Best lense for indoor portraits in low light or one dimensional light

[Lilchilichoco]

Hi everybody. I want to do indoor portraits in controlled low / single direction light. Which lense do I need ?

Many thanks for your time
Best regards

[T06]

.....my wife will get jelous of the time I reply to you with. If you were to buy Canon or Nikon, the cheapest & one of the best bang for the buck lenses you can buy are the 50mm primes.;)

[Lilchilichoco]

T06, tell her you are my guru......:).......!! Can you tell me a specific lense in Canon and Nikon both.....as in what should I ask for at the shop.

(God help the clueless and the kind souls who respond to their lost in the fog queries!!)

Thanks and Best Regards

[achuang]

For Nikon and Canon there are the 50mm f/1.8 lenses or the more expensive 50mm f/1.4 lenses. Depending on how far you are from the subjects, an 85 f/1.8 may be suitable. Both Nikon and Canon have these lenses. There is an 85 f/1.4 in the nikon mount and an 85 f/1.2 in the canon mount which cost a lot. The 50mm lenses are a fair bit cheaper than the 85.

[D Thompson]

Depending on the size of your area either a 50mm f1.8 or a 85mm f1.8. The 50mm is a lot cheaper, but the 85mm is very nice. You could also drop some more $$ and pick up the f1.4 versions.

[DonSchap]

Just a question:

Anyone shot through that EF 50mm f/1.2L USM, yet? :eek:

[Lilchilichoco]

achuang......D Thompson.......

Could you please elaborate on "depending on distance."......how much distance works for which lense?

2. What do the values 1.4....or 1.8 refer to?

[achuang]

Hi chili,

We say depending on distance because after the 1.5x crop factor of most digital cameras, a 50mm lens becomes an equivalent of 75mm. And an 85mm becomes a 127.5mm lens. So if the room is not that large, then an 85 may be too long. The 85 is a good length for head shots. The 50 is a good length for half or full body portraits.

The numbers 1.4 and 1.8 refer to the aperture. Both are fast aperture lenses, but the 1.4 is 2/3 of a stop faster than the 1.8.

[Lilchilichoco]

Thank You achuang........your answer has been very helpful.

Best Regards

[polaski]

Just about all the other answers are sort of on target. The traditional focal length for head and shoulder portraits using 35mm film (that's full-frame 24x36) is from about 85mm to 120mm. What those lenses do is provide a more natural perspective view of the face.

For instance, with 35mm film and a 50mm prime ("Normal") lens, you might get close up and fil the frame with the face and the nose would look disproportionately large. Similarly, if you fill the (35mm film) frame with someone's face with a 135mm lens, the face would look sort of flat (and possibly fat).

Of course, there are portraits that include much of the torso and even full body, so any lens can be used.

With my Pentax *istDS, the magnification factor is 1.5, so a good prime lens of 50mm would provide a 75mm angle of view. That does NOT mean that it will provide a 75mm perspective !!! The perspective will still be one of a 50mm lens, but since you are using only the smaller sensor to record the image, it will appear as if you included the person's face along with a goodly part of the face's surroundings.

Does this mean the 50mm lens isn't good for DSLR portraits? No, of course not. The perspective will be as if you are using a 50mm lens to make an environmental or head-and-upper-torso portrait. but the smaller sensor is limiting the image to the head.

Which is all to say that the 50mm prime lens is great in a DSLR, whether it be for portraiture, or more tightly cropped compositions of other things.

[Lilchilichoco]

polaski.....u'd say 50mm will also be good for full body portraits?....or will that need 85mm?

[T06]

Have a look here chili, this is just one of many but will help you greatly. You will learn some really good stuff here, stuff that would otherwise take a lot longer if you had to search the net for everything that is here in the one place. Enjoy mateI was only joking about the cereal:D http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php

[Lilchilichoco]

T06......can't say you didn't get me just a tad......but I'm getting used to your aussie humour:)....thanks for the link. I'll look it up.

take care
Best Regards

[coldrain]

Lilchilichoco, on 35mm film cameras 50mm is the "standard" focal length, it gives a natural appearance to photos. The sense of depth and perspective is about the same as we are used to from our own eyes.

If you go lower, you get wide angle. Perspectives get exaggerated, depth gets deeper. 35mm, 28mm and 24mm were popular wide angle lenses on 35mm film cameras.

If you go higher, you get tele lenses. They shorten lenghts and flatten perspective. Slight tele lenses are traditionally used for portait photography.
The portait lens focal lenght is traditionally between 80-135mm or so.
The slight tele effect (flattening of perspective) is flattering.

Above that, you get into real tele focal lengths.

But... a camera like a Canon XTi has a smaller sensor than the film of a 35mm camera. That is where the crop factor comes in. A DSLR with an APS-C size sensor has a crop factor of 1.6x. This means that the sensor is 1.6x smaller, and that you have to multiply focal lenghts with 1.6x to understand the effect it will have, in regards to 35mm film.

So...
on an APS-C 1.6x crop factor camera, a "standard" focal length, giving the depth of the human eye, is 50 / 1.6 = 31mm. So, a 35mm or 30mm prime would be a "standard" prime.
On a DSLR with an 1.5x crop factor Sony sensor (like Nikon, Sony and Pentax use), it is 50 / 1.5 = 33mm So, a 35mm prime would be "standard".

A 50mm prime becomes 50 x 1.6 = 80mm on a Canon APS-C camera.
On a Sony CCD camera it becomes 50 x 1.5 = 75mm.
This is why 50mm lenses on a APS-C DSLR can be used for portait photography, it is at the bottom of the 80-135mm portait range.

A 85mm portait lens becomes more tele on the APS-C cameras.
85 x 1.6 = 136mm
85 x 1.5 = 127mm
So, this becomes a long portait lens.

The 50mm will be better suited for full body portaits, because 85mm gets quite long. You would have to take a big distance to the subject.

To get a feel about what this all means, these focal lengths, play a bit around here:
http://www.tamroneurope.com/flc.htm

Some lenses (the Di ones) are 35mm and APS-C capable, the Di II lenses are APS-C only. With the Di ones you can see the difference between 35mm full frame and APS-C size.
Di and Di II is just Tamron speak, you can sort of forget about those after you played around there a bit.

[Lilchilichoco]

coldrain.............thank you sounds like such an understatement!.....you deserve a medal for your patience!!! I am going to read this a lot of times....if I get stuck....I know where to go.:)
you are my absolute hero!

million thanks and god bless!!


this is not to say that others did not help....each and everyone who responded did....

thanks everyone and best regards

[Wesan]

Have a look here chili, this is just one of many but will help you greatly. You will learn some really good stuff here, stuff that would otherwise take a lot longer if you had to search the net for everything that is here in the one place. Enjoy mateI was only joking about the cereal:D http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php

That's a very good link you posted, T06! :)

[Lilchilichoco]

Absolutely agree wesan.......fantastic site!! Thank you T06!!

[1stopdifference]

I have owned both the 50mm 1.8 and now the 50mm 1.4 For the price ($75) the 50mm 1.8 is the buy of the century! But for another $200 the 1.4 has MUCH more accurate AF. Depending on your budget, one of these two lenses should be in everyones camera bag.

My dream lens is the 50mm 1.0
Canon does not make them anymore but you can find them used for $3000-$5000
Wow that is fast!