Samsung 16-50mm F2-2.8 ED OSS worth buying for portraits?

Hello!

I'm going to buy Samsung 16-50mm F2-2.8 ED OSS and will use it for portraits mostly on my NX30. Could anybody share some portraits made with this lens (35-50 mm wide open)? Any thoughts about this lenses, is it good choice for portraits or not?

cyberpi1 wrote:

Hello!

I'm going to buy Samsung 16-50mm F2-2.8 ED OSS and will use it for portraits mostly on my NX30. Could anybody share some portraits made with this lens (35-50 mm wide open)? Any thoughts about this lenses, is it good choice for portraits or not?

It would be a fine choice for group shots and full length portraits but I'd want a little longer for head and shoulder type portraits.

wpstl wrote:

It would be a fine choice for group shots and full length portraits but I'd want a little longer for head and shoulder type portraits.

I'm going to use it mostly for full lenth portraits. For head and shoulder portraits I already have brilliant 85mm f/1.4 )

jennyrae, thanks for a link!

I've found a lot pictures here http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=slr_review&divpage=1&no=411 but no portraits.

cyberpi1 wrote:

Hello!

I'm going to buy Samsung 16-50mm F2-2.8 ED OSS and will use it for portraits mostly on my NX30. Could anybody share some portraits made with this lens (35-50 mm wide open)? Any thoughts about this lenses, is it good choice for portraits or not?

I would chose the 50-150mm for portraits instead, because it has a (to my taste) better bokeh, and it is sharp across the whole frame, even wide open (beside of the better suited focal range)...

...and it has no Lo CA:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54918429

The focus limiter also helps to speed things up, in very low light and low contrast conditions.

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However bokeh wise, the 45mm F1.8 is a tad better and it is much more compact and weights nearly nothing in comparison to the 50-150mm lens...

...and the price is a steal in regard of its performance.

(The corner performance @ F2.8 and the Lo CAs are not as good as with the 50-150mm lens @ F2.8, which is flawless in this regard, and the 45mm has no OIS.)

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I think, if you have the 50-150mm lens, you don't need the 85mm, except you really want to have F1.4, or F2.0 DOF.

Usee wrote:

cyberpi1 wrote:

Hello!

I'm going to buy Samsung 16-50mm F2-2.8 ED OSS and will use it for portraits mostly on my NX30. Could anybody share some portraits made with this lens (35-50 mm wide open)? Any thoughts about this lenses, is it good choice for portraits or not?

I would chose the 50-150mm for portraits instead, because it has a (to my taste) better bokeh, and it is sharp across the whole frame, even wide open (beside of the better suited focal range)...

I totally agree, 50-150mm is really awesome, but it require a lot space to use it. Unfortunately, usually I don't have enough space to shoot with lenses longer than 85mm.

Both 16-50mm and 50-150mm are very good lenses and at prime level f/2.8 and up.  However, they are larger and more expensive (and the 50-150mm can be subject to veiling glare towards bright light).

I think I would get 50-150mm primarily for portraits, it is the lens which has a greater difference to any of the other lenses.  I.e., you can use a 30mm f/2 and 45mm f/1.8 to get shallow depth of field and light gathering ability, but the 50-150mm f/2.8 gives you that 150mm f/2.8 which is really nice for shallow depth of field and other purposes.

Here are lens combinations I have used and liked:

16-50mm f/2-2.8, 85mm f/1.4.  I shot 3 weddings with this combo and liked it a lot, but do have to watch at large apertures the 85mm is focused on an eye and not an ear hair highlight.

16-50mm f/2-2.8, 50-150mm f/2.8.  Much faster focus than 85mm, and similar performance over shared aperture range (at least good enough I don't worry about 50-150mm performance).

12-24mm, 30mm f/2, 45mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.4, nice range, large apertures.  I think 45mm is the fastest focusing Samsung lens, but not always accurate at large apertures (think it has a tendency to grab hair highlights, or maybe PDAF tweaks are necessary from Samsung, at least on NX30 or 300).

Etc, there are plenty of variations here.  Two f/2-2.8 and 2.8 zooms are convenient for the aperture, primes are less convenient, but larger aperture, more resistant to flare (45mm and 85mm not as much), so always trade offs.

My thought is you will notice more difference between the 50-150mm and other lenses than you will between the 16-50mm S and a normal kit lens or a couple primes, but it really depends on how you use it.

Eric

Thanks for sharing your experience, Eric!

Eventually, I've decided to save up money for something else.

Save yourself some money and consider the 85mm or the 45mm.  Both are good lenses and will serve you well fir portraits.

This one have portrait shot

http://www.popco.net/zboard/view.php?specview=3&id=lens_brandlist&no=675&page=1&page_num=&category=&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&keyword=&prev_no=&sn1=&divpage=1&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc