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Nikon DSLR Cameras
D5100
Advice needed on a new lens for portrait work
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<blockquote data-quote="Horoscope Fish" data-source="post: 341329" data-attributes="member: 13090"><p>I'm sorry, but this simply isn't correct. The problem is not "magnification of parts of the image" it's a problem of lens distortion. To keep it simple, lets stick to DX format. I say this because form-factor only affects depth of field and and field of view so by comparing DX to FX in this context we only muddy the water.</p><p></p><p>For a head and shoulders portrait using a 50mm lens on a DX camera you need to be roughly three to five feet from your subject. At that distance the 50mm focal length causes optical distortion and optical distortion, at whatever distance and however significantly or insignificantly it occurs, is due solely to the lens. If we increase the distance between subject and camera by several feet, then yes...The distortion disappears. And while we could crop resulting image taken at that distortion free distance and get a useable portrait, all that zooming and cropping is not really a desirable solution; we've really just traded one problem for another.</p><p></p><p>Notice that to remove the distortion we had to increase the distance between subject and camera by several feet, a few inches simply won't make any noticeable difference in the degree of distortion caused. The difference in distance between the tip of the nose and the ears, likewise, will not noticeably increase or decrease the degree of distortion. To take good head and shoulders portraits you really need the extra focal length and subject to camera distance created by that longer focal length. The extra distance created by using the longer focal length also puts the camera and photographer presumably, at a distance people are more comfortable with as well. It's hard enough to get people to relax for a portrait, even less so if you're shoving a lens in their face from three feet away.</p><p></p><p>For further consideration: </p><p></p><p><a href="http://commonsensephotography.com/how_to_take_better_portraits/index.php" target="_blank">How to Take Better Portraits</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://neilvn.com/tangents/boudoir-photography-50mm-lens/" target="_blank">Boudoir Photography and the 50mm Lens</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1842939" target="_blank">Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Tips: What Not to Shoot with Your 50mm Lens</a>. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #FFFFFF">....</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Horoscope Fish, post: 341329, member: 13090"] I'm sorry, but this simply isn't correct. The problem is not "magnification of parts of the image" it's a problem of lens distortion. To keep it simple, lets stick to DX format. I say this because form-factor only affects depth of field and and field of view so by comparing DX to FX in this context we only muddy the water. For a head and shoulders portrait using a 50mm lens on a DX camera you need to be roughly three to five feet from your subject. At that distance the 50mm focal length causes optical distortion and optical distortion, at whatever distance and however significantly or insignificantly it occurs, is due solely to the lens. If we increase the distance between subject and camera by several feet, then yes...The distortion disappears. And while we could crop resulting image taken at that distortion free distance and get a useable portrait, all that zooming and cropping is not really a desirable solution; we've really just traded one problem for another. Notice that to remove the distortion we had to increase the distance between subject and camera by several feet, a few inches simply won't make any noticeable difference in the degree of distortion caused. The difference in distance between the tip of the nose and the ears, likewise, will not noticeably increase or decrease the degree of distortion. To take good head and shoulders portraits you really need the extra focal length and subject to camera distance created by that longer focal length. The extra distance created by using the longer focal length also puts the camera and photographer presumably, at a distance people are more comfortable with as well. It's hard enough to get people to relax for a portrait, even less so if you're shoving a lens in their face from three feet away. For further consideration: [url=http://commonsensephotography.com/how_to_take_better_portraits/index.php]How to Take Better Portraits[/url] [url=http://neilvn.com/tangents/boudoir-photography-50mm-lens/]Boudoir Photography and the 50mm Lens[/URL] [url=http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1842939]Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Tips: What Not to Shoot with Your 50mm Lens[/url]. [COLOR="#FFFFFF"]....[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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D5100
Advice needed on a new lens for portrait work
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