Camera Labs

You see lots of posts asking 'what is the best focal length for portraits'. And then you see a few bizarre answers.

My answer is 'whatever lens I have on my camera at the time'

The closer you get, the more certain facial features can be brought out. A large nose, stick with a longer focal length and stand back. An 85mm or 135mm can be far more flattering, but there's no substitute for getting up close and personal for gritty realism

Here's an example with a couple of lenses used with the same subject. I was testing two cameras, so had my 50mm f1.4 on the D600 and 2/35 Distagon on the D800. Note that the D600 was set up to shoot in jpg and Vivid, while the D800 was set up to shoot RAW and the colours are more realistic.

Firstly a longer range shot with the D600-50mm f1.4G combo:

Colour:



Black and White:




And then an up close and personal shot with the D800 and 35mm:

Colour:



Black and White:

In my opinion, you should consider different focal lengths depending on the working space you have. If you're doing street photography in a crowded place, a 35mm would suit you, or maybe something wider. If you're shooting in a less crowded place, a 50mm is the way to go. If you're shooting a wedding, maybe you could have a 100mm for some nice bokeh. Of course you can always have a zoom lens, but those are just more expensive and don't have IQ as good as a prime lens.
And from where I see it, if you consider both what you and I said, you can choose your lens for portrait. Of course I think that what you said is more important, but sometimes you might have to consider what I said as well.

Anyways, if what I said is ridiculous in any way, don't hesitate to criticize me (constructively obviously), I'll be more than glad to be corrected

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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I'm not a portrait guy but I dabble. What I have learnt is i have pretty much 2 options.

1 go with a 35-50mm prime which is fast and sharp enabling quick capture or ability to operate in low light.

2 go with a tele say 100-200mm with image stabilising for the bokeh and sharpened focal length.

This is my experience.

I have used a 17-85 zoom but the results are not as good as a fast prime or from a distance with the tele.

Just my experience.

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Canon 550D, Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM, Canon EF 75-300 IS USM, Canon EFS 10-22mm USM, Canon EF35mm F2.

Got some of the gear but really still no idea...

It does demonstrate how to shoot people with big noses, hope you didn’t tell him that Good tip.


Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.