Proper portrait lens?

The Hexanon 57 1.4 is a beautiful portrait lens......
I use either the 17 or the 20 but that's just me....

 

I especially like the C/Y Planar 50/1.4 but there are plenty of cheaper options, I am sure. Only heard good things about the Hexanon 57/1.4 and like the few extra mm enough to eventually give it a try myself...

Stefan

 

Isn't the traditional portrait lens more like 80 or 90mm on film?

That said, how about...

Konica 57/1.2
Konica 57/1.4 (a lot cheaper but still quite nice)
Super Takumar 50/1.4

Kevin

 

Traditional portrait lenses went from about 70-100mm (equivalent, give or take, so 35-50mm in m4/3s terms). There are plenty of manual lenses available that are f1.4 or faster to choose from, it just depends on your budget. But if you have a chance, just check on anything from f2 and faster, you might be surprised.

Cheers

Ray

 

I have the very cheap olympus 50mm 1.7. It's very nice for portraits. I have one portrait in my gallery with this lens.

I actually have two, so I could sell or trade the another for you, very cheaply  

 

I have the Konica Hexanon 57mm f/1.4, but haven't had much chance to use it.

Here is one I took of my friend back when I still have my GF1 (doesn't do the lens justice I know.. send me a few pretty girls):
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonytse/5033081716/" title="_1040851.jpg by ttse007, on Flickr"> View attachment 150588 "500" height="375" alt="_1040851.jpg" /></a>

 

Your requirements:

• Prime
  Understood, but that throws you back to manual focus, unless the 45/2.8 is acceptable.
• 50-70 mm
  I use a 90 mm for face-only portraits on my GF-1. The ideal distance for natural perspective is 3 to 5 m. Focal lengths between 70 and 90 mm fit perfectly.
• 1.4 or faster (35 mm equivalent)
  I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but you're effectively stating that you want an f/0.75 lens. DOF scales with the f-number and (inversely) with focal length. 90/2.8 gives you a DOF around 3 cm. That'll do perfectly. As will a 50/1.4. But remember, as a rule of thumb, 1 stop gain doubles the weight of the lens. You profit more from a 90/2.8 that is actually usable at 2.8, than a 90/2 that you have to stop down before it's sharp.

My personal list for lenses around 275 g of weight (and 200-400 euro price range):

• Leica Tele-Elmarit M 90/2.8 (not the "fat" Elmarit)
• Minolta Rokkor 85/2.0 (not the 1.7, that one is close to 400 g)
• Voigtländer Color-Heliar 75/2.5 M39
• Zeiss Sonnar 85/2.8 MM for Contax

If money and weight is of less concern, and you really want the DOF that'll leave the eyebrows out of focus:

• Zeiss Planar 85/1.4 for Contax (or Canon, or Nikon for a more recent version and a few euros more)

All lenses need an appropriate adapter, of course.

Good luck.

 

50 / 1.4 "native"

If you are looking "relative" as well as native, there is the excellent Sigma 50mm 1.4 AF lens in 4/3 mount. I tend to use the Sigma 30/1.4 or Oly 50/2 macro, but these fall outside of your requests.

For manual focus lenses in the 50-60mm range, there are a bunch of excellent ones: the one's I've worked with include Rokkor-X 58/1.2 (incredibly sharp and incredibly smooth bokeh), Canon FL 58/1.2; Hexanon 50/1.4; Olympus 50/1.4, Carl Zeiss Planar 50/1.4. Once current favorite is an old scratched-up Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5 rangefinder lens. If I had to keep one for portraits, it would be the Canon FL, because it is a bit softer wide open than the Rokkor. If I could keep only two, I'd keep the Rokkor-X and the Summarit, complimentary but both excellent.

Now don't get me started on 80-100mm lenses

Good luck!

 

I can't recommend the Canon FL 55/1.2 enough. Beautiful bokeh, just a touch of softness wide open, but perfect for portraits. Very nice lens.

 

Sorry for being slightly off topic

Are any of those on M42?
- I would like to use on a Pentax camera

 

I use a Pentax 50mm f1.4 that was not too expensive and it awesome. I really love it. It´s compact, it has a very nice bokeh and it allows you to get very close to the subject.

 

I am indeed referring to an actual 90 mm. Motion blur can be a problem below 1/125 hand held, although a little concentration has given me sharp results at 1/30 or 1/15.

Panagor 90/2.8 at 4.0 or 5.6, 100 ISO, 1/250 s, hand held on a GF-1. This lens is quite heavy at 500 g. Distance around 4 m. Lighting condition is broad daylight (no clouds, in the shadow of large trees).

 

I'm not aware of any of those on M42. If at all, maybe older versions of the Zeiss.

 

Conrad, how did you get Jeanne Tripplehorn (Barb) from Big Love to pose for you?  

 

Thanks for the compliments.

For more opinions on the ideal focal length for portraits, read this article from the never unopinionated (is that a word?) Ken Rockwell.