£1000 budget for portraits

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Glenn
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What lens and body would be a good buy for portraits on a £1000 budget?
I recently contacted a photographer on Purpleport about an image he posted of a model and asked what lens/setup he used as it was lovely.
When he responded with a Haselblad answer costing 12 grand I laughed out loud at myself!
He made an interesting point that there are a lot of OK bodies out there but I should spend my money on a decent sharp lens.
I dont need full frame or mega fast autofocus and only have a fuji x100 at present so I am not tied into any brand.
I am thinking a Nikon d3200 or Canon 650d and getting the best lens I can.
Can anyone offer advise please?
 
What type of portraiture are you interested in would be my first question, indoor (studio) or outdoor? Are you interested in say fully body shots, headshots or lifestyle (people in their environment) type shots

As to the camera body I'd say go and try a few see what fits best in your hands (y) don't be afraid to buy used either

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
What type of portraiture are you interested in would be my first question, indoor (studio) or outdoor? Are you interested in say fully body shots, headshots or lifestyle (people in their environment) type shots

As to the camera body I'd say go and try a few see what fits best in your hands (y) don't be afraid to buy used either

Matt
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Thats an interesting question!
I shoot outdoors a lot now but in winter I plan to shoot indoors.
I prefer using natural light and I would say a combo of full lengths shots and headshots.
I am thinking I will need to buy more than one lens now!
 
No disrespect mean, but I think you should be "getting out there", shooting the style that you prefer, before deciding what body / lens combination you're going to be working with.

Are you looking to shoot images for yourself, e.g. family or are you considering a more professional role?

Choice of body / lens will be influenced by the above.
 
johnnypanic said:
No disrespect mean, but I think you should be "getting out there", shooting the style that you prefer, before deciding what body / lens combination you're going to be working with.

Are you looking to shoot images for yourself, e.g. family or are you considering a more professional role?

Choice of body / lens will be influenced by the above.
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I have been have a look at my flickr to get an idea of what I am shooting http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennfujix/
 
you could pickup a used medium format film camera cheap
and its lights thatll give you that studio look, and post production too

oh someone is selling a hassy and 16mp back in classifieds
 
A D90, tamron 17-50 f2.8, reflector, 85 f1.8 d/g and a couple of yongnuo flashes and triggers. Leaving some change for some light modifiers.

Very versatile and IMHO a great portraiture set up

S
 
Personally I would go for a 600d and a canon 24 105 l lens very good combo and if you go used will be well within budget
 
Could look at a used 5D classic and 24-105 f4, set you back about £1k. Alternatively,look at primes, 50 1.4 85 1.8 .
Canon's XXD cameras are a good alternative(so would Nikons alternative, not sure what that would be sorry), a 60D new will set you back £600 And you could get a Tamron 17-50 2.8, great lens for portraits and an all round lens.(available for both Nikon and Canon)
 
A body that delivers decent shots (as in sharp and good skin tone rendition) coupled with a 24-70 f/2.8 would be my choice and should leave change for a reasonable lighting rig too. (2nd hand prices and probably 3rd party lens) While primes will offer a wider aperture, the zoom will allow quick choice of FL without faffing and once the OP knows exactly what FLs are used most, they can go for the primes if they feel the need. Personally, I don't like the very shallow DoF that wide primes offer but that's MY preference! I like 50mm on crop and longer on FF but tend to use the zoom (now a 24-120 f/4) rather than primes but I shoot purely for my own use or for friends - not in a pro capacity.

My personal choice would be a D300 and a Sigma zoom but I'm sure Canon and others have something that would fit the bill in their line up too.
 
I picked up this week canon 60D and 18-135 STM lens for £669 from HDEW. leaves plenty left over to get 50mm , prime, YN468 flash, couple of triggers and some umbrellas/reflectors and even a backdrop and stand
 
I see a few people suggesting wide aperture primes. I love primes myself but I rarely use wide apertures for portraits unless struggling for light and/or shutter speed. Gotta remember that at wide apertures you're fighting to get enough depth of field and once you start stopping down there's very often little if any significant difference between a prime and a decent zoom.

So, all in all unless you're a prime freak, or you're going for wafer thin DoF or fighting shutter speed maybe a good zoom would be a more flexible way to go?
 
Sir SR said:
A D90, tamron 17-50 f2.8, reflector, 85 f1.8 d/g and a couple of yongnuo flashes and triggers. Leaving some change for some light modifiers.

Very versatile and IMHO a great portraiture set up

S
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But remember this...
danbroad said:
A decent reflector, a good portable strobe and an 85mm 1.8 would be great. Light is more important than lens!
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To shoot portraits, any DSLR that'll be easy to shoot Manual* (I'd choose a S/H 40d) a std lens (pref a 2.8 zoom) and one fast prime (I'd prefer the 85mm 1.8).
Then spend the rest on reflectors, stands, a couple of good books and speedlights and a softbox.

Don't think that you need to shoot M, but having a camera with 2 wheels makes life so much easier, and back button focus.
 
I try and avoid telling people how to spend there had earned money, but given all that you've said personally given your response and being a Canon shooter myself I'd be looking at used 50D coupled with a 24-105/4 that combination you should be able to get for around £800 on the used market looking at what some current ones are going for...that leaves a little room in your budget for maybe a fast prime the 50/1.8 is usually available used for about £65 quid then of course you'll want a couple of memory cards and a card reader, depending on if you want a really fast card or one not that should about be your budget spent, but you could find a Jessops 360 Flash gun used they seem to go for about £40 and then a cheap reflector £10-20

I think that would see you quite well set up with an initial set up for portraiture, with the added advantage that both lens above are compatible with full frame so if you decided further down the line that you wanted to move from a crop sensor to a full 35mm sensor then you'd not have to worry about selling existing lens (y)

Anyway that would be my suggestion
 
redddraggon said:
D700, 50mm f/1.8 and reflector.

Should be doable for £1000
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This is what I generally use (usually with studio lights), but very good for portraits IMO and great if space is limited. I love the d700 and the 50mm is nice and sharp. A nice set up if light is less than perfect too
 
You haven't given much information about the type of portraiture that you want to shoot so I'll base my advice on the type of portraiture that I prefer to shoot.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 35mm f2.0

I have some stunning portraits with this combination, in fact some of my favourite family memories are taken with this exact setup.

The lens is a little noisy but it gets the job done.
 
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