Portraits
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For portraits, the lens matters far more than the camera. A cheap body with a good portrait lens beats an expensive body with a kit zoom every time.
The lenses
- 50mm f/1.8. The cheapest great lens in photography, made for almost every mount. On full frame it's a natural, slightly tight view; on APS-C it behaves like a classic 75-80mm portrait lens. If you buy one lens for people, buy this.
- 85mm f/1.8. The classic full-frame portrait lens: flattering perspective, soft backgrounds, comfortable working distance. On APS-C, a 56mm f/1.2 to f/1.4 plays the same role.
- 35mm f/1.8 or f/1.4. For environmental portraits that show where someone is, and for groups.
- 135mm or 70-200mm f/2.8. For tight headshots and strong background blur outdoors, with room between you and the subject.
Longer focal lengths flatter faces because you stand further away, which keeps noses and chins in proportion. Very wide lenses close up exaggerate whatever is nearest the camera.
Aperture and background blur
A wide aperture (a small f-number like f/1.8) gives a shallow depth of field: sharp eyes, soft background. Blur also grows with focal length, with getting closer to your subject, and with putting more distance between the subject and the background. Moving your subject away from a wall often does more than a faster lens.
At f/1.4 and wider, the depth of field can be thinner than a face. Stop down to f/2.8 for two people at different distances.
The camera
What matters most is eye autofocus, which current mirrorless cameras do very well: it finds the nearest eye and tracks it, so wide apertures stay sharp. Full frame gives you more background blur at the same f-number than APS-C, but a fast APS-C lens closes most of that gap for far less money; see sensor sizes.
Light beats gear
Window light, open shade, or the hour before sunset will do more for a portrait than any lens. Put your subject facing a window, turn them a little, and expose for the face.
