Every photographer should learn to master portrait photography. Humans are one of the most fascinating subjects you could ever hope to find, and a beautiful portrait photo that perfectly captures a person’s personality and emotions is something that all photographers should know how to create. If you’re just starting out in photography and want to build a solid lens collection, it would be a good idea to invest in the best portrait lens that you can get.
Even if you have no plans on becoming a portrait photographer in the future, having a reliable, high-quality lens that can take great portrait photos is still an important investment to ensure that you have a good, well-rounded lineup of camera lenses.
But first, let’s define what a portrait lens really is.
What is a portrait lens?
A portrait lens is any lens that has the right focal length and aperture to take exceptional portrait photos. The term “portrait lens” does not refer to any specific type of lens—technically, any lens can be used for portraits. You can use a prime, a zoom, a telephoto, or even a kit lens. But ideally, the best portrait lenses are those that have a focal length of anywhere between 70 to 135mm, with a moderately wide maximum aperture for great low-light performance and a shallow depth-of-field.
What makes a good portrait lens?
There is no such thing as the “perfect” portrait lens. The right lens for your needs may not be the right lens for another photographer. If you’re looking for a good portrait lens that can give you the best results, you will have to consider a few factors:
- What type of camera do you have? Full-frame or APS-C?
- Where is your preferred portrait shooting location?
- What type of portraits will you be shooting?
- How much of the subject’s body will you be including in the photo?
Long Focal Length
Most portrait photographers prefer a short to moderate telephoto lens for shooting portrait work. Longer focal lengths are ideal because they allow the photographer to shoot a close-up photo of the subject despite standing a few feet away, yielding more realistic proportions. When there is a shorter distance between the lens and the subject, it can sometimes create distortion and make certain facial features appear wider or larger.
Therefore, if you’re looking for the best lens for portraits, get one that has a long focal length. Aim for a focal length of at least 70mm for APS-C cameras or 105mm for full-frame cameras for better portrait photos.
Of course this doesn’t mean that you can’t use something shorter for portrait work. Lenses with shorter focal lengths (at least 50mm for full-frame) can still be useful for portrait photography, particularly when you are shooting half-body or full-body portraits.
What Is the Best Focal Length for Portrait Photography?
A good portrait focal length is somewhere between 35mm and 200mm. It’s quite a broad range, but you understand why once you know what a portrait lens is. A portrait lens helps you capture your model’s best features, reveal their personalities and attitudes, and create visual stories, not just aesthetic photographs.
Therefore, choosing a portrait focal length depends on the model’s experience with cameras, posing, and décor. For example, if you want a close-up of a shy person, you need a longer focal length to give them space and help them relax. You need a shorter focal length if you want to localize the portrait and include background elements. That’s why the best portrait focal length is not a number but a range of possibilities.
Wide Aperture
As previously mentioned, a wide aperture creates a shallow depth-of-field. The wider the aperture of the lens, the shallower your depth-of-field becomes.
A maximum aperture of f/4 or larger will create a very shallow depth-of-field, resulting in a larger blurred area. This allows you to completely blur the background (and even parts of your subject) and ensure that your focal point—your subject—is the only part of the image that is tack-sharp. Should you choose to go with this type of aperture, make sure that the lens also excels at focus precision and accuracy. It is supremely important to nail your focus—otherwise, you may not get the results you want.
An aperture of f/8 or similar gives you a moderately shallow depth-of-field, which is less shallow than what you would get with f/4 or larger, but still shallow enough to provide a sense of separation between background and subject. It’s also large enough to allow you to use faster shutter speeds and keep your ISO low for less grain and noise. This type of aperture gives you the best of both worlds.
The best lens for portraits should have a maximum aperture of f/8 or larger. Anything smaller than that will result in a larger in-focus area, which is not necessarily a bad thing if you need to make other subjects in the photo appear sharp, such as a portrait with more than one subject. Do keep in mind, however, that smaller apertures may require slower shutter speeds and higher ISO for optimum exposure.
Prime or Zoom?
