I am planning to purchase the Pentax k20D body only, which means I'll be in need of a lens. My focus will be portrait photography so I'm looking into what would be the best lens for that. So far I've read that the Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens is great for portrait photography because it gives great blur and minimizes distortion pretty well. I also looked into the Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras for its low price. I like the variety in the zoom of this lengths, but its aperture is obviously not in comparison to the SMCP-FA.
I'm looking for a lens that is great for head shots, can also take great pictures at body length, and great pictures when trying to incorporate background with model.. Any suggestions?
The consesus among photographers is that the best portrait lenses are between 85-105mm on a 35mm camera (full frame dslr)
The 50mm on a 35mm camera is the one which is closest to the human eye in terms of field of view.
Anything under 50mm is liable to "distort" portraits especially when you are close to the subject.
An 85mm would give you good head shots and you would be able to get full length shots in easy enough by moving a little.
Get the fastest lens you can (lowest f number) so that you are able to throw the background out of focus.
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