What is your favourite FX Portraits lens for D750/D810 ?

[RyanKhoo]

Mine has AF... its called rapid hand movement.

Works well for me... hahahahah

Hahaha good one Dfive ... :bsmilie::bsmilie:

Roughly you rapid hand movement takes how many seconds ?

cheers

 

[Dfive]

Hahaha good one Dfive ... :bsmilie::bsmilie:

Roughly you rapid hand movement takes how many seconds ?

cheers

Not long, Zeiss may have long throw focusing for very precise focus but its very fast.

 

[RyanKhoo]

Not long, Zeiss may have long throw focusing for very precise focus but its very fast.

Thanks bro, I need to overcome this fear of manual focus ...

 

[Nikonzen]

Thanks bro, I need to overcome this fear of manual focus ...

Manual focus is difficult somewhat. One misses...takes a while to get your hit rate up high...lots of factors involved. Once upon a time that was all anyone had and they still made great snaps. It is part of the tool chest and I have always looked at it as a worthwhile challenge to learn how to use all of the tools you can and most of all the old tools. Basic blocking and tackling...fundamentals. It is a personal deal with...trying to build myself up, better myself, because I am very fond of the old glass.

And AF is okay too.

 

[RyanKhoo]

Manual focus is difficult somewhat. One misses...takes a while to get your hit rate up high...lots of factors involved. Once upon a time that was all anyone had and they still made great snaps. It is part of the tool chest and I have always looked at it as a worthwhile challenge to learn how to use all of the tools you can and most of all the old tools. Basic blocking and tackling...fundamentals. It is a personal deal with...trying to build myself up, better myself, because I am very fond of the old glass.

And AF is okay too.

Thanks bro ...

 

[RyanKhoo]

Thanks guys, I have bought the 85mm F1.8G

 

[Nikonzen]

Thanks guys, I have bought the 85mm F1.8G

An excellent choice. Try not to fall into the trap that many do with a 85 - it is not really a head shot lens.

 

[kcchew]

85mm is a good choice, you can't really go wrong with it. I've had the f/1.4 Ai-S and am now using the f/1.4 AF-D, love it for portraits.


Cosplayer by kcchew, on Flickr

 

[trd2970]

Thanks guys, I have bought the 85mm F1.8G

Good choice

 

[RyanKhoo]

Good choice

Thanks trd2970

An excellent choice. Try not to fall into the trap that many do with a 85 - it is not really a head shot lens.

Thanks Nikozen, you mean don't just use it to take the face/head ?

U mean to say try to also take pictures of a person in full height ?

Thanks

 

[trd2970]

The other 85 I love is the sigma 85 1.4

 

[Nikonzen]

Thanks trd2970



Thanks Nikozen, you mean don't just use it to take the face/head ?

U mean to say try to also take pictures of a person in full height ?

Thanks

The 85 is a gap bridger so to speak...it bridges the gap between 50 and 105. With a 50 you have to get close to subject to frame head and shoulders so you get a tiny bit of perspective distortion and maybe make subject camera aware therefore not natural. 85 fits in nicely at half body like bro KC's snap above. Working distance there is about perfect for photographer and subject. 105 brings you in to head and shoulders at comfortable working distance. Historically Nikkor 85's have been renowned fashion/runway type of lenses hence predominately used for half body full body type stuff. Try not to frame the head so much with 85 because it is not quite as good distortion perspective flattening affect as with a 105 and you have to creep in closer to subject. the 105 is more suitable to the head and face because of the isolation factor/bokeh as well. It can be done however it is just not exactly the right tool to do it with. It is an opinion deal though so just explore it and maybe you will see the difference. Keep in mind we are talking full frame and not crop factor.

My opinion is it is very important to learn the focal lengths and what the strengths and weaknesses common uses of each are...makes one's photography stronger. Fundamentals.

PS I use my 85 and the 70 leg of my AF zoom more than any other focal length when it comes to people pictures.

 

[RyanKhoo]

The 85 is a gap bridger so to speak...it bridges the gap between 50 and 105. With a 50 you have to get close to subject to frame head and shoulders so you get a tiny bit of perspective distortion and maybe make subject camera aware therefore not natural. 85 fits in nicely at half body like bro KC's snap above. Working distance there is about perfect for photographer and subject. 105 brings you in to head and shoulders at comfortable working distance. Historically Nikkor 85's have been renowned fashion/runway type of lenses hence predominately used for half body full body type stuff. Try not to frame the head so much with 85 because it is not quite as good distortion perspective flattening affect as with a 105 and you have to creep in closer to subject. the 105 is more suitable to the head and face because of the isolation factor/bokeh as well. It can be done however it is just not exactly the right tool to do it with. It is an opinion deal though so just explore it and maybe you will see the difference. Keep in mind we are talking full frame and not crop factor.

