Mirrorless cameras offer pretty much everything that most photographers need and are the next step in the evolution of cameras (along with smartphones and what they’re capable of). And for many, there is no reason why a portrait lens wouldn’t be in their camera bag. The best portrait lenses are longer focal lengths that allow a photographer to separate elements of a scene from their subject so that viewers will only focus on them. Additionally, wider focal lengths tend to make someone (and their parts) look very distorted.
We’ve scoured our reviews index to find some of our favorite portrait lenses for mirrorless cameras. Here’s our roundup.
Olympus 45mm f1.8
The Olympus 45mm f1.8 is a compact lens that focuses extremely quickly thanks in part to its lightweight lens elements. These elements also help to deliver beautiful and extremely sharp images.
In our review, we state:
“The Olympus 45mm f1.8 is a lens that I want to shoot wide open all day and all night. On a personal level, Iâm very pleased with the sharpness that I get with the lens when shooting wide open. For users that love shooting photos of flowers and other plant life, youâll be pleased to know that the results that come out of the camera only need slight color boosts (if any) and the usual sharpening and clarity adjustments.”
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Fujifilm 56mm f1.2
Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s large–but with an 84mm field of view equivalent and an f1.2 aperture, how can you complain? You really can’t, and you’ll probably have no reason to ever stop this lens down.
In our review, we state:
“Letâs be completely and totally honest here: there is very, very little to complain about with the 56mm f1.2.
In general, modern lenses are sharp and have magnificent bokeh. What many of them lack (with the exception of Zeiss and Fujifilm) is contrast â and Fujifilm adds that when you select the right color/film profile. But for a lens like this that was specifically designed for portraiture, you often donât want a lot of contrast because of the way that skin tones can sometimes work. For example, you can often get someone to look too red and youâll need to desaturate that channel in Lightroom and follow it up with boosting the luminance. Fujifilmâs 56mm f1.2 makes you do less of that and handles skin tones of all types quite well.”
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Panasonic 42.5mm f1.2
Currently, this is the fastest aperture lens in the Micro Four Thirds world with autofocus. It also has a solid build quality and was designed in collaboration with Leica. Of any lens from the Micro four thirds world, this is the one you’ll always go back to.
In our review, we state:
“If youâre in the market for an extremely sharp Micro Four Thirds lens of some sort, then youâre reading the right review. Panasonicâs 42.5mm f1.2 lens isâdare we say itâthe sharpest lens for the system that weâve ever tested. Panasonic put a lot of work into it, and youâre surely paying for it. Not only is this lens very sharp, but it focuses quickly, can have some very beautiful bokeh, great color rendition when working with skin tones and overall can present a great look for your subject.”
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Samsung 85mm f1.4
As still one of the best portrait lenses that we’ve tested, the Samsung 85mm f1.4 is also one of the oldest on this list. But it delivers excellent colors, incredible sharpness and beautiful bokeh. This lens more so than any other could be a great reason to consider Samsung.
In our review, we state:
“Weâve spent a very long amount of time with Samsungâs 85mm f1.4 and we have to say that itâs seriously beautiful. When combined with the Galaxy NXâs ability to send an image straight to someone it becomes something that youâll fall in love with even more for its ability to help you create beautiful images.”
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Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO
Built to be durable, the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO lens is the company’s top of the line telephoto zoom lens. But it also provides great colors, excellent skin tone rendition, and super sharp image quality right from the camera.
In our review, we state:
“Among any of the Olympus zoom lens offerings that weâve tested, the 40-150mm f2.8 PRO is the one that I loved the absolute most and almost didnât want to send back. Itâs lightweight, fairly small for what it is, fast to focus, offers crisp image quality, is weather sealed, and wonât fail you when working. For the wedding, sports, portrait, or journalism photographer that needs to work with zooms, you should know that Olympus now has the best zoom lens lineup of any manufacturer in the mirrorless camera world. When coupled with the companyâs very good 12-40mm f2.8 lens, you wonât encounter a single moment that you canât capture.”
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Zeiss 85mm f1.8 Batis
The Zeiss 85mm f1.8 Batis is one of the first true portrait lenses for the Sony FE mount system. It’s colors are a bit muted, but Sony’s sensors can more than compensate for that.
In our first impressions, we state:
“While the Loxia lenses donât have autofocus, the Batis lenses do. The focusing performance with the A7 has to be some of the fastest that weâve seen. Itâs just about as fast as the Sony 28mm f2âand we consider that to be one of the companyâs fastest lenses.
When further trying to fine tune the focusing (like eye focusing) it can take a bit of extra time. However, the focusing is very accurate, sharp, and consistent in good lighting situations. Considering that this is a portrait lens, we have yet to put it through its paces in low light.”
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Lensbaby 56mm f1.6
Though it’s quite soft wide open, the Lensbaby 56mm f1.6 is designed to deliver a very dreamy look that the company is known for. When stopped down to f4, it’s exceptionally sharp.
In our review, we state:
“The lensâs sharpness isnât there at all when shooting wide open and it stays this way up until f2.8 for the most part. But when stopped down to f4 this lens is pretty much as sharp as most other optics out there. In fact, we were quite surprised at how different it looks.”
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Fujifilm 90mm f2
Offering around a 135mm field of view, the Fujifilm 90mm f2 lens is a true portrait lens for the system. Being natively very long, it’s bound to remove any signs of distortion that may be present on your subject.
In our first impressions, we state:
“The Fujifilm 90mm f2 is said to be weather sealed, but at the moment we havenât taken it out in the sheets and sheets of rain that tend to hit NYC. The entire lens is made of metal and most of it is dominated by this massive focusing ring with groove that add extra grip for the user. On the X-Pro1 and the X-T1, it feels quite balanced, but on the X-T10, you immediately realize that this lens is a bit too heavy for the body upon attaching it.”
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Samsung 50-150mm f2.8
The Samsung 50-150mm f2.8 is probably the most interesting lens on this list. It offers excellent sharpness right out of the camera, a weather resistant design and great skin tones. You’ll have very little to complain about.
In our review, we state:
“The Samsung 50-150mm f2.8 OIS lens is a lens that proves that Samsung is an exemplary lens manufacturer. Our favorite is the companyâs 85mm f1.4, but this lens may even beat that for portrait photography. It renders wonderful colors, great sharpness, and what can be really wonderful bokeh in the right situation. Photojournalists and portrait photographers will make the most use of this especially when combined with Samsungâs connectivity options that allow you to shoot an incredible portrait and send it off to Instagram or any other social channel immediately.”
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