Absolute BEST PORTRAIT LENSES for Nikon DSLR! Best of the Best! ~Also very expensive IF YOU LIKE THESE VIDEOS, YOU CAN MAKE A NICE DONATION OF $2 OR $5 VIA PAYPAL TO EMAIL: kenw111@insightbb.com
Interesting, one would think the APO Sonnar 2/135 would definitely make the cut. Maybe has too many elements? The 85mm 1.8G has 7 blades 9 of the 1.8D, bokeh balls would look better in the D? Also the Canon 135mm 2.0L and 85mm 1.2L are well regarded. And some regard the 58mm 1.4G, the 105mm 1.4G and the 200mm 2.0G VR II very highly.
Ryan Daugherty which version of 180?ED?I've tried that one and it's rich in colours and sharp at first on D800 by words from my friend.But bokeh on 135 DC is fabulous.
I’ve got the 85 1.8 G and the limitation to it is my skill as a photographer. I’ll have to look at the 105DC and the 300 2.8 to see how much better the bokeh is. Thanks, Ken!
You can go to fb cesur ozkurt send message to me I can show photos of 85 180 and 300mm . Bast outdoor portrait lens is af-s 300mm f2.8 dII faster af than af-s 300 mm f2.8 vr. 300 2.8 is the best if u are taking outdoor . With 85mm 1.8g u can shoot head and shoulder or half body background will bokeh good enough . when you use 300 mm f2.8 even shoot 2 people full body background will be better bokeh than 85mm 1.8 . with 300mm u can focus chest all body will be in focus. Also 180 mm 2.8 other great lens . ultra sharp as 300 mm . another best lens i had Af-s 300mm f4d 500 usd lighter then 300 2.8 beautiful sharp result. I sold my 85mm 1.8 because no need if i have 180mm 2.8 or 300 2.8 . If I new start to photography i buy 1) 50mm 1.8d 2) af 180mm 2.8d 3) 300mm f4d 4 ) 300mm f.28 dII and one wide lens 18-35 g cheap and great set waht i have too.
cesur ozkurt Thanks, Cesar! I got a 180 2.8 about two months after posting my comment, but I think the 300 is an excellent idea. I’ll get on FB and send you a message. Thanks again, Tim
I really love you man, because you are very straightforward and honest, and I know you have knowledge about the obliques that you present . Just as in Romania these objectives are not available at the moment
For half-length, head & shoulder, and face shots, here are my favorite prime lenses on Nikon F-mount full-frame cameras: 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor (my only auto focus portrait lens) 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor (the second Nikkor lens I purchased) 105mm f/2.8 Nikon macro (my personal favorite portrait lens) 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor (like the lens used by Steve McCurry to shoot famous Afghan Girl photo) 135mm f/2 Nikkor (great for portraits but not sharp enough for landscapes or other distance photography)
Nikkor 180mm F2.8. The other cream machine. I own: Tamron 45mm F1.8, Nikkor 105mm F2 DC, Nikkor 180mm F2.8. Your conclusion on these three lenses are the same as mine!
For half-length, head & shoulder, and face shots, here are my favorite lenses for portrait use on Nikon F-mount APS-C cameras: 55mm Nikon macro for half lengths and couples 100mm f/2.8 Nikon Series E (low-cost portrait lens) 75-150mm f/3.5 Nikon Series E manual focus for head & shoulders, head shots, and tight face (low-cost portrait lens) 80-200mm f/2.8 Nikon auto focus for head & shoulders, head shots, and tight face shots 28 to 200mm Tokina auto focus zoom for full length to tight face shots for use on beaches or situations where changing lenses is not recommended (low-cost portrait lens)
I am confused. I just watch one of your videos calling Ken Rockwell all kinds of foul names because he liked the Nikkor 135 f2 and you basically said it was crap and said to get a cheap $120 lens instead. In this video you seem to have the same level of love for the Nikkor 135 f2 that Ken Rockwell does. What is going on? Too much coffee?
Different Opinion: 1.) Nikon 200mm f2. Unbelievable bokeh for full body portraits or faces. 2.) Nikon D 85mm f1.4. Old, reliable, superb bokeh. Softens a feminine faceshot with spectacular bokeh. 3.) Secret gem Nikon 80-200 D 2.8. Oldie but to die for bokeh on portraits with variable 80mm or 200mm. 4.) Hard to focus Zeiss 85mm 1.4. Just so hard to focus on the run, but a sharp oldie. 5.) The impressive Nikon 60mm D 1.8 which screams microcontrast! 6.) Another very hard to use Zeiss 30mm. Brings tears to my eyes. 7.) The so perfect, but hard to focus Cosina made-in-the-same-building-in-Japan as Zeiss lens, the impeccable Voightlander 58mm f1.4. Be prepared to bring tears to your eyes as it is perfection, but hard to focus. ONLY 3 AGREEMENTS WITH THE MASTER!