Most people will tell you that a prime lens is best, but honestly, you could go with either one. Primes typically make the best portrait lenses because they offer superior image quality and stunning bokeh. They are also faster, sharper, and yield less visible distortions and vignetting. But on the other hand, they are also pricier than zoom lenses and offer no flexibility—you’re stuck with just one focal length. Of course you can easily stand closer to “zoom in” or stand farther to “zoom out,” but this may not always be possible in certain situations.
If you need something that’s budget-friendly and allows for flexibility, zoom lenses also make good portrait lenses—particularly those that are optimized for portrait work and have rounded diaphragm blades like the Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6. Zooms are convenient and versatile because they allow you to choose between a wide range of focal lengths to suit your needs, plus they are relatively inexpensive compared to prime lenses.
Good Bokeh
Bokeh is defined as the quality of the blurred or out-of-focus parts of a particular image. A lot of photography enthusiasts are obsessed with bokeh, to the point where they’ve even come up with ways to digitally add it to their images using photo editing software. But the thing to remember is that not all bokeh is desirable. There’s good bokeh, and then there’s bad bokeh.
Bokeh is in the eye of the beholder—which is why most photographers argue that there is no such thing as “bad” bokeh. Nonetheless, other photographers can differentiate the two because to them, good bokeh makes the image more pleasing to the eye, whereas bad bokeh can mean too much texture in the background and take focus away from the subject.
Take this image for example:
It’s a beautiful portrait, but some may argue that the bokeh in the background is too pronounced and distracts from the subject. But for other photographers, this type of bokeh is highly desirable in a photo.
Whatever your preference, make sure to get a lens that can give you the type of bokeh you want to see in your portrait photos.
Keep in mind that the best lenses that offer good bokeh are those with large maximum apertures, circular diaphragm blades, and lens coatings for reduced spherical aberrations.
How to Choose the Best Portrait Lens
How you choose a lens for photographing portraits is more complicated. The choice of a portrait lens depends on the type of portraits you photograph and your workflow.
For example, if you use the same photo set up all the time (e.g., corporate headshots, studio family portraits, etc.), you probably need a prime lens with the optimal focal length for your work. When photographing regular people, you should consider camera-shyness and choose a longer focal length. But for fashion and beauty portraits, you may want to be more adventurous and try a broader spectrum of lenses. For fine art portraiture, the sky is the limit.
Often, a portrait lens has a focal length that creates a natural perspective close to what the human eye perceives. However, it may also be a zoom lens that provides a range of focal lengths from wide-angle to telephoto.
Best Portrait Lenses
Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM Lens
A high-end portrait lens with a medium 85mm focal length is versatile and creates professional-looking portraits. The EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM features optical image stabilization, fast focusing, and a bright f/1.4 maximum aperture. It’s perfect for any location and shooting in any condition, whether you use a tripod or handhold the camera.
The lens creates a beautifully blurred background, corner-to-corner sharpness, and stunning contrast. In addition, the dust and water-resistant design allows you to take both outdoor and indoor portrait photographs.
Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens
A third-party 85mm lens that creates realistic portraits and flatters your model, the SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is a good choice for portrait photography. The lens has 14 lens elements in 12 groups for ultra-high resolutions, a bright f/1.4 maximum aperture, a rounded diaphragm for beautiful bokeh, and a fast autofocus system.
With an optimized optical design for reducing chromatic aberrations and water and oil-repellent coating for a good experience in any condition, the lens is a good portrait lens candidate. The only thing missing is built-in image stabilization.
Nikon 85mm f/1.4G IF AF-S NIKKOR Lens
Nikon portrait photographers will appreciate this state-of-the-art lens featuring a fast f/1.4 maximum aperture and rounded nine-blade diaphragm for superior depth-of-field control and natural background blur. It provides corner-to-corner sharpness, an ultra-fast, ultra-quiet autofocus system, and Nikon’s Super Integrated Coating (SIC) and Nano Crystal Coat (N) for no ghosting and lens flare.
The lens excels in color, contrast, and clarity. However, it doesn’t have built-in image stabilization, so use a tripod when shooting at candlelight.
Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2
Take your portrait photography a step further a get out of the studio. Commercial photographer Aaron Anderson recommends a wide-angle zoom lens, such as the Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2, for creating contextual portraits in tight spaces.
The lens provides a wide-angle perspective, a bright f/2.8 maximum aperture throughout the entire zoom range, an optical design for reducing chromatic and spherical aberrations, flare, and ghosting, image stabilization, and quick and noiseless AF focusing. It’s compatible with Nikon and Canon full-frame cameras.
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM (G Master) E-Mount Lens
A zoom lens that covers both wide-angle and telephoto focal lengths is a versatile tool that enhances your creativity and enriches your portfolio.
The Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM is a full-frame lens featuring an XA element to reduce aberrations, a bright f/2.8 maximum aperture throughout the entire zoom range, corner-to-corner sharpness, and 9-blade circular aperture for stunning bokeh. It’s easy to use for any type of portrait, including self-portraits. And you can take it anywhere with you thanks to the dust and moisture-resistant design.
Fujifilm GF 110mm f/2 R WR LM Lens
A lens with a medium telephoto focal length is the go-to lens of many portrait photographers, regardless of their workflow (e.g., studio, fashion, beauty, travel, and event photographers).
The GF 110mm f/2 R LM WR is compatible with GFX system cameras. It provides an 87mm focal length (35mm equivalent). It features a bright f/2 maximum aperture for a rich bokeh and realistic three-dimensional feel. The fast and silent autofocus system allows you to be discrete and not interfere with your subject. And dust, weather, and freeze-resistant design ensure you’ll use the lens for a long time.
Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM Lens
Canon’s new 85mm portrait lens for EOS R cameras is a high-end lens with everything you need to create beautiful portraits. The design minimizes flare and ghosting and reduces chromatic aberrations even when you have the sun in front of the camera.
The lens features an ultra-bright f/1.2 maximum aperture, fast autofocus with eye detection, a minimum focusing distance of 2.79 ft (0.85m), 13 elements in 9 groups, and a 9-blade aperture system for sharp details. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have built-in image stabilization.
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens
If you want a portrait lens you can trust even in low light conditions, SIGMA 35mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is for you. It features an ultra-bright f/1.4 maximum aperture and the classic 35mm focal length.
The lens has a super-fast autofocus system, an aspheric lens at the front for minimizing distortions and vignetting, and SIGMA’s Super Multi-Layer Coating for reducing flare and ghosting. It doesn’t have built-in image stabilization, but it weighs only 23.5oz (665g) and is easy to handhold.
Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM (G Master) Full Frame E-Mount Lens
The new Sony full-frame prime lens for portrait photography has a lightweight magnesium alloy body and is weather-sealed. The lens features a bright f/1.8 maximum aperture, a 2.3ft (0.7m) minimum focusing distance, a fast, precise, and quiet autofocus system, and an 11-blade circular aperture for beautiful bokeh.
Thanks to its longer focal length and wide aperture, the lens produces a shallower depth of field than other portrait lenses. The optical design reduces aberrations and distortions to a minimum. The lens doesn’t have built-in image stabilization.
Sony FE 85mm F1.8 E-Mount Lens
Sony offers a series of lenses for portraiture that quickly becomes professionals’ favorite. The FE 85mm f1.8 is versatile, compact, and affordable. It doesn’t have built-in image stabilization, but it is small and easy to handle.
It provides a bright f/1.8 maximum aperture for high-quality images in low light conditions and beautifully blurred backgrounds. The 9-blade circular aperture design also improves the bokeh effect. Portable and reliable in any weather conditions, the lens is a must-have for any wedding, event, or outdoor portrait photographer.
Nikon NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S Lens
If you have a Nikon Z series mirrorless camera, the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S is for you. With superior control over depth of field due to a large maximum aperture, ultra-quiet autofocus with eye detection, and special design for reducing flare, ghosting, and chromatic aberrations, the lens creates edge-to-edge sharpness in the harshest conditions.
The 9-blade rounded diaphragm produces natural-looking blurred backgrounds. The NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S has a 2.62ft (0.8) minimum focusing distance and no built-in image stabilization.
