Fast Lens Question

[edvatza]

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If you are saving for a Monochrom and you are happy with your 50 Summicron will you really be much better off by adding a f1.4/1.5 lens (especially for street photography where you probably want at least a bit of DOF) ?

 

"much better off" is relative. Looking for something a bit different in bokeh behind portraits made on the streets.

 

Besides the Monochrom is down the line. Christmas is around the corner!

 

Ed

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[Guest Marc G.]

why not use the 90 summarit for that DOF purpose? beautiful bokeh, better for subject separation and you already got it

[edvatza]

why not use the 90 summarit for that DOF purpose? beautiful bokeh, better for subject separation and you already got it

 

Good point and fair question, Mark. Not sure how good my answer will be. As I said, I am primarily a street photographer and do about 90% candids to 10% portraits. Also when I work the streets it is almost always with one camera/one lens. So I generally head out with a lens that covers both. I prefer a 35 or 50 since they do both for me. I would lean 35 for candid and 50 for portraits.

 

The 90 would be great for portraits but ottos at all for candids. And I really don't want to carry multiple lenses on the streets.

 

Hope that explains it a little bit.

[wda]

Ed lots of well-reasoned advice already given. As an expert in street photography no doubt you will be able to cope with the critical demands on focusing a very fast lens at full aperture. Some new owners discover the difficulties too late. Why not hire or borrow one to see how it works out in practice?

 

For street portraiture by consent, why not maximise your 90mm lens for this purpose which is more likely to give you very sharp narrow depth of focus? You could do that without expense. Personally I would use your 50mm Summicron in that role, then you have a good lens for casual pictures as well.

[01af]

So my conclusion at this time is go have a hands-on look at the Voigtländer Nokton 50 mm 1:1.5. It looks like it could be a really nice partner to the 50 Summicron.

If you feel GAS then by all means go ahead ... but ... I think you don't need a new lens at this point. I'd suggest to keep using the Summicron-M 50 mm and forget about faster 50 mm lenses for now. I'm afraid you're over-estimating the effect of f/1.4 or f/1.5 versus f/2, and you're going to be disappointed in the end. In particular, a wider aperture won't necessarily give you better bokeh—instead, you'll get (slightly!) more background blur while bokeh most likely will get worse.

 

In any case, try before you buy.

[pfhrased]

I think if you tend to only take one lens, the CV 35 1.2 voigtlander has lovely creamy bokeh and is easy to focus. Going past 50/2 will mean far less of your subject will be in focus (i.e. only one eye), so I'd recommend keeping the 50/2. If you really want to look at 50 1.4, check out the CV - it's stunning, and super close to the Leica. Don't go with the 1.1, it's really not as nice.

[MarkP]

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The issues about excessively narrow DOF in street photography was also the point I was trying to make. Fast shooting on the street will make ideal focus at 1.4-1.5 difficult and risks missed photographs. I usually stop my fast lenses down to f2-2.8 to keep the subject in focus, adequately isolation against the background, and still keep that nice DOF rendering.

[edvatza]

I understand your concern. When I am walking the streets and shooting candids,I am often shooting at f/5.6 or f/8 and often zone focusing. My desire for a faster lens to shoot at say f/1.5 is for those occasions when I choose to interact with someone on the street and have their permission to make a portrait right there on the street. Often I can't choose the background so is want a very shallow dof.

 

Make sense?

[elgenper]

…. My desire for a faster lens to shoot at say f/1.5 is for those occasions when I choose to interact with someone on the street and have their permission to make a portrait right there on the street. Often I can't choose the background so is want a very shallow dof.

 

Make sense?

 

No….

 

There are other, more interesting ways to treat a background than blurring it into oblivion. Keep aware of the surroundings and the light while you walk, look out for interesting details or structures. When you find a consenting ´victim´ for a portrait, if he/she can be bothered to pose, the person should also accept to turn in a direction you choose, while you position yourself and your camera so that the background works; if you´ve already got an idea of what to use for a backgrund, this should take only a few seconds.

 

But, it does take some practice….

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[flyalf]

A budget option is SH Jupiter 3, 50/1,5. I like its rendering for people photography. Better check the RF accuracy though.

[george +]

The Zeiss Sonnar 1.5 is a nice lens.