It’s often situation dependent. When I used to do dedicated portraits, the 85 was my goto. But if there was enough room to work, the 135 was the order of the day; there was just that something special extra with it over the 85. But then zooms took a big jump in IQ and all of a sudden it was really tough to beat the flexibility of the 70-200’s. If I needed a dedicated portrait lens today, I’d take a hard look at both the Sony 50-150 and Tamron 35-150 and more than likely pick one of them over anything else. I do think having 50 or better 35 available for full body shots is a lot more beneficial than anything beyond 150 for heads, unless you’re working a runway and dodging other photographers — then perhaps some added length is handy. My .02
Aug 24, 2026 at 02:34 PM
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