30mm for portraits

[jamiebonline]

Hi everyone

I posted a thread about cinematic look but this is a little different. I am referring to the use of wider angles for portraits.
Recently I bought the Sigma 19mm and 60mm 2.8 dn art lenses for Sony A6000. The 60 has been excellent on the crop body for headshots. Very happy with that. I bought the 19 to get some wider angle shots for dramatic effect but it is very difficult to use effectively simply because of the amount of distortion. The lines of buildings bending on the edges of the frame, even with full body shots standing quite far back from the model, it is so hard to keep the proportions looking reasonably OK. Legs too long, and if you are a little too high relative to the model, legs too short. So I am thinking of getting the Sigma 30 2.8 from the same series. Anyone have it? I think on the crop body it will give me the width I want without going too far. Field of view equivalent is 45mm, if I am correct. Any thoughts of this for portraits? I am thinking full body here or maybe 3/4s. To give a sense of context in landscape without having to deal with too much distortion.

Thanks!

 

[Dao]

With my Canon 1.6 cropped camera, I like longer focal length for portraits shots. If space is not an issue, I often use 85mm to 200mm for full, half body or head shots. Of course, if it is just a snap shot type photos, I will use 50mm or shorter sometimes for convenience. (pair my camera with my Tamron 17.50mm)

The farther away from the subject, the lesser the perspective distortion. (Perspective distortion photography - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

So if a person sit down on a ground with his/her feet slightly pointing to the camera (closer to the camera). When you take a photo with a 50mm lens (esp on cropped body), you will notice the person's feet are relatively bigger. If you do a head shot that cover the entire frame, the person nose, face, side/jaw proportion is not quite right. (even worst with shorter focal length) It looks better if you use a longer focal length because the distance between camera and subject is longer. (less issue with perspective distortion)

Let me ask you this, is there a lens that shipped with your camera? If yes, what is the focal length (range)?

 

[Dave442]

My crop body camera came with an 18-70mm lens, but these days I use the 35mm more often. I think the 30mm should work well. The slightly wider angle puts you into the shot and gives a some sense of the surroundings. I have a lot of people shots done at a distance of around 1.5 to 4 meters and more than a few from just a meter away with the 35mm lens on the crop body (just a quick check of some shots). Now a tight headshot even in horizontal does show some facial distortion.

 

[beagle100]

Hi everyone

I posted a thread about cinematic look but this is a little different. I am referring to the use of wider angles for portraits.
Recently I bought the Sigma 19mm and 60mm 2.8 dn art lenses for Sony A6000. The 60 has been excellent on the crop body for headshots. Very happy with that. I bought the 19 to get some wider angle shots for dramatic effect but it is very difficult to use effectively simply because of the amount of distortion. The lines of buildings bending on the edges of the frame, even with full body shots standing quite far back from the model, it is so hard to keep the proportions looking reasonably OK. Legs too long, and if you are a little too high relative to the model, legs too short. So I am thinking of getting the Sigma 30 2.8 from the same series. Anyone have it? I think on the crop body it will give me the width I want without going too far. Field of view equivalent is 45mm, if I am correct. Any thoughts of this for portraits? I am thinking full body here or maybe 3/4s. To give a sense of context in landscape without having to deal with too much distortion.

Thanks!

For me the Sigma 30mm 1.4 works for portraits on a Canon crop but you have leave some distance to avoid distortion