Jman13
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 p.1 #1 · An Admission on the FE 55/1.8 | |
So, this lens has been out for quite a while now, and I know many, many of you own it and have owned it for a long time, so much of this will not be news, but I remember how strongly I felt when this lens was announced, and felt the need to correct myself.
When the A7 and the first FE lenses were announced, I saw the projected price (at that point, rumored to be 1100 Euro) and got very upset. Partially because I was pretty excited for a small FF camera for occasional use, and a fast normal has been a staple of my kit for years. Then Sony announces an f/1.8 normal and prices it into the stratosphere (has there been another non-Leica f/1.8 or slower normal prime this expensive?)
In October of 2013, I said the following things: "SAR puts the price of the 55/1.8 at an absurd €1100. Are they smoking crack? I don't care how good it is, unless your name is Leica, you can't charge over a grand for an f/1.8 normal."
When called about about the "I don't care" part, I replied:"Yeah, I don't care how good it is. €1100 for an f/1.8 normal is highway robbery. At $400, I'd say it had better be outstanding, at $600, you're pushing the boundaries of acceptable. At $1100+, you're smoking something.
This is TRIPLE the price of the other main manufacturers 50/1.4s and about 10 times the price of a typical 50/1.8. Yes, in sure it will be optically better, but Zeiss' own 50/1.4 planar is only $725. This is nearly double that cost, for an f/1.8 normal.
You want to spend that kind of cash for those lenses, be my guest. Me? No."
Well, I was wrong. I care about how good it is, and boy is it good. It's not just the fact that it's quite sharp into the corners wide open (which is darn impressive), nor the generally pleasing bokeh, nor the high contrast that Zeiss is known for. I mean, it is those things, but it's more the combination of all of them together, leading to really outstanding depth to the images that make the subject pop out just enough to be convincing, without melting people into soup. Sure, it's not perfect (LoCa, vignetting), but man, I've owned it for 4 days and it's already one of my favorite lenses around.
In my defense, part of my worry with the above was the total system cost: if an f/1.8 normal was $1,000, what would an 85/1.8 cost, or a 50/1.4? Most of those worries have been somewhat unfounded (though it's not like the lenses are cheap)...but with regards to the 55/1.8, yeah, I was wrong.
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