Portrait lenses which one?

[Attila]

I have a chance to make portraits from my daughters on their birthday party, I expect low light environment in a small restaurant.
What should I take there , what is your suggestion ?
My camera is Panasonic G1 this means no high ISO

Should I bring tripod, monopod ?

Lenses are what is avaliable:

Fast 35mm, 50mm and 85 mm lenses.

Like Distagon 35mm f1.4, Nikon 35mm f1.4 , Konica 35mm f2, Flektogon 35mm f2.4

Konica 55mm f1.2, Pentax 50mm f1.2

Pancolar 80, Planar 85, Biotar 75, Helios-40, Olympus 80, Nikon 80 etc

[cooltouch]

If low light and given the party environment in a restaurant, a monopod I think would be the better, more practical choice. A tripod is more stable but it will take up room and might interfere with people trying to walk around in the restaurant. Also it's good mostly for static poses whereas wth a monopod, you're freer to move around and would have a better chance of capturing more candid moments.

Does the Panasonic G1 have internal optical stabilization? If so, you might still be able to do some decent handheld shots with the lenses wide open. My personal record with my Canon XS and IS lens is almost 3 seconds.

As for the lenses, well, I'm sure you have favorites. I'd just select my favorite 35, 50 and ~80 and be done with it.

[Attila]

No stabilization in camera body, I think mono-pod will be very useful.

[rbelyell]

i dont know if i'm thinking correctly, but at 1.2 or 1.4 my feeling is you could shoot handheld at iso 400 and do very well...

a couple of days ago i went to a concert--low light/difficult light environment with my olympus ep1 and shot jpegs at iso 400, shutter set to 1/200 with my petri 135/2.8 wide open and got some nice hand held shots:





of course it was a 'push' and i had to lighten/adjust shadow in PP, but i was happy with the result, and i think it would be even better at f1.8!

[ZeiEizh]

Childrens are often in groups and G1 crop factor is 2(???). So widest possible looking for that issue.

[aleksanderpolo]

I like the flexibility of 35mm on m43, you can get head and shoulder shot or wider shot. Should be a great opportunity to put your great Distagon to use.

[Attila]

Good result Tony, I am afraid a bit from 1.2 lens to use it wide open, due very narrow depth of field. Distagon is perfectly sharp at wide open , but unfortunately I never try it out yet as a portrait lens.

[rbelyell]

i would bet it would produce excellent portraits, and at 70mm, i think a good focal length for 2-3 person portraits.

[Attila]

[AhamB]

Maybe one that is sharp wide open, like Contax Planar 50/1.7? You'll need something wider too I guess. How about the new Nikon G 24/1.4?

[trifox]

attila -- take 80 no shorter .. It's enough for your occasion.

Take both Pancolar 80 and Contax Planar 85 --

You don't need anything else --

eventually, take Distagon 1.4/35 and that's it.

tf

[Attila]

[trifox]

Is it Chat Atkins Guitar on the picture number 2?

I wanna that guitar!!!

tf

[Scheimpflug]

Instead of the thin DOF, high ISO, and camera supports that limit your movement, why not just solve your lighting problems by adding more light?

A good flash with a good diffuser, such as a Lightsphere or equivalent, can really light up a room well without overpowering your subjects.

[cooltouch]

[rbelyell]

stan and michael: that's charlie daniels playing that ol' chet atkins guitar! from 'devil went to georgia' and 'long-haired country boy' fame. we just saw him in upstate ny, and met him backstage, on saturday. damn nice down home man, and damn good show! i had last seen him perform around 1978! guess we're both a little long in the tooth...
tony

[karabud]

[Attila]

Thanks for reminder, I have an 1,4 Planar too.

[tkbslc]

With the 2x crop factor, even 35mm is going to be tight in a restaurant. I would take one of the 35 f1.4's and wish for something wider..

[Arctures]

For impressive portrait shot I am using off-camera flash or two with diffusers or beauty/portrait dish. You may find many DIY tutorials over inet e.g.: http://davidtejada.blogspot.com/2008/04/beauty-dish-for-sb-800.html . Kids are partying very actively and it is harder to get great shots. What for focal distance on crop. When I had my 40D with 1.6 crop factor I liked my Distagon 28/2.8 a lot. 85mm will need less exposure time so it is not so useful w/o flash except 85/1.4 @1.4 or 2.0. But it surely depends on how much light is there.

[Xpres]

In such circumstances I'd use my CV 35/1.7. If I had a 35/1.4 I guess I'd use that so that would be my choice.