What lense should I buy?

Hi!
So, last year, I bought a camera using advices found on this forum (from Andy and Kelly). Specifically, I bought a Nikon D3200, and I really love it. I have had a lot of pleasure using it, and we made some amazing pictures, on last year's trip. The kit lens, the 18-55mm, is amazing, really, but I think it's rather restrictive.

So I want to buy some other lenses to complement it, and I can't afford to buy more than one right now. My son is just born, so I probably won't do landscape photography in the near future and travelling is, too, out of the picture for the coming months. However, I probably will want to do some picture of him growing up, him and his mother, and all that jazz. So I guess I want a lens that will allow me to do portraits with good "bookeh". I rarely do pictures featuring only the face of an individual. I don't pretend I'm pro or semi-pro, I just enjoy photography casually when I have the time.

All in all, I guess I want a somewhat cheap lens (max 350-400 $CAD), good for portraits with somewhat good bookeh, but I would be happy it if could be usable for other things than only portraits, but I don't know if I'm asking for too much.

I had the nikon DX 35mm 1.8g in mind, but people mentions facial distortion. The Nikon 50mm 1.8g seems perfect for portrait, but it seems to be good only for that, with a rather narrow FOV.

Any suggestions/thoughts?

 

That "facial distortion" is a direct result of having the camera very close to the subject, not to the focal length of the lens. For a tight shot of a face with a normal lens (35mm in the case of an APS-C body) you would have to get close. So don't take the tight shot. Or use a different lens. Links for ideas -

http://www.photomatters.org/closeness

http://www.school-of-digital-photog...or-choosing-the-right-lens-for-portraits.html

http://clickitupanotch.com/2011/01/comparing-at-20mm-35mm-and-a-50mm-on-a-crop-sensor-camera/

https://photographylife.com/which-nikon-prime-lens-to-buy-first

Kelly Cook

 

Hi Kelly,
Many thanks for our answer.

I rarely do face shots only. I just don't like it, I don't know why, but it feels intrusive to me (especially since I tend to take pictures of friends and family while they are unaware I'm doing so). And just not interesting. I usually do mid-body + face. To each his own, I guess.

I just checked your sites, I guess a better choice would be the 50mm 1.8g. Being an equivalent of 75mm on a cropped sensor, it's close to ideal focal length for what I'm aiming and it's quite affordable. The 85mm might be better, but it requires more space to use and it's way more expensive. But, a 50mm is less versatile than a 35mm, but I guess there's no one size fits all in the world of lenses. I guess I'm better off using the 50mm for portraits while using the kit 18-55mm for all-around photography. What do you think?

 

I would use a 35mm prime for full height shots of adults, candid shots in group settings, and scenes in low light. A 50mm prime for kids and formal portraits. The 18-55 covers everything else. Remember that it is easy to crop any wide image with a photo editor. Except for sports and wildlife, this puts the 85mm and longer focal lengths kind of in a specialty zone for a crop sensor camera. The 85 is used mostly by folks with full frame bodies.

Kelly