3 Beautiful 90mm Lenses That You’re Bound to Love!
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If you’re looking for something in-between an 85mm and 135mm lens, consider 90mm Lenses. For many years, it was considered a classic portrait lens. And today, there aren’t many of them left. However, that doesn’t mean that modern 90mm lenses aren’t great. In fact, they’re arguably some of the best lenses in the market. And for what they are, they’re instrumental in a variety of situations. We’ve rounded up some of the best we’ve reviewed over the years.
The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Pro Tips on Using 90mm Lenses
Here are some professional tips for using 90mm Lenses:
- These are longer than 85mm lenses. So if you’re shooting portraits, just remember that you’re going to need more space.
- Manually focusing your lens? I’d use a tripod. If you’ve moving the focusing ring, then you’re moving the camera. And in turn, you’re moving the focusing plane. Make yourself as steady as possible with a tripod.
- 90mm lenses are great for a few things. One of the things they’re good for is candid pictures, because you can put some space between you and the subject. They probably won’t even see you.
- If you’re shooting portraits, then try taking off the lens hood. It’s bound to give you more flare and character when shooting your subject. Also try to side-light or backlight your subject.
- Shooting macro photos? Use an off-camera flash. It will make the image ultimately a whole lot sharper.
Leica 90mm f1.5 Summilux ASPH
In our review, we stated:
The Leica 90mm f1.5 Summilux ASPH creates a thin slice of super-sharp focus with obliterated backgrounds, in a metal lens that feels very vintage. But, getting a 90mm f1.5 perfectly in focus using manual focus is a challenge reserved for only the most seasoned M mount photographers. There is also a bit of aberration to contend with.
Sony 90mm f2.8 Macro G OSS
In our review, we stated:
The Sony 90mm f2.8 G Macro OSS is a nice lens for portraiture, and that’s really probably all you should use it for unless you’re shooting macro images and focus stacking. Beyond f8, the image quality starts to really fall apart harder than offerings from other companies. If you’re a macro shooter, you’d want great saturation to the images and the results from your lenses, but if you’re a portrait shooter, you want a bit less saturation. Sony did a good job with the balance, but for what it’s worth I personally like the latest Tamron offering the most.
Tamron 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD Macro
In our review, we stated:
The Tamron 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD lens is one that is rather interesting. It delivers the performance that many more expensive lenses will, but it does it at a very affordable price point. On top of this it also gives weather sealing, fast focusing, and great image quality. There isn’t much to complain about here.