Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/30

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Subject: [Leica] Portraiture lens preferences
From: "Gib Robinson" <robinson@sfsu.edu>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 05:31:30 -0800

Terry wrote:

Can all who have a moment tell me which Leica lens they prefer for taking
portraits? On the M side, I have the 90 APO but not the 75 1.4. On the R
side, I have the 100 APO-Macro Elmarit but neither the discontinued 90mm
Summicron. nor the 80mm 1.4 Summilux. Of course, your recommendations can be
the aforementioned lenses I don't have, but please include reasons in all
cases. In advance, THANKS!

From your comment I would guess you're thinking about "head shots". If so,
then something between 80 and 135 probably makes sense and most any Leica
lens will do just fine. But, personally, that's not how I think about
portraits. To me they're revealing images of a person/personality that can
can include the person's body, with or without environment and background.
I've used all sorts of lenses for portraits depending on circumstances and
how much of the person's body or environment I wanted to get. I've used a
50mm for some of the most satisfying portraits I've done (often seated
people) because it allowed me to include the person's posture and gestures
in ways that caught his/her personality. I've also used a 135mm or longer
for intimate shots without background detail. I did a sequence of a
violinist with a 135mm which allowed me to focus just on his eyes, face,
violin strings and fingers. No background. That's where the action was.
Sometimes circumstances dictate focal length. With kids indoors I've often
used a 50mm because that gave me a better opportunity to get a good shot in
limited natural light and avoid setup shots. Sometimes I use a 75mm to get
the right distance in a classroom. Off hand, I can't think of a focal length
between 35-200mm that I would rule out as a portrait lens.

- --Gib



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