Portrait Lens Size Recommendation(s)

flyfisherntyer · Jul 5, 2012

I'm new to this forum and I'm sure this may have been asked and answered previously but I would like to ask what size medium telephoto lens for my Canon T3i would the resident experts recommend for portraits and the like.

Thanks in advance for any help.

fjrabon · Jul 5, 2012

are you shooting mostly indoors or outdoors and how much room are you going to have? A lot of times this question is answered simply because you don't have enough room to shoot much more than 80mm on a crop frame indoors for most people.

I really like 60mm on a crop frame, but I tend to like a little bit more depth than a lot of people, as I tend to go for more interesting pictures than beautiful pictures, if I have my preference. The longer your focal length, the more compression it gives. More compression tends to be more flattering. Shorter focal lengths give more depth to the face, and can add more character.

cgipson1 · Jul 5, 2012

For a crop body... recommended minimum FL for portraits is a 50mm (I think your body has a 1.6 crop magnifier) so that gives you a FOV of 80mm. 85mm on a full frame body is considered optimal, and you will have a similar FOV at least. If you do any indoor portraiture, the 50mm is your best best.. and even that can be tight if doing more than head and shoulders, if you are in a small room. Outdoors (or lots of room) the sky is the limit.. a lot of people like anything from 85 to 200, some even more. Shorter focal lengths can give more distortion, longer focal lengths can compress foregrounds / backgrounds... another advantage.

Example shots of a face at different FL's to demonstrate this: (not the one I was trying to find.. but not bad)

The Ideal Focal Length for Portraiture: A Photographer's Experiment | MCP Photography Blog

rexbobcat · Jul 5, 2012

In my experience the best under $500 portrait lens is the 85mm f/1.8

It has the best OOF and bokeh renderings of any sub $500 Canon medium telephoto. It will be approx. 132mm on your T3i but it's still a very nice, cheap, lens.

This photo is on a full frame camera but it's a pretty good reference of what you can expect from the lens in terms of creamy DoF.

This is at f/1.8

KmH · Jul 6, 2012

Doing portraiture requires having a suite of lenses, so you can shoot groups as well as individuals.

For medium telephoto I preferred and recommend 200 mm lens, for the magnification of blurred background image elements.

flyfisherntyer · Jul 6, 2012

Ok. Well there is no way for me to save face with regard to my lack of experience and understanding so I will simply address each person who responded directly with my question(s):

Fjrabon: please explain the term "60mm crop frame" and explain compression.

Cgipson1: please explain: crop body, 1.6 crop magnifier, and 80-85 mm FOV (I assume Field Of View) on a full frame body.

Rexbobcat: please explain OOF (did you mean DOF), bokeh renderings.

I'm really sorry people. I'm just learning the technical aspects of photography and I'm somewhat embarrassed at my lack of knowledge.

Man, I wish this was fly fishing or fly tying - I know it ALL. It's interesting to note that my preferred fly rod manufacturer's rods sell for the price of my new camera.

Thanks again!

jhenry330 · Jul 7, 2012

I have a t1i and have an eye for the Ef-s 15-85 usm. It's designed for crop sensors, great reviews on sharpness, and no worry about whether you have enough shooting room. It's quite pricey at around 600-700 bucks.

KmH · Jul 7, 2012

OOF - Out Of Focus.

A full size 35 mm image sensor is 24 mm x 36 mm. Most DSLR camera have a smaller APS-C size image sensor. The smaller image sensor has a 'crop factor' that delivers a field-of-view (FoV} equivilent to a full size image sensor. Nikon APS-C size image sensors have a 1.5x crop factor, while Canon APS-C size image sensors have a 1.6x crop factor. 4/3rds size image sensors have a 2x crop factor.

A 60 mm focal length lens mounted on a 1.5x crop factor camera will deliver a FoV equivilent to what a 90 mm focal length lens would deliver mounted to a camera that has a full size image sensor. (60 mm x 1.5 crop factor = 90 mm).

cgipson1 · Jul 7, 2012

flyfisherntyer said:
Cgipson1: please explain: crop body, 1.6 crop magnifier, and 80-85 mm FOV (I assume Field Of View) on a full frame body.

hahaha.. I had like four paragraphs typed up.. and lost it. Don't want to do that again, so I will just post some links

Crop factor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Field of View Crop Factor (Focal Length Multiplier)

APS-C - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

flyfisherntyer · Jul 8, 2012

Hey, just want to say thanks to you who responded. I'm a very quick learner so after reading the recommended pages and responses I have a much better handle on those important pieces of information. It is all starting to make sense now. The only thing I'm still a little fuzzy on but think I understand is one aspect of the crop factor. Am I correct in saying that the factor has more to do with the conversion of the lens mm than anything else?

KmH · Jul 8, 2012

The lens mm (focal length) is the lens mm, and it doesn't get converted.

The crop factor is about an equivalent FoV. The crop factor is a detriment to DoF (depth-of-field) and most lenses made for crop sensor cameras are consumer grade, variable aperture zoom lenses that have limited performace.