Your best portrait lens in the Leica SL system

[Sohail]

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Here's an example of where I think the distortion of 50/1.4-SL kicks in. The nose and length/shape of the face appear slightly elongated. Thoughts?

Edited October 13, 2022 by Sohail

[LocalHero1953]

37 minutes ago, Sohail said:

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Here's an example of where I think the distortion of 50/1.4-SL kicks in. The nose and length/shape of the face appear slightly elongated. Thoughts?

Certainly the nose looks a bit larger than it should be and (as expected with wide-open lenses and narrow DoF) it is slightly out of focus. I can't tell about the face shape without knowing the person!

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[hoolyproductions]

On 10/12/2022 at 12:41 PM, Pierre68 said:

Thanks for the elaborated reply. I am in the same boat as I do stage photography and have the SL2-S too. I am using both the sigma 85 f/1.4 and 135 f/1.8 for that purpose and for general portraits and I am quite satisfied with both lens but I have always been looking at the Leica 90mm SL maybe to replace both of these lenses in a quest to go all Leica....

May I ask if you  could  post some example of your stage work with the Leica 90mm SL?

I had the 85mm 1.4 for a while but ended up selling it getting a Summicron 75mm f2. No strong justification for this based on quality, mainly just a case of Leica-philia  I could have gone for the 90mm but for my work I am often at close quarters where the 90mm is too long (and I have a bit of a love affair with 75mm for aesthetic reasons)

I also have the SL2-S and often shoot music stages in very low light. When needed I get good enough results at up to ISO 25000 so do not find the f2 as limiting, plus it is slightly more tolerant of small errors in focus whilst still giving me a nicely shallow depth of field.

[Sohail]

1 hour ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Certainly the nose looks a bit larger than it should be and (as expected with wide-open lenses and narrow DoF) it is slightly out of focus. I can't tell about the face shape without knowing the person!

Thanks. Focus is on eyes. 

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[Sohail]

1 hour ago, hoolyproductions said:

I had the 85mm 1.4 for a while but ended up selling it getting a Summicron 75mm f2. No strong justification for this based on quality, mainly just a case of Leica-philia  I could have gone for the 90mm but for my work I am often at close quarters where the 90mm is too long (and I have a bit of a love affair with 75mm for aesthetic reasons)

I also have the SL2-S and often shoot music stages in very low light. When needed I get good enough results at up to ISO 25000 so do not find the f2 as limiting, plus it is slightly more tolerant of small errors in focus whilst still giving me a nicely shallow depth of field.

I traded my 75 for a 90. It was too close to my 50/1.4 and still showed signs, albeit minor, of distortion.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Sohail

[LocalHero1953]

18 minutes ago, Sohail said:

Thanks. Focus is on eyes. 

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Yes, I assumed it was - I wasn't intending a major criticism - it's just a common consequence of wide-open + close-up which I often see in my own photos!

[Sohail]

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4 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Yes, I assumed it was - I wasn't intending a major criticism - it's just a common consequence of wide-open + close-up which I often see in my own photos!

Yes, agreed, if you shoot wide open at 1.4 you're not going to get both eyes and nose in focus. But if you intentionally shoot at 1.4 and focus on say the nearest eye, that's a different matter -- an artistic choice.