if using the 85mm samyang one?

bent toe wrote in post #14865611
My nifty fifty is very hand.. but i want even more bokeh and dof.

Bokeh doesn't come in quantities, so you can't have more. It is the quality of the OOF areas of an image.

You've said that you want "more DoF", but I suspect that you mean less. Your options are:
- increase focal length (out, since you can't afford it - best choice would probably be the 100/2)
- increase aperture (out, since you are probably running at f/1.8 and can't afford a faster lens)
- move closer (free, but use with caution as you may get some unpleasant perspective effects and could have issues with framing)
- finally, you can make big prints and peer at them closely (issues of cost and practicality)


It boils down to using your 50/1.8 at f/1.8 and moving in as close as you can without inducing unpleasant perspective effects.

There is an allied idea though, not strictly DoF, but more to do with the degree of background blur. This can be made greater by increasing the distance between the subject and the background. If that is all you want, background blur and subject isolation, this is often a much better approach than using such a shallow DoF that only one eyelash is in focus.

bent toe wrote in post #14867103
Yea, the 50mm is a nice little lens... maybe i wont notice much difference if using the 85mm samyang one?

You would. But manual focusing sucks unless you want to use liveview all the time.

You know the best solution is to get a 85mm f1.8 or 100mm f2. If you can afford a $250 manual focus lens, then you aren't that far from one of those AF lenses. Just be patient and save until you get what you really want, rather than compromising just to get something now.

I'll add to the recommendation of the EF 85/1.8 used.
If you can't afford it now, be patient, save up and keep an eye out for it on the used section of the forum.
My feeling is that if you get a (relatively long) MF lens with a large aperture, it will be quite a struggle to get good shots and you'll end up using it less.