Yep, the out of focus Christmas lights are a bit oval. I saw that same thing on some of the pre-production test photos. However, the original 50L f/1.0 had even stranger shaped highlights...so this is definitely an improvement.
Yes, I think I will like this one better than my previous f/1.0L. ( I sold it 2 months ago)
Without a doubt. While I was a staunch supporter of the old f/1.0....especially at above f/1.8, this lens seems to have a lot of improvements with only one negative effect. It is slightly slower aperture wise.
Cost is 1/2 (current price) of the older lens.... it weighs less....performs as well or better from what I have seen so far.
Thank you again ghuff. Outstanding and well thought out tests! I am glad to see that the lens is sharp. I am also a bit concerned about out of focus highlights.
It looks to me like the Christmas tree bulbs are pointed and not facing directly into the camera which could be the reason for the oval effect of the out of focus highlights in this particular photo. At least that's how it appears to me. Looks like you have a great lens there. I can't wait to get mine even though I'm sure it will be picked apart as to price and comparison with the 50mm f/1.4 or for other reasons that disgruntled critics will find to justify not buying this gem.
Edited by looscanon on Dec 18, 2006 at 12:10 PM GMT
Comparing the Christmas tree bulbs from the different aperture shots this is how it looks to me:
- at f/5.6 the aperture seems to have 8 blades, and most of the lights are shaped like regular octagonals
- at f/2.8 the highlights are still almost reqular
- at f/1.2 and partially also at f/1.8 the bottom part of the highlight figure is cut off, which to me looks like the bottom of the sensor (or a retangurar frame at the lens mount of 50L f/1.2, if it has a similar frame as in 24-105L) would be visible in the shape of most of the highlights, possibly because of the direction of light from that particular pointy light source
- all this is consistent with the off-axis light direction from the Christmas tree bulbs - its effect is just not visible at smaller apertures, because the perimeter areas of the lens are not utilized then
The shape of the highlights (wide open and nearly wide open, isn't that the effect called "Cat's eyes" or something similar? I have seen this with many very fast lenses and IIRC it has something to do with the size of the lens and mirror chamber. Sometimes my memory doesn't serve me though, I may be mistaken.
The shape of the highlights when stopped down a bit is a little dissapointing frankly. First we have the bright ring bokeh phenomena which I had hoped shouldn't be here with this lens. Ok, it's sorts of "extreme" to shoot bulbs, but it also is something that is pretty common in backgrounds from time to time. Secondly the octogonal shape is surprising to me. From reading the press releas I was under the impression that the 50/1.2L should come with rounded aperture blades and thus show a round shape for OOF highlights and not this typical trace of eight blades.
On the other hand it's hard to get it all. Still, this was not what I expected.
Wow, does that look incredibly sharp. At f/1.2, her eyes just POP. Is the wide-open shot that impressive at full size, or in a print? It looks to me that f/2.5 or so appears to be the perfect aperture for full face sharpness while preserving the most background blur. If the rest of the tests continue like this, it appears it may be up there with the 85 f/1.2.
At first I thought that the "mannequin" looked unbelievably real. So far, the test shots look great. At f1.2, it does lack contrast, but that's normal with all fast lenses. Thanks for the samples!
The shots sharpen up very nice. Of course I was standing 4 feet away so the dof was very shallow. The tifs look good. Im going to print one up now.
NOTE!
I was not watching my WB so the shots very which is my fault. I did not do any processing other then a touch of unsharp (the same amount) to each shot.
I need to remove vingette from the wide open f stop shots. I think that processing them would clean them up. But I wanted to leave them "as is" so to speak.
??