Gear - Brett Harkness Photography

Gear Camera Lenses Round-up 

Karl Shaw portrait photographer - www.k4rl.co.uk 

As photographers, we should all take our time and think more, and a prime lens certainly enables me to do this. Studio 

environments are hectic places where you have so many things on your plate, from the model’s clothes and hair through to your 

lighting and backgrounds, and you are often paying for everything by the hour! So there is a temptation to rush, which I don’t feel is 

conducive to creative thinking. Primes also force you to use your brain more when it comes to composition, as you need to shift your 

position rather than just zoom in and out. Fast apertures are great for bokeh effects, but they also tend to make focusing easier and 

they give you a clearer viewfinder too – both of which are important to me.. But I also feel they make a photographer’s job easier in 

that your perspective is set and your options are more restricted. In short, I would be lost without my 50mm. 

Nikon aF 50mm f/1.8D 

Street price: £110 

Aperture range: f/1.8-22 

Diaphragm blades: 7 

Elements/groups: 6/5 

Close focusing: 45cm 

Filter size: 52mm 

Weight: 155g 

There are three main reasons that I like the 

50mm: first it’s bitingly sharp, which is essential 

for portraits. Second, there is virtually no 

chromatic aberration (yellow/purple fringing) 

to be seen in the images and third, I favour 

the human eye-view perspective the 50mm 

gives. It helps that this f/1.8 lens is as cheap 

as chips as well, which for the quality you can 

get from it, particularly when partnered with 

my full frame Nikon D3s, makes it particularly 

good value. For this price you can afford to take 

a punt and add it to your kit bag just on the 

off-chance that you might find a use for it and, 

believe me, I’m sure you will. 

I don’t tend to need ultra fast maximum 

apertures in any case as most of my work is 

shot in a studio environment, so this is why I 

opted to go for the f/1.8 rather than the more 

expensive versions; it just gives me what I 

need. As you’d expect, the AF performance is 

very good, though it has been known to hunt 

a little if I am being super critical. It’s very light 

in the hand – big zooms, such as the 24-70mm, 

though lovely, are very heavy by comparison 

and you really feel them after a long studio 

session – but the small size of this prime can be 

also a bit of a disadvantage, particularly when 

hand-holding in portrait format. There’s not 

really anything to get hold of on this lens and 

I end up with both hands holding the camera 

rather than the lens, which is not always 

comfortable. 

The viewfinder image is nice and bright, 

so quickly checking AF accuracy is easy and 

doesn’t halt the flow of a sitting; I very rarely 

use the lens in mF. Chromatic aberration is 

virtually non-existent – even the best zooms 

suffer a little with this – and there are no issues 

with corner vignetting either, so this saves 

me time in Photoshop. The 50mm gives me 

flexibility with working distances too; a studio 

can be huge or really tight, but the 45cm close 

focus means I can get in close if I need to. In 

short, I’ve got a pro spec lens that costs less 

than a crappy kit lens on an entry-level DSLr, 

and really what more could you ask for! 

aBOVe: I’m 

always amazed 

at just how 

good this little 

lens is. Add to 

that the life-like 

perspective and 

I think this is one 

of the top studio 

lenses you can 

buy 

LeFT: You need 

to take a little 

care around the 

edges of the 

frame with the 

50mm on a fullframe 

if working 

in close as you 

can get some 

distortions in 

your shots 

Camera Lenses Round-up 

Jon Buckle editorial sports photographer – www.jonbucklephoto.com 

I suppose some may say that I am old school, but I like the fact that prime lenses challenge you more as a photographer; 

zooms can end up being a distraction and you can miss things or spend too much time worrying about a fraction more or 

less magnification. Fixed lenses make you think more about where you position yourself and the type of shot you are after 

before you even get your gear out. Okay, I may miss a few shots here and there, but the benefits of far crisper images, greater 

separation and faster AF far outweigh the odd celebration shot I can’t capture. They also make you, the photographer, get up 

and move about rather than fall back on the zoom as some form of compromise in composition and quality; they make you 

look for a picture. Of course, zooms definitely have their place, I just prefer the primes for my sports and portraiture work. 

Nikon aF-S 400mm 

f/2.8G eD Vr II 

Street price: £6,648 


Diaphragm blades: 9 (rounded) 


Close focusing: 2.9m 

Filter size: 52mm (rear) 

Weight: 4.62 Kg 

Nikon aF DC 135mm f/2D 


Aperture range: f/2-16 



Close focusing: 1.1m 


Weight: 815g 

Nikon aF-S 85mm f/1.4G 





Close focusing: 85cm 


Weight: 595g 

Gear 

I have a passion for bold images that are generally quite tight, so the 400mm is ideal for this. 

It’s my main lens for action shots at the footie, usually on the 18 yard line, and it’s especially 

good for floodlit matches due to the super-fast aperture – but I also use it at Wimbledon for 

tight head shots too. I only shoot on full-frame Nikon D3s cameras to make full use of wide 

apertures. The images from the 400mm are just so crisp, clean and full of contrast, and I can 

shoot at f/2.8, and even f/4, and achieve such beautiful soft backdrops to my images that they 

sometimes seem unnatural. The AF is superb and super fast too; a complete trust in your kit is 

so important for me. I often use the AF limiter for things like cricket, which is a great feature. 

Though it does have VR II, I don’t tend to use it that much; the D3s’ ISO is just so good when 

combined with the fast aperture, it’s just not needed. 

Until you have shot portraits at f/2, you really don’t know what you are missing. The 135mm 

perspective is so lovely, and the bokeh you can achieve is amazing. More regularly, though, I 

use this lens for the footie and mid-length shots at tennis where scruffy backgrounds are a 

constant problem, but f/2 soon sorts them out. Being a little shorter in the focal length stakes 

you can grab shots of players closer in to goal, which is where I most often use it. It’s also 

employed down the wicket line at the cricket on a Pocket Wizard, which is operated by my 

foot. When wide open, your focusing has to be perfect as the depth-of-field is zilch, but the 

viewfinder image this produces is one of the best in my kit bag so checking accuracy is not too 

bad at all. This really is a lens that produces a ‘wow’ factor and in my line of work, where I need 

to stand out from others, this lens definitely helps me do that. 

If the 135mm f/2 was good then this lens, certainly at wide apertures, is just unbeatable. 

It’s such a flexible lens and good for anything from tight headshots to three-quarter length 

portraits etc. People sometimes look at the portraits I’ve taken on this lens and think I’ve done 

something whizzy in Photoshop, but, of course, I haven’t – in fact this lens is nicknamed ‘The 

Cream Machine’, and with good reason. Admittedly, this super-wide look isn’t everyone’s 

cup of tea, but I love it. It’s also a great lens to experiment with as the working distance 

is so flexible; 85cm on a 85mm is quite tight, and I love these bolder compositions, but by 

moving about a bit you can play with angles and views – it helps to keep me on my toes. The 

perspective of this lens is particularly pleasing for portraits, as it doesn’t have the slight 

‘distortion’ of the 50mm. The images, to me, just feel so natural and really pop out at you. 

86 July 2011 Taking your photography to the next level Taking your photography to the next level July 2011 87 

LeFT: I’m a 

massive fan 

of tight shots 

as they add 

copious amounts 

of drama into 

the images – of 

course, it helps if 

you’re shooting 

rooney! 

rIGHT: You 

sometimes need 

to be able to 

leave some of 

the background 

in to give the 

image a sense of 

place. shot at f/4, 

the faces help to 

tell the image’s 

story

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Gear - Brett Harkness Photography

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