Camera Labs

hi guys & girls looking for a good portrait lens seen some gd reports on the nikon af 50mm f 1.8d and seems to be at a good price. will be going on my D80, any thoughts would be nice cheers

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Nikon D80
18-70mm
70 - 210 D

Maybe the 35mm is a better option...

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

I'd go for something a little longer than 35 or 50mm - with these you need to be really close to the subject if you really want to fill the frame and that can make them a tad uncomfortable.

If you're into primes maybe consider 85 or 105mm options. The older 85mm f1.8 D AF is still available for not a huge amount more than the 50mm - the Nikon 105mm f2.8 G AF-S VR IF ED Micro gets good reviews too and has the benefit of being a macro too - although you'll pay a lot more for this one.

Scott

Hi mrstratts,

the 55-200 VR is a great portrait lens. It's versatile, offers better foreground-background separation than the large-aperture primes and is less brutally sharp too. Great color rendition for skin tones and very inexpensive to boot.

The range itself, allows you to be outside your models' "body bubbles". Even if you are comfortable being in their space, the opposite may not be true and that's where the 100+ mm range comes in very handy.

It also allows for more candid shooting since you may go unnoticed from a further distance.

Cheers

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Nikon stuff and other stuff, but not nearly as much stuff as I really want!

cheers for all your help

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Nikon D80
18-70mm
70 - 210 D