Portrait Lenses with Letus - Theory Question
 

My Letus35 XL has not yet arrived. I have a question concerning lenses.

In 35mm terms, using an actual 35mm camera, an 85mm focal length lens is a good lens to use for portraits. Other lenses around this focual length are also appropriate. Using a normal 50 lens, the face is not as pleasing, and using a wide angle lens the face is even more distorted.

When using an 85mm lens on the Letus 35, I would expect the same characteristics to be true, in other words, an 85mm lens would also be good for portraits.

However, since the letus 35 XL has a 1.9x magnification, only the center portion of the frame on the ground glass is actually usable. So while the center portion would have the same characteristics, it effectively may be the same as if one where 1.9x closer to the subject (less of the face would be in the actual frame).

In practice a 50mm lens is effectively a 95mm lens when used with the Letus 35 XL (A 44.7 mm would be 85mm effectively).

So, would the 50mm lens have the pleasing characteristics of a 95mm lens in the 35mm world?

I am trying to build up a set of primes for use with the Letus35 XL but have not figured out the answer to these questions. I would appreciate any assistance or theories.

To put this simply, to achive a desiable portrait with the Letus 35 XL, should I purchase a good 50mm lens or a good 85mm lens?

My personal preference for a base kit would be f1.8 28mm, f1.8 or wider 50mm and f1.8 or wider 85mm. Each as its own character.

In full frame still imaging, 105mm is a favoured portrait lens so for Letus35 or other adaptor imaging, the 85mm seems about right.

It is pretty much impossible to control handheld to achieve quality imaging. A 50mm is more forgiving.

Dear Bob,

Thank you for the information.

I expect that I will always be on a good tripod when using the Letus35 XL. In other words, I will be in a very controlled environment.

I just created another thread on Canon "L" lenses and I would appreciate your input.

Thank you!