Portrait Lens

[pommie]

I'm a newbie who spends most of the time taking portrait pics of the family both indoors and outdoors.

My camera is a D80 with a 18 - 135mm lens

I was considering getting a prime lens for low light indoor photos and was hoping to get some advise.

I knwo the Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM is a good lens but I feel it may be an over kill for a newbie?

Alternatives could be a 2nd hand Nikon 50mm F2.0?

Do you think a newbie will be able to tell the diff between an F1.4, 1.8 and 2.0?
Should I just go with a cheap 2nd hand lens 1st?

Also I saw a thread saying that 50mm prime lenses are the most common, but with the crop factor a 30mm lens becomes nearly 50mm, so why arent people buying these?

What would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[buddy]

One test - stick your 18-135mm in 30mm and dont touch the zoom lens further. Go around and take your indoor family shots at the distances you normally shoot at. Use AP mode, and open up the aperture, pump up the ISO if necessary to get the proper shutter speeds. If you notice, u prob can take half body shots or maybe full body shots if you have a big enough house. Of course you can go closer but observe the reaction from your family members closely when you do so. Also, look at how certain features like the nose might get a bit distorted.

Move on to 50mm and try it out again. You will probably find that you can do head and shoulders or even face only shots.

Which shots do you like better? Once you have tried these out, nothing to stop you from getting a 50mm f1.8 (cheap and good choice) or a 35mm f2. 50mm f2 could be a manual lens. If you find that you are shooting too close at 50mm, try a 85mm f1.8. The difference between f1.8 and f1.4 is half a fstop i think but the price difference is pretty great. Most pp will swear the bokeh (background blur) from the f1.4 is much better than the f1.8, you can check out the numerous comparisons on Pbase and other sites.

 

[pommie]

Thanks for the advice, I try those tests over the weekend.

 

[zac08]

As mentioned, just shoot a bunch of portraits at various focal lenghts. Then use a tool to check which is your favoured focal lenghts in the collection of photos. There is a program which tabulates your focal lengths, aperture, shutter speed and even ISO. I'm not at home at the moment so can't give the name. Will check back on the thread and add on later.

 

[xunjas]

u should walk into the shop and try out those lenses to find what u like, and how the field of view look like with your cam.. take the 1st step to try them out first before deciding.. =)

 

[eric.appleguy]

Ok a little OT, but how may of you here actually read an MTF chart when considering a lens ?

 

[hacknet]

i think a zoom lens is alright for portraits but the thing i like best about my 50mm prime is the aperture. it gets you handshake-free shots in pretty low light. you should get a 50mm prime to shoot in low light conditions where flash just isnt possible.

 

[zac08]

The program is called Exposure Plot.

and to eric.appleguy,

Nope... never bothered with those. What matters is that it can take good decent photos for me in my hands.

 

[lizzy]

Ok a little OT, but how may of you here actually read an MTF chart when considering a lens ?

i usually look for reviews and comments in forums... mtf chart does not tell you if there are other problems like FF, BF

 

[catchlights]

Ok a little OT, but how may of you here actually read an MTF chart when considering a lens ?

don't be to concern about this, get a lens is popular in most professional and advance amateur won't go wrong to far, what matters most is you skills.

 

[catchlights]

I'm a newbie who spends most of the time taking portrait pics of the family both indoors and outdoors.

My camera is a D80 with a 18 - 135mm lens

I was considering getting a prime lens for low light indoor photos and was hoping to get some advise.

I knwo the Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC HSM is a good lens but I feel it may be an over kill for a newbie?

Alternatives could be a 2nd hand Nikon 50mm F2.0?

Do you think a newbie will be able to tell the diff between an F1.4, 1.8 and 2.0?
Should I just go with a cheap 2nd hand lens 1st?

Also I saw a thread saying that 50mm prime lenses are the most common, but with the crop factor a 30mm lens becomes nearly 50mm, so why arent people buying these?

What would you recommend?

Thanks

low light portrait it is not easy to shoot, even you have the right lens does not mean you can shoot with ease, with prime lens, you need to move alot, to get your framing right.
try use your zoom lens fix at one focal length and see, if you don't like the way you need to work, than you can forget about it.

 

[eric.appleguy]

i usually look for reviews and comments in forums... mtf chart does not tell you if there are other problems like FF, BF

FF and BF is what thing ah ?

 

[zac08]

FF and BF is what thing ah ?

FF = front focusing
BF = back focusing

 

[slick2k5]

nikkor 50mm 1.8D, cheap n gud for newbie like me..

 

[xunjas]

Ok a little OT, but how may of you here actually read an MTF chart when considering a lens ?

i dun read.. i read reviews and know wad i want to shoot and get the lens that i need to shoot.

 

[lizzy]

it is good to read to find out which are the sweet spots to use though :bsmilie:

 

[kcuf2]

Also I saw a thread saying that 50mm prime lenses are the most common, but with the crop factor a 30mm lens becomes nearly 50mm, so why arent people buying these?

What would you recommend?

Thanks

in a way, what u wrote is rite . u know why the 35mm f2 lens, although abt 50mm with the crop factor isnt so popular?
Because of $$$$$ lor.

50mm f1.8 ~ $180
50mmf1.4 ~ $430
35mmf2 ~ $500

most ppl tend to favor the bigger apeture and lower price, thus thats why the 50mm is most widely used by ppl here and elsewhere...