My opinion is it is very important to learn the focal lengths and what the strengths and weaknesses common uses of each are...makes one's photography stronger. Fundamentals.

PS I use my 85 and the 70 leg of my AF zoom more than any other focal length when it comes to people pictures.

Thanks bro Nikonzen,

I used my 85mm F1.8 and tried to take half body like bro kcchew below but the bokeh was not as nice. Is it because of the F1.4 ?

85mm is a good choice, you can't really go wrong with it. I've had the f/1.4 Ai-S and am now using the f/1.4 AF-D, love it for portraits.


Cosplayer by kcchew, on Flickr

Like you said, I ended up taking mostly head & shoulders only. I was hoping my 85F1.8 to be able to take a full length body shot but with kcchew's above bokeh but I have failed.

Could it because it needs to be F1,4 or do I need to get a focal length of 135 and stand further back ?

Thanks

 

[trd2970]

I feel that one important consideration is also the shooting environment. For studio photogs, 135 might be tight, although compression is better than a 85mm. For outdoor photogs, it probably doesn't matter that much since spare is not of a constraint.

 

[Nikonzen]

Have a look at this one of my favorite old threads on the internet.

You are okay it is just that lens is a new way of looking that you are not used to yet. You'll get to know it better as time goes by.

Look at some examples in link above to get a feel for relation of distance and subject and composition. Note many of them use 1.8 lens. Bokeh techniques vary one way is to get some real estate between the subject and background.

 

[RyanKhoo]

You are okay it is just that lens is a new way of looking that you are not used to yet. You'll get to know it better as time goes by.

Look at some examples in link above to get a feel for relation of distance and subject and composition. Note many of them use 1.8 lens. Bokeh techniques vary one way is to get some real estate between the subject and background.

Thanks bro Nikonzen for the tips .... really appreciate your guidance ... cheers

 

[RyanKhoo]

Have a look at this one of my favorite old threads on the internet

Thanks bro, but not sure on my Mac, a lot of the photos are not viewable ...

 

[Nikonzen]

Thanks bro, but not sure on my Mac, a lot of the photos are not viewable ...

Maybe some later pages toward end of thread will do better...the thread is ancient. Point is look at some snaps made with 85 and work out the distances involved and general feel of the lens. You'll have it down in time and will be able to get it to do what you want it to do within it's capability. It is a very important lens for the portrait photographer's kit.

Concerning the 85/1.8 a friend of mine just said the other day although it lacks a little contrast wide open it is very sharp...and if stopped down to 2.8 and beyond it is one of the sharpest lenses there is. It is a keeper!

 

[RyanKhoo]

Maybe some later pages toward end of thread will do better...the thread is ancient. Point is look at some snaps made with 85 and work out the distances involved and general feel of the lens. You'll have it down in time and will be able to get it to do what you want it to do within it's capability. It is a very important lens for the portrait photographer's kit.

Concerning the 85/1.8 a friend of mine just said the other day although it lacks a little contrast wide open it is very sharp...and if stopped down to 2.8 and beyond it is one of the sharpest lenses there is. It is a keeper!

Thanks Nikonzen.

And yes, this 85F1.8 is quite sharp at the focus area !

 

[diediealsomustdive]

Like you said, I ended up taking mostly head & shoulders only. I was hoping my 85F1.8 to be able to take a full length body shot but with kcchew's above bokeh but I have failed.

Could it because it needs to be F1,4 or do I need to get a focal length of 135 and stand further back ?

Thanks

There is a reason why the 85mm is call portrait lens. Portrait, as a dictionary defines it, is "a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders". Face or head and shoulder. Full length would not be classified as portrait per say.

And 85mm and 105mm are known as portrait lenses as the photographer is within speaking distance with the model when doing "portrait" (as defined above).

Technically you can do portrait with any lens, but if you push for head shot with 50mm and shorter lens you will get perspective distortion, unflattering.

Since you have the 85mm now, step back to shot full length and near max aperture and see what you get. 50mm is a good focal length to do full length shots, go goggle the AF-S 58mm f/1.4G you will find some stunning full length shots. You can use 135mm or longer to do full length portrait but you will be way far, can't communicate with model unless you shout. I have done some shots of half length couple with 180mm f/2.8, too far to shout instructions, had to rely on model to do her thing. Also did the same shots with 50mm f/1.8, and you may be surprise that perspective compression of tele lens may matter more than large aperture.