A good Portrait lens

[BigJohno]

I am looking for a good portrait lens for my Sony Alpha 700. I am going to be shooting for a coffee company. Primarily their expresso machines and the coffee being brewed. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jonathan

 

[M@lew]

Sony 50mm f/1.4? The only wide aperture Sony lens I can really see. You can probably get Tamron/Sigma lenses too though.

 

[RevToTheRedline]

That's quite disappointing, Sony needs to refresh their prime lineup, where are the 10.5, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 35, 60, 85, 100, 105, 135, 180, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600, and 800mm lenses that Canon and Nikon offer? I mean after all Sony bought Konica Minolta which was an amazing camera company, what happen to their know how? Sony killed them is what happen.

I was gonna say an 85/1.4 would be a great portrait lens but they don't make one.

There is no substitute for a good prime.

 

[jlcharles]

That's quite disappointing, Sony needs to refresh their prime lineup, where are the 10.5, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28, 35, 60, 85, 100, 105, 135, 180, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600, and 800mm lenses that Canon and Nikon offer? I mean after all Sony bought Konica Minolta which was an amazing camera company, what happen to their know how? Sony killed them is what happen.

I was gonna say an 85/1.4 would be a great portrait lens but they don't make one.

There is no substitute for a good prime.

How about you do a little research before spouting off your nonsense? The Sony dSLRs accept all Minolta A-type bayonet mount lenses.

Keh has plenty of lenses. In fact here is an 85/1.4 that you claimed you can't get for the Sony. While they haven't made them under the Sony name, they can clearly be bought.
http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Prod...=&ID=19&BC=MA&BCC=1&CC=6&CCC=2&BCL=&GBC=&GCC=

And here's a whole page of Primes for the Sony.
http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Prod...=&ID=19&BC=MA&BCC=1&CC=6&CCC=2&BCL=&GBC=&GCC=

 

[RevToTheRedline]

Those are all used discontinued lenses, my point is, Sony killed Minolta and obviously you need to do a little more research. Some people like myself prefer not to buy used lenses, especially not for those prices. Warranty?

Yawn.

 

[Cliff3]

Those are all used discontinued lenses, my point is, Sony killed Minolta and obviously you need to do a little more research. Some people like myself prefer not to buy used lenses, especially not for those prices. Warranty?

Yawn.

Suggest you review this link to the Sony store: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=3770

16 fisheye, 20, 28, 35, 50, 85, 135, 70-200, 300...those are all currently available lenses.

Konica/Minolta was a second tier manufacturer prior to their acquisition by Sony. Sony's deep pockets will be good for the product selection - just give them some time.

 

[jlcharles]

My point is, the lenses are there. There's nothing wrong with used lenses, especially if you buy from keh because of their outstanding return policy, conservative ratings, and top notch customer service.

An 85/1.4 from Nikon (Canon doesn't make one, they have a 1.2) is $1020 new from keh. An EX+ (which is damn hard to tell from new from them) is $889. Seems like a good deal to me.

You've made it clear in other threads that you don't like Olympus or Sony. It's getting old. The question was, help me find a good lens, not how can I bash Sony. Keep your idiocy to yourself.

Edit: Thanks Cliff. I didn't know their lens selection and just went straight to the used stuff.

Suggest you review this link to the Sony store: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=3770

16 fisheye, 20, 28, 35, 50, 85, 135, 70-200, 300...those are all currently available lenses.

Konica/Minolta was a second tier manufacturer prior to their acquisition by Sony. Sony's deep pockets will be good for the product selection - just give them some time.

 

[compuwar]

I am looking for a good portrait lens for my Sony Alpha 700. I am going to be shooting for a coffee company. Primarily their expresso machines and the coffee being brewed. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jonathan

You say portrait, but mention product- optimal lenses for portraits (if they're head shots) are mild to extreme telephotos for commercial work, while optimal lenses for products depend a lot on the size of the studio or location, the size of the product and the aesthetics of the design (anything from ultra-wide to macro to normal to mid-telephoto generally work well.)

Lighting for things like espresso machines is tricky if they have a lot of curves as reflections are a pain and filling in detail without making things too flat requires judicious lighting placement- I'd probably try to have 5-6 lights, at least 2-3 of them portable flash guns that can be hidden behind equipment and triggered remotely. If it's a location shoot, it's a good thing to be able to replace any incandescents with either flash guns or at least bulbs in a good temperature range. In that case, if you're also shooting with models, bright modeling lights are good to avoid the oversized pupil issues.

It's also always a good thing to be able to correctly spell the client's product.

[Edit]
I'd really suggest trying to second to someone who's familiar with commercial product photography. Most shots used for advertising have different requirements depending on the target (such as ultra-consistent color balance and lighting ratios for catalog shots, certain angles for packaging...) In either case, spend some serious studio time with a copy of the product and a model learning what angles work, what lighting works and what sorts of things don't work. For steaming coffee, smoke pellets are probably a good bet, and you may need to play around with different liquids to get a pleasing color, unless the coffee itself is also being sold, in which case you've got truth-in-advertising laws to deal with.) Plan your shots beforehand, and shoot the plan, then anything spontaneous once you've nailed the minimum.

 

[BigJohno]

Wow thank you. I will keep all this in mind. And thanks to everyone one who put in their impute.

You say portrait, but mention product- optimal lenses for portraits (if they're head shots) are mild to extreme telephotos for commercial work, while optimal lenses for products depend a lot on the size of the studio or location, the size of the product and the aesthetics of the design (anything from ultra-wide to macro to normal to mid-telephoto generally work well.)

Lighting for things like espresso machines is tricky if they have a lot of curves as reflections are a pain and filling in detail without making things too flat requires judicious lighting placement- I'd probably try to have 5-6 lights, at least 2-3 of them portable flash guns that can be hidden behind equipment and triggered remotely. If it's a location shoot, it's a good thing to be able to replace any incandescents with either flash guns or at least bulbs in a good temperature range. In that case, if you're also shooting with models, bright modeling lights are good to avoid the oversized pupil issues.

It's also always a good thing to be able to correctly spell the client's product.

[Edit]
I'd really suggest trying to second to someone who's familiar with commercial product photography. Most shots used for advertising have different requirements depending on the target (such as ultra-consistent color balance and lighting ratios for catalog shots, certain angles for packaging...) In either case, spend some serious studio time with a copy of the product and a model learning what angles work, what lighting works and what sorts of things don't work. For steaming coffee, smoke pellets are probably a good bet, and you may need to play around with different liquids to get a pleasing color, unless the coffee itself is also being sold, in which case you've got truth-in-advertising laws to deal with.) Plan your shots beforehand, and shoot the plan, then anything spontaneous once you've nailed the minimum.