which budget friendly lens for indoor fashion photos?

[denise_jackson]

<p>I have a Nikon D90 body and wanted some suggestions on the best all round budget friendly lens to buy...<br>

I will be taking indoor, full body shots of clothing outfits for use on my website. I have purchased the flashes and setup...just need a decent lens. Any pointers would be great.</p>

<p>best regards,<br>

Denise</p>

[SCL]

<p>A series E 50mm would do just fine (manual focus) - can usually be had for less than $50.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>A rough indication of what the budget would be, will make it much easier.<br>

The lens Stephen mentions is a nice cheap option, but if the area you work is small, 50mm might be long for full-body shots, so giving a bit more information would make it lots easier to give targetted advice. And if you currently have something like a 18-105 or 18-55 (the kitlenses that shipped witht he D90), an indication of the focal lengths you feel are useful (else, the size of the set-up/studio you will use), that would sure help.</p>

[William Michael]

<p>Hello, welcome to Photo.net.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>the best <strong>all round budget friendly</strong> lens to buy...<strong>indoor, full body shots</strong> of <strong>clothing</strong> outfits for <strong>use on my website.</strong> I <strong>have purchased the flashes</strong> and setup...just need a decent lens.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Don’t you have any lenses?<br /> <strong>If you do, what are they?</strong><br /> If you do not have any lenses, then the 18 to 55 Kit lens that would have usually come with that camera would be both budget friendly and perform more than adequately for the tasks you described.</p>

<p>***</p>

<blockquote>

<p><strong>Any pointers</strong> would be great.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It's difficult to give pointers, without a more precise description of the Shooting Scenario, however, as general comments, you might consider:</p>

<p>Depending upon how much Flash Power you have, it will be a balance/compromise between ISO and Aperture, but i'd be lookig to adjust the Lighting and ISO to use that Kit Lens between F/7.1 and F/11. Ideally, I’d be aiming for F/10~F/11. For web production and if your PP skills are adept, then ISO1600 would be OK, but, ISO 800 would be better.</p>

<p>Ideally, your indoor space should allow you to use the lens between FL = 35mm and FL = 55mm, I’d be aiming for nearer the 55mm end</p>

<p>If, because of limited space, you need to venture toward FL = 35mm (or wider), then be aware of the CAMERA ELEVATION: if you need to go to 35mm, then keeping the camera at about Waist Height is my advice.</p>

<p>WW</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>I agree -- we need to know that lens or lenses you already have. Unless all you have is somethign super wide or super long or nothing at all, probably whatever you already have will be just fine.</p>

[studio460]

<p>The Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G is an excellent full-length lens for DX bodies when you're dealing with limited subject-to-camera distances (a 35mm lens on a DX body gives you a 52.5mm-equivalent field-of-view on full-frame bodies). At just under $200, it still may be near your budget's limits, but it's a great lens credited with excellent sharpness: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/606792-USA/Nikon_2183_AF_S_Nikkor_35mm_f_1_8G.html</p>

<p>Also worth mentioning is the Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.8G which serves as an excellent portrait-length lens on DX bodies (rendering a 127.5mm-equivalent) for head-and-shoulders portraits (though it's too long for close-quarters full-length shots). Its 127.5mm-equivalent focal length renders a good amount of compression for headshots, resulting in reduced foreshortening (distortion), which tends to be more flattering for most subjects.</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>for full body shots on DX the 35/1.8G could work. it's a sharp lens but hardly 'great' in my experience, since it suffers from LoCA especially against contra light and the bokeh is not great. its best characteristic is probably fairly even performance -- the corners sharpen up nicely past f/4. but, if you already have a kit lens, you could probably just use that w/flashes, since you'll probably be stopping down anyway. the 18-55 and 35/1.8 are pretty close in sharpness at f/8, although the prime is sharper at smaller aperture numbers. if you want to isolate your subject, that's where a longer faster lens like the 85 or a 50 would come in.</p>

[tyrone lavigne]

<p>Depending on the size of your shooting space you can't beat either the aforementioned 35mm f1.8 or maybe even the 50mm f1.8. I went through a prime phase a couple years back, shot exclusively with the 35mm for a year, and the 50 for another year prior to that, shooting fashion as well.</p>