New here and need lense advice

[lisah]

I'm so happy to have found this place. There are truly some amazing photographers here
I recently bought a olympus evolt e510. My camera came with the zuiko lense kit, the 14mm-42mm and 40mm-150mm. I do like both the lenses but need something different for portraits.
My question is what lense would be the best for portraits? One that isn't terribly expensive either, as I'm just getting started out.
Also another question, is can you get kits to convert say canon lense to fit the olympus?
What would you guys suggest?
TIA!!
Lisa

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Photography is an art, so you can't really say that any one lens is 'best for portraits'...or anything really. You could use just about any lens for portraits...the 'best' is up to you.

Typically for portraits, you want a longer lens because it's more flattening and more flattering. Wide angle lenses tend to distort things, which usually isn't great for portraits.

Also, many people tent to prefer 'fast' lenses for portraits. That would be a lens with a large maximum aperture (low F number). These are usually 'prime' (non-zoom) lenses. A 50mm F1.8 is a good example of this.

What would you consider 'terribly expensive'?

Your camera uses the 4/3 mount system. I'm not aware of any adaptors that would allow you to use Canon lenses...and if there is such a thing...it would probably eliminate autofocus, infinity focus and maybe aperture control.

You will just have to look for a lens with the 4/3 mount.

 

[lisah]

Thanks so uch for pointing that out. I didn't think about the 4/3 system.

 

[Lisaspank]

I have the same camera...and just beginning too. Thanks for making this thread I was wondering the same thing.

Although, I dont understant the 4/3 term, can someone explain?

 

[djrichie28]

http://www.olympuscanada.com/cpg_section/lens/dea/products/lens/index.asp

Check out that link there. Their lenses are broken down into categories based on performance. You are gonna get great quality glass with the High Grade and especially Super High Grade. The Zuiko 35-100mm f/2.0 would be a great portrait lens. Although, super expensive. You can also try 50-200mm 2.8-3.5 It would be a good alternative. Good luck.

 

[sultan]

Any fast telephoto will be good. The 4/3 system is a standard lens mount and sensor size used by Panasonic, Some Leicas and Olympus.

The 4/3 system uses small sensors so they are not good for high ISO. Also the lens choices are quite limited.

 

[usayit]

I'm so happy to have found this place. There are truly some amazing photographers here
I recently bought a olympus evolt e510. My camera came with the zuiko lense kit, the 14mm-42mm and 40mm-150mm. I do like both the lenses but need something different for portraits.
My question is what lense would be the best for portraits?

What is wrong (or what do you find limiting) with the lenses you already have?

 

[AndrewG]

The 'classic' portrait focal length is between 85 and 105 and it seems you have that covered with your zooms. If you want superior image quality you should be looking at a prime lens in that area.

 

[lisah]

I'm happy with the lenses the camera came with. I would just like something a little crisper and sharper. I eventually want to get into taking portraits.
At this point I don't want to spend much over 500.00 for a decent portrait lense.