Portrait lenses above 50mm

I have a 50mm FA 1.4 that I really like but I cannot use it for head shots as it will give some perspective distortion. I need something a little longer that will land me right in the perfect focal length range of around 85mm.

So working that back I would need something around 57mm on my crop sensor.

I did actually purchase an old Zeiss 58mm F2 lens a while ago which is perfect but I could do with an auto lens.

I wouldn't mind a zoom, maybe 50mm - 120mm or around that. Or alternatively a fast prime.

What are the best choices for me please? It may need to be a budget option....

50-135 NM is the perfect portrait lens or 77mm Ltd which will cost more...

I use the 100 mm macro for portraits as well as the 35 2.4, 50 1.4 and 85mm soft.

Thanks guys, can you give me the details of these lenses so I can look them up on ebay please? i.e. manufacturer/model.

What does the NM mean? Is this one of these - link

And if so, that's probably a bit more than I can afford at them moment.

At the lower end of the price spectrum, the DA 70mm f2.4 ltd seems great value. The sigma 70mm macro looks a belter too. Can't think of anything close to 58mm, would have thought your FA50mm close enough.

Thanks, I'll check those out. I can't use my 50mm for close up portraits as I get perspective distortion with it being slightly too wide.

Yes thats the one, sorry was on phone when I wrote that & it replaced mm with NM doh!!!

Is the OP using the lenses for 35mm film or APS-C ?

50mm is a bit wide for taking portraits on full frame but I'd have thought 75mm (full frame) would be OK. That's the equivalent of the 50mm on APS-C.
If it's not quite telephoto enough surely just a moderate crop would gain the extra 8mm or so?

Surely the nearest best budget option for a 58mm would be the standard 18-55 which go for peanuts on eBay if you haven't got one already! But would an extra 8mm make that much of a difference.

I used to have a Zenith 58mm standard lens. Wow, that was a long time ago!

John

Hi Jak, I'm using a K5 so it's a cropped sensor so the 50mm is a 75mm equivalent. At this focal length I will get a small amount of distortion to the face and it is quite noticeable on the nose.

It's not far off being OK but not quite good enough. I don't want to shoot from further away and crop as I will lose resolution and the DOF won't be the same.

I need around 85mm and above ideally to create the most flattering portraits.

I have the 18-55 kit lens, and it's not bad for a cheap lens but it certainly isn't a great portrait lens to be honest.

Can we use the crop factor when estimating pespective distortion? Or is it 50mm = 50mm = 50mm, whatever the crop factor?

Just wondering.

This is correct as I understand it. With a cropped sensor you get the central part of the full-frame image, so any distortion visible in the central region of the full frame image will present in the image captured by the cropped sensor.

As has already been stated : 50-135 / 50-150 (Sigma) / 77 Ltd or MF lenses such as the Voigtlander 58-1.4 / Cosina 55-1.2 / Leica 60 or Zeiss 85 (maybe even the much cheaper but also very good Voigtlander 50.1.8 ).

For portraits you may consider the soft focus lenses such as the Pentax two 85 softs ; 2.2 or 2.8, which should be perfect (sharp in the centre othewise dreamy), not too expensive and easily found, there's also the Tamron Adaptall 70-150/2.8 Soft Focus.

Pentax samples here:
link

Info here :
link

Wedding togs swear by the Tamron 28-75/2.8 which may be the best bet for you.

My M 85/2 seems to do a very nice head...
127mm is presumably too long

Pete

Sorry to bang on, Voigtlander 58mm = 87mm previous thread.