These Great Telephoto Primes Will Take Your Portraits To Another Level
If you love bokeh and like your subjects to pop out of the image, these telephoto primes should be on your camera.
There are many lenses for portraits on the market. You have 35mm primes, 50mm primes, and 85mm primes. All of these are fantastic and can help you capture the human form nicely. However, if you want maximum sharpness and bokeh, you should not overlook 135mm lenses. These telephoto primes offer fast apertures, incredible optics, and levels of compression that produce flattering images. They’re just about the perfect portrait lens. After the break, we’ll take a look at five telephoto primes that will help you produce jaw-dropping portraits.
Sony 135mm F1.8 G Master
In our review, we said:
“Bokeh-hungry photographers will find lots to love about the Sony 135mm f1.8 G Master. Thanks to its 11 bladed circular aperture design, the 135mm G Master is capable of producing beautifully creamy bokeh that helps to isolate your subjects from the rest of the frame.”
Buy now: $2,078
Fujifilm 90mm f2 R LM WR (135mm Equivalent)
In our review, we said:
“The bokeh is creamy as ever here, which makes this an excellent lens for headshots and portraits. In fact, that’s what it was designed for. With all of this said, photographers of all types will love this lens for the bokeh. Professionals will value that they can photograph their clients with a lens wide open and get their perfectly in focus while the enthusiasts will sit there and cuddle with the lens day after day until they can’t do so anymore.”
Chris Gampat – Editor In Chief
Buy now: $949
Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“The bokeh of the Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens is arguably the best of any Sigma prime lens designated for portraiture. At all times, it is very creamy. Then when you consider how close this lens can focus, it’s no contest.”
Chris Gampat – Editor In Chief
Buy now Canon EF: $1,159
Get yours for Nikon F: $1,149.95
Buy now Sony E: $1,349.99
Pro Tip: Whether you’re new to portrait photography or you’ve been in the game for a while, learning new tips and tricks of the trade is always a good thing. It’s easy to become stale when it comes to posing your subjects. So, having a resource that can help you change things up is a godsend. This posing guide from Lindsay Adler will help you pose your subjects perfectly. Learn how to make men, women, and children of all body sizes and types look their absolute best and get the most out of your new telephoto primes.
Olympus 75mm f1.8 (150mm Equivalent)
In our review, we said:
“As a 75mm f1.8 lens, it is capable of extremely shallow depth of field, even despite the smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor. Out of focus elements are creamy and smooth at all apertures and have proven to be some of the most pleasing bokeh of any Micro Four Thirds lens on the market today. In fact, I found it to be more pleasing than even some Leica glass costing several thousand dollars more.”
Buy now: $719
Rokinon 135mm f2 ED UMC
In our review, we said:
“Most of the times that I review a Rokinon lens, I find the image quality to be incredibly, superbly razor-sharp and overall quite unique and beautiful to what Rokinon themselves are trying to do. Indeed, for well under $1,000, you’re scoring yourself a super sharp, bokeh filled lens with very little contrast.”
Chris Gampat – Editor In Chief
Buy now Canon: $479
Grab one now Nikon: $599
Buy now Fujifilm: $449
Get yours M4/3: $449
Buy now Pentax: $599
Pick one up for Sony E: $499