Question about portriat lens: I see a lot of recommendations about using 80 mm lens for portriats. I have an 18-200mm nikor lens. If I set it at approx 80 mm would it be the same as...

bwm55 Loc: North Louisiana

I see a lot of recommendations about using 80 mm lens for portriats. I have an 18-200mm nikor lens. If I set it at approx 80 mm would it be the same as using a 80 mm lens? Could I expect the same results? Thanks...

randym77

bwm55 wrote:

I see a lot of recommendations about using 80 mm lens for portriats. I have an 18-200mm nikor lens. If I set it at approx 80 mm would it be the same as using a 80 mm lens? Could I expect the same results? Thanks...

Sort of. Some people really like that lens for portraits. Ken Rockwell is one of them.

But a classic portrait lens, IMO, is faster than that. Like f/1.8 or f/1.4 This lets you get nice "bokeh."

That's for full frame cameras. For cropped frames, 50mm is roughly equivalent (and much cheaper, usually).

JimKing Loc: Salisbury, Maryland USA

The 80mm number is after conversion. For example a 50mm lens has the effective focal length of 50 x 1.5 or 75mm. A faster lens will increase the blur in the background, but so will a longer lens, so zooming your lens to 100mm will give an effective focal length of 150mm; shoot with it wide open and you can create a nice soft background. I consider 75mm to be a minimum portrait length but don't mind using a longer length. You might even try the full 200 and get a 300mm equivalence and see if you like it.

randym77

Yes, a lot of glamor/fashion photography is done with 300mm lenses.

I like 80mm (on a full-frame camera) for more ordinary use, though. If you're shooting indoors, in a house, say, you can't get very far away from your subject. And if you're not working with pro models, it's nice to be close enough to talk to your subject without yelling. Faster lenses also work better in the lower light you have in normal indoor settings.

My favorite portrait lens is my 85mm f/1.8. It's the one I'll be taking when I go home for the holidays this year.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

I use the 85mm f/1.8 or my 24-70, my 24-70 is my fav hands down, it's my go to lens.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

bwm55 wrote:

I see a lot of recommendations about using 80 mm lens for portriats. I have an 18-200mm nikor lens. If I set it at approx 80 mm would it be the same as using a 80 mm lens? Could I expect the same results? Thanks...

In film days the classic head & shoulders portrait lens was a 90mm. I was a professional wedding & portrait photographer. With a DX sensor DSLR an 80mm-85mm lens is perfect as a close-up portrait lens. The worse close-up portrait lens is a 50mm because of its inherent barrel distortion that is not flattering to the human face.

I have all three, a 50mm F/1.4, 85mm F/3.5 VRII Micro and an 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 VRII. I use my zoom for everything, including close-up portraits. The speed of the glass is not as important as some would tell you. You have to really know what you're doing to shoot at wide open apertures. Few do. Use your 18-200mm at whatever focal length pleases you and the subject.

ktcyan Loc: rural Minnesota

I love zooms for portraits, especially if you are working with kids in candid or large settings. My favorite used to be a 24-120mm Nikkor but that was with a film camera. I'm new to digital and have been out of the business for quite a few years now. You may want to do some lens tests playing around with depth of field to see what your lens will do. From what I'm reading the lens you have is what I'm going to buy next.

lindann

bwm55 wrote:

I see a lot of recommendations about using 80 mm lens for portriats. I have an 18-200mm nikor lens. If I set it at approx 80 mm would it be the same as using a 80 mm lens? Could I expect the same results? Thanks...

That is just the question I was going to ask. I set it at 85 and I felt I was too far back. I am gong to try to put it at 85 and keep it there all day and see how it feels to me. When I have my 18-55 on I seem to like it at 55 for most of the time.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I purchased a Kodak older film camera at a flea market that was a bit odd, could not get it to click off!? So for pocket change I bought it.

Looked it up and oops, the lens was threaded, two turns and the lens was out full length and then the camera shutter would work. The lens was marked 100mm. This Kodak was a specialized portrait camera! Kodak was the authority on Photography during that B/W film era and surly it was researched and debated to death before such a camera was made.

The author of the article below(Steve Bedell Posted: Aug 1, 2006) makes the following comment:

"So here's what I'm suggesting as an unbeatable, inexpensive, butt-kicking combo: a 50mm (=75mm) f/1.8 or faster lens, and a lens in the 80-105mm (=120-150mm) range at f/2.8 or faster."

http://www.shutterbug.com/content/pro%E2%80%99s-two-fixed-focal-length-portrait-lenses-six-reasons-he-owns-them-only-not-ready-full-fr

IMO this is NMO (lol) d/p Don

randym77

lindann wrote:

I set it at 85 and I felt I was too far back. I am gong to try to put it at 85 and keep it there all day and see how it feels to me. When I have my 18-55 on I seem to like it at 55 for most of the time.

Do you have a cropped frame camera? 55mm is roughly equivalent to 80mm for a cropped frame camera.

55mm on a full frame camera is "normal." I really like that, too, though not for closeup portraits. This page has a nice explanation of the benefits of a "normal" lens.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

If you want "bokeh" Use your zoom all the way out and have your background at least 10' away from your subject for a head and sholders. I don't know where this 50mm lens for a portrat lens came from. even cropped it will give you big noses. Read the Ken Rockwell website on portrat lenses. I use a 35- 105 mm fixed 2.8 lens at 90+ and a 70-200 fixed f4 lens for portrats both work well. My crop factor is 1.5.

lowbone

80-85mm is a focal length that many people are comfortable with as far as getting a good portrait composition at a comfortable distance from your subject but there are no rules for focal length regarding portraits. Fashion photographers use a focal length of 300mm at times. The Canon EF 85mm f 1.2 lens is not called a portrait lens in their catalog it i just a medium telephoto. Use whatever focal length you need to get the result you want.

wrei

I agree that any thing above 75 mm full size sensor is fine. The problem about portrait lenses is more related to the issue of avoiding wide angle lenses, move close up to the face and of course, end up with a destorted face.

Richard94611 Loc: Oakland, CA

I have been using a 70 - 300 telephoto for portraits for about ten years and have had reasonably good results. Attached are 2 examples I took 2 weeks ago. I think the second one would be improved if I PhotoShopped that little but of pink in the lower right and changed it with the clone tool to the same green next to it.

bfphoto Loc: Houston, TX

My favorite by far is the Canon 70/200 f2.8. Usually shoot somewhere between 100 and 200.