Lens for portraits

• Bartek1

  Participant

  May 11, 2009 at 5:42 pm

  Hallo!

  I know that that kind of question must have been asked many times, allthough i dont have much time to look for an answer

  What lens would you consider the finnest for portraits for canon DSLR

  Many thanks!
  IOP

  Participant

  May 11, 2009 at 7:26 pm

  Bartek, which Canon do you have?

  Dave
  Bartek1

  Participant

  May 17, 2009 at 12:48 am

  I have canon 30D
  Bartek1

  Participant

  May 17, 2009 at 12:50 am

  Thanks for any ideas, I already have 100 mm macro from canon but it’s a bit to long for indoors
  Shleed

  Member

  May 17, 2009 at 1:59 am

  50mm f1.8 or f1.4 are good starters. The f1.8 is cheaper, but the f1.4 lets in more light, has better build quality and has USM.
  IOP

  Participant

  May 17, 2009 at 10:44 am

  Bartek1 wrote:

  Thanks for any ideas, I already have 100 mm macro from canon but it’s a bit to long for indoors

  Focal lengths of around 100mm are considered ideal for portraits. Problem is that on your 30D, with it’s 1.6 crop factor, a 100mm lens becomes a 160mm lens.

  As far as focal lengths for your camera are concerned then you need one that is around 60mm (60mm x 1.6 = 94mm). The reason that this focal length is considered good for portraits is anything below this range distorts your image (noses start to look bigger than they are) and above this you start getting the compression that longer focal lengths bring in.

  Any zoom lens that gets you there is fine (bearing in mind that zoom lenses are compromises when it comes to sharpness and may not have very wide apertures at this focal length), but I think that, if price isn’t an issue, then the Canon
  EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro prime (or fixed) lens is ideal for this type of photography,

  Dave