How To Use a 50mm Lens to Shoot Portrait?

Lewis,

Thank You Very Much!!! You'v offer me a excellent start point. I need
some time to study what you said and I'v already saved the post. Now I
answer some questions you mentioned,

1, If I'm using the CZ 1.4/50mm?

Yes, and I mount it on a Contex Aria. You said that is one of the
sharpest of all, that encourge me to ask that Sharpness is a good news
or bad news for portrait?

2, What kind of "portraits" do I want to do?

Actually I want three kind of portraits. People in enviroment and
somewhat Head/Shoulder shots. You said, the Head shots is a little hard
and it depends, now I wanna know what about Head/Shoulder shots? In
further, I want to know what is the closest subject distance for a 50mm
lens without introducing unpleasing aberration (big noise and so on).
In fact I am looking for a maximized posibility.

-
narke

(And the mega-cheap Canon EF 50mm/F1.8 on my 1.6 crop DSLR is by far
my
favourite combination for portraits, too.)

But, IMO, a 50mm lens is not a really 50mm lens for DSLR, is it?
They're not same in perspective for the film/CCD size is different.
-
narke

Ryadia,

Can I answer your question?

Focal length has nothing to do perspective, that's right! But a
shorter focal lens force you to go closer to the subject than a long
lens do to get the same subject size on the film, this time, as you
noticed, the subject distance changed. It is the distancce that play
the magic.

I think this is what Alan means.

-
narke

"narke" wrote in message
oups.com...
(And the mega-cheap Canon EF 50mm/F1.8 on my 1.6 crop DSLR is by far
my
favourite combination for portraits, too.)

But, IMO, a 50mm lens is not a really 50mm lens for DSLR, is it?
They're not same in perspective for the film/CCD size is different.
-
narke

I think that's kind of the point. A 50mm lens on a 1.6x crop Canon has the
FOV of an 85mm (approx) on a 35mm film camera. 85mm is in the range
considered appropriate for portraits, for those who worry about such things.

--
Skip Middleton
http://www.shadowcatcherimagery.com

"narke" wrote in message
oups.com...
(And the mega-cheap Canon EF 50mm/F1.8 on my 1.6 crop DSLR is by far
my
favourite combination for portraits, too.)

But, IMO, a 50mm lens is not a really 50mm lens for DSLR, is it?
They're not same in perspective for the film/CCD size is different.
-
narke

I think that's kind of the point. A 50mm lens on a 1.6x crop Canon has the
FOV of an 85mm (approx) on a 35mm film camera. 85mm is in the range
considered appropriate for portraits, for those who worry about such things.

--
Skip Middleton
http://www.shadowcatcherimagery.com

Ryadia writes:

Alan Browne wrote:

50mm is a bit wide for closeup portraits.
snipped

The perspective will be correct, there will be no distortion. DOF
will not be as shallow as you might like.

Snipped here too


Unbelievable...
The first day back on the job and here is Alan Browne stating that
"perspective will be correct" in the discussion of a defined focal
length lens after going on and on and on about perspective having
nothing to do with focal length in relation to a portrait...

As I Shake my head in wonderment.

According to the theory argued by Alan a few weeks ago, the focal
length of a lens has nothing to do with perspective. Now he's saying
by using a 50mm lens and moving the camera, you can alter the
perspective.

Note the "and moving the camera". The lens doesn't change the
perspective. Moving the camera does.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

Ryadia wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:

50mm is a bit wide for closeup portraits.

snipped

The perspective will be correct, there will be no distortion. DOF
will not be as shallow as you might like.

Snipped here too



Unbelievable...
The first day back on the job and here is Alan Browne stating that
"perspective will be correct" in the discussion of a defined focal
length lens after going on and on and on about perspective having
nothing to do with focal length in relation to a portrait...

As I Shake my head in wonderment.

According to the theory argued by Alan a few weeks ago, the focal length
of a lens has nothing to do with perspective. Now he's saying by using a
50mm lens and moving the camera, you can alter the perspective.

Be careful with your snipping Doug. What I said in full was: "Say you want to
make a head and shoulders shot, compose it to fill the frame, then increase your
distance by 2/3 more to twice as far away. Crop the result. The perspective
will be correct, there will be no distortion. DOF will not be as shallow as you
might like. "

I'm saying precisiely what I've said from the beginning. With a wider lens,
just move further back and then crop the result. From a perspective POV a shot
taken at 2 meters from the subject with a 50mm is identical to a 100mm at 2
meters away.

Any chance of consistency, Alan? If you're going to rant at me for
saying you get a better perspective with an 80 or 100 mm lens than you
do with a 50mm one, how about not arguing I'm wrong and then saying the
same thing yourself a few weeks later? Maybe you read some of the text
books I pointed to on the subject and changed your mind without telling
anyone?

I have been perfectly consistent Doug. I have maintained that a shot taken at a
specific distance from the subject gives the same perspective. That happens to
be the truth, which is convenient as well.

The OP wants to take a portrait with a 50mm lens. He has nothing else. So,
just take the shot from further away and crop the result.

Cheers,
Alan.

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.

narke wrote:

(And the mega-cheap Canon EF 50mm/F1.8 on my 1.6 crop DSLR is by far

my
favourite combination for portraits, too.)

But, IMO, a 50mm lens is not a really 50mm lens for DSLR, is it?
They're not same in perspective for the film/CCD size is different.

For a 1.6x cropped sensor, you end up with a result similar to an 80mm lens.
That would produce very nice portraits without any distortion.

As I said earlier, cropping a 50mm shot that was taken further back is the same
as using a longer lens uncropped. A cropped sensor does the cropping for you.


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.

"narke" wrote in message
oups.com...
(And the mega-cheap Canon EF 50mm/F1.8 on my 1.6 crop DSLR is by far
my
favourite combination for portraits, too.)

But, IMO, a 50mm lens is not a really 50mm lens for DSLR, is it?
They're not same in perspective for the film/CCD size is different.
-
narke

Ahhhh! A secret is revealed! This question is about a film camera with a
50mm lens. Too bad that fact wasn't mentioned in the OP.
:-(
Sign,
me

"narke" wrote in message
oups.com...
Lewis,

Thank You Very Much!!! You'v offer me a excellent start point. I need
some time to study what you said and I'v already saved the post. Now I
answer some questions you mentioned,

1, If I'm using the CZ 1.4/50mm?

Yes, and I mount it on a Contex Aria. You said that is one of the
sharpest of all, that encourge me to ask that Sharpness is a good news
or bad news for portrait?

Who knows? Depends on what you and or the subject wants. If softness is
desired use diffusion, in which case the sharpness of the lens is not a
factor.

2, What kind of "portraits" do I want to do?

Actually I want three kind of portraits. People in enviroment and
somewhat Head/Shoulder shots. You said, the Head shots is a little hard
and it depends, now I wanna know what about Head/Shoulder shots? In
further, I want to know what is the closest subject distance for a 50mm
lens without introducing unpleasing aberration (big noise and so on).
In fact I am looking for a maximized posibility.

Your distaste for distortion is unknown so this distance can only be
determined by you. Take some portraits, make note of the distance and see
for yourself.

-
narke

Sign,
me