Features

How to Choose the Right Portrait Lens for You

Anthony Thurston
No Comments
07/26/2017
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Zeiss 85mm f1.8 Batis first impressions product photos (3 of 6)ISO 4001-180 sec at f - 4.0

Last Updated on 07/27/2017 by Chris Gampat

Portrait photography, in general, is one of the most popular niches in the industry and often one of the first things a new photographer attempts to master as they hone their craft. But a key to appealing portraits is making a good lens selection based on the look you are attempting to produce.

Do you want to know how to choose the right portrait lens? Perfect, this post is for you. Let’s have a look at some of the key considerations before making your portrait lens selection.

How much do you care about Bokeh?

Pro Tip: The shape of your bokeh is determined by your aperture, but the blur and separation is also affected by the distance between your subject and the background and compression of your lens. 
Bokeh is a word that gets thrown around a lot, and many photographers base their kits around the ability of their gear to produce a pleasing bokeh. But where do you stand on the spectrum? Is a super shallow depth of field and buttery smooth bokeh important to you, or is having a little more depth of field and a decent bokeh enough? Or do you not care about it at all? This is something you need to think about and decide on because this will be a key factor in determining both the lenses you can consider and the budget you are looking at.

If bokeh is important you are going to want a fast lens with an aperture of f2.8 or better, but ideally, you will want an f1.4 lens or faster for that extreme bokeh effect. It is important to realize that bokeh is not the be all end all in photography. When used well it can really enhance an image, but if used poorly it can really take away from it… so really think about this and where you sit on the spectrum.

How much light are you working with?

Bokeh aside, how much light are you thinking you will have available to you? Are you going to be using strobes/speedlights or natural light? This is also important because if you plan on shooting in dark places all the time, regardless of your bokeh preference, you are going to want to get a fast lens, f2.8 might cut it but really f2 or faster would be ideal.

That said if you are going to always have ample light, either from lighting or the sun, then you can not worry about this so much. If bokeh isn’t important to you, get an F4 lens that still offers great image quality and performance with enough light.

How close will your subject be?

Pro Tip: Using the sun as a backlight, rather than a key light is almost always the way to go when shooting in the bright, harsh daylight hours. 
Are you going to be shooting your subjects off in the distance or are you going to be shooting them up close? If you are taking distant portraits then you will want a telephoto lens to give you reach and compression. If you plan to be closer then a lens with close focusing capabilities will be nice to ensure that you have enough room to focus on your subject and still get the intimate look you are going for.

How about weather sealing?

Are you going to be shooting your portraits in a studio or indoors all the time? If so then spending money on a lens with weather sealing seems like a waste, right? But if you do plan on being out in the elements, even just occasionally, then it makes sense to take the better safe than sorry approach and get a lens with weather sealing if it is available to you and meets your other specifications.

Recommendations for lenses to consider

Ok, so taking all of those things into account, we feel fairly confident in recommending the following lenses as excellent places to begin your portrait lens research.

  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B00A34GP52′ text=’Tamron 70-200mm’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’08ab600d-710a-11e7-be4d-09842a28eb34′]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B000I1YIDQ’ text=’Canon 50mm F1.2′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’0cc49182-710a-11e7-bafb-3b0e315fa13d’]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B014ULAF0O’ text=’Tamron 35mm F1.8′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’16833ac7-710a-11e7-8aae-a5fadaa86aee’]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B006TAP096′ text=’Nikon 85mm F1.8′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’1e4f8969-710a-11e7-8a58-5feaee6627ab’]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B01M1I17IV’ text=’Sigma 85mm F1.4′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’25ea19bf-710a-11e7-899b-b7cdc55d3466′]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B00HK8Z9AG’ text=’Fujifilm 56mm F1.2′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’2b96e400-710a-11e7-a8f9-9fa3fc646522′]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B01BESR5KO’ text=’Sony 85mm F1.4 G Master’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’2f80ef18-710a-11e7-8095-3121c44f613e’]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B00T48CEK8′ text=’Rokinon 135mm F2′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’35143dcd-710a-11e7-b93a-439d5c9ba65d’]
  • [amazon_textlink asin=’B01GO1B7QE’ text=’Mitakon 35mm F0.95′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’44ec5566-710a-11e7-b828-813787e6acf7′]