Help With a good family portraits lens For My D7000

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hello i have a shoot this weekend of a family of 3 which are a mother and two kids i would like to know what is a very good sharp lens for my nikon d7000 i was looking at the tamron 28-75mm f2.8 or the 85mm 1.8g please give me any thoughts or feedback on any other lens that are great for this type of photo shoots thank you
 
85 is a no anyway unless you can stand about 40 feet back to fit 3 in. I have heard good things about the tamron and would also look at the 35mm f1.8 dx
 
I use a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 on my D7K and I love it--super sharp, wonderful portrait lens. I do agree with jaomul--on the crop body, 85mm is probably going to limit you quite a bit on portraits of several people together. You'll have to back up quite a bit for the full-body shots. I think the "standard" for group portrait work on a crop body is 35mm, but I personally really do like the 50mm (not that I have all that much experience in portraiture, so there's that).
I don't know anything about the Tamron 28-75 you mention, but if it's a good, sharp lens that range and the f/2.8 is certainly a good choice for a crop body.
 
a better choice than the Tamron is a Sigma 17-50 2.8 with vr or vc or is or os or whatever they call it or a Tamron 18-50 2.8 VC.
 
Like Jaomul said, 85mm is not a good lens unless you've got loads of space. The tamron 28-75mm f2.8 is way more flexible but from the reviews i gather it is optically not as good as the 85mm so naturally there are tradeoffs. Depending on how much room you've got, get yourself a nice 50mm 1.8g or even the 35mm 1.8g. The optics on these prime lenses are pretty awesome for the price you pay.
 
a better choice than the Tamron is a Sigma 17-50 2.8 with vr or vc or is or os or whatever they call it or a Tamron 18-50 2.8 VC.
The tamron you mention is probably better as a walk around do everything day to day on a crop body, but the 28-75 is a more useful focal range for portraits in my opinion
 
The 85 mm on a crop body is fine, provided you have a little room to work and your interested mostly in just head shots. I wouldn't recommend it for a "general" portrait lens where you'll be working indoors in various sized rooms, I've found the 50 mm 1.8 works much better in these situations. Outdoors where you have a little room to work or if your looking mostly for just head shots rather than half/full body type of shots the 85 is a phenomenal lens but for the most part I think the 50 mm is a better choice for portraits in most situations.

The zoom lens mentioned will give you a little more versatility, or if you opt for something like the 50 mm prime you get the advantages of it being lightweight, super sharp and very fast glass. Me I love my primes, for me those advantages outweigh the loss of versatility I'd get from a slower zoom, but a lot of people really prefer zooms so in that regard it sort of becomes a "what's more important to you" type of decision.

Of the two zooms listed the 17-50 Sigma with OS is by most reviews superior in build quality and overall performance to Tamron's offering, however it is also generally more expensive. Please note that I can only go by what I've read in this regard as I don't own either.

Hope that helps.
 
Don't forget the 28-75 becomes a 42-125 on dx so it might be too long of a focal length for what the OP needs
 
For a family portrait on a crop Nikon body I would look no further than 50 mm 1.8g, inexpensive, excellent lense and perfect focal length.
 
Don't forget the 28-75 becomes a 42-125 on dx so it might be too long of a focal length for what the OP needs
A 28-75 mm lens is still a 28-75 mm lens when it's on a crop sensor camera.

But on a Nikon 1.5x crop factor camera the field-of-view a 28-75 mm lens delivers will be equivalent to a 42-112.5 mm lens mounted on a full frame camera.

For outside shots I recommend the Nikon 85 mm f/1.8. consider buying uses or refurbished if you want to save some $$$.
Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR Lens
You can save even more by getting a well cared for used Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

If you'll be shooting inside I would also recommend the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR FX Lens

If I wanted a lens that could do both I would use the Nikon 24-85mm f/2.8-4.0D IF AF Zoom Nikkor Lens
 
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Don't forget the 28-75 becomes a 42-125 on dx so it might be too long of a focal length for what the OP needs

Sounds pretty useful to me for portraiture. You do not want to use too short a focal length, or it distorts people who are closer to the camera, compared with those in the back. Same with being reallllly close-up as well...that makes front-centric stuff (nose, people) appear too larger compared to the more distant stuff.

42mm is a nice semi-wide-angle length, but it does not cause excessive spatial expansion, so the background doesn't look a million miles away. You'll have plenty of zoom range with a 28-75mm lens as well.
 
how about a 24-85 f3.5 nikon lens
That is a variable aperture lens and not very fast 3.5 to 4.5

The one that Keith recommended the 24-85 is from 2.8 to 4.0 AF-D - older screw type focus, which will AF on his d7000.
This is a nice lens. I bought one which was my first zoom after the kit lens. Very inexpensive while being a fairly fast lens for good low light capability.

I'd 2nd the 24-85/2.8-4 if budget is of concern and you want a faster lens :thumbup:
 
i think ill go with that Nikon 24-85 2.8-4 since most of my photoshoots will be outside in natural lighting.
 

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