Best lens for indoor portraits

Naomi Jones

New member
I have the 3300 with the kit lens 18-140. I an now looking at getting a new ( probably prime) lens for indoor portraits mostly of children. I also enjoy street photography but rarely do landscape/nature. I need it to be able to autofocus as my manual focusing sucks so far. My budget is up to $500 CD. The lenses I have looked int the most are the 35 and 50 prime but any suggestion is welcome because my knowledge is limited and your knowledge and experience is more then welcome.
 

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
[MENTION=43005]Naomi Jones[/MENTION] Welcome to the forum. Moab Man gave you some pretty good info. I'm sure more will chime in soon. I don't do much portrait work, so I really wouldn't be much help. Ha!
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
I have the 3300 with the kit lens 18-140. I an now looking at getting a new ( probably prime) lens for indoor portraits mostly of children. I also enjoy street photography but rarely do landscape/nature. I need it to be able to autofocus as my manual focusing sucks so far. My budget is up to $500 CD. The lenses I have looked int the most are the 35 and 50 prime but any suggestion is welcome because my knowledge is limited and your knowledge and experience is more then welcome.

If it's 2/3 to 3/4 body shots for portraits then the 50mm will do. Head shots I would use a minimum of 70mm or higher.

I agree with Moab Man, if its indoor portraits of children I would probably go the 85mm 1.4/1.8, but a more versatile lens would be the 50mm 1.4/1.8 which is good. Another consideration is room size and if a 85mm lense would work in that space.
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
Howdy Naomi and welcome to Nikonites!

The 50mm is a favorite lens. What focal length do you find you use most often on your 18-140? Searching Lightroom (or whatever you use to catalog images) can yield you useful information like whether you tend to shoot wide because of the lack of space indoors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.

Have you tried any portraits using the 18-140mm. If you have a plain wall as a background, or can hang a cloth background, then the lack of a low f-stop is not as critical. Plus, what you find a comfortable focal length with this lens will give you a better idea of which lens would be a best to get if you still want a fast prime. Even if you don't get the results you want with the zoom lens, it will still help you determine your preferred focal length and digital film is very cheap :encouragement:
 

Samo

Senior Member
I like the idea of a fast prime because your gaining light on your kit lens and shutter which will help to freeze those fast moving rascals. On a crop camera I would go either 35 or 50 in the beginning. I would say the 35 because your inside. Shoot eyelevel or maybe slightly up at them. The tilt of the lens is going to make a difference in your results.
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
As I am seeing the suggestion of 35mm show up, here is why you don't want 35mm and why you want as long of a lens as is feasible. To include why I had said if you're going to use a 50mm keep it to 2/3 to 3/4 or greater length photos. Note the feature distortion that happens with head shots until you get to a longer length lens. I know a 50mm can be a tough lens to work indoors, but so is having distorted features on a lens that doesn't serve the purpose of what you need (wasted money).

http://cdn4.mcpactions.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/focallengtharticle.jpg
 
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Samo

Senior Member
Perspective isn't a function of focal length but rather distance to subject. OP has a 1.5 crop camera not fullframe . 35 is equivalent to a 50 on ff...50 equal to a 75. Not really a right or wrong more an instance of shooting style and preference. OP calls out street and kid portrait indoors. 35 will likely be more suitable and will not distort unless terribly close or above or below eyelevel. Such distortions can also be used for artistic effect.

35 or 50 equivalent also allows for context.

Now if you want studio style class days like shots by all means use a 50 or maybe even something a bit longer.

Full frame is a whole other story.
 
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SteveH

Senior Member
I'd say that 35mm would be too wide too, crop sensor or not - 50mm would be a minimum.

Use you 18-140, and see what focal length gives the results you prefer, then look at primes or fast zooms that are around that focal length. The 18-140 may not have the fast aperture you'd want for in door portraits, but at least you'd get an idea of your favourite focal length and you have the in-built flash for a bit of extra light while you are experimenting.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
As I am seeing the suggestion of 35mm show up, here is why you don't want 35mm and why you want as long of a lens as is feasible. To include why I had said if you're going to use a 50mm keep it to 2/3 to 3/4 or greater length photos. Note the feature distortion that happens with head shots until you get to a longer length lens. I know a 50mm can be a tough lens to work indoors, but so is having distorted features on a lens that doesn't serve the purpose of what you need (wasted money).

http://cdn4.mcpactions.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/focallengtharticle.jpg

This is really important. If you go with 50mm to do headshots, you might wind up with some perspective distortion of the face. In simple terms, it means the nose might appear slightly longer, the width of the face might be a little off, and other small but important distorted facial features. Although a 50mm lens on a DX body gives the same FOV (field of view) as an 85mm lens on an FX body, a 50mm lens still gives the perspective distortion of a 50mm lens no matter what body it is mounted on.

