Post your photography skills! (self-gloss) - Page 158

Originally Posted by Krp480 

I miss my 50 1.2 . I think I might have to get another one... But I would rather have other lenses before I get another 50 1.2L. If you want the 50 1.2 it's great for it's colors I find that I didn't need to do that much editing to the pictures since the contrast was great and colors were amazing straight from it. But get the Sigma if you can't afford the 50 1.2 otherwise if you can definitely get it!]

Originally Posted by TRINI 

I've decided to hold off on buying a portrait lens until I know more beautiful people.

Originally Posted by Szeph el raton 

As everyone asked me what I want for Christmas and "Give me money for my tax payment!" is not an option I opted for "you can contribute to me getting a new lens". With possibly selling my 17-40L and 24-105L (I realized I'm nearly always shooting primes) I could afford around 1,5k €. But it's really only a bag of trade-offs no matter what you decide for. I'm currently looking for something in the 30-50mm range as a walk around lens.
Canon EF 35mm f/2 -> nervous bokeh, crappy auto focus drive
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L -> mucho dinero, big, heavy
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 -> manual focus, demaciado dinero, soft at 1.4
Zeiss 35mm f/2 -> manual focus, except for that quite nice
Old M42 35mm with adapter -> manual focus, first have to find a fitting lens with good quality
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II -> plastic bomb, not-so-nice bokeh, shitty auto focus. gave it away as a present
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 -> the one I currently have. Not really usable wider than f/2 because of contrast problems, so-so auto focus
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L -> sharpness figures quite lower than the 1.4 but supposed to be usable at f/1.2. Reviews are a mixed bag
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 -> great reviews but auto focus is a gamble
So I'm really confused. I see that I can only get the points I dislike about the EF 50mm f/1.4 (auto focus accuracy, sharpness wide open, build quality) fixed if I throw quite a lot of money at the problem and at the same time I trade in other problems. I guess in the end it'll come down between 35L, Zeiss 35 f/2 and 50L but until then I'll stick with what I have. I've read a lot of reviews online, I checked the groups on Flickr and I know that Jacob had the 50L and Peter has the Zeiss 35/2 but the lack of a possibility to actually test the lenses myself makes it really difficult. And yes, dunno if I could live with manual focus, would definitvely get me the eg-s focus screen then for the 5D Mk II.

Originally Posted by Krp480 

I was just in the same boat. If you want a dedicated portrait lens cross off the 35. Actually let me rephrase - if you want a dedicated portrait lens the 50L or 85L would be the best choice. I'm not saying the 35 delivers bad portraits BUT it does not give as desireable results as a 50 or 85, but from POTN, everyone with the 35L generally tends to love it. If you are looking for some serious bokeh though go for the 50L, but the best bokeh of all would be the 85L. If you are looking at lenses I highly recommend looking into that lens. I am actually getting it cause I sold my 24L as it was just too wide and the results were undesireable for me as I generally shoot portraits. Actually if you are using a 5D MK II and you want a walk around lens I believe the 50 would be perfect! I used it on my crop which makes it about an 85mm lens and a full day in the city I was able to capture almost any shot. I will admit that some shots could have been wider but for the most part it's just what you are used to.
The Canon 50 1.4 is definitely not worth the money though. If I were you regardless of what lens you get sell the 50 1.4 and if you go with the 35 1.4 then get the Sigma 50 1.4, yes you will probably have to send it in a few times to get the AF nailed but once you do it is a MUCH better lens than Canons version.
But if you don't like MF and never use it don't get the Zeiss then. The only Zeiss lenses I would get are wide angle ones where I know that I would need MF.

Originally Posted by amerikajinda 

Some close-ups I took of flowers: