Portrait lenses for Nikon D60, SOS:)

[Govhar]

Hi everybody!

I'm not pro in photography, therefore need your advice..

I'm pretty confused on which portrait lenses to acquire for my Nikon D60. I have gone through tutorials and forums and seems like two good options are 50 mm f/1.4 and 50 mm f/1.8.. Would someone who has experience with these lenses or perhaps any other better one, advise me..

I'm planning to take mostly baby/family photos indoor/outdoor.

Your replies are appreciated!
Cheers,
Govhar

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Govhar,

Welcome to the CiC forums from me, great to have you join with a query.

You are probably right about the focal length.

To give sensible advice, we need to know a little more; your budget being a prime (excuse the pun) consideration.

Another relevant factor is whether you are happy manually focusing, or have eyesight like mine that suggests auto-focus would be wise, if you do, for a D60, make sure you only consider "AF-S" lenses from Nikon, or ones with SWM motors from third party lens makers.

Another option might be a 60mm Macro lens, if the budget would stretch that far and you wanted a dual purpose lens - but it won't be as fast as f/1.4 - f/1.8.

Hope that helps,

[Govhar]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for greetings and advice!

About budget.. I think I am ready to spend around $350.
I have always used auto focus and don't know how hard it would be to switch to manual, but think I'm ready to try

Thanks again!
Govhar

[omidrezatabatabaie]

if you dont need to go for extreme low light photos 50 mm f:1.8 would suffice for less than half the price!
both of these are good lenses and do well for you but you should consider neither of these lenses are made primirily for portraits...
maybe your other lenses would do even better for you than these new ones... anyways i think its better that you search a little bit more and dont get hasty on this. especially consider 85 mm 1.4 D nikkors they are also great and made for the job but also much more expensive i dont have it but i think its good

[Colin Southern]

Hi Govhar,

My suggestion in these circumstances is to consider a zoom lens. Often they're not as fast as prime lenses, but often you can't use the primes wide open because you end up with a depth of field that's too shallow, but a zoom lens gives you the advantage of multiple focal lengths to get much better compositions.

Hope this helps

[Hans]

Hi Govhar,

The 50mm f1.4 AF-S is a nice little lens for low light (I have the f1.8 for my D90). It will AF on your camera and give you an focal length of 75mm on a DX. You will most likely stop the lens down to f2.8 or smaller for portraits anyway since, as Colin suggests, DOF at f1.4 is very narrow (though can be used to some effect if done correctly with closer crops). The Bokeh of the Nikon 50mm range of lenses has been compared here.You should be able to pick it up for around US$450. Also, check out this review:

http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showp...ct/1231/cat/12

I bought the 50mm f1.8 and love playing with this lens. I bought it for a cheap, light portrait lens and I have found it very sharp at all apertures except f1.8. But you really have to be critical to be too concerned about that. For the price it is hard to beat. But it won't autofocus on a D60 (to be honest, you would probably regret going with the manual focus f1.8 especially where kids are involved - from experience! - think 'wildlife' photography)

I have the Nikkon 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 AF-S VR which will also AF on your camera (27-157mm on a DX). I have found it to be a remarkable little lens, especially between 24mm and 70mm (at f5.6 or less it is fantastic for a kit zoom). Having said that, you won't notice any difference in the real world when you use it at the focal length extremes of 18mm (wide) and 105mm (tele) where it is sharp at f5.6-f11. It is pretty sharp at widest apertures too, and very usable at all focal lengths. The VR will be useful for your indoor shots and you will have the flexibility of varied focal length options of the zoom range. I have been very impressed at by this little lens! And you can pick it up for US$350.

Another well performing alternative is the Nikon 55-200mm VR AF-S which you could get for US$200 or so. THis would give you 77mm-300mm (70-200mm and above are all good for portraits) on a DX camera.

There is also the Nikon 18-200mm VR AF-S but that is more expensive.

I agree with Omid, don't be in too much of a hurry. But don't get analysis paralysis either.
Good luck with your decision.