If you are looking to do individual headshots or portraits, see if you have enough room to use an 85mm. If you are doing group shots, then 50mm or possibly wider might work if you aren't too close to the people.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I have the 3300 with the kit lens 18-140. I an now looking at getting a new ( probably prime) lens for indoor portraits mostly of children. I also enjoy street photography but rarely do landscape/nature. I need it to be able to autofocus as my manual focusing sucks so far. My budget is up to $500 CD. The lenses I have looked int the most are the 35 and 50 prime but any suggestion is welcome because my knowledge is limited and your knowledge and experience is more then welcome.
I think it depends a great deal what you mean, exactly, by indoor portraits. If you mean formal sittings and posed portraiture of the head and shoulders then I would amplify all the previous comments about NOT choosing a 35, or 50mm prime for this type of shooting. As has already been pointed out there is simply too much facial distortion at the distances you need to be shooting at for head-shots/head and neck portraits using either of those focal lengths. Consider instead the 85mm. For me, on a DX body, that's the bare minimum focal length I find acceptable for head-shots.

Now, for general purpose indoor photography using a DX body, I really like the 35mm.
 

Samo

Senior Member
http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2010...h-for-portraiture-a-photographers-experiment/

One more time. On a crop camera you must translate focal length to effective fov. Perspective only changes due to distance to subject.

FX. Environmental portrait 35 is good. 50 good for full body and group. 85 good for half body. 105 good for head and shoulder.

Same as above on DX if you want to stand further back otherwise it would be DX = 18 for environment. 35 full body. 50 half body. 60 or 85 for head shot.

Also consider this..shoot at child with a 35 or 50 on DX with subject centered then crop to frame.

At this point OP is probably thoroughly confused. My apologies for my part but I find the information provided by some to be at least misleading if not entirely wrong.
 

Lawrence

Senior Member
All o f the above are correct (except I disagree that you should not go with a 35mm because in small areas that may be your only option)

There is no 'right' or 'wrong' answer here. I have a D7100 and use my 35mm, 50mm, 90mm macro and 50 - 150mm for my portrait work depending on the situation.

I would suggest you set your current lens on 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 105mm (these are popular for portraits) and see which best suits your needs and buy a prime accordingly.

Budget ..... budget ... budget.

Do look at the Sigma Art series if you want really good glass - but they might extend your budget, something you won't regret.
 

Samo

Senior Member
OP does mention budget. With that amount could get both 35 and 50 or 85 alone. Now if the question were framed that way I would say 85 and use kit for other focal lengths.
 

alarmguy

New member
First, Ill tell you what I did but dont follow because it might be for the wrong reasons.
Also to the others who posted above, wow, GREAT information, REALLY good.

I was looking for a lens to put on my Xmas wish list. I have 3300 with 2 kit lens.
I wanted a prime for simplicity, indoor shots and street shots, maybe 70% outdoor and 30% indoor.
Not at all Formal Portrait shots, but yes, family photos, new baby photos etc.

Anyway, after pulling out my hair between the 50MM and 35MM, I was leaning heavy towards the 35 DX because I wanted a DX lens. I did something completely unexpected, as it fell into my lap as I was researching.

I put a Nikon 40MM AF-s DX Micro on my wish list!
I read countless reviews and side my side direct comparisons, supposed to be a super sharp lens just like the 35Prime with the ok capable close focus, nice to have but not needed per se.

Granted its a 2.8 lens but being I am a perfectionist I most likely would use the 1.8 35mm at 2.8 too, since in the tests, it showed the sharpness of the 40mm at 2.8 far exceeded the 35mm at 1.8/ only at 2.8 did the 35mm catch up to the 40mm. Add in the macro part of the lens for fun except for tiny creatures as the lens will produce shadow at this mm.

Anyway for me, its a slam dunk, fun looking lens for the occasional photographer and truly seems like it is just as good, if not better then the 35 and 50 prime with the exception of that extra Fstop.

AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G
 
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Dawg Pics

Senior Member
Everybody has their own preferences for their own shooting style and environment. Me? I tend to experiment to find what I like. The knowledge is necessary too, but there is nothing like hands-on experimentation to really understand.

I would do as @Lawrence suggests. Use the kit lens at different lengths indoors. Also, use the zoom inside where you plan on taking portraits, zoom until you like what you see and then and then look to see where you landed. Set-up an experimental portrait session with a kid, Halloween prop or whatever and then use different focal lengths to see what meets your needs. That way you can see for yourself if you don't have the room, there is too much wasted space in the shot, etc.

We all know you will end up with more than one lens after a while soooooo, decide on the indoor lens based on what you find you are doing since that is your priority. Still can't decide? Post a few pics at each focal length with some information about what you are trying to accomplish. The experienced people here can make some further suggestions based on what they see.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.
 
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