If I were a fan or razor thin DOF in portraits...

[rpcrowe]

...which I am not! I would seriously consider the new Yongnuo 100mm f/2 lens. At $160 USD from Adorama.com

https://www.adorama.com/yn100mmca.html

It looks like an unadulterated copy of the discontinued Canon 100mm f/2 lens - which wasn't a bad lens. But at $160 - that's amazing.

Yongnuo's copy of the older Canon 35mm f/2 lens runs just $93 at Adorama...

https://www.adorama.com/yn352caef.html

If I were looking for a pair of primes for low light shooting at a really cheap price, I would seriously consider these two lenses...

After all, $253 is a pretty rock bottom price to get two decent prime f/2 lenses...

[Shadowman]

Cheap enough to consider but at least with Nikon there is a similarly priced 50mm 1.8; not sure about Canon. The one thing to compare would be # of elements, shape of the blades, etc. Also some sample images would be nice but not a deal killer. Thanks for the link, didn't know Yongnuo made lenses also.

[billtils]

with Nikon there is a similarly priced 50mm 1.8

Indeed there is John - it is by a large margin the best value for money lens in my kit.

[Manfred M]

The downside of the cheaper 3rd party lenses is they often do not have integration with the camera's metering systems nor do they have autofocus capabilities. This may or may not be a deal breaker, but should be a consideration when considering lenses from third party manufacturers.

That being said, the very high end lens from Zeiss do not have built in autofocus either, but tend to be aimed at the high end camera models that have better manual focusing capabilities. Note, I'm referring to the Zeiss lenses, not the Zeiss branded lenses made by Sony for Sony cameras.

[DanK]

Cheap enough to consider but at least with Nikon there is a similarly priced 50mm 1.8; not sure about Canon. The one thing to compare would be # of elements, shape of the blades, etc. Also some sample images would be nice but not a deal killer. Thanks for the link, didn't know Yongnuo made lenses also.

Yes, Canon has a budget 50mm f/1.8 also. At B&H, the new version of that lens is $125, and pre-orders for the Yongnuo are $199. However, for portrait use, a 50mm and 100mm aren't equivalent; the different perspectives render faces a bit differently. That's why a traditional portrait lens for FF is in the 90-105 mm range.

Personally, I'd wait to see reviews. And as Manfred pointed out, lacking electrical connections is a substantial disadvantage. I'd also like to see information on build quality. I did chance on this one looking at three knock-off flashes, including a Yongnuo. Caveat emptor: the author works for the brand that comes out looking best.

[Manfred M]

That's why a traditional portrait lens for FF is in the 90-105 mm range.

I'd suggest that 70-200mm is probably a more accurate assessment, depending on how you look at a portrait. The f/2.8 70-200mm lens is the most popular high end portrait lens that Canon and Nikon market.

[rpcrowe]

The 100mm focal length is quite decent focal length for a crop sensor and is not all that shabby for a full frame camera either. As with Manfred, I prefer a 70-200mm lens on my crop sensor or on my full frame camera. However, the price of this Yongnuo 100mm lens at $160 USD with free USA delivery from Adorama, sure beats the price of virtually any 70-200mm lens and, IMO the 100mm focal length is a far better range to shoot a portrait than 50mm at f/1.8 or 55mm at f/5.6 on a kit lens...

Of course, the 70-200mm range on either a crop or full frame camera is far more versatile than a 100mm prime - but, now we are getting into the zoom vs. prime war...

The Yongnuo appears to communicate with the camera for focus and for exposure settings.

It also seems to have fairly decent image quality and bokeh when shot wide open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA2Di2V7NKk

I did notice some relatively annoying round OOF bokeh in some highlight areas.

If I were searching for a portrait lens, I would definitely place this one on my short list of candidates.

[Cogito]

Richard, if you want near-zero DOF, why not use a macro lens?

[Manfred M]

Richard, if you want near-zero DOF, why not use a macro lens?

A macro lens of is not going to give you any additional DoF over any other lens, for a given aperture and magnification.


https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...h-of-field.htm

[William W]

Additional to Manfred’s comment (Post #9): typically, Macro Lenses will have a smaller Maximum Aperture when contrasted to a set of like (non Macro) Prime Lenses.

For example (using the Canon EF Series) the set of 50mm Lenses have Maximum Apertures at: F/1.0; 1.2; 1.4 and 1.8; and the Macro 50mm Lens is at F/2.5.

Again, at 100mm the three Macro Lenses are all at F/2.8, yet the Prime Lens offering provides a faster F/2 Maximum Aperture – (and close in Focal Length to 100mm) there are the three 85mm lenses at F/1.8 and F/1.2.

So, the bottom line is: if desiring wafer thin DoF for Portraiture Photography is the aim of the exercise - one is behind the eight-ball (or, if in England, one is Snookered) if one chooses a Macro Lens over a faster Prime lens of the same or reasonably equivalent Focal Length – and to my knowledge there is always a faster Prime equivalent or very close to it: for example the 180/3.5 Macro could be realistically compared with the 200/1.8 and 200/2, etc.

***

Returning to Richard’s Opening Post – I just had a quick and it seems Adorama have a special price on the EF 85/1.8, even though still more expensive than the mentioned Yongnuo 100mm f/2, the Canon 85/1.8, whilst on special, would warrant a close look by those with Canon gear who are looking for that 85 to 100mm range at fast apertures.

I certainly wouldn’t dismiss the Yongnuo as value for money: but I would wait for some sample pictures and some (at least) seemingly unbiased testing. There are certainly bargains to be had with third party lenses.

If anyone is interested in the Yongnuo, then I one point I would make is to suggest you have a close look at the Manual Focusing functionality of the lens – the Distance Scale rotates in the same direction as the Canon EF Lenses, but the Manual Focus Turret rotates in the opposite direction.

I am not sure how many of us would ever look at the distance scale – but I do sometimes and when I saw this 100mm lens, do that, my mind went quite funny.

WW