18mm portrait lenses for Nikon?

[Serena.Jayne98]

I was hoping someone could help me with the best lens for close up, indoor portraits of my two toddlers. I have a NikonD3500 and only have the kit 18-55mm lens right now and am just thinking about getting a few better lenses. I read about 35,50, and 85mm prime lenses and decided a 50mm prime sounded like a good fit. But I’ve just actually checked how I use my 18-55mm lens and it turns out I always use the zoomed out 18mm end because they’re always so close to me that any other setting is too zoomed in. Even the 35mm setting is too zoomed in so I can’t use a 35mm prime either! I can’t simply move further away because they’re both very clingy at home and want to be right next to me at all times... if I move away to try and take a photo of them they just immediately stop whatever they’re doing and move closer to me. So now I’m left very confused not knowing which kind of lens would be an improvement on the 18-55mm kit lens for low light indoor portraits of very clingy always-glued-to-my-hips toddlers. I guess my max budget would be around £500-£600.
Any advice would be appreciated, I’m new to buying lenses and am a bit overwhelmed now.

 

[benc98]

I'm not a parent, but understand It must be difficult photography young kids! You will benefit more from using the 50 or 85... it will take a lot of practice and get you thinking in terms of composition, and in my opinion, if you nail the shot, they will be more pleasing than something shot at 18mm due to distortion

 

[ancient_mariner]

Hi Serena, this one is tricky. The thing is that an 18mm lens is going to make portraits look un-natural because features will be distorted, though that's not necessarily a huge problem with 'action' portraits of children doing stuff.

I've a couple of suggestions. The first is a better 'kit' zoom like one of these:
https://www.harrisoncameras.co.uk/p...-ex-dc-hsm--os-lens---nikon-fit_used-15110058
https://www.ffordes.com/p/SH-18-024179/sigmanikon-af/17-50mm-f28-ex-dc-os-hsm-nikon-af

The faster aperture will help indoors and the lens will offer higher image quality than your kit 18-55.

The other lens to try is the Nikon DX 35 f1.8 - generally considered an excellent 'standard' lens on a crop camera like your Nikon. This is a good compromise for family shots, particularly indoors. Note that if you were doing serious 'up close' portrait work then a longer lens would be better, but would likely be too difficult with the situation you described.
https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equi.../?utm_source=partnerize&utm_medium=affiliates
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Nikon-35MM-1.8-DX_274863.html

I'd also suggest buying used from a dealer because a) you'll save loads over new on perfectly good kit and b) buying from a shop means you can return it within a short period after purchase and you'll normally get a warranty too.

HTH

 

[viewfromthenorth]

It’s not cheap, but the closest thing to an 18mm prime (ie non zoom) lens is the 20mm F1.8 lens. This will give a field of view on a crop sensor equivalent to 30mm on a full frame camera which shouldn’t be too bad.

 

[toohuge]

Best value for money and something that’ll give you many options is the sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom... it’ll give you the faster aperture you’re looking for plus the range that you’re most comfortable with

 

[Deleted member 49428]

Done right even a 12mm on apsc can be used for portraits and 18mm is widely used up close in street photography.
That said there are more optioner of that kind for mirrorless cameras.
Samyang /Rokinon, Laowa, Sigma or Tamron.

 

[Deleted member 34016]

85mm all day for me ( on a Full Frame body )

Les

 

[woof woof]

I was hoping someone could help me with the best lens for close up, indoor portraits of my two toddlers. I have a NikonD3500 and only have the kit 18-55mm lens right now and am just thinking about getting a few better lenses. I read about 35,50, and 85mm prime lenses and decided a 50mm prime sounded like a good fit. But I’ve just actually checked how I use my 18-55mm lens and it turns out I always use the zoomed out 18mm end because they’re always so close to me that any other setting is too zoomed in. Even the 35mm setting is too zoomed in so I can’t use a 35mm prime either!

For some people an 18-50mm f2.8 is possibly a good bet as a move up from a kit lens but in your case at the 18-35mm sort of range I don't know what aperture your standard f3.5-5.6 lens will be at and it could be that you'd be shooting at mostly 18mm and f3.5 and if that's the case the move to f2.8 may not be all that significant. A better 18-50mm f2.8 could give you more sharpness though and as they grow and become more confident and less clingy you may be able to use the longer end of the lens.

So, in your place I'd take a look at the 18-50mm f2.8 options