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What is a portrait lens?
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
good and interesting answers, if not exactly what I was expecting, hehe.

If someone had asked me before I posted this thread I would have said:

for 135 or Full frame digital, a portrait lens would be from 75mm to 105mm and preferablly not sharp as a laser wide open. I would have said a lens not slower than f/2.8 would be the usual.

In the the 1955 canon lens catalog, only the two 85s have the word "portraiture" in their short descriptions. The nikkor 105cm is the longest lens in this period I know to have been commonly considered a "portrait" lens.

the kodak referance above "1.5 to 2 times diagonal" implies even 90 is on the long side for a classic 135 portrait lens.

I in no way inted to imply that good protraits cannot be captured with nearly any focal length, but just as a "normal" lens means something, as does a wide, so I would have thoght does a "portrait lens".

It seems however, that not many really agree with this...or?


PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
uhoh7 wrote:
good and interesting answers, if not exactly what I was expecting, hehe.

If someone had asked me before I posted this thread I would have said:

for 135 or Full frame digital, a portrait lens would be from 75mm to 105mm and preferablly not sharp as a laser wide open. I would have said a lens not slower than f/2.8 would be the usual.

In the the 1955 canon lens catalog, only the two 85s have the word "portraiture" in their short descriptions. The nikkor 105cm is the longest lens in this period I know to have been commonly considered a "portrait" lens.

the kodak referance above "1.5 to 2 times diagonal" implies even 90 is on the long side for a classic 135 portrait lens.

I in no way inted to imply that good protraits cannot be captured with nearly any focal length, but just as a "normal" lens means something, as does a wide, so I would have thoght does a "portrait lens".

It seems however, that not many really agree with this...or?


As time goes on I am using longer and longer lenses for people, and that includes candid portraits..


PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
uhoh7 wrote:
I in no way inted to imply that good protraits cannot be captured with nearly any focal length, but just as a "normal" lens means something, as does a wide, so I would have thoght does a "portrait lens".

It seems however, that not many really agree with this...or?

And that is the problem: we have no agreement nor standards on what 'portrait' means, so we can have no agreement nor standards about portrait focal lengths. It's like trying to define a truck|lorry. A 'truck' may range from a tiny 3-wheel golf cart that can schlep cargo, up to (and beyond) an ore-hauler the size of several houses. So I always refer to different sorts of portraiture: context, group, full- or 3/4- or 1/2-body, head+shoulders, near or far headshots, partial facials, etc.

And those are just for people with faces. Some humans are best portrayed showing only their arms, hands, legs, feet, other body parts from various directions. We also portray animals, plants -- good flower shots are portraits -- houses, shadows, whatever.

Bet we easily get sloppy. We say 'portrait' when we mean an AOV of ~18-36 degress -- say ~70-135mm on 135/FF, and ~45-90mm on APS-C. Those ranges are for certain types of portraits. I shoot anything between 10-1000mm, depending on situations.

All lenses are portrait lenses. Collect the entire set!


PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
A marketing ploy to get you to buy another lens.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My favourite question!

Portrait or whatever it is, is definitely the marketing tool of the manufacturers. Just a marketing strategy to attract more purchases.

To me, is about how we utilize the focal length. All lens can use for full body shoot or tight headshot, is all depending where the output is acceptable especially couples of limitation of focal length.

There are generally 2 favourite FL for me as:

1. 50-85mm

This is the best range of a Portrait as the FL is very close to human eye. 50mm or 85mm is depending on whether you have enough places as well as the working range with your subject. I personally do not favor 200mm zoom as no physical interaction with model and it gets you less lively shoots.

One thing good on these lens vs wider lens, distortion is well controlled.


2. Wide Angle (Even Ultra Wide Angle)

Oe of the most favourite portrait lens for some serious photog as the ability to include environment into the Portrait. It gets you more storytelling, elements as well as model mood which catches your reader's attention. I personally love shooting 35mm and lesser but things getting much more challenging.

Especially distortion control and subject displacement, all these are the main criteria of successive Portrait.


A little bit on Promotion time, I have written similar articles on this and please help to support:

http://heeweiyew.blogspot.com/2011/12/ultra-wide-angle-for-portrait.html


PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you luisalegria!
Geat links!

I think many different lenses could give good portraits - but I would use the naming "portrait lens" especially for lenses with special features for portraits. For example the right focal length. I think the Zeiss 85/1.4 is a good one for our 24x36mm cameras - because it is not extremely sharp wide open. But fur sure there other good lenses around.

It is very interessting to see all the different portraits soft lenses that are used on large format. I think in those times the photographers had more lenses with different drawing style. Today that is a bit limited with the available new lenses.
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