Best Portrait Lens for nikon d3000?

Kayleysmom

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Looking for one for portraits, thanks in advance.
 
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Cheap and good.
Nikon. 28-105 3.5-4.5.
A q for you, do you know how to take PROPER portrait?
 
Ok,
So let me tell you about this lens. Its about a 10 y/o model that was used back in the film days. It still has an amazing image quality to it, it doesn't have VR but is a macro lens as well. & you can probably get it for under $250
I try to use is as MUCH as possible on my jobs but when you're shooting Dx, 28mm sometimes isn't wide enough. However, quality wise it is amazing. If I remember correctly, I believe Nikon 24-70 is considered the best zoom lens in the Nikon lineup. Then, one of my favorites is 24-85 -> a cheaper alternative to 24-70 also has amazing IQ. I'm not mentioning 70-200 2.8 but it's a GREAT glass that will deliver superb images.
Then we got primes: on Crop body, 35, 50, 60 are amongst the popular ones for portraits. 85 prime, is considered to be the BEST Nikon glass, never used it but know people who do = mixed reactions to it. Personally, I only my 50 prime for in-studio work or need REALLY shallow DOF, otherwise its in a drawer somewhere (don't like primes really).
Hope that helps somewhat and good luck.
 
I do not think the 28-105 spoken about in the posts above will autofocus on her D3000. The 24-85 AF-S f/3.3~4.5 on the other hand, has AFS focusing, and so it WILL autofocus on her D3000. That's an okay to good zoom lens, if you get a good copy of it, and it has the slightly wider 24mm bottom end. It's moderate in size too, uses 67mm filters.

I dunno...how much money do you have to spend on a portrait lens? Do you absolutely need AF?
 
derrel,
gd call on AF, I completely 4got abot this on lower end models. The 24-85 I was talking about is f/2-4.
 
If you want to work harder but get some great shots just get a 50mm Prime 1.8 or the 85mm prime. You will just have to work harder to get the right framing.
 
derrel,
gd call on AF, I completely 4got abot this on lower end models. The 24-85 I was talking about is f/2-4.

Yeah, the 24-85 f/2.8~4 is a screw-drive lens, and a very,very good zoom. So, no AF on the Baby Nikons with that one.

The 24-85 AF-S is one I own currently...it's f/3.3~4.5 and was lower-cost than the older 24-85mm f/2.8~4 AF-D, which was about a $699 lens.

Ken Rockewll or Thom Hogan have web sites where the OP can get rundowns on many,many lenses for Nikon cameras.
 
If you want to work harder but get some great shots just get a 50mm Prime 1.8 or the 85mm prime. You will just have to work harder to get the right framing.

^ The 50mm f/1.8 will not autofocus on a D3000.

The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM and the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S are the only 50mm lenses that will autofocus on a D3000.
 
I did not know if it would or not so thanks for the additional info! It was just a though I had!
 

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