Took it out to a wedding about 250 miles away this weekend (I was the hired photographer).
This lens is simply delicious. More compression than the 85, yet lighter than my 200/2 (had the 200/2 and although it blew out the background better for larger groups, I think I'm falling in love with my 105).
+1. I rented one and that was a "mistake." I've created a wtb thread in the for sale forum a few times already but haven't pressed "post" bc I'm torn between this and a 58. It is an amazing lens!
golfinz wrote:
+1. I rented one and that was a "mistake." I've created a wtb thread in the for sale forum a few times already but haven't pressed "post" bc I'm torn between this and a 58. It is an amazing lens!
Great shots everyone !!!
I am loving the shots with the 105/1.4 ED and definitely on my list. I have both 58/1.4 and 85/1.4, and these lenses are very versatile. I definitely prefer the 105 perspective, but both the 58 and 85/1.4 are still light weights in comparison, so it can be a difficult choice, particularly for indoor shots.
The 105 f1.4 as a birding lens? Who would have thought?
On the D500, it is an "equivalent" to a 157mm 1.4 (yes, I know an f2 in reality but who cares?).
We have a local guy that feeds a pair of Nankeen Kestrels small amounts of mince beef almost every day, and each year this pair of Kestrels have babies and each year they grow up and the parents teach them how to hunt etc. A successful "breeding program" if you will. He is careful to make sure that these birds do not rely on his food, they still hunt by themselves and teach their young how to hunt as well. In fact, they are amazing hunters as we see them hunting mice, grasshoppers, worms, lizards etc so, they are not human reliant by any stretch. It's a wonderful interaction of human and wildlife.
As we can get quite close to these birds, especially when they catch mince thrown up to them mid air, it was a perfect opportunity to see how well the 105 f1.4E would do IQ-wise and AF-wise photographing these birds. Well, I am blown away with the speed of the AF and the IQ. This is a superb birding lens if you only need 150mm.
D500 + 105 f1.4E various apertures, shutter speeds and ISO's. Exif intact.
These are some of the best wildlife shots that I have ever seen. How close were you to the Kestrel hawks? The feather detail is amazing. I have this lens too. I am not sure if the autofocus on my D800 can capture the inflight shots, but the portrait shots are definitely a possibility.
