I love my 28/2, and also own the 21/2.8 and 35/1.4. I use them all I use the 35 the most, then the 21, then the 28, but I would never sell the 28, it renders fantastically, if you can live with its field curvature.
Just bought the 21mm to cover small concert venues. Absolutely hated it for the first 2 weeks I owned it but forced myself to use it on a couple of walks with friends. It has definitely grown on me and I wont be selling it for a little while. Still in search of the perfect 50mm low light lens though. Can't wait to stick a CP filter on this thing to bring out greens and reduce the abundant amount of plant glare in photos.
not the greatest photo ever but I think it shows some of the potential for this lens to really create a dynamic image:
rirakuma wrote:
Congrats on your 21mm. Its such an amazing lens, great for both close portraits and wide landscapes.
I am really struggling to take portraits with it that I am comfortable with presenting to clients or news organizations due to the perspective distortion. Do you have any tips on how to approach a portrait photo with a lens this wide? Until 3 weeks ago, I hadn't owned a lens wider than my 35L for 2 years, and even then the widest I ever owned was a 24mm for critical work. At one point I had a 14 but that was more for fun than anything. Needless to say, I am not well acquainted with the wide lenses purely because I have never really needed one until now.
kezeka wrote:
I am really struggling to take portraits with it that I am comfortable with presenting to clients or news organizations due to the perspective distortion. Do you have any tips on how to approach a portrait photo with a lens this wide? Until 3 weeks ago, I hadn't owned a lens wider than my 35L for 2 years, and even then the widest I ever owned was a 24mm for critical work. At one point I had a 14 but that was more for fun than anything. Needless to say, I am not well acquainted with the wide lenses purely because I have never really needed one until now....Show more →
Hmm that's interesting, my experience was actually the opposite when it came to distortion. I felt that the Zeiss 21mm handled it much better than most other 21mm variants. Here are a few I've taken with the 21mm, I have more but I didn't upload them all. I guess the only tip I can suggest is to keep your subject somewhat centered or not in extreme corners and sides. Would you happen to have a few samples you can share that you find is unrepresentable due to the distortion? Hope you'll get the hang of it soon, its one of the things I really miss from this lens
Here are just a few people pictures with what I consider some strangeness to them. I guess in hindsight only the one with the longhorn has a significant bit of perspective distortion to it, but there is a good bit of stretching in the legs of the portrait oriented photo at the end.
I use the 35 the most, then the 21, then the 28, but I would never sell the 28, it renders fantastically, if you can live with its field curvature.