I've followed your lens recommendations and it's funny, but the portrait lens I've settled on didn't make any of your previous lists either. That would be the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AI-s. I really love the rendering from what i've seen. When comparing it to the f/1.8D, it really stood out to me as a step up. 7 elements, 9-blade diaphragm. Awesome creamy bokeh, and just a tiny step below the Zeiss 85 in colours & depth rendition at about 2/3 to 3/4 of the price. It seems to be a very popular choice among the Japanese sellers online because the prices just do not seem to budge. Been waiting to find a steal.
I own the 85 1.8G for portraits on my D7100 but now have great interest in the Voigtlander. Do you think it would be silly to own both? There might be too much overlap between the two so I was thinking about selling the 85 but was curious if you think the Voigtlander is a big enough improvement to be worth the trouble.
I have the 85mm Zeiss which I love but I also like using my Nikon 80-200 f/2.8d ed lens. Sure the 80-200 is a heavy beast and requires a tripod, but it does a good job and gives you some zoom capability .
Nikon 180mm AF-D 2.8 is the "secret lens" recommendation over and over. Why isn't it here? Yes I know it didn't make the grade but what about it makes it a secret lens but not a top portrait choice? Seems the voight got tossed in for an inexpensive choice (probably more so for the DX idea behind it).
ive got the 180mm and its great even though its 30 years old also have the 85mm f1.8 it is sharp but you have to stand way back to fit the whole person in the photo
Best of these for a crop sensor would be the 56mm Voigtlander I presume? If owning both a FF Nikon and a Fuji and only choosing one of these lenses to work with BOTH systems, which would it be?
Hi Ken, what's your opinion on the Samyang 135mm F/2.0 ED UMC lens? 11 elements.... How does it stack up against the legendary Nikon's 135mm F/2.8 AI-S?
Chuck Norris I own the Samyang 135mm F2. Absolute beast of a lens, bokeh is unparalleled and it is razor sharp. Even the minimum focusing distance is less (0.8m) allowing you to get some macros as well.
Ken, as a addition to my Voigtlander 58mm for portraits I want to buy another great portrait lens with great micro contrast for black and white. I am really doubting between buying the Zeiss Planar 85/1.4 and the 105mm DC Nikkor. I have no issues with manual focusing. What’s the best buy for portraits and artnude photography?
I have 300mm F 2.8 D ii Very fast focus. But sometimes back focus on my D810. I was seriously thinking of replacing it with Nikon 200mm F2 VR I. Along with 1.4 TC. After watching your video I am thinking again
Hi Ken! Thanks for all the hard work you do on these videos. You've been a life saver! I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I am saving up money to invest in new lenses for my Nikon D5300 so that, once I have a sizable lens collection, I can upgrade to an FX camera body. My first purchase was the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 (without VR, via your recommendation). Now I am trying to decide on what portrait lens to buy. I do portrait photography very often (I'm big into bokeh) and would love to up my game. What lens would you recommend?
been watching your vids for a while. I felt I had to comment on your posts. you have knowledge on the subject of photography for a young guy. I personally still shoot with my lieca digilux 4.3,a huge 2.4 megapixel camera made 16 years ago,also shoot micro 4/3 professionally. When I compare pictures of my new equipment over my old lieca digilux the differences are minimal at best.anything 8x10 in print size the old outdated lieca still shines. I also use canon fd primes for my micro 4/3. I never thought digital photography would go the way of 35mm body's. I like my tiny camera's and would like to see more of them.A good photography software suite can more than make up anyshort comming from a cheap camera. I rarely have to touch up any of my lieca pics and my olympus micro4/3.Technology has grown in digital photography but for my old eyes my little lieca (fuji) still takes outstanding pics and transfer speed from the old multimedia cards is on par with the fastest writing speeds of a sdhc card.I like the atitude you have as well, and you give folks a realistic view of photography. Thanks for the dose of reality into today's world of digital wizardry.
Which output/IQ is better? Voigtlander 58 1.4 or Fuji 56? I have both mounts and I was wondering if it makes more sense to just get the Voigt nikon mount and use it on both my cameras, since I have the Metabones adaptor for the Fuji.
