It's a little long for 8x10 portraits, but it'll be fine. Frankly, for 8x10 portrait work I'd rather have a 14" Commercial Ektar (360mm). That lens was used by some of the portraiture greats (Irving Penn, Yousuf Karsh). It has beautiful transitions from sharp to out-of-focus. The Nikon's bokeh is nice but not as nice as the Commercial Ektar's. Depending on what camera you're using, here's another option for you - (there was a url link here which no longer exists) The 16" Wollensak Vitax is a world-class portrait lens, and is up in the focal length range you're looking for. I have no interest in this transaction, just pointing out the availability.