Best lens for environmental portraits?

[NZDavid]

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By environmental portraits I mean people in their surroundings doing things. In think it's strength of the Leica rangefinder. I have just taken a series of pictures of a cafe and its owner, as well as a series of workers in a furniture factory, both to illustrate feature stories.

 

I like the 35 Summicron-Asph. A slightly blurred background still gives context while keeping the main focus on the subject. Hard to do when they are moving but as long as you get the right part in focus -- usually the hands -- it works well. I also tried a 50 Summicron and found it effective, but no more so than the 35, unless I wanted more out of focus areas. I think I liked a wider composition. I also tried the 24 Elmarit-Asph and was quite surprised at its effectiveness for portraits in context -- as long as the subject is not too close. 

 

What is your experience?

[2wk]

28 - 35mm for me. Depends on how confined a space I'm shooting in. Lately I have been using the X Vario for my more environmental shots and then switching to the a 50 on the M for portraits and details. 

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[NZDavid]

How do you find the X-Vario in low light? How about accuracy of AF? I've found AF slightly hit and miss when I had the X1, probably it's because I'm more used to RF.  It's more exacting, though. I did get some nice results with the X1. With the M9 I try to keep ISO as low as possible -- ISO400 or 800 -- to max the IQ. 

[gbealnz]

David.

I'm traveling in Europe at the moment and have the X-Vario as well as my M6 and 35 Summicrons.

I've been shooting night and day with the X-Vario and I'd the AF isn't up to it I use manual with the EVF2.

Not as fast as the latest etc, but faster than my M6 focusing.

Gary

[adan]

The virtual "creator" of the environmental portrait genre, and certainly one of the masters, was Arnold Newman.

 

http://bayareaarts.blogspot.com/2014/11/arnold-newman-masterclass-exhibition-at.html

 

http://lumieregallery.net/wp/256/arnold-newman/

 

Most commonly, he used a 4x5 view camera - but in "35mm equivalents" he used pretty much every focal length from 18mm to 75mm - extreme wide-angle to "flat perspective" short tele. It just depended on the environment he wanted to capture, and more importantly, how he wanted to use someone's surroundings to delve into their character.

[menos I M6]

The virtual "creator" of the environmental portrait genre, and certainly one of the masters, was Arnold Newman.

 

http://bayareaarts.blogspot.com/2014/11/arnold-newman-masterclass-exhibition-at.html

 

http://lumieregallery.net/wp/256/arnold-newman/

 

Most commonly, he used a 4x5 view camera - but in "35mm equivalents" he used pretty much every focal length from 18mm to 75mm - extreme wide-angle to "flat perspective" short tele. It just depended on the environment he wanted to capture, and more importantly, how he wanted to use someone's surroundings to delve into their character.

To me, one of my most admired photography heroes is August Sander and his portraits of everyday people during the 1920s.

His portraits with the environment often playing a very important part of the image, cueing the audience about the subject with greatest detail are simply breathtaking and literally blew my socks off when I saw them for the first time.

This is my favorite portrait from August Sander:

http://www.houkgallery.com/exhibitions/2012-04-05_august-sander/all/#/images/7/

 

 

Regarding the question - to me it is one of the impossible questions as there simply is not one single best lens to cover this vast a selection of images.

It could be anything from a super wide angle to a telephoto lens.

 

Most useful in 35mm format, covering a wide range of options, being able to be close enough for even relative tight surroundings is a 28mm lens.

A 35mm lens can work great when some room is available, while a 50mm paints often a more beautiful image when one has the luxury to stand off even further.

 

Then there is the question of what one want to achieve with the "environmental portrait" description.

Head and shoulders with some compressed background detail (see stopped down telephoto)?

An entire scene with complete body from head to toe (how far can you stay away)?

 

The question is a very subjective one and you likely will get a thousand different answers from 10 different people you might ask.

 

21mm:

shop owner couple by teknopunk.com, on Flickr

 

35mm:

supper by teknopunk.com, on Flickr

 

50mm:

Untitled by teknopunk.com, on Flickr

 

Personally the most useful lens on a Leica M for this type of photography would be a Konica 21-35 Dual.

If I would shoot this with a SLR, a 24-70/2.8 Zoom would be my first choice.

[2wk]

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Hey sorry for the late reply...

 

I find the XV very good in low light actually. While the lens is somewhat slow, the sensor is very sensitive. Af is also fine for my needs but I do shoot more than I do with the M to make sure I get what I'm after. When I'm shooting people indoors or in low light I set the shutter speed to 1/125 or 1/60 to force the camera to choose a higher iso and I will go up to 3200 but prefer 1600 as a max. If I leave it on auto the camera will always choose a slower shutter speed and my subjects will be fuzzy. If it is much too dark, I usually setup a Sb-800 with a F-stoppers fash disk or mini softbox and can sync up to 1/1000! The built in flash is also quite nice. I have been getting great results with this camera, and I especially love its macro capabilities. Overall I wish the camera was a litttle quicker in handling. When I am busy and shooting fast the lag from reviewing images and back to shooting can be annoying.

 

How do you find the X-Vario in low light? How about accuracy of AF? I've found AF slightly hit and miss when I had the X1, probably it's because I'm more used to RF.  It's more exacting, though. I did get some nice results with the X1. With the M9 I try to keep ISO as low as possible -- ISO400 or 800 -- to max the IQ. 

[cirke]

I use the Noctilux

[TRIago]

35 cron asph.

[wda]

I think the 35mm focal length is the best compromise. Any wider and scale and distortion appear. Any longer and context suffers.

[exile]

35 lux ASPH (preferably the pre-FLE for my taste as the background should give context but not be distracting).