Quick poll - Best portrait lens with samples to prove it!

[ishootfirst]

As the subject suggests, please post the pictures you're most proud of and which show the capabilities of your preferred portrait lens.

In 4 thirds shallow DOF is less than on larger sensor systems, please show someone who is about to leap into the 4 thirds pool that Olympus can hold its own?

As someone who is still considering canon the three 50mm primes spring to mind with the 1.8 dirt cheap and probably the best price to quality ratio around??

At the moment I'm leaning toward the Sigma 30 1.4 as a good starting place but the photozone test result was less than flattering and only on Canikon mounts..
--
Drew his own pic

 

[OaklandWoody]

Really works well of these 4 shots (just some I grabbed) only the last one is wide open. I can get the tip of the nose in focus and have the eye lashes out.









--
Feel free to tear me apart
---cheers
woody
http://woodydelp.smugmug.com/

 

[ishootfirst]

Thanks for taking the time to post these, the model is gorgeous

This lens is the equivalent of 100mm on fullframe, what is your typical working distance?

how often do you shoot wide open?
--
Drew his own pic

 

[RoelHendrickx]

Two Sahara sunrise portraits, shot wide open and medium close :





--
Roel Hendrickx
--
member of UK (and abroad) Photo Safari Group ( http://www.biofos.com/ukpsg )

UKPSG presents a Tunisia E-3 user field report: http://www.biofos.com/ukpsg/roel.html

 

[OaklandWoody]

Thanks for taking the time to post these, the model is gorgeous

Thanks they are my daughters.

This lens is the equivalent of 100mm on fullframe, what is your
typical working distance?

Yes and for full head shots I'm in pretty close (a little over an arm's length away).

how often do you shoot wide open?

For portraits not as much as when I first got the lens, I found that the DOF can easily be too shallow. This lens is a true jewel, you don't have to worry about where in the frame your focus point is, center, edge, or corner, if it is in focus it is going to be sharp.

--
Drew his own pic

--
Feel free to tear me apart
---cheers
woody
http://woodydelp.smugmug.com/

 

[Hot Toddy]

My choice for best portait lenses would be 50mm and the 50-200.

In 4 thirds shallow DOF is less than on larger sensor systems, please
show someone who is about to leap into the 4 thirds pool that Olympus
can hold its own?

If you go to the Depth of Field Master website ( http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html ) , you can play with the numbers and decide if Oly is right for you.

Oly can hold it's own IFF: you have enough space between your subject and the background. This is easy enough outside, but not as easy inside for some of us.

I have a 5D for portraits and weddings - weddings are dark, and I don't have the room when doing portraits to put enough distance between my subjects and the backdrops to get that shallow dof.

It's all about the right tool for the circumstances. The 50-200 is my fave lens, but I can't use it inside unless I start knocking some holes in the walls, so I use the "full-frame" indoors for portraits. (The E510 is far too noisy even with studio lights at iso 100 for portraits anyways. I love the 510 outside though. The E500 doesn't have a noise problem at low iso, just at high iso.)

Anyways, here are a couple of admittedly amatuerish portraits from a couple of years ago done with the e500 and 50-200:





Todd

 

[Carloskbco]

This is my favorite lens, with the 1.4EC the 50mm becomes a 70mm lens, just perfect for portraits as far as I'm concerned...here are some samples:









This is just the 50mm by itself...



Carlos

 

[Pedagydusz]

Carlos, those are excellent! Have you tried the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 ? The DOF should be similar, but I wonder about the bokeh. (I actually have that lens, will try it tomorrow)
--
Antonio

http://ferrer.smugmug.com/

 

[jfinite]

OM 50 1.8...cause I aint got $400 for the ZD 50/2











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http://www.pbase.com/jfinite

 

[Carloskbco]

If I spend another penny on anything about Photography...I'll get kicked out of the house !

So I'll have to do with kit lenses, 14-54mm, 50mm f2, 1.4EC and (2)E300s, an E-510.

I'll have to start making money with what I have to be "allowed" to buy anything else!

Carlos

 

[Carloskbco]

except #4, you know the guy with the navarone hat...did the camera survive after that shot?



Nothing wrong with the OM lenses, I have been looking for those lenses in the pwnshops around here...

Carlos

 

[2005magnum]

--
http://digitalphotonut.zenfolio.com/

 

[pinnacle]

Nice images from those older lenses. You did a great job with them.

Dan
--

The 'Camera'...but a tool of the 'Artist'...the creator needs but a chalk and a slate to render immortality...

 

[jfinite]

Carloskbco wrote:
except #4, you know the guy with the navarone hat...did the camera
survive after that shot?

Haha, yeah, barely! That first one of yours posted is fantastic, Carlos!
--



http://www.pbase.com/jfinite

 

[Tekmar]

I have the 14-54 F2.8, 40-150 kit and also use an OM 50mm F1.8.
They all work well.

I became a father for the second time last Thursday, the OM 50mm is impressing me:



What was the issue with DOF on 4/3 again? ;-)

e-510, OM 50mm F1.8 @F2.8, 1/50s, manual with off-camera flash on a lightstand set to manual & bounced off a side wall (Strobist).

The only issue is that the lens is hard to manually focus when stopped down (I have not yet experimented with using Live View to focus).

• Steve

 

[Raul Rivera]

Both with the 50-200.

And thats not my best portrait lens, the best is the 50mm f2.
--
' Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.'

http://rery.smugmug.com

 

[RightRudder]

Mine are barely in the amateur realm and taken with lenses not at all known for "bokeh" - but I am pleased with them nonetheless.

first two with 14-54 - sure doesn't have a reputation for "bokeh", but sometimes it can be all right (I think).





last two with 50-200 - I read that occasionally has a "distracting" "bokeh" - these are not particulary smooth, but I find them okay nonetheless.





No doubt mine are no match for

 

[Holgs]

f/3.3 - 117 mm @ 1/500sec - taken on my first day with the lens - so far finding that its very capable
--
My profile on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/people/holgs/
(photos from my travels and life in general)

 

[Quooker]

but sold it to fund the 50-200swd

here are some samples, all shot wide open.

I noticed several times that I wanted to take pictures closer to the subject that this lens can handle.
But I had decent results with it and I miss my low light lens a lot now.
Maybe I should try the ZD50...







regards
Ivan

 

[MihaS]

I recently had a spring cleaning on my flickr account, so there aren't many pictures to show..







--

'It's not staying in the same place that's the problem, it's not letting your mind wander' (Terry Pratchett)