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 p.4 #11 · p.4 #11 · Two years of the Sony Small G Trio: User Experiences & Comments? | |
chiron wrote:
Your comments on the lenses are interesting. I see the 50 1.2 GM (#1), the Sony 2.5 G, and the Loxia 50 all grouped pretty tightly for my preferences. But I do see why someone might separate out the 50 2.5 G and like it less, perhaps because it has a more defined look in the out of focus backgrounds which is quite different from the others. But for me it does the more defined bokeh look in a very pleasing way, and I am coming to like having a bit more definition in the unfocused parts of my images.
The Canon EF 50/1.2L has always been one of my favorite lenses, but I think this particular composition works against showing its strengths. The EF 50L is a relatively low contrast lens with spherical aberrations that provide a bit of veiling as one gets closer to wide open. This often gives character to shots from the lens, but in this case the appeal of the scene was partly the deep colors and the contrasts that were already muted a bit by the softness of the rain-clouded light. So I think the Canon did not show this type of already muted but colorful scene so well. I think it migth do better with other scenes. ...Show more →
That is interesting that you see the Canon as the one which most differs from others. I think it does just go to show the point you (I think it was) made earlier in the thread about all of us seeing things in our own way. I understand what you mean about the EF 50L but at f/2.5 I would expect it to have sharpened up and lost any veiling, and to me that is what I see in the shot here - it seems sharp enough and I don't see any problem with veiling.
I find it hard to put into words why I like the 50G image less than the others, but the best I can is to say it has a harshness to it, relative to the others. To exagerate a bit, with the 50G image I feel like I'm looking at a shot taken in harsh light, and I want to put on my sunglasses. For want of a better expression, it looks more "digital" to me. Perhaps another way to say it is that I feel like the other images have subtler changes in tone and colour which make the image "gentler" somehow, and to me do a better job of conveying mood.
So far as bokeh goes, I don't actually mind a bit of structure in the out of focus areas. Many people seem to use "smooth" as a synonym for good when it comes to bokeh, but I don't necessarily find it that way. I do like smooth transitions of changes in colour and tone and brightness, but I find that if the background is uniformly smoothly blurred it can look, to me, unnatural and lacking in cues which convey a sense of depth. For example, I see a lot of head and shoulders or head and torso portraits taken at 85mm f/1.4 (or f/1.2) and quite often I don't particualrly like the bokeh even though many people seem to think it's great. I often prefer those sorts of shots (if taken with an 85/1.4) stopped down a stop or two or even three. 85mm f/1.4 for a full body shot, or where the subject is even more distant, is more likely to appeal to me. (I realise that the lighting, composition and background play a large role in all of this, but I am talking in broad generlisations.) Another example is I cannot decide what I think about the Sigma 65/2 DN (which I do not own but periodically think about buying). I think 65mm could be a good focal length for me, it's clearly very sharp, and I want to like it. I am just not convinced about it though, and I think perhaps the issue is that I find the bokeh too uniformly smooth for my taste at least in portraitsb I've seen. (I have seen some shots taken with the Sigma 65/2 with a black mist filter though which I helped the background.)
PS - I was recently looking on Flickr at some photos taken with the Sigma 85/1.4 DN lens and a few stood out to me. When I looked at the EXIF data, they were taken with a Fuji GFX 50S. I think what caught my eye was the way the transitions in colours and tones were handled. In a sense, albeit at a different level, I think that is what I like in the photos from the other three 50mm lenses in the test in this thread relative to the 50G.
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