portraiture lens

ive been trying to get into strobist portraits, and hopefully i can get a new lens to fit those needs

what do you guys recommend as a good portrait lens that wont be too espensive? around less than $1000

You already have fine portrait lens focal lengths for an APS-C camera, starting with the 50mm lens.

If you want better quality lens(es), let us know what focal length(s) you wish to use for your portraits.

85 1.8 $326
sigma 50 1.4 $450
135 2L $950

All very good portraiture lenses, I would go for a 85 1.8 or sigma 50 1.4, and spend the balance on lighting, one of the most important things for portraits!

Strobed portraits means shooting stopped down. This makes all lenses perform at their individual best, so I would be tempted to just work with the lenses you already have. Odds are pretty good that you cannot tell the difference between those and a $1000 L lens from f/8 to f/11.

If you decide you do need faster or better because of how you are lighting (perhaps more ambient + stobe mixes) then I think the 24-70 covers the 'classic' portrait range on 1.6X perfectly in one lens.

My opinion may differ from others but here it goes anyway....

Strobes will allow you to stop down to the point that the lens is almost insignificant, even the worst lenses are pretty good by about f/5.6 - f/8

Figure out how much space you have and what focal lengths work for you. For me the 24-70 on a crop body is perfect
24mm is wide enough to get a whole person in
28mm is wide enough and has much less barrel distortion
35mm is normal perspective and has no barrel/pincushion distortion
50mm is portrait has almost no barrel/pincushion distortion
70mm is portrait has almost no barrel/pincushion distortion

Another lens I'm hoping will do the trick when its back from lens hospital is the 50-150, again the length is the deciding factor, its great that its super sharp @f/2.8 but really it will be used at f/5.6 - f/8 with flash most of its working life. From the use I got out of it before I sent it back, it looks like its gonna be a winner.

You will have a really hard time finding a lens that is not sharp at the kind of settings you will be using with strobes. Vignetting usually goes away stopped down also, although I've seen one lens get worse. Colour won't make to much difference as your white balance will be matched to the flash and you will be post processing.

For portrait lenses I think distortion barrel/pincushion is more of an issue. I find a lens with 1.5% or greater distortion a horrible choice for portraits. You can't see it directly but It just makes people look odd, especially if one side of them is near the edge of the frame it makes them look less symmetrical, which is not seen, but perceived as less attractive. Maybe that is where the phrase "The camera adds 10 pounds" came from.

So in summary, pick a focal length that suits you, look at the options and pick the one with the least distortion and the best features that you need, use the change on more strobe stuff.

thanks guys
alot of it helped

My "portraiture" lens collection...the ones I take in my camera bag when that's what I'm going to do, are the 24-70mm, 50L, and 85L. For headshots, I use the 85L. For more full-body shots, if I can use the 50L, I will. If I can't, I go to the 24-70mm. Despite hearing there should be no difference at f8-f11, I think I see a difference. I see more "punch" with the 85 or 50 than I do with the 24-70. The latter is still good, but to me, at least, the others are just slightly better.