need help choosing new lens - portraits

[UncleFai]

For kids I recommend 35mm for FX, and 24mm for DX.

Depends on age... for toddlers, if you get too close, all they interested in is to grab and poke poke your camera... then you get upset and start caning them... not good lah.

 

[narofx]

wow, thanks for all the quick replies, I'll look into your suggestions. Narofx maybe I used the term portrait wrongly - I mean at least head to waist, but sometimes capturing more of their body - still, emphasis on facial expression rather than the background/setting. And outdoor shots rather than indoor. Octarine, I know there is plenty more I can learn with my existing kit, but thought it would be fun to experiment with something different too. Am I wrong that changing to a fast speed decreases depth of field because of the change in aperture? I have read the basics and done a mini-course, not professing to be a gun photographer but just someone who wants to explore photography a bit more..... Thanks for the link pinholecam, that should be helpful.
Thanks again for all the advice!

in that case, you may wanna try out the 35mm f/1.8, which allows u to be quite a close working distance and still capture head-to-waist portraits.

if your budget allows, you can buy both the 35mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.8 so that you can try out the working distance. hope that helps.

just to share with you my experience of taking photos of my nephews, with my D90 and both AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8 and AF-D 50mm f/1.4.

Auto-focus speed with the AF-D 50mm f/1.4 was faster than the AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8, so the AF-D 50mm f/1.4 was better at capturing my nephews running around. However, the field of view when used indoors is too restrictive.

 

[narofx]

Depends on age... for toddlers, if you get too close, all they interested in is to grab and poke poke your camera... then you get upset and start caning them... not good lah.

that's one of the reason why i used UV filters for all my lenses..

 

[blurp]

sorry to hijack this thread... but its on the same topic..

Auto-focus speed with the AF-D 50mm f/1.4 was faster than the AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8, so the AF-D 50mm f/1.4 was better at capturing my nephews running around. However, the field of view when used indoors is too restrictive.

What AF settings did you use? I have the AF-D 50mm f/1.4 and still find it too slow. Searching around for reviews on the 35mm 1.8 and landed me with this comment. Are there really no better lenses, or its just my skill that suck? :dunno:

 

[mitsucolt]

if you think that 50mm is abit "tight", can consider the 35mm f1.8G, also another decent portrait lens if you dont like to keep moving back to shoot a picture.

sorry to hijack this thread, is taking with this (prime) lens not give a bit of distortion at the edge? just asking.


my lucky shot, not with DSLR

 

[bruggink]

Leica 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux-M - "Out-performs the human eye"... cheap cheap... USD$10,450 only...

Just kidding... I too have a D90... then got the 50mm f1.8... really happy with it... so got the 50mm f1.4G also... I would highly recommend the 50mm f1.8 - as well as the 35mm DX. Best bang for the buck.

Nice Leica lens.. After buying the lens, I can only say the size of the pocket hole is as big as the aperture hole. :bsmilie:

 

[Override2Zion]

I think the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 would be a good buy, good lens for the price. If you have some spare cash but don't wanna burn a hole in your pocket with those high-end primes, then you can also take a look at the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 or 28-75mm f/2.8. With some range for zoom, it'll be a little more flexible during shoots.