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What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

kakomu
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

85-135mm primes always felt like they were specifically designed for portraits. I don't take pictures of people (besides my family) anymore and I struggle to find subjects where 85-135mm is the appropriate focal length.

So, aside from portraits, what kinds of subjects do you find 85-135mm work the best?

Jul 05, 2024 at 09:37 AM

Jeff Nolten
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Well the 100mm macro is very popular for a number of applications. I don't take many portraits either but use 100mm generally for objects that are not going to run away from me.

Jul 05, 2024 at 11:22 AM

CelesteForza
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Right off the bat Indoor sports, detail shots, and car photography come to mind.

Jul 05, 2024 at 01:02 PM

jjjwolf7722
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Oddly I use my 85mm for travel, zoo/animal trips and video. Its the 85mm 1.4 is which helps with video. Its also a nice lens for walking around festivals and outdoor events as its not as up in your face as say a 35 or 50mm.

Jul 05, 2024 at 01:10 PM

Gochugogi
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

I have no interest in portraits but 85 to 100mm is my favorite range for macro and landscapes. For my eyesight, 85mm coverage is close to what I actually see so a natural for landscapes. 24mm seems artificial since I can't see that wide. Honolulu Harbor with RF 85 2.0 Macro IS STM:

Jul 05, 2024 at 01:18 PM

grantgoodes
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Don’t shoot very many portraits, but love my Nikkor 105/2.5 AIS which I use for street/concert/landscape. I have an 85/1.4 which gives excellent results but I never bonded with the focal length like the 105mm. I’ve never owned a 135mm but do have the Voigtländer 120/2.5 APO Lanthar for macro. The Voigtländer is also great for landscapes.

Jul 05, 2024 at 01:51 PM

garyvot
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

kakomu wrote:
So, aside from portraits, what kinds of subjects do you find 85-135mm work the best?

This is a great question that I think is nuanced a bit, as I feel there is a significant difference between 85mm and 135mm.

I do shoot "portraits" with these focal lengths, but they are candids almost exclusively. When I do ask a subject to cooperate with me, I am more likely to be shooting an environmental portrait with a 28mm or 35mm lens.

Although my preferred subject matter is almost always people, for general, non-sports or wildlife telephoto photography I prefer either 85/100mm or 180/200mm lenses (depending on the subject). 135mm is kind of a "tweener" focal length for me: too long for candids of people (lacks intimacy) and too short to give a strong sense of compression in the frame.

So, if not shooting portraits, I might choose an 85mm or 100mm lens for details and landscapes, and a 180mm or 200mm lens for anything that would benefit from a stronger sense of compression. Faster apertures at these focal lengths are also great for sports if you are indoors or close to the action. And a short/medium telephoto is a good choice for any image that would benefit from a shallower depth of field, but where you don't want to flatten things entirely.

Jul 05, 2024 at 06:39 PM

rscheffler
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

The same things I use my 70-200 for but when I need 2-3 stops more light gathering power.

Or want to blow out backgrounds more.

I mostly use my EF 85/1.4L IS and RF 135/1.8 for candid coverage at low light event venues. I rarely use either for formal portraits, which are typically strobed and not shallow depth of field projects. I use the 70-200 instead for this type of work. And here I find I'm usually working in the 110-120mm range. I recently did a portrait project where I had two sets with different lighting for each subject. And each set had different exposure parameters. It was easier to dedicate a camera to each set to avoid inevitably forgetting to change exposure settings moving between them. But because I only have one 70-200 and IMO 85mm is too short, I used the 135/1.8 for the headshots set. It worked fine but was slightly longer than I liked.

I do bring the 85 and/or 135 with me on walks in the woods when I think I want to do some bokeh-centric types of photos. But for a general hike I'll invariably only carry the 70-200/4 to cover this range. With my Leica M system, my typical lens selection is 28, 50 and 90mm. Here I usually use 50mm for portraits - it's easier to focus and allows a closer, more intimate working distance that seems to better suit this camera. The 90 I mostly use for general urban and natural landscape type work.

Jul 05, 2024 at 06:58 PM

steamtrain
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

kakomu wrote:
85-135mm primes always felt like they were specifically designed for portraits. I don't take pictures of people (besides my family) anymore and I struggle to find subjects where 85-135mm is the appropriate focal length.

So, aside from portraits, what kinds of subjects do you find 85-135mm work the best?

An 85mm is always nice to have. You can use 40-50mm for anything, and an 85mm for that anything as well when a little more compression is welcome. A mild compression works well for general photography, however, unlike a 40 or 50mm you can't leave 85mm on the camera all the time, so if you're too lazy to do the lens changes it might be a better idea to sell the 85mm.

135mm too long for me in prime for general use, but for sports or for concerts/theatre it might work sometimes if some reach is required.

Jul 06, 2024 at 11:58 AM

roboticspro
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

I use the 85mm f1.4 and 135mm f1.8 for indoor sports (v-ball, wrestling, and gymnastics). I'm not a portrait shooter per say, but on that rare occasion, I'll use the 85 f1.4 L, for the rendering and IS.

Jul 06, 2024 at 01:02 PM

MintMar
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

I love to give my photos spatial illusion with thin DOF. (85L @ 1.2)

Jul 06, 2024 at 02:11 PM

leftymgp
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Longer focal lengths are great for landscapes when there's something a little farther away that you want to accentuate.

Jul 06, 2024 at 03:17 PM

jtford9
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Like others have mentioned, besides portraits I used both an 85 and 135 for indoor sports, specifically basketball and volleyball which lets me isolate players from across the court and blur out the fans behind them.

Also like the 85mm for street photography. Provides a bit of reach without brandishing a longer more obvious telephoto lens. The 85 has just a bit of compression without exaggerating the effect.

Jul 06, 2024 at 03:56 PM

AmbientMike
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

kakomu wrote:
85-135mm primes always felt like they were specifically designed for portraits. I don't take pictures of people (besides my family) anymore and I struggle to find subjects where 85-135mm is the appropriate focal length.

So, aside from portraits, what kinds of subjects do you find 85-135mm work the best?

I don't find 85-105 primes too useful, have used the 55-250 a lot on the wide end, though, 88mm ff equivalent. Usually landscapes if the wider lens got left behind. Actually get better stuff sometimes, though, it can be a good landscape FL

I do like 135 primes, generally use zooms for these fl though

Jul 07, 2024 at 11:25 AM

stanj
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Penguins. I'm told it's ideal for penguins, so I ordered it, but it didn't arrive until after my trip. So a friend then took my lens to South Georgia and came back with amazing penguin photos. Everyone wanted to borrow it, apparently. At least my lens gets to travel.

I just recently shot Barred Owls with my usual 400/2.8 and it turned out to be too long, too slow. So next time I'm taking the 135 with me.

Jul 07, 2024 at 01:42 PM

goalerjones
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · What do you use 85mm-135mm for BESIDES portraits?

Used my 85 1.2 tonight for the horse races

Jul 08, 2024 at 03:12 AM


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