[RYCeT]

Hi guys, I'm planning to buy my bestfriend a lens for his D80. Most likely it will be use primarily for taking potrait picture.
Which one will be a better lens? 50 1.4 or 85 1.8?
Which lens will give a better bokeh?
What's the best appeture to use for each of them?

 

[haibane]

I have only used the 50 1.8 and the 85 1.4. I think the 50 1.4 should be a solid lens based off of the 50 1.8 I like the canon 50 1.4 a lot more than the nikon 50 1.8 cause of build, but I recently switched. T he 85 is going to be better though even on a 1.5 crop body because its going to get you more of the subject and less of the background. Never used a d80 so I couldn't help you as far as that camera. i think the 50 1.4 is also a pro glass while the 85 1.8 might be considered consumer glass.

 

[Mr_Penut]

i'd suggest the 50 on a crop body. the 85 isgoing to seem like a lens over 100mm, which is not nearly as useful.

 

[grawk]

I absolutely love my tamrac 90 SP as a portrait lens (on a km 7d, a 1.5 crop)

 

[Mr_Penut]

i agree it's a nice lens/length, but you will get much less use out of it vs a shorter focal length. get them the50 now, and the 85 next year if they want to do more portrait work.

 

[dj_mocok]

If he does mostly full length, get 50mm 1.8, but shoulder up, get 85mm one.
50mm doesn't have a good bokeh. 85mm has better bokeh, but as grawk said, 90mm Tamron dimacro 2.8 has superb bokeh - definitely better than 85mm 1.8, but it might be too long (unless you don't do full body).

So maybe just get him a voucher?

If you want something special, get him a 50mm 1.2 AI-S. That lens has style. He'll love it - unless he's an auto-everything guy.

 

[grawk]

my best portraits have always been when I was an extra couple of steps back. In fact, my absolute best head shot I ever took was with a 300mm lens. So unless you're taking your shots in a studio, I wouldn't worry about it being too long in most cases. You can always back up. Go with the best glass, then worry about length.

 

[Arainach]

The 50mm has a 7-bladed diaphragm that produces a considerably harsher bokeh. The 85mm has a 9-blade and is considerably smoother. Not quite as good as the legendary (in both quality and price) 85 f/1.4, but still great results. It's well worth taking a few more steps back.

 

[jconly]

I'm not really sure how relevant the comments regarding composition are when making your decision. Provided there is room to move, your friend can compose his subjects however he pleases with either lens.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arainach /img/forum/go_quote.gif The 50mm has a 7-bladed diaphragm that produces a considerably harsher bokeh. The 85mm has a 9-blade and is considerably smoother.

Not only that, but wider lenses show much greater depth than do longer focal lengths. The longer the focal length, the more "compressed" the planes in the image become. Because of this, it's much easier to obtain extremely out of focus elements with a longer lens. Some people also find this to produce more "flattering" results, as it can tend to hide a subjects "imperfections."

In addition, distortion is another aspect to take into consideration. Granted we're not talking about a 17mm lens here, but each of these lenses still distorts the subject matter. Making a choice based on this decision really becomes a matter of personal aesthetic preference, but that's something that comes with the experience of getting to know a piece of glass.
While the effects of the 85mm are much more difficult to notice, the closer you get with the 50mm, things can become very interesting. This isn't to say it's going to produce unpleasant and overly exaggerated distortion like that 17mm will. In fact, I really enjoy the things a normal lens can do to the subject, but it's just another thing to be aware of.

Anyway, I think the choice really revolves around the aesthetic considerations of your friend, but if I was in your position, the first thing I would take into consideration is the camera this glass is going to be used on. Since you said it was a D80, the cropping of the sensor is going to have a large effect on how each lens acts. The 50mm is basically becoming an 80mm (kinda, the compression isn't quite the same, and the since you're only seeing a smaller fraction of the "frame", the distortion is not quite as pronounced), and the 85 becomes only longer.

Because of this, I'd probably go with the 50. It will probably be more versatile, and the extra speed (1.4) will be nice if he does any low light work.

(Hah...I hope I didn't make stuff too complicated. I guess I felt like writing tonight or something.)

 

[Arainach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jconly /img/forum/go_quote.gif The 50mm is basically becoming an 80mm (kinda, the compression isn't quite the same, and the since you're only seeing a smaller fraction of the "frame", the distortion is not quite as pronounced), and the 85 becomes only longer.

No, the 50mm is still a 50mm lens. It's Depth of Focus and angular perspective are the same. The viewpoint is cropped so it has the same field of view as a 75mm lens would on 35mm film, but it's still a 50mm lens. Similarly with the 85 - it may now have the FoV of a 128mm lens on film but optically it's still an 85mm lens.

 

[jconly]

Right, that's essentially what I said in parentheses.
Just different wording.

Edit: Well, not quite. I disagree about the angular perspective. Distortion is more pronounced towards the edges of the image circle. Since you're only using a smaller portion of this circle, it's not quite as noticeable.

 

[ilikemonkeys]

I would use the 85. The DOF is pretty thin for portrait work wide open, so I set mine around 5 or even 8 if the background is far enough away.

I think the 85 is better built than the 50. It just feels better in my hands.

 

[dan1son]

I really like the bokeh on my 50mm f/1.4D in the f/1.4-f/2 range. Past f/2 it starts getting a little geometric and less round, which incidentally is when it starts getting really sharp. Very nice lens though.

50mm on a DX camera is going to be about right for portrait work. 85mm is fairly long, but will probably work for mostly head shots. The 85mm f/1.4 is considered to be one of Nikons best lenses, and supposedly f/1.8 version is no slouch.

 

[dj_mocok]

So Ryce, have you decided what to get?

 

[RYCeT]

Well, I spoke w/ him and from our conversation, I decide to get the 50mm 1.4
He'll mostly use it 70% indoor so 50mm 1.4 should be more practical for him to use with his D80.