Which portrait lens

Andy77

Andy77

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Ok looking to buy a budget portrait lens for head/shoulder's and full body portraits.... Any idea's?

Was lookin at the canon 17-85mm IS :suspect:

Andy...
 
it all depends on the room you have to work in.

Also a fantastic 40mb camera like the leaf & phase ones, you could crop something from a quite a distance away and you wouldn't spot the difference.

I use my 70-200 a lot for portraits, my tammy 90mm for head shots, nothing is set in stone. you have to decide what you will get most use out of.

Obviously the 1.2 lenses are fantastic for instant bokeh but they are also much harder to use.

Edit, forgot to add, if it is studio white background stuff, you don't need 1.2 lenses anyway.
 
EF 50mm F1.4 is my choice for portraits on the 40d. Great for head and shoulder shots close up, or full body at about 5m.
 
Available light or off camera flash/ studio work?
 
Andy77 said:
only looking at about £250 max
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Which for me says you need a nifty fifty. Fast primes are lovely for portraits, the Dof and image quality really make the images pop compared to consumer level zooms like that you origionally mentioned.
 
Andy77 said:
I have a nifty, just wondering if there was anything better, looking to do both head/shoulder and full body shots
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You will struggle to beat the fifty with your budget unfortunately I'm not sure what the 35mm f2 goes for these days or the sigma 30mm f1.4, either would give you a bit more width for those full body shots.

The 17-85mm you mentioned initially will do a perfectly acceptable job just not as nice as a good fast prime or an expensive fast zoom.
 
70 to 100 for zoom...35mm measurements

prime lens 105
 
The mighty David Ziser swears by the Canon 17-85mm If it's good enough for him then I think it'll do for you too.

:)
 
POAH said:
get one second hand for about £230
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:plusone:

I got mine secondhand for around that too, definitely less than £250. It's a truly lovely lens, really light and compact, very sharp, and great when you want to throw the background out of focus!

Chris
 
May I ask why you want a 1.4 in a studio? Please enlighten me.
 
tiler65 said:
May I ask why you want a 1.4 in a studio? Please enlighten me.
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You wouldn't, but the OP said they'd be doing studio stuff as well as natural light, so it's probably better to have a fast lens that can be stopped down when in the studio, than a slow lens that works wonders in the studio but not at all when the light starts to go outside. Unless I've misread something in this thread!

Chris
 
The23rdman said:
Available light or off camera flash/ studio work?
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Andy77 said:
Both
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How confusing is Andy's reply to a choice of 3? :lol:

chris321 said:
You wouldn't, but the OP said they'd be doing studio stuff as well as natural light, so it's probably better to have a fast lens that can be stopped down when in the studio, than a slow lens that works wonders in the studio but not at all when the light starts to go outside. Unless I've misread something in this thread!

Chris
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He also stated that he had a working distance about 4m, which suggests studio work.
 
arent portraits supposed to be slightly flat and compressed...nose etc

i used a 50 macro to do some charicatures....the werent very flattering
 
POAH said:
same reason you would use it outside - small DOF although the 85 is f1.8 :P
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you use it outside to get a shallow dof to throw the background out of focus, in a studio you dont need to do this since you control the background
 
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