This selection of best portrait lenses boasts a wide range, all within that focal length sweet spot, which will really flatter your camera model. These best Canon lens for portraits and the best Nikon lens for portraits also feature wide apertures, perfect for creating those beautifully blurred backgrounds.
What makes portrait lenses different to normal lenses?
Generally speaking, portrait lenses due to their one focal length are sharper, faster and tend to have far less distortions. This does however come at a heavy cost in price and flexibility, as you will be without a zoom (which forces you to get up close and personal with your subject).
Reviewed: Canon EF 135mm F/2L USM
What should I look for in a portrait lens?
Whether you have a 100mm macro lens, a 50mm prime or a 70-300mm zoom, there are many lens types that can produce some fantastic portraits. With a variety of different portrait photography styles and preferences, here are a few factors to consider:
Budget: Portrait lenses are not cheap and the price of the product you choose will be based on various factors, such as the brand, the year it was made and the lens quality.
Type of lens: Although prime lenses are considered more popular with portrait photography due to its wider maximum aperture benefits, zoom lenses can be just as good.
Focal length: Make sure you buy a portrait lens with the correct focal length. This will be determined by the size of your camera's sensor.
Without further ado, here are the ten best portrait lenses guaranteed to give you amazing results…
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This lens is very lightweight making it easily portable. It doesnu2019t feel like the most robust build and does have a little vignetting but itu2019s very reasonably priced. Itu2019s great for portraits and will provide quick, accurate results.
Spec
Max aperture: f/1.7
Min aperture: f/22
Elements/groups: 10/8
Min focusing distance: 31cm
DxL: 55x50mm
Weight: 130g
This lightweight lens has a large focal range and image stabilisation. It makes a great studio lens as it shoots tight headshots and portraits. Itu2019s weather-resistant and sturdy, it doesnu2019t feel too bulky though when itu2019s zoomed it is physically very large.
Spec
Max aperture: f/4
Min aperture: f/22
Elements/groups: 17/14
Min focusing distance: 38cm
DxL: 83x113mm
Weight: 663g
This lens is part of Sigmau2019s Art range, it provides excellent sharpness, itu2019s the perfect portrait focal length and the build quality is excellent. It feels quite heavy but itu2019s great for stunning portraits or fashion shoots.
Spec
Max aperture: f/1/8
Min aperture: f/16
Elements/groups: 13/10
Min focusing distance: 88cm
DxL: 91x115mm
Weight: 1130g
This is one of the gems from Olympus M.Zuiko line-up. It has one of the widest apertures, itu2019s lightweight, portable and provides excellent sharpness. It can feel a little unbalanced on smaller bodies but the autofocus is quick, accurate and virtually silent.
Spec
Max aperture: f/1.2
Min aperture: f/16
Elements/groups: 14/10
Min focus distance: 50cm
DxL: 70x85mm
Weight: 410g
This fab lens fits both Canon and Nikon. Itu2019s impressively sharp and has optical stabilisation. It is a fraction less sharp than the Canon and Nikon equivalents but it is also much cheaper.
Spec
Min aperture: f/22
Max aperture: f/2.8
Elements: 23/17
Filter size: 77mm
Min focusing distance: 95cm
DxH: 88x194mm
Weight: 1500g
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This lens provides very sharp, manual focus optics. Itu2019s lightweight but feels well-made and durable. It did create very slight vignetting but itu2019s a great lens for the price.
Spec
Min aperture: f/22
Max aperture: f/2
Elements: 11/7
Filter size: 77mm
Min focusing distance: 80cm
DxH: 82x135mm
Weight: 830g
With a super-fast aperture of f/1.2 and 7 rounded diaphragm blades you can shoot amazing bokeh with this lens. The 70cm minimum focusing distance and 28.5u00b0 angle-of-view also makes this an excellent portrait lens.
Spec
Max aperture: f/1.2
Min aperture: f/16
Elements/groups: 11/8
Min focusing distance: 70cm
DxL: 73x70mm
Weight: 405g
This lens has a deserved reputation as the king of portrait lenses due to its sharp results and amazing bokeh. It has the longest focal length in test but when shooting wide-open vignetting is noticeable. Itu2019s a very heavy lens but feels balanced on-camera.
Spec
Max aperture: f/2
Min aperture: f/32
Elements/groups: 10/8
Min focusing distance: 90cm
DxL: 83x112mm
Weight: 750g
This lightweight lens boasts fantastic sharpness, excellent build quality smooth bokeh. The vignetting is noticeable when shooting wide open and there is a little barrel distortion, but nothing that canu2019t be fixed with editing.
Spec
Max aperture: f/1.4
Min aperture: f/16
Elements/groups: 8/7
Min focusing distance: 45cm
DxL: 74x54mm
Weight: 280g
The fast aperture and 9 rounded diaphragm blades produce beautiful bokeh, making this a great portrait lens, it also has a Hyper Sonic Motor that provides near-silent auto-focusing. It is very weighty at 1131g but it does feel very high quality.
Spec
Max aperture: f/1.4
Min aperture: f/16
Elements/groups: 14/12
Min focusing distance: 85cm
DxL: 95x126mm
Weight: 1131g
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Kirk Schwarz is a tech-addicted photographer with over a decade's experience; Kirk’s used to putting new gear through extreme field testing. He's previously written for Practical Photography.