Best cheap Portrait Lens for Nikon D850

[Gil Aegerter]

This question may have been answered in the thread, but why spend the money on a megapixel beast like the D850, then try to skimp on the lens?

[f4-fan]

This question may have been answered in the thread, but why spend the money on a megapixel beast like the D850, then try to skimp on the lens?

1. Not enough money
2. Looking for inexpensive lens alternatives that can still do the job (static portraits) satisfactorily (while I'm saving on the expensive portrait lens)

I have bought the Nikon 85mmm Ai-S f/1.4 for 1/5 of the price of a more 'adequate' lens (f.i. the 105mm 1.4) and it does the job very well. Colors, rendering, bokeh and sharpness are good from 1.4-2.0 and even excellent from f/2.8... :

[pluton]

This question may have been answered in the thread, but why spend the money on a megapixel beast like the D850, then try to skimp on the lens?

For human faces (and vanity), often a 'less-than-excellent' lens might be desirable.  I have an 85/1.8 K/Ai that's already too "sharp" sometimes.

[f4-fan]

For human faces (and vanity), often a 'less-than-excellent' lens might be desirable.  I have an 85/1.8 K/Ai that's already too "sharp" sometimes.

You are right, and therefore I don't like (105mm) Makros (Zeiss Makroplanar etc.) for portraiture. The - for me - best portraits are seldom ultrasharp.

For me the most desired portraiture-look (strong unsharpness in the background / 'old-style medium-format-Bokeh' ...) needs either at least 85mm/105mm f/1.4/1.2 (135mm f/2; 200mm f/2.8/2.0) OR true analog medium format (s. the photos of Stephan vanFleteren: https://www.stephanvanfleteren.com/artists [he often uses an old analogue Hasselblad]

But to make a sharp eye/face softer is easy, but to make a really unsharp face/eye sharp is impossible:

Nikon D850, Nikon Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 Ai-S; 1/400 sec; ISO 560; Bl. 2.8
Unsharp (simulation of an old glass plate):


Standard (profile camera-standard):

[Nasos Kosmas]

For human faces (and vanity), often a 'less-than-excellent' lens might be desirable.  I have an 85/1.8 K/Ai that's already too "sharp" sometimes.

For that reason I prefer 80-200 af D 2.8 instead of 85 1.8 G

[MILLIREHM]

For human faces (and vanity), often a 'less-than-excellent' lens might be desirable.  I have an 85/1.8 K/Ai that's already too "sharp" sometimes.

Sometimes this desirability might be true also for camera-Sensor resolution- the D850 can do portraits but is not
always the optimal choice

[Airy]

Some high pass filtering + red filter (simulated) will do the job, if sharpness or microcontrast is deemed excessive.