Prime portrait lenses

[artington]

DPR has a thoughtful piece by Andy Westlake bemoaning the lack of suitable prime portrait lenses for APS-C cameras.

http://blog.dpreview.com/editorial/2009 ... enses.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The nub of his argument is that 50mm is an awkward lens for APS-C since, in his view, the ideal portrait range is 85-135 (35mm equivalent). I am not entirely sure I agree with this and actually quite like the 75mm length on 35mm FF but I do agree that it would indeed be useful to have some primes in the range 60-80 (35 eq). According to some of the comments to his post, Pentax have a wonderful range of primes, including some fast ones in the 70-77 bracket, but unfortunately modern Pentax lenses cannot be used on other cameras unlike the old M42s which can be adapted. I don't know whether anyone here has had any experience using M42 adapters for old Leica / Cosina Voigtlander lenses on their Minolta / Sony digitals but it would be interesting to hear because some of these old lenses are splendid. Clearly focusing would have to be manual, which may be tricky in low light conditions, but then AF is also pretty unreliable at low EV.

[Dr. Harout]

The Takumar and Super Takumar lenses are great. We're talking about the 50/1.4 and 55/1.8 respectively, of course. I was not impressed with the Pentacon 50/1.8
Overall, I think you should give different M42 lenses a try. There are some which will enrich your lens collection and undoubtedly the IQ you're looking for.
It's a matter of taste and picture mood.

[pakodominguez]

The nub of his argument is that 50mm is an awkward lens for APS-C since, in his view, the ideal portrait range is 85-135 (35mm equivalent). I am not entirely sure I agree with this and actually quite like the 75mm length on 35mm FF but I do agree that it would indeed be useful to have some primes in the range 60-80 (35 eq).

take a look at this post and following answers.
http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... ait#p15306" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to some of the comments to his post, Pentax have a wonderful range of primes, including some fast ones in the 70-77 bracket, but unfortunately modern Pentax lenses cannot be used on other cameras unlike the old M42s which can be adapted. I don't know whether anyone here has had any experience using M42 adapters for old Leica / Cosina Voigtlander lenses on their Minolta / Sony digitals but it would be interesting to hear because some of these old lenses are splendid. Clearly focusing would have to be manual, which may be tricky in low light conditions, but then AF is also pretty unreliable at low EV.

Don (Sonolta) use his 50mm f1.7 with a Olympus A-200 (1.5 converter for the IS series camera, I use it with the Dimage A2, but will be going to eBay soon) and that way he gets a 100mm for les than 100 US$. I'd tried and don't like the quality wide open.

I was on the quest for THE portrait lens too. I trie a similar comba that Don, a couple of Pentax M42 lenses, and more. Now I'm ready to put the 85mm f1.4 on eBay because I find the 100 2.8 Soft Focus better and more versatile. Talking about versatility, zoom lenses works good for portrait too: I like the 35~200 Xi and the 70~210 f2.8 Tamron.

Regards

[KevinBarrett]

I find I use my 70-210/4 for portraits more often now than my 50/1.7, usually on the wide end, but sometimes longer...I'd be all over Pako's 85/1.4 if I hadn't just paid for major car maintenance.