Hi Ken, I got a D750 and a d7000 + a nikon 60mm f2.8d and the tokina 100mm f2.8, your excellent recommendation, by the way. I am wondering to buy a Nikon 85mm f1.8g, since most of my photography is portraiture. Does this acquisition worthwhile? Thanks
to hell with those lenses, theyre only very sharp, they suck, they dont make fine art renderings very sharp "dead" lenses , not my thing…..maybe its yours
I have that exact 300mm f/2.8 ED IF AIS Nikkor and mounting it and just holding the camera will rip the lens mount out of the camera? What kind of ridiculous horseshit is that, uncle fester?
Maybe you should talk a bit about the issues with auto focus with the DC lenses. Alot of people have been having problems with using the defocus control as it fucks up the auto focus on their cameras, and its also common to have to fine tune the AF to make theese lenses sharp, and some cant even finetune enough as +20 or -20 is not enough. .. As the best lens is not so great if its not working well. .. And hey! maybe you have some even better tips then what is available on the forums about these issues. Personally i had to finetune mine to about +8 or something but im happy i did some reading around the internet before buying.
Hmm im not sure i understand. yes my nikkor 105 DC has screw drive focus system that works on my D600 camera. But if i set the DC control to 0, it still focuses about -8 off in the finetune. But if i set the DC control to +2 and the apature to 2, the auto focus fucks up. It suddenly misses focus by a lot. And if i set the DC to -2 it misses in the opposite direction. And yes i did refocus before taking the shot. The little green dot also misses the center. So if i want to use the DC control i have to manually focus and ignore the green dot. I have read that many people had to set their DC control permenently to -2 in order to get their camera to auto focus propperly. Luckily mine is not that far off. And yes i dont mind to manually focus, but i normally like to rely on the little green dot to make sure. .. And thanks for replying and many great videos :)
Well its the only Nikon i own at the moment. But reports of the problem has been from users of the d700 and d800 aswell .. but i dont know if you qualify them as normal either.
Hy Ken, I'm little bit lost: i don't know if the 135 f/2 is much more better than the 135 f/2.8. indeed, the 135 f/2 in AIS not in DC. In my country (France) I found a 135 f2 for 350$ and the 135 f2.8 for 60$, can you help me ? ps: do you think that I've have also to buy first the 105 DC f2 ? also thanks for all yours videos that help me for choosing lenses, truly fan of your Sincerity when you're talking about something ! best regards
i just uploaded 2 vids where i take apart old zeiss lens and fix it and put it back together :) 100 macro i own yes, great stuff, but the throw on the lens is a bit too damn long
if you what u tell me it's true, it' amazing. MF is no problem at F4-5,6. spending 500 euros on a plasticy lens is a big problem for me and Im not a big fan of the 85mm G on Flickr...in the end, I probably don't need a FX camera.
You said the 85mm 1.8 is really sharp but u also said the tokina 100mm is perfect for portraits. i don’t shoot macro and i just want the best for portraits. Between those two, which one do you recommend?
Theoria Apophasis you said 85 1.8G is the sharpest in 85mm, and here you recommended 85 1.8D ? Can you please explain a bit, I want to buy one 85 too, is it a typo ? Thanks Ken.
You did say "Absolute Pinnacle, Unmatched, Unrivaled" so don't think my question is out of line. Every review has it the best optically and it's available in Nikon mount. Yes, I know it's expensive but again you were the one talking about "slap your mama" type of performance.
Theoria Apophasis Yeah the money thing is real! The 200 is not in the same category as the 180 IMHO. I own the 180 and it was a goto long portrait lens until I got the 200f2. The 200 is so much sharper (wide open) and has a beautiful bokey unmatched by almost any other lens I own. Admittedly that is personal opinion, but what is not personal opinion is the way it renders a portrait. So much so that I have not since touched the 180 for a portrait. Yes the 180 f2.8 is great for the money....it is not in the same league as a the 200. Never mind the auto focus speed difference!
I'm doing a couple of photoshoots/headshots within a week-I shoot at dusk as a rule. Will try the Tokina 100 2.8 vrs my 70-200 2.8. Will use ocf in a cheap umbrella/box (purchased for $28 by Interfit) containing an sb700 on a d750. If you want to see the results, maybe we can make contact.
Can someone spell what he is pronouncing the smallest lens on his table, the 58mm 1.4? I can't seem to look it up. Whitelander? casena white lander? Ksaena dwightlander? I never heard of this lens please help. It the one recommended for DX,.
For portraits mostly, but macro would be a welcomed bonus. Also I would be tempted by a 135 as I already have the 85 1.8G, which you like as I remember What 135 would you recommend?
I looked up portraits at 300mm. My gawd. I want THAT look for some family photos (and landscapes). With the D71' this is effectively 450mm....gotta look up vids of that bad boy in action.
