85mm F1.8 or 50mm F1.4 on a crop sensor?
- Thread starter Amin
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- Phil
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You're not alone, but we appear to be in the minority.
Completely right! but in the minority.
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- Ryan
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there's no telling some people 
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- Name
- Will
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Is 85mm on full frame acceptable?
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- Ryan
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To be brutally honest for tight head and shoulder portraits no, not for me. Ideally 130mm plus.
The trouble is in defining a "portrait". That's why I emphasize the head and shoulders bit.
For a wider portrait (ie waist up) then 85mm is fine. But for tighter shots I still 85mm to be unflattering.
I'll see if I can fish out an example
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If your budget is tight, then I'd say that a combination of the 50mm 1.8 and 85mm 1.8 is a no-brainer. Some can get a little elitist about the cheap build of the 50mm 1.8, and whilst the focus not the fastest around, for the money I'd say that only a fool would pass it up and not have a 50 in their bag. The 85mm 1.8 is just a beauty though, and whilst it might get a bit tight on a crop sensor, the image quality of it is pretty much second to none at the price it is at.