Portrait Prime with/without Macro
Discussion
There are really only two disadvantages of using a macro lens for portraits and whether either matters will be entirely down to how you shoot.
Firstly they're rarely as large a max. aperture as a fast prime so where you might be looking at a 90mm 2.8 macro lens, you could instead have an 85mm 1.2/1.4/1.8 for example. So for studio work with artificial lighting, you're unlikely to care. But if you're after creamy, blurry backgrounds or shooting in low light, it might matter.
The other thing is that because macro lenses have such a huge focusing range, they tend to be slower to AF and spend more time hunting back and forward. Some have limiter switches to speed things up.
On the plus side, macro lenses, seemingly without exception tend to be bitingly sharp and have generally good optical properties.
Firstly they're rarely as large a max. aperture as a fast prime so where you might be looking at a 90mm 2.8 macro lens, you could instead have an 85mm 1.2/1.4/1.8 for example. So for studio work with artificial lighting, you're unlikely to care. But if you're after creamy, blurry backgrounds or shooting in low light, it might matter.
The other thing is that because macro lenses have such a huge focusing range, they tend to be slower to AF and spend more time hunting back and forward. Some have limiter switches to speed things up.
On the plus side, macro lenses, seemingly without exception tend to be bitingly sharp and have generally good optical properties.
paul.deitch said:
Thanks for the extra background info Westy. Very useful. I would rather have a fast prime. Now I have to decide which would best fit my needs for a 5D3. The Zeiss looks nice but for a hobby is just a bit too much. Up to 800 no problem.
Take a look at the Sigma Art Range. 85, 105 or 135mm. They're all utterly glorious, if a little large. singlecoil said:
IIIRC Joe Edelman when he was shooting Nikon liked using a third party macro lens as his portrait lens. I can't remember which one as it didn't mean much to me (as i have a Canon).
I like using a macro for portraits as it lets you get in nice and close. It’s likely the tokina 100 f/2.8
Edited by toohuge on Tuesday 12th February 10:40
Just ordered a NEEWER 85mm F/1.8 prime (Fully Manual) for my Canon 5d - should be fun, heard these are very sharp!
Edit - here it is on the camera, very vintage looking, lovely feeling lens great solid heft to it, taken few shots so far and it's brill.
All controls done on the lens, aperture controls etc, my 5er can still meter the light no problem, so adjusts shutter speed and exposure fine...
The pictures I've taken so far are superb for sharpness, manual focus is a little more tricky but I learned on 80's OM's and Nikon's at uni so it is all coming back to me, nice change of scenery to be honest than snap snap auto everywhere, maybe try it out at portrait shoots on a tripod
Edit - here it is on the camera, very vintage looking, lovely feeling lens great solid heft to it, taken few shots so far and it's brill.
All controls done on the lens, aperture controls etc, my 5er can still meter the light no problem, so adjusts shutter speed and exposure fine...
The pictures I've taken so far are superb for sharpness, manual focus is a little more tricky but I learned on 80's OM's and Nikon's at uni so it is all coming back to me, nice change of scenery to be honest than snap snap auto everywhere, maybe try it out at portrait shoots on a tripod
Edited by DailyHack on Tuesday 12th February 19:31
Edited by DailyHack on Tuesday 12th February 19:41
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