Someone Handed Me The Holy Grail...

The23rdman

The23rdman

Messages
13,582
Name
Dean
Edit My Images
No
I was asked by a friend to tog his wifes party last night. It was no big deal as I was taking my camera anyway. When I got there he asked what glass I'd brought with me. I had my trusty nifty fifty.

He handed me his 50mm f/1.4 to play with, which I was pleased about as it's on my list of upgrades. After shooting with this for an hour he called me to one side and said,

"Why don't you have a go with this...but be careful."

He handed me a lens bag that weighed a ton. Inside was his 85mm f/1.2 L USM. I nearly had a little accident! This is the full frame holy grail portrait lens for me. It's a bit of a tight squeeze indoors with a crop body, but it didn't stop me having a hell of a lot of fun!

I loved being able to shoot that wide open with available light, but found the AF a little slow.

Now where's my car? Maybe I could trade it in...
 
Thats on my hit list also.... Be a long time coming though i reckon....


Hope you had lots of fun with it.


" And forgot to give it back"


md
 
I tried that, but the crowbar in Joel's hand suggested he might want to keep it.

I did, however, have an awful dream that I'd forgotten to put thelens cap back on it and it got a great big chip right in the center of the glass. It then started to develop fungal nastiness in front of my eyes. Bloody good to wake up from that one!
 
The 85mm f/1.2L is the single most desirable lens you can hold in your hand, bar none. If I had £1 for everyone who's had the same sort of reaction you've had...
 
StewartR said:
The 85mm f/1.2L is the single most desirable lens you can hold in your hand, bar none. If I had £1 for everyone who's had the same sort of reaction you've had...
Click to expand...

What he said,

The 50 1.2 pfft, overrated and slow compared to the 1.4 at a quarter of the price.

85L on the other hand....

4253771610_c419fc2cb3_o.jpg




This is nothing compared to the Raw file.

4300431864_f3be530621_o.jpg
 
Well, I have to say I've not really got anything decent to show you. The trouble was I had a mare with different light sources so ended up shooting available light at iso 640 wide open. Man, that is one NARROW dof! I'd love more room to work with this or use it on a full frame as the shots I captured are head shots only. I'll try and dig out something, but it won't be anything near as gorgeous as that, Chris.

Oh, I'd love to get this in a studio.
 
Remember, the further away you are from the subject, the dof is less narrow.

So step away, fill the frame with a little less of the subject and crop.
 
Gel said:
Remember, the further away you are from the subject, the dof is less narrow.

So step away, fill the frame with a little less of the subject and crop.
Click to expand...

Aye, true. Trouble was I'd have had step outside and shoot through the wall. ;)
 
The23rdman said:
I loved being able to shoot that wide open with available light, but found the AF a little slow.

QUOTE]

It's because it needs to move so much glass around, but once it finds focus, it will stay locked on.

It is a wonderful portrait lens, and so is the 135mm F2, but perhaps a bit long for a crop body.

The 50mm F1.4 is another absolutely cracking lens, and a good choice for upgrade.
Click to expand...
 
That makes perfect sense, Les. It really is a LOT of glass. I enjoyed the 50mm 1.4 very much too and on a crop it worked great. Next time I'm at Joel's I'll borrow his 5D MKII with the 85L ;)
 
Not wanting to cause an argument, just wondering something :thinking:

I've been taking portraits of my little one with my Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f3.5 on my 50D indoors since I got it. I couldn't tell you exactly how far away I have to be but it wasn't that far - my house isnt that big! I'm guessing approx 8 - 10 feet, maybe 12 tops. Am I missing something? :shrug:

On a side note I've been trying to get hold of an 85mm on Ebay (like the Jupiter 8) with no luck whatsoever, they go for stupid money.
 
Ste, it was a party. People tend to mingle and take up a lot of room (especially in the kitchen!) meaning there isn't much room to get more than heads in. Also I was a bit over-excited. ;)
 
No no no no! Dean, I wasn't criticising you mate, someone said an 85mm on a crop body was too long for portraiture, and I thought "am I missing something?"

TBH if someone handed me a bit of glass like that to play with in the same manner I'd have had an accident and had to go home early :gag: :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top