Setup for available light portraiture.

John Bragg · Jun 20, 2015

So what would you choose to take portraits by available/window light ? I am currently favoring Nikon F100 or F5 both bought from evilbay and AF Nikkor 85mm f1.8D or AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8D. Time was when I was a manual focus only guy, but ageing eyes and the fall in price of once exotic cameras has made this a good choice for me when not using Leica M6. I find that back button focussing is very precise for this and have disabled the shutter button focussing on both cameras. Share your choices here.

frank · Jun 20, 2015

I go with medium format, normal lens. My avatar was shot with Bronica S2a and 75 Nikkor.

Whatever camera and normal to short tele lens you have will work.

John Bragg · Jun 20, 2015

frank said:
I go with medium format, normal lens. My avatar was shot with Bronica S2a and 75 Nikkor.

Whatever camera and normal to short tele lens you have will work.

Great Avatar Frank. If iI recall, it is your Dad ?

fotch · Jun 20, 2015

Manual focus lens, maybe 100mm if using 35mm camera (Nikon F3HP), handheld exposure meter, medium speed film.

jeffreyg · Jun 20, 2015

John,

Of the choices you present why not use either of the bodies (I'm more familiar with the F100 but rarely use 35mm) and both of the lenses to have more than one perspective of your subject.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Alan Gales · Jun 20, 2015

frank said:
I go with medium format, normal lens. My avatar was shot with Bronica S2a and 75 Nikkor.

Whatever camera and normal to short tele lens you have will work.

Great camera and lens combination! The 150mm Bronica lens is quite nice too.

Alan Gales · Jun 20, 2015

I'd shoot a 50mm lens unless I wanted a closer head and shoulders shot. Then I would prefer an 85 to 105mm lens. Of course you can do a head and shoulders shot with a 50mm if you are careful. You don't want the subject's nose too big! Since your eyes are bad I'd suggest using the 85mm for close shots.

You can use an 85mm for full length shots but you will be pretty far from your subject. In most houses you don't have a lot of room.

It would be really nice to own both a 50mm plus an 85 to 105mm lens if you can swing it.

frank · Jun 20, 2015

Thanks John and Alan. Yes its my father, and I'm looking more and more like him.

Chan Tran · Jun 20, 2015

I think nowaday it's better to use medium format or even large format for film. The fast and convenient 35mm format has been surpassed by the D'(evil).

MartinCrabtree · Jun 20, 2015

Either the F5 or F100 would do the job well. Personally I'd prefer a 135MM f2.8. I have one for my F5 but it's pre Ai and needs to be modified to fit. Don't think Nikon modifies the F5 body anymore.

gone · Jun 20, 2015

The 85 is fine for that. Used that one a lot myself in the past. The 50 is too wide, you'll get big wide noses up close.

If you're primarily doing portraits, the 85 2 is a much better lens for bokeh, something most Nikon lenses are not too good at, other than the H 50 2. But the 85 2 is only available in MF. Shouldn't be a big problem, as both cameras you mentioned have focus confirmation lights in the viewfinders for manually focusing.

That's one of the few downsides about shooting a Nikon SLR, they can't use too many third party lenses other than Leica R, and we're talking serious money for those and they're all MF. I finally went to a Canon FTb for my portraits, and use the Nikon for everything else. Both my FL 135 3.5 and FD 135 2.5 make beautiful shots w/ nice bokeh. PITA to have 2 systems, but buying another Leica R 90 Elmarit for the Nikkormat was not in the budget.

John Bragg · Jun 20, 2015

jeffreyg said:
John,

Of the choices you present why not use either of the bodies (I'm more familiar with the F100 but rarely use 35mm) and both of the lenses to have more than one perspective of your subject.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Hi Jeffrey. It was not so much a connundrum, as a statement of this is my choice of equipment. Thanks for the reply.

RobC · Jun 20, 2015

frank said:
Thanks John and Alan. Yes its my father, and I'm looking more and more like him.

That's reassuring...

Alan Gales · Jun 20, 2015

Chan Tran said:
I think nowaday it's better to use medium format or even large format for film. The fast and convenient 35mm format has been surpassed by the D'(evil).

I've come to that same conclusion myself. I've even sold all my medium format gear. I figure if I am going to shoot film I am going to go big (4x5 for color 8x10 for b&w). Of course my answer isn't the right one for everyone.

My 21 year old daughter loves her 35mm OM-1 and shooting b&w film. She will use her cell phone for photographs because it is always with her but she doesn't really like the digital look.

John Bragg · Jun 20, 2015

Alan Gales said:
I've come to that same conclusion myself. I've even sold all my medium format gear. I figure if I am going to shoot film I am going to go big (4x5 for color 8x10 for b&w). Of course my answer isn't the right one for everyone.

My 21 year old daughter loves her 35mm OM-1 and shooting b&w film. She will use her cell phone for photographs because it is always with her but she doesn't really like the digital look.

Good for her ! The revival of film is a real phenomenon. Long may it continue .

John Koehrer · Jun 20, 2015

momus said:
That's one of the few downsides about shooting a Nikon SLR, they can't use too many third party lenses other than Leica R, and we're talking serious money for those and they're all MF.

The Nikon mount was probably the most popular third party mount except for the M42 Pentax.

85/1.8 or 85/2

albada · Jun 20, 2015

John Koehrer said:
The Nikon mount was probably the most popular third party mount except for the M42 Pentax.
85/1.8 or 85/2

Yes, from the 70s onward, 3rd-party makers made lenses for Nikon-AI/Canon-FD/Minolta-MD/Pentax-K/Olympus-OM, and less so for Yashica and Fujica. You can easily get lenses for all of those major makers.

Regarding the OP's question: It depends on what kinds of indoor portraits you're taking. For waist-up shots of groups of people, you might discover that your back is against the wall because you need a 35mm lens (assuming 35mm film). For individual portraits, 50mm and higher are suitable depending on how close-in you want the shots. One rule is to avoid getting closer than about 1.3m (4 feet) to avoid the big-nose problem mentioned earlier. For shooting a variety, I suggest using a good wide-to-tele zoom, shot wide open.

I've been testing lenses recently in my home-made autocollimator, and have entered the results in a spreadsheet. Some lenses that perform well wide-open are:

Kiron 28-105/3.2-4.5
Olympus Zuiko 35-105/3.5-4.5
Sigma Pi 35-200/4-5.6 (this super-zoom is a surprise, but two samples tested well)
Tamron 35-135/3.5-4.5 (borderline recommendation for wide-open use)
Tamron 35-80/2.8-3.8
Tokina 35-135/3.5-4.5 (my notes say that corners are a bit soft wide-open)
Tokina 50-200/3.5-4.5

I'm sure there are a number of other fine zooms out there, but I haven't tested them because I don't have them.

Mark

cuthbert · Jun 21, 2015

Pentax LX + M85 mm f2.0:

I'd like to get a Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AI one of these days for my F2s as well, for the Canons I assume I'd have to look for a 85mm f1.2 but they are too expensive.

John Earley · Jun 24, 2015

Nikon manual focus: 50/f2, 105/f2.5 on a FM2n
Nikon auto focus: 50/1.8D, 85/1.8G or a 180/f2.8 IS EDn on an N80
Leica M2 or M3: Nikkor HC 5cm f2, Jupiter 8, Canon 50/f1.8, Elmar 50/f2.8
or Elmarit 90/f2.8

Those are my favorites but I've used everything from 28mm to 500mm with good results.

John Bragg · Jun 25, 2015

This was shot with Nikon F100 and AF Nikkor 85mm f1.8D. I am pleased with the result. Settings were 1/60 @ f2.8 and film is HP5+ @ ei200 in HC-110H.

My Mother at 90. by John Bragg, on Flick

Setup for available light portraiture.

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