Best portrait lens for Canon 80D

alex_ethridge · Oct 6, 2017

Hey all! I shoot mostly shoot portraits and recently purchased the 50mm lens for my Canon 80D. I love the background blur and the clarity but I am wondering what is the next step up from this lens. Is it the 85mm? What do you guys suggest for the best portrait lens?

Designer · Oct 6, 2017

I'm not familiar with Canon lenses, but yes, an 85mm is probably the one to get. Or you could go with a longer lens for individual head-and-shoulder portraits. It is not unusual to find lenses of 180mm to 200mm used for individual portraiture.

But more important perhaps is how the individual lens choices render colors and skin tones. For information such as that, you need the advice of someone familiar with the Canon line.

qmr55 · Oct 6, 2017

I think personal preference is a better word than best. Some people shoot portraits with 50mm, some shoot with 85, some shoot with a telephoto.

Maybe rent some lenses and test them out in a shoot and see which fits you best?

ronlane · Oct 6, 2017

I've shot portraits on my crop with a 50mm, 85mm, 24-70mm and a 70-200mm. It really is a personal preference and what you have room for. I don't feel that I get as good of images with the 70--200 but I haven't practiced as much with it as I have the others.

The 85mm f/1.8 is killer though, love it.

alex_ethridge · Oct 6, 2017

qmr55 said:
I think personal preference is a better word than best. Some people shoot portraits with 50mm, some shoot with 85, some shoot with a telephoto.

Maybe rent some lenses and test them out in a shoot and see which fits you best?

Gotcha! That make sense. Thank you!

alex_ethridge · Oct 6, 2017

Designer said:
I'm not familiar with Canon lenses, but yes, an 85mm is probably the one to get. Or you could go with a longer lens for individual head-and-shoulder portraits. It is not unusual to find lenses of 180mm to 200mm used for individual portraiture.

But more important perhaps is how the individual lens choices render colors and skin tones. For information such as that, you need the advice of someone familiar with the Canon line.

Thank you so much! Yeah, I have been doing a lot of research on the 85mm lens. I think I will just take the dive and test it out.

ronlane · Oct 6, 2017

I've seen some people talk about using the 135mm for portraits but I think that would be better on a Full Frame camera instead of a crop sensor.

beagle100 · Oct 6, 2017

ronlane said:
I've seen some people talk about using the 135mm for portraits but I think that would be better on a Full Frame camera instead of a crop sensor.

maybe, but for portraits longer focal lengths and larger apertures is better
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

Solarflare · Oct 7, 2017

The ideal distance between the camera and the subject for a portrait is about 5m. Thats because thats the inner image we have stored in our brain of people and thus looks most natural to us. In reallife we will compensate from this image thanks to our ability to see in 3D, however with a flat photographed image thats not possible.

From this distance the focal lengths to use can be computed; about 70mm for a full body portrait and about 300mm for a face only portrait.

People with flat features, such as asians, can easily be photographed on a shorter distance, while other people with strong features will benefit from even longer distances.

That said these are the rules specifically for portraits that are supposed to make people look especially good - but any focal can and has been used for portraiture. Very popular right now is for example the up close portrait with a 28mm. Thats because thats what selfies with a smartphone look like.

Derrel · Oct 7, 2017

Solarflare said:
The ideal distance between the camera and the subject for a portrait is about 5m. Thats because thats the inner image we have stored in our brain of people and thus looks most natural to us. In reallife we will compensate from this image thanks to our ability to see in 3D, however with a flat photographed image thats not possible.

From this distance the focal lengths to use can be computed; about 70mm for a full body portrait and about 300mm for a face only portrait.

People with flat features, such as asians, can easily be photographed on a shorter distance, while other people with strong features will benefit from even longer distances.

That said these are the rules specifically for portraits that are supposed to make people look especially good - but any focal can and has been used for portraiture. Very popular right now is for example the up close portrait with a 28mm. Thats because thats what selfies with a smartphone look like.

A lot of GOOD comments in SOlarflare's brief post above. I agree with his ideas on this mostly.

Insttead of an ideal distance, I would state it in reverse: NEVER shoot a portrait of a person at less than 7 feet, minimum, and 10 feet is better by far. Longer lens length is better than closer-up with a short lens.

As far as the "best portrait lens" for an APS-C camera? That would be a tele-zoom, like a 70-300mm (inexpensive) or 70-200mm, or lacking those a 50-200 or 55-250, something in that range. SO, we have basically three price clases of tele-zoom, the economy, the mid- and the high-end lenses.

AS far as single focal length lenses, for most people the best one-lens option would be Canon's very nice 85mm f/1.8 EF lens: sharp, good,affordable, and long enough to give a nice, narrow-angle background.

A tele-zoom lens like a 70-300mm gives you: DIFFERENT background angles (different width of background) behgind the portrait subject. At 70mm, the angle behind the subject is wide; at 300mm, the angle of view behind the subject is narrow. Background control is where zoom lenses make things easier and better for the photographer. If you make a half-body (waist to head) shot at 70mm and one at 300mm, there will be two very different "looks" to the background, even though the person is shown at the same size within the picture!

kalgra · Oct 7, 2017

Lots of good advise here. As someone else said "Best" is really subjective. Id kind of like to know your budget. Seems to me if I was shooting for a great portraiture lens with maximum versatility and convenience and considering the 50mm you already have Id go with a quality 70-200 2.8. In this category it dosn't get a whole lot better than the Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II which can be purchased used in very good condition for about $1500. You could also go for the version 1 lens and save $500-$600 but Canon in no longer servicing that lens so id probably stay away from it. For me I think its really important to go for the 2.8 over the f4 as background blur an bokeh play a big part especially when shooting outdoors in different environmental settings.

Edit:
I should also point out that third party offering from Tameron and Signa are also Very good!! and cheaper. But you said "Best" and I think the Canon still wins out by a small margin in terms of edge to edge sharpness, breathing, etc.