Best lens for couple portraits?

[Loup Garou]

I was thinking about an ideal lens to get a portrait effect with a couple as subject and tried the Sigma 30mm f1.4 at a friend's family wedding. The results were very good, including on the only occasion where I could get the couple to pose against a suitable background to get a bokeh effect. Unfortunately, they do not want the pictures published in public forums but i was wondering if anyone else who owns this lens has tried this?

The wider angle of the 30mm (compared with standard MFT portrait lenses between 42.5mm and 75mm) allowed me to get closer while keeping both people in the frame.

[Graham_of_Rainham]

[Loup Garou]

Re: Best lens for couple portraits?

The PanLeica 25mm f1.4 IS an excellent lens and I owned one for a few years till I sold it recently as part of my 'lens downcluttering'. Having 2 bodies, EM5II & Pen-F, I mistakenly tried to have individual lenses for each. Part of this arrangement was that I used the Sigma 30mm with the EM5II and the PanLeica 25mm with the Pen-F. In practice however, I found this an unnecessary luxury and so sold off several lenses to avoid duplication. When it came to the choice between Sigma 30mm f1.4 and PanLeica 25mm f1.4, I decided to keep the former and sell the latter for the following reasons.

The PanLeica 25mm is really a 'general purpose' lens and I since I already own and use the Olympus 17mm f1.8 for general use, having 2 such lenses was not necessary. I found that the 17mm offered more flexibility in general use.

Although the Sigma 30mm is only 5mm longer than the PanLeica, that difference plus its 9 diaphragm blades (as opposed to 7 in the PanLeica) made it more suitable as a short portrait lens, especially for couple subjects. It still retained some general purpose use at the same time.