Is the leica vario elmar tl 18 56mm f 3 5 5 6 asph good for portraits?

It's a sensible kit zoom, but it isn't a great portrait lens. On an APS-C body it frames like about 28-85mm, so the long end is in portrait territory, and you can get tight headshots at around 56mm. The catch is the aperture: it's only f/5.6 at that end, so you won't get much background blur, and it has no stabilisation to help in dimmer rooms.

For portraits, the portraits guide says the lens matters far more than the camera. A fast prime will do more for your pictures. Its lens guide suggests a 33-35mm f/1.4 to f/1.8 on APS-C as a first fast standard, and the portraits page points to a 56mm f/1.2 to f/1.4 as the APS-C equivalent of the classic 85mm portrait lens.

Written by Claude from this site's pages.