105VR Macro as portrait lens ?

Nice series of pictures there Gr8Tr1x!

Now I know my future 105 :Whistle: is also capable of doing potrait.

 

I tried it for a week, wasn't happy with it for portraits. So finally sent it back and got a 105DC instead. (Which works great with the 500D, and the price difference got me a 60 micro :Crunk 

 

i don't get it ...isn't the 105dc more $ than the vr?
..btw, the 105dc will most likely be my next in lue of the 85 1.4...:smile:

 

Not when second hand and from eBay :Crunk:

 

Ciao Matthew

since you need motorized lenses, I guess the only three alternatives you have are:

1) Nikkor AF 70-300 VR
2) Sigma 50-150 F2.8 APO EX DG HSM
3) Sigma 70-200 F2.8 APO EX DG HSM

I'm not including here the Nikkor 70/200 due to its huge price.
If you shoot from more distance, it could fit also the Sigma 150 F2.8 MACRO, but I guess you should be quite far from your subject.

Probably, for the same price, you could always swap your D40 with a D50 and then looking again for, let's say, an 85 F1.8 (tight portraits) or 50 F1.8 or so. I find really limiting not being able to work with great fixed lenght lenses on D40.. Probably this gap will be filled in the future but for now...

All the best, though.

 

With a 1.5x crop, the 105mm is a little too long for me.

 

I'lls econd the nomination of the 50-150mm 2.8 Sigma. Its pretty good across the range at 2.8 except at the extreme 150mm end. It is sharp the rest of the way though, and it makes a pretty decent portrait lens. I had it briefly.

 

I'm not an experienced portrait shooter by any means, but I do enjoy using this lens for this purpose. The versatility of the 105 VR makes it my favorite lens in my bag, and probably the most used.

Here are a some examples of the lens pointed at people. I'll include enough so that hopefully in the agregate you can tell something about the lens. Full sized jpgs of these are available at the link in my sig:

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/5.6    1/160s   

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/3.5    1/800s   

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/3.5    1/50s   

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/4.5    1/30s   

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/5.6    1/100s   

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/4.0    1/500s   

NIKON D70s    ---    105mm    f/3.0    1/25s   

 

I think that you'll behappy with it. Please post some when you get a chance.