Which lens?

Leah · August 24, 2005

I am in the early stages of learning photography with the end goal of opening my own portrait studio, and I hope to buy a Nikon D70 sometime soon.

I recently read that a typical portrait lens is 90 to 135 mm on a 35 mm camera. What would this translate to in digital?

Most of the lens choices that come in the various D70 kits are 28-80 and 70-300. Can I get away with just one of these for now and add a second one later, if so, which one?

Also, if I buy them as a set, the Nikons are almost $100 more than Tamron or Sigma. Is the price difference worth it?

I don't have a lot of money, but I also want to make a sound decision.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

~Leah

Harryb · August 24, 2005

Leah wrote:

I am in the early stages of learning photography with the end goal of opening my own portrait studio, and I hope to buy a Nikon D70 sometime soon.

I recently read that a typical portrait lens is 90 to 135 mm on a 35 mm camera. What would this translate to in digital?

Most of the lens choices that come in the various D70 kits are 28-80 and 70-300. Can I get away with just one of these for now and add a second one later, if so, which one?

Also, if I buy them as a set, the Nikons are almost $100 more than Tamron or Sigma. Is the price difference worth it?

I don't have a lot of money, but I also want to make a sound decision.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

~Leah

If you are going to go with one and you want to concentrate on portraits go with the 28-80 lens. The price difference is worth it usually as the Nikon will hold its value if you decide to sell it later on. If you hope to do studio work professionally expect to lay out a lot more on lenses, lighting and backdrops.

Mitchell · August 24, 2005

I'm a D70 owner with several different lenses. If cost is a big concern for you as you are starting out, I would highly recommend the kit lens that comes with this camera. It is not particularly fast, but it is lightweight and a good range of focal lengths for portraits. Many feel this lens is one of the best Nikon bargains out there right now.

If you are really serious about portrait photography, you may want to consider buying a professional quality lens. I would highly recommend the Nikkor 28-70mm, f2.8 ED lens. This lens is sharp, fast and has excellent color reproduction. Unfortunately, it is also expensive (>$1,000) and heavy (2lbs). Many feel this is the best zoom lens Nikon has ever made.

Good luck

,
mitch

Harryb · August 24, 2005

Mitchell wrote:

I'm a D70 owner with several different lenses. If cost is a big concern for you as you are starting out, I would highly recommend the kit lens that comes with this camera. It is not particularly fast, but it is lightweight and a good range of focal lengths for portraits. Many feel this lens is one of the best Nikon bargains out there right now.

If you are really serious about portrait photography, you may want to consider buying a professional quality lens. I would highly recommend the Nikkor 28-70mm, f2.8 ED lens. This lens is sharp, fast and has excellent color reproduction. Unfortunately, it is also expensive (>$1,000) and heavy (2lbs). Many feel this is the best zoom lens Nikon has ever made.

Good luck ,
mitch

. The 28-70 F2.8, and the 18-55 F2.8 have received raves from photographers who do portrait work. Both are these are over $1000 so I figured they were beyond your budget. A very good lens for portraits is the 50mm f1.8 which goes for less than $100.

spider-t · August 24, 2005

Think about the 24-120 VR instead of the kit lens

Leah wrote:

I am in the early stages of learning photography with the end goal of opening my own portrait studio, and I hope to buy a Nikon D70 sometime soon.

I recently read that a typical portrait lens is 90 to 135 mm on a 35 mm camera. What would this translate to in digital?

Most of the lens choices that come in the various D70 kits are 28-80 and 70-300. Can I get away with just one of these for now and add a second one later, if so, which one?

Also, if I buy them as a set, the Nikons are almost $100 more than Tamron or Sigma. Is the price difference worth it?

I don't have a lot of money, but I also want to make a sound decision.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

~Leah

If you want one lens, consider the Nikon 24-120 VR instead of the kit lens. It's a great walking around lens, good range of focal lengths, a fast focuser and not too expensive.

I got it instead of the kit lens a year ago and I'm totally happy. Though portraits are not my main work. I shoot a lot of street photography.

The ideal portrait focal length doesn't change because of the digital magnification factor. It has more to do with how your nose looks relative to your ears. So90-130 is still as right for digital as it is for 35mm. You just can't get quite as much of your subject in the frame.

Here are a few portrait samples shot with that lens:
http://trishtunney.smugmug.com/gallery/741058/

cheers!
-Trish
http://www.trishtunney.com/

wxwax · August 24, 2005

Leah wrote:

I recently read that a typical portrait lens is 90 to 135 mm on a 35 mm camera. What would this translate to in digital?
~Leah

The D70 has a 1.5 crop factor. So multiply any lens by 1.5 to get its new effective focal length. It's not really a focal length change, of course, just how much of the image from the lens appears on the sensor, which is smaller than 35mm film.

pathfinder · August 24, 2005

spider-t wrote:

If you want one lens, consider the Nikon 24-120 VR instead of the kit lens. It's a great walking around lens, good range of focal lengths, a fast focuser and not too expensive.

