Portrait Lenses

[bcarlson87]

Hello there.

I am looking for advice on a good portrait lens. Something that will work with my Nikon d5100 but give me nice sharp portrait images. I'm not looking to spend a ton of money on it. But willing to spend whatever it takes to get a reasonably priced good lens. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Current Camera: D5100 and D3100
Current Lenses: Nikon 18mm-55mm
Nikon 55mm-200mm
Sigma 70mm-300mm
Current Speedlight: Nikon SB-700

 

[boomer]

Well your 55-200mm and 70-300mm can still be great portrait lenses. To give you a simple answer of what I would recommend to get on top of what you already own would be the 50mm f1.8G or the 85mm f1.8G.

The 85mm f1.8G is only for $446 dollars with the $50 dollar Nikon rebate right now. I would go for the 85mm!
Amazon.com Nikon 85mm f 1.8G AF-S NIKKOR Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras Digital Slr Camera Lenses Camera Photo
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f 1.8G Lens 2201 B H Photo Video

 

[Derrel]

Like boomer noted, the 55-200 and the 70-300 can work fine. There's no real agreement on what constitutes a portrait lens; the way I see it, any lens that takes a portrait is a portrait lens! Still, most people like something in the short telephoto range, to medium tele range, while other people like the flattened look that longer lenses (commonly, 200mm up to 300mm or so) produce, and so the 55-200 or 70-300 offer a lot of focal lengths you can use.

If by portrait lens you mean a single focal length or prime lens, then the 50mm or 85mm f/1.8 G-series Nikon lenses are logical choices, with the 50mm being the short telephoto option, and the 85mm functioning as a super-sharp, medium-length telephoto. I own both, both are good lenses, but the 85mm is an **exceptionally** good lens, which despite its lowish price, delivers the kind of optical performance usually associated with the $1699 price lenses.

 

[goodguy]

Your Nikon 55mm-200mm and Sigma 70mm-300mm can work as portrait lenses but the truth is that they are very slow thus will not blur the background as nicely as a faster lens.
As Derrell said the Nikon 50mm 1.8G and Nikon 85mm 1.8G are really the better choice for portrait, if you can get one then I would start with the 50mm, on a crop sensor camera the 50mm lens acts as 75mm which is a good range while the 85mm as good and as sharp as it is might be limited in closed spaces limiting you to head shots only.

I used to own the 85mm 1.8G, awesome lens but once I got my Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 VC I stopped using it for portrait, I just love the flexibility and results this lens brings to the table so another option you might consider is getting a used Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 (non OS) these are excellent lenses, very sharp and will be amazing portrait lenses, they go for around 500$-600$ and those are also excellent sports lenses and general use lenses, main drawback is their size and weight.

Me personally I would recommend the used Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 over the primes but that's my style of shooting.

 

[Braineack]

I took this with my 70-300 and D5100: All sizes Selfie 4 Flickr - Photo Sharing

I dont use my 85mm 1.8G as much as I should now that I have the 70-200 2.8.

I'll probably sell it soon, with my 70-300 and pick up the 150-600.

 

[fjrabon]

for a crop body like the D5100, I really love the tamron 60mm f/2 macro/portrait hybrid.

Amazon.com Tamron AF 60mm f 2.0 SP DI II LD IF 1 1 Macro Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras Model G005NII Digital Slr Camera Lenses Camera Photo

Here's a simple passport photo I shot for a friend the other day, which was completely unprocessed, since it was a passport photo (and thus the white background and dead on centering)

 

[ruifo]

Nikkor 50mm f1.8G or Nikkor 85mm f1.8G for much higher image quality.
As others pointed out, the Nikkor 55-200mm and the Sigma 70-300mm can also do it well.

 

[nerwin]

Like others have pointed out, your 70-300 is more than capable of taking a decent portrait. Heck, way back when I started out photography and I had the 55-200 VR, I took some pretty nice portraits with that lens and bokeh wasen't bad. They may not be as fast as a prime and have less control over DOF..but they work in a pinch.

I owned the 85 1.8G when I was on DX (had to sell it unfortunately) and I really loved it. On crop it will give you an 35mm equivalent of 127mm which is right in the sweet spot for doing portraiture. I wished I owned it longer! I got mine for $399! I made a profit when I sold it, so thats a plus. It holds its value as well. It was by far one of the sharpest lenses I've ever owned. You'll be happy with this lens.

I never cared for the 50 1.8G on DX..I just didn't like the field of view that much, especially when I had the 35 1.8G..just wasn't much difference. Now that I'm on FX, I really like both the 35mm and 50mm primes. Very different on full frame.