If You Only Bring One Prime: 50mm or 85mm?

A 50mm and an 85mm can both make strong portraits, but they push you into different decisions the moment you pick one. This video puts the Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro FE and Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro FE in the same real location so you can see what changes when you use both.

Coming to you from Eli Infante, this practical video starts with a simple setup: one subject, a cloudy day, and two focal lengths that people argue about nonstop. Infante begins with the Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro FE in a tighter area where framing options matter more than you expect. You get a clear look at how he builds a frame using a fence and a bright path of light, then adjusts position instead of forcing the scene to cooperate. He shows an ambient shot, then brings in flash to lock in a consistent look, which is the part most people skip when they talk about focal length. The interesting tension is that the 50mm is treated like a default choice, not because it is “safe,” but because it lets you change from three-quarter to full-body without negotiating with the environment.

Then he swaps to the Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro FE and immediately runs into the trade you already know, but probably underestimate: space. You see him take extra steps back just to keep the framing similar, and that physical constraint starts shaping the shoot more than the lens specs ever will. He stays at f/1.4 and talks about the extra background blur, but he also admits something that rarely gets said out loud: sometimes the “better” compression costs you context. In that first spot, he leans toward the 50mm because it shows more of the scene, which affects how the portrait reads even before you think about sharpness. If you tend to shoot in parks, sidewalks, small courtyards, or anywhere you cannot keep backing up, this section lands hard.

The video gets more useful once he changes locations and stops trying to make the lenses match. In a second spot with more depth, he starts with the 85mm and composes with foreground and midground elements, including a cactus, then shifts angles by inches instead of feet. He also places the light farther back than usual so it spreads across the body, which is a quiet reminder that lighting distance can change the feel as much as focal length. When he switches back to 50mm, he does not chase the same frame; he shoots like it is the only lens he brought, and that mindset shift is the real lesson. Later, he walks through a problem area with distracting objects and shows how a small angle change can remove a pole or bench from the frame without turning it into a “leading lines” cliché. There’s a short, practical warning about watching for branches lining up with a head, and it’s the kind of detail that saves you time in editing. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Infante.