Which 50 this afternoon?

I have a little session lined up for this afternoon, Mandi needs a portrait for an article. Usually, I would use my 105/1.4G, but this time I need a bit of background (buildings) to be present. So, thinking 50 vs longer options. Will be using FF Z bodies.

 

I have the Z50/1.8S. It is fine, maybe my expectations are too high for it. Contrary to some reviews, I like my 50/1.4G better than my 1.8G. I have a MF 1.2 Nikkor, but probably won't take it in that I expect to be around f/4+/- anyway.

 

Anyone else compared the 1.8S to 1.4G for this type of situation? LOL, a mid range zoom would be perfect for this, but I dumped the ones I had, never wound up using them. I will take something wider and an 85 in case a 50 does not work out.

For a printed article, everything you mentioned is way over the top for the quality needed...in my opinion.

You should have taken the 24-70/4S in a kit when you bought the camera, as a kit-lens it was reasonably priced and is amazingly good.

Anyway, for portraits with context I often find even 50mm too long - 40mm/5.6 seem to be where I begin to get sufficient contextual detail.

I like the Z40/2 BTW - primarily for the very smooth and balanced out-of-focus, but from f4 and up the 24-70 is just as good.

I don’t particularly like adapters. Since you have a native Z mount 50, I’d take that.

I agree with Shun you have only 1 choice the Z mount lens.

I agree with Shun you have only 1 choice the Z mount lens.

Or if the OP needs an excuse, there is a Z-mount 50mm/f1.2 S for $$$$. :rolleyes:

You could still use your 105/1.4, just stop down a bit more so the background is less blurred. I wouldn't use the Z 50/1.8 S for tight head-shots as you would need to get too close, which could be be uncomfortable for the subject and would cause some distortion (eg make the nose look big relative to the rest of the face). Your 105 would be better for this. For head and shoulder shots and further back, the Z 50/1.8 should be fine.

Or if the OP needs an excuse, there is a Z-mount 50mm/f1.2 S for $$$$. :rolleyes:

 

Any system where a 50mm f1.8 costs almost $600 is awful $$$ to invest at any focal length.

All, thanks for the input. The only wide native Z lenses I have are the 14-30 that I like quite a lot, and a new 28/2.8. But, I thought those a bit wide for this project. That turned out to be a good call. I decided to take a 50, a Sigma 24-35/f2 and 85/1.8G. Since latter are F mount, I chose the 50/1.4G so that the FTZ would just be stationary on the Z7.

 

Most of the photos were taken with the 50, followed closely by using the 24-35 at around 35mm. Most of the images were around f/4, but I did open the lenses up a bit for a few shots. The 85 never came out of the bag. So, a 24-70/2.8 would have been perfect, and a 24-70/4 would have been OK. We did need a few indoor shots at one of the buildings, so I was glad to have 24mm available for the unexpected need.

 

Bebu, I agree with you, I would have taken a Z 50/1.2S if I had one. Doubt I will ever pay for one, though. I don't use a 50 very often except for recently, it seems.

 

Niels, a 40 prime probably would have "worked." It would have felt a little wide for many of the shots and a bit tight for some of the others. I have a 40/1.4 Voigtlander that I do use as a one lens solution on occasion.

 

Although I used all F mount lenses and thought about just taking a DSLR, the (essentially) anywhere on the image eye focus feature of the Z7 was quite nice to have for this project.

 

Will add a photo from the project to this string once we sort them all.