wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

Looking over past photos using my Nikkor 35mm 18. and my Nikkor 50mm 1.8 on a D7100, I notice that when using the 35mm peoples noses and stomaches appear to be slightly larger than reality. When using the 50mm they appear more normal. I know this to be true with full frame cameras, but since the cropper sensor in the D7100 gives a more or less "normal eye range" I never thought about it . Now the question, for portraits and other people shots will I get more pleasing photos using the 50mm, a 105mm Sigma, or one of the zooms set to about 85mm? I know I would need to back-up for the composition.

CO

Tamron made the 45mm f/1.8 SP VC lens because a focal length of 43mm to 45mm on a full frame camera gives the same perspective as the human eye sees. I still would not use it doing head shots up close.

If you're close in taking head and shoulder shots, definitely use a longer focal length lens such as an 85mm.

I like to use my 45mm f/1.8 for full length portraits because I'm further back. Long lenses have the effect of compressing distance. Objects in the background look unnaturally large. The 45mm keeps thing looking normal.

I took this with a 45mm lens on a full frame camera.

(Download)

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

It's not the lens, it's the camera to subject distance.

Take a shot from the same tripod setup with a 50mm and a 400mm lens of the same quality, then blow the 50mm shot up to match the 400mm field of view, and they will look the same - i.e., they'll have that "telephoto look", the compression of distance - except for the probable loss of resolution from the extreme enlargement.

Shots of people with shorter focal length lenses make noses look larger and ears smaller only because we will move closer to the subject to fill the frame.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I prefer the 50. I had a 35 and sold it exactly for the same reasons you’re discussing. Because your camera has a crop sensor, your 50 is more like a 75mm which works well for portraits. I’m not a professional and only shoot candids, BTW.

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

Perspective is determined by distance not focal length. The reason we use longer focal lengths for portraits is a longer focal length allows you to be further away from your subject reducing distortion. Where a 35mm may be good for a full length portrait a 50mm or 85mm would be better for a waist up portrait or head and shoulder shot.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

The angle of view of your 50 on the D7100 is 75 mm. My favorite portrait lens was my old manual Nikon 105 mm AIS F/2.5 (the same lens that took the FAMOUS National Geographic Cover years ago). I now use my 70-200 2.8 lens for portraits.
If I were you, I would use the 50 until you get to the point you want to take it to the next step.

wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

Thanks wrangler, an easy experiment with my 18-400 zoom. Gives me another way to look at things.

wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

Thanks mizzee, I think I will keep my 35. I'm learning the 50 that I found about a month ago in a pawn shop while shopping for a computer.

wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

Thank you, I'm still learning every day.

wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

Thank you, I will stick with the 50 or try to keep my zooms near there. I am tempeted to try the 105, but I'm afraid it will move me too far back.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

75mm is not an angle measurement, it’s the full-frame focal length equivalent of the 50mm being used on a DX sensored camera.

I loved the 105 and I too use the 70-200 2.8 for portraits. So versatile!

Tex-s

You've nailed the point of omission for most discussions about crop/full frame, effective aperture, perspective, etc...... distance. To frame the same shot with the same lens on a ff and a crop camera, you have to change the distance to the subject, meaning the crop camera will have to be further away. This differing distance causes several visual effects. A 50mm 1.4 on full frame focused at a closer distance will have a more blurry background than the same lens, same subject location, same background location, shot on a crop camera from further away. The distance changes the depth of field equation.

The visual effects you described are also distance-based, but are actually camera independent. To get the same frame coverage on any camera, the 35mm lens will have to be physically closer to the subject. As we all know, the closer a camera gets to an individual, the more distortion is evident. In extreme close-ups, ears can become background elements to eyes, and noses foreground elements. When describing the cause to novices I ask them to imagine the angles of the light entering a camera from my [face] as I stand at 12 feet away and then move my [fffffffffffffffffffffaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccccceeeeeeeeeee] eye to eye with them. When my [face] covers such a greater field, the light entering must be coming from far wider angles of entry, creating a different image of said [face].

In the digital age, with a crop sensor moving you further back with either lens, distortions become less evident. With digital zooming and pixel peeping, you are likely noticing image distortions that would not have caught your eye in the film age, had 35mm cameras employed 24mm film frames instead, and also would have required your crop sensor's greater subject-to-camera distances.

If you have the time and want to delve into these effects more, Tony Northrup did a nice video about crop cameras creating both effective zoom and effective aperture reductions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5zN6NVx-hY

Also, f-stoppers did a nice video about the actual effects of telephoto lenses vs wide angle on perspective and or background. The title is deliberately provocative, but they explore the distance effects nicely as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTXY1Se0eg&t=170s

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Your 50 is like 75, short telephoto so it stacks the perspective, doesn’t spread things out.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

For portraits I use focal lengths in the 135mm to 200mm range because they're more flattering.