Camera lens for portrait

Handsome90

Hello,

I just bought a Sony compact system camera and it came with 2 kit lens.

1. 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6
2. 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3

If I want to get the maximum background blur (like the ones you see in portraits), which lens should I use?

Thanks!

Gloomendoom

It would probably depend on which port you want to photograph. Northern ports such as Glasgow will probably need a faster lens than those in the south, such a Southampton or Plymouth.

Gloomendoom

I would use the 55-210 set at 210 and f6.3. If you are trying to compress the depth of field, the longer the focal length and the lower the f number the better... within reason.

victor2

It is very difficult to get any noticeable "depth of field" effect on most modern digital cameras. That is mainly because of the small size of the sensor in relation to good old film.
But if you can put the camera on a tripod, and adjust the aperture (f stop), take several pictures with different settings and compare them.
There's an article on it here.

Handsome90

Thanks people.

Gloomendoom, you caught me multitasking! lol. Forgot to finish writing the title of the thread later on

ukcarper

Not sure of sensor size on Sony compact system camera but on my Nikon APSC dslr I can get good results at 135mm at f4.5.

debitcardmayhem

For really good results I would suggest an equivalent 50mm fixed focal length lens with a 1.4(or 1.8) aperture , not sure if you can get one for that camera but if you can it will be expensive. Depth of field has very little to do with sensor size it is all down to aperture/focal length, 55@3.5 is a good compromise.

ukcarper

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

For really good results I would suggest an equivalent 50mm fixed focal length lens with a 1.4(or 1.8) aperture , not sure if you can get one for that camera but if you can it will be expensive. Depth of field has very little to do with sensor size it is all down to aperture/focal length, 55@3.5 is a good compromise.

It does as with a larger sensor you will have to use a longer lens to get the same field of view and will therefore have a smaller depth of field.

ukcarper

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html


Here is a handy depth of field calculator

RobTang

I don't think you'll get a decent bokeh shot with either of the lenses, the best bet for the shot is lens 1 (largest aperture) but your only going to get the 3.5f at 16mm which is going to be a wide angle shot, which isn't really good for portraits.
So I think you're stuck with lens 2 with 4.5f @ 55mm.


Your best bet is to cheat and do a composite image, stick it on a tripod take the portrait then take a second shot of just the background with the pic intentionally out of focus. Get some image software to combine the images, then you'll have quite a bit of control of how you want it to look.


The real answer is to buy a prime normal lens with a low f stop but its not very moneysaving.

ManAtHome

If it's a NEX**, focal length crop (NEX to 35mm) is 1.5, so you have a 24-75mm and a (roughly) 80-300mm - I'd use the larger lens wide open around 70mm (100mm in 35mm terms).

**Lenses don't seem to tie in with NEX or Alpha packages, guessing at NEX as it's a 'compact'.

[edit] googled the focal lengths - could be NEX 6 - good reviews for both as kit lenses.