So you want to do candid portraiture? Well, here are the lenses for you!
Chances are most of you shoot portraiture of some kind, be that families, weddings, kids, boudoir, pets, etc. But one niche of portraiture that is often overlooked is candid portraiture, which to some extent could also probably be classified as lifestyle in some scenarios. What is important in candid portraiture? Heck, you may even be asking yourself right now what candid portraiture even is.
To put it very generally, candid portraiture is a more documentary approach to portraiture. It is capturing real moments, real interactions, real emotions, often without the subject being aware they are being photographed. As you could imagine, in order to be effective with candid portraiture one has to be utilizing a kit with a lot of versatility: moments happen in an instant and as a candid portrait photographer you need to be able to react (or even anticipate) to those moments. You don’t have time to move to a different position and don’t have time to wait for a lens to focus slowly.
With that in mind, today we are going to be talking about each mount’s best (in our opinion) lens for candid portraiture. These lenses need to be fast, bright, versatile, and rugged in order to give you the best chance at capturing moments as they happen and not missing out on key interactions because your gear is slowing you down.
The Best Candid Lens for Canon: Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD
“Tamron has always offered great image quality a a lower price than Sigma and first parties. And unless you’re pixel peeping you probably won’t be able to tell the differences between the lenses straight out of camera. Further, modern day editing can make any photo from any lens look like one another. The point is though that the Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD G2 is a pretty fantastic tool for the professional photographer. “
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The Best Candid Lens for Nikon: Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 E VR II
“If you’re a Nikon DSLR owner, then there is a lot that will make the 24-70mm E VR II appeal to you. It’s got solid image quality all around, though not as good a what Tokina can give you. It’s got VR, but so does Tamron. Granted, it has better image stabilization than Tamron’s version. So it’s all a mixed bag here. I can totally see how a photographer would reach for the Nikon. Indeed, what I’m most excited about here is that Nikon listened to their customers and gave it VR. It just makes a whole lot of sense here.”
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The Best Candid Lens For Sony: Sony 24-70mm f2.8 FE G Master
“In all rights, this is a fantastic lens. It delivers wonderful image quality, performs well, has a fast autofocus, and will make lots of professional photographers very happy. For the photographers that love zoom lenses, this is another reason to move to the Sony E mount system if you haven’t already. “
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The Best Candid Lens for Fujifulm: Fujifilm 35mm f2 R WR
“Let’s start these conclusions with the absolute truths about this lens. It is the fastest to focus Fujifilm lens to date and finally makes candid street photography with a Fujifilm camera really viable when it comes to using autofocus. For this reason alone, many photographers will greatly, greatly appreciate this lens and just how quickly it can perform. The lens is also weather sealed, which means that it’s really designed to do work for the photographer that demands more from their gear. Pair it with the X-T2 and you’ll not only have a fast focusing combination, but one that can stand up to the rain.”
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The Best Candid Lens for Micro Four Thirds: Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 PRO
“What makes the lens so special is not only its excellent image quality which we can’t harp on enough, but the size, build quality, and speed in focusing. The Micro Four Thirds system has lenses that you really never want to stop down and that perform at their peak essentially wide open. Not only is that wonderful for many folks, but it is also part of the technicalities. Never before have folks wanted to do this more than with something along the lines of Leica M glass.”
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