Peter Jonkman
Senior Member
Wow, I haven't been here for a few days and now that I come back I'm called the "Portrait Guru" 
. I feel flattered, but I'm just an average photographer who knows to use his stuff and happens to have several "portrait" primes, that's all. Know where to focus and know how to exposure, and you're set.
The perfect portrait lens does not exist, unfortunately. It's always a trade-off. Sometimes a lens is just too sharp, at other times a lens is not contrasty enough. However, with PP you can do almost anything you want. However, I always try to keep PP to a minimum.
My own personal faves in portrait primes (all on APS-C; on FF the story would be very different I think):
. I feel flattered, but I'm just an average photographer who knows to use his stuff and happens to have several "portrait" primes, that's all. Know where to focus and know how to exposure, and you're set.The perfect portrait lens does not exist, unfortunately. It's always a trade-off. Sometimes a lens is just too sharp, at other times a lens is not contrasty enough. However, with PP you can do almost anything you want. However, I always try to keep PP to a minimum.
My own personal faves in portrait primes (all on APS-C; on FF the story would be very different I think):
- Pre-war (c. 1938) Meyer Gorlitz 7,5cm f/1.9 Primoplan. A very old design with lots of abberations and of course uncoated, but I like the vintage look it gives to suitable subjects. It's a very rare lens; the FA* 200mm f/4 macro is easier to find
- 83mm f/1.9 Asahi-Kogaku Takumar. Asahi's oldest portrait prime (with 7 elements; more than any other Takumar portrait prime; even the S-M-C Takumar only had 6). Not very contrasty and prone to flare, but it's sharp for its age (around 1955) with a very pleasing bokeh. It's also a very small lens, smaller than the later Taks. It was discontinued because it was a very expensive lens to make (it had one group with three glued elements; very expensive and timeconsuming to manufacture).
- Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/1.8 Pancolar. I once compared this to the S-M-C Takumar 85mm f/1.8, but I much prefer this one. There seems to be some magic in the pictures that the Takumar lacks (hard to explain).
- FA77 Limited. If I want AF and auto exposure modes in a small package (for instance on my travels) then this is my lens of choice. Hard to beat, both in looks (it looks COOL on any Pentax DSLR) and made to last a lifetime.
- FA* 85/1.4 [IF]. I only have it for a month, but it's already the best portrait lens in my line-up. Excellent background separation and bokeh; it seems to highlight the subject all by itself. Of course its biggest drawback is the weight (not a con for me) and it tends to clip the highlights very easily (can be corrected in PP and with proper exposure). I tested the A* 85/1.4 too but that one showed more PF than I ever saw in the FA*. I will probably add one to my collection but my choice of preference would be the FA*.
- Last: the DA* 55 F1.4 SDM appears to be a great lens for tight head shots. In such cases the sharpness of the plane of focus (which should be on the eyes) is outstanding, and at the same time the bokeh (for instance in the hair of the model) is super smooth.
