Dream Portrait lens for ~1000

Photometric

For a Nikon body. Anyone have suggestions?
TIA

ziggy53

Photometric wrote:

For a Nikon body. Anyone have suggestions?
TIA

What type of portraiture? Head shot, head-and-shoulders, 3/4 length, full length, ?

What Nikon camera? Crop/DX, Full-frame/FX?

Environmental or studio?

The more you explain your needs the more we can help.

Photometric

I would prefer a head and shoulders mostly.

Nikon body, I would prefer full frame as I'll be moving from a D90 to a D700 shortly.

Forgive my ignorance, but shouldn't the lens be able to handle either environments as long as I set the camera correctly?

ziggy53

Photometric wrote:

I would prefer a head and shoulders mostly.

Nikon body, I would prefer full frame as I'll be moving from a D90 to a D700 shortly.

Forgive my ignorance, but shouldn't the lens be able to handle either environments as long as I set the camera correctly?

For a FF body you will need longer focal length lenses to avoid distortions which can make noses and ears appear larger.

In Nikon land this would mostly be:

Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF
Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D
DC-Nikkor 105mm f/2D
DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2D
Nikkor 180mm f/2.8D IF-ED

One of the Nikkor 70/80-200mm, f2.8 zoom lenses would also be appropriate, as would a Sigma or Tamron of similar focal length and aperture.

Environmental portraiture is done on-site, or sometimes it refers to outside photography as well. Typically you want a large aperture prime lens to handle environmental portraiture to help blur the background.

While a large aperture is also beneficial in the studio, it gives you more choices, you generally can use a background/backdrop to help keep the background simple.

Given your requirements of FF, subject type and price range, the DC-Nikkor 105mm f/2D would probably be a primary consideration, although the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF is not too much more and an awfully nice lens. The DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2D is a bit more yet, but very nice for the application.

Qarik

Photometric wrote:

For a Nikon body. Anyone have suggestions?
TIA

hands down the 85mm 1.4. This is my favorite lens of all time for portraits.

borrowlenses.com

85 1.4 or 105mm f2.8 VR would be good.

TheDuck

I've never ever ever enjoyed a portraiture lens as much as my Minolta Maxxum "G" 85mm f1.4. That lens turned me into a Maxxum "G" and Canon "L" junkie, but that lens remains my favorite - the bokeh was unbelievable. I see from someone else's recommendation that Nikon has an 85mm f1.4 so you may want to start with that (as I type, I don't remember what body you use....the 85mm is perfect for 35mm full frame, IMO....too long for 1.6x crop (1.5x on Nikons)).

Be seeing you,
The Duck

Photometric

TheDuck wrote:

I've never ever ever enjoyed a portraiture lens as much as my Minolta Maxxum "G" 85mm f1.4. That lens turned me into a Maxxum "G" and Canon "L" junkie, but that lens remains my favorite - the bokeh was unbelievable. I see from someone else's recommendation that Nikon has an 85mm f1.4 so you may want to start with that (as I type, I don't remember what body you use....the 85mm is perfect for 35mm full frame, IMO....too long for 1.6x crop (1.5x on Nikons)).

Be seeing you,
The Duck

Duck,

Doing the math, for the current D90 that I own, I have a 50mm f1.8 lens, so that should be almost comparable (in crop factor) to the 85mm lens, correct? (50 * 1.6 = 80.0mm)

ziggy53

Photometric wrote:

Duck,

Doing the math, for the current D90 that I own, I have a 50mm f1.8 lens, so that should be almost comparable (in crop factor) to the 85mm lens, correct? (50 * 1.6 = 80.0mm)

Yes, but the Nikon crop factor is 1.5x, so a 50mm lens on a Nikon crop camera has a similar FOV to a 75mm lens on FF. Still, very similar.

angevin1

Photometric wrote:

Duck,

Doing the math, for the current D90 that I own, I have a 50mm f1.8 lens, so that should be almost comparable (in crop factor) to the 85mm lens, correct? (50 * 1.6 = 80.0mm)

Which was another reason the 70-200 VR was mentioned. It'll allow use on both FX and DX systems, and give you the correct focal range for portraiture. I HAD the renowned 85 1.4 mm and on a DX body, I just didn't like it. I suspect it would look a whole lot different today on my FX body. Anywhere in the 85-105 range should suit you well for portraits, keeping in mind of staying 10-12 feet away from your subject~ I presently use several different lenses for portrait work. a 50 prime, a 105 prime and two different zooms: 35-70 and 80-200mm~

As far as setting the camera correctly? I assume your speaking to distance from subject? And if you are, following rules of thumb, you cannot take the same portrait from closer distances as you can from further away because of like Ziggy Suggested, distortion of proportions: nose/ears, etc...but then again, rules are broken every day and creativity leads the way~

TheDuck

Photometric wrote:

Duck,

Doing the math, for the current D90 that I own, I have a 50mm f1.8 lens, so that should be almost comparable (in crop factor) to the 85mm lens, correct? (50 * 1.6 = 80.0mm)

I don't know reasons why...but when it comes to lens personalities, math isn't always as useful as I'd wish! I've got a Canon 50mm 1.4x....it's a 80mm f1.4 equivalent on my 40D as you mention....I rarely use it. Bokeh is NOTHING like the Maxxum "G" 85mm f1.4. Ok, the Canon isn't an "L", but still...it's a very sharp lens with great color. But equal to the Minolta...not even close.

I'm not Canon bashing here....I LOVE the images from my Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS.

I don't know the Nikon lenses at all, but I'd suggest looking in the 85mm-100mm (equivalent) range, with good glass, and a large max aperture. You'll need to stop down (I didn't get many good shots at f1.4 - tiny tiny DOF), but looking through a fast lens is great, and makes autofocus much faster!

Be seeing you,
The Duck

rookieshooter

85mm 1.4 Here is a pic of my roomate's cat with this lens. I love it!

Photometric

That is a beautiful shot. Colors and light are very pleasing.

Thanks for all of the advice from everyone, it's a great community.

If anyone else has advice, it is always greatly appreciated.

Art Scott

2 full frame lenses I cannot live with out and one incarnation or another has been my shooting lenses for over 25+ years....the Sigma 24-70 and Sigma 70-200 both f2.8......jumped from the Sigma 28-70 to the 24-70 about 3 yrs ago.....been using a 70-210 Sigma for ever....now that I have gone back to Nikon I will have to get these again....newer 70-200 is said to be faster focus than my old 70-210.....go figure:D:D

In film days I shot for over 10yrs doing wedding and portraits and concerts with ONLY the 70-210 sigma....I foot zoomed a lot at 70mm but I was so used to it I never noticed and when I got a 28-70 and a 2nd body that was really something just swap cams...no lens change ...no foot zoom.....it was great and a time save also........