I got it instead of the kit lens a year ago and I'm totally happy. Though portraits are not my main work. I shoot a lot of street photography.

The ideal portrait focal length doesn't change because of the digital magnification factor. It has more to do with how your nose looks relative to your ears. So90-130 is still as right for digital as it is for 35mm. You just can't get quite as much of your subject in the frame.

Here are a few portrait samples shot with that lens:
http://trishtunney.smugmug.com/gallery/741058/

cheers!
-Trish
http://www.trishtunney.com/

I agree! 85mm always was the quintissential portrait lens for 35mm, and I still think it is the best. 70 to 105mm have all been heavily used as portrait lenses for 35mm film cameras, because they have the better perspective - ie; nose to ear sizes:D

Fine portraits have been shot with anywhere from 21mm to 400mm lenses, but the mild teles have always been the traditional studio choice. 85 f1.8 is a great choice. Primes rule!

XO-Studios · August 24, 2005

Harryb wrote:

. The 28-70 F2.8, and the 18-55 F2.8 have received raves from photographers who do portrait work. Both are these are over $1000 so I figured they were beyond your budget. A very good lens for portraits is the 50mm f1.8 which goes for less than $100.

Another vote for the 50mm/f1.8 for the money it CANNOT be beat, and it is close to the sweety for 35mm camera's which is 85mm (50mm on a D70 is equivalent to 75mm on a 35mm)

Keep in mind with the kit lens, it is pretty hard to get shallow DOF which you sometimes want with portraits, especially since you will be using the long end of the kit lens.

I have a D70, the Kit lens, a 50mm/1.8 and a 80-200/2.8

by lens doing portraits:
kit lens - 5% (basically only if it is mounted already)
50mm/1.8 - 80% (I love this lens)
80-200/2.8 - 15% (works good to get closeups while maintaining distance, also nice shallow DOF)

examples with each:
kit lens: http://www.xo-studios.com/photos/13332004-L.jpg
50mm/1.8: http://www.XO-Studios.com/photos/31331921-L.jpg
80-200/2.8 (@200mm) http://www.XO-Studios.com/photos/31324946-L.jpg

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me.

XO,

Leah · August 24, 2005

Thanks everyone!
I really got some fantastic advice! I am writing all of this down, and I at least have an idea of what to start looking for.

Really, this was more than I hoped for!

luckyrwe · August 24, 2005

Everyone needs at least one fast lens. I got my wife the 85/1.8D used and she loves it for portraits and anything low light. She likes shooting birds and at dusk she can still get pictures. It was used and only $220.

ian408 · August 26, 2005

Hello Leah and welcome to dgrin!

I moved your lens thread up to cameras to give it a bit more
visibility.

Ian

Vince · August 30, 2005

Hi Leah
If you're on a budget, which is what I assume if this is your first DSLR purchase, I'd recommend these two lenses for portraiture (sp?):

-Nikon f1.8D 85mm ($400)

-Tamron 28-75 f2.8 XR Di ($350)>>>graet value and is my walk-around lens. I own this lens and I've read that it *almost* rivals the more expensive Nikon 28-70. Of course not in the same class since the Nikon is 3-4X more, but the tamron is an excellent value.

You should also invest in an external flash. ie. sb600 or sb800. Bounce flash photography is a must IMHO for portraiture.

Good luck!!!

zigzag · August 31, 2005

Budget-wise I have to recommend both the kit lens and the 50mm 1.8D. The kit lens gives you great versatility, but for portraits the 1.8 works very nicely. It's only $100! I just bought one last week. Samples --

Kit lens:

50mm 1.8D:

Matthew Saville · August 31, 2005

Here's another vote for 50mm and 85mm fixed lenses.

I have a friend who bought their D70 with the kit lens (I didn't) and they slowly decided that they wanted to get into portrat photography, admiring such artists such as Zosia Zija, www.zija.net. And what do you know, he found the 85mm f/1.8 and the 60mm f/2.8 to be perfect for him! (He also does a little macro on top of portraits...)

If you start the D70 with the kit lens, you will be very happy as far as general photography goes; the 18-70 kit lens is BY FAR the best kit lens on the market, period. (Other than Canon's 17-85 IS, but that lens isn't really a kit lens since it's over $1000, they just happened to bundle it with the 20D at Adorama and B&H...)

If however you are definitely getting into portraits and what not, the kit lens WILL leave you with a lot to be desired in the depth of field (out-of-focus background) category. If you can afford it, start with the 18-70 and either the 50mm f/1.8 or 60mm f/2.8. (both of those second choices are excellent, perfect for-a-D70 portrait lenses, and the 60mm is just "known" as a macro lens. But it does absolutely razor sharp portraits too!)

Good luck!
-Matt-

Which lens?

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