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Portraits and the Nikon 50mm 1.4 (not happy)
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Aug 2, 2015 13:16:34   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
In my new quest to go from street photographer to grand-daughter photographer I'm about to throw in the towel. I did the research on the Nikon 50mm 1.8 and 1.4 on our site and on Google etc. The main concern was, is the 1.4 worth an extra two hundred bucks. Most said not really but I also read a few articles that said yes. My thought was I wanted to take a lot of natural light shots of a baby so why not get all the light I can? After about a few hundred pictures out of focus to my eye, which means 99% of the viewing world say, oh what a great picture, the 1%, you and I, say, hey that's out of focus! So after re-reading the manual and trying every possible combination humanly possible and getting nowhere I came across "focus shift and spherical aberration". Well there's some information I could have used earlier! OK so I get it now, I think, the lens is weak wide open. Very frustrating process. I just want to be able to take a picture from two feet away and have both eyes in focus without having to go back to college. Now the question becomes when if ever will I shoot wide open, knowing in the back of my mind there will probably be issues? Attached are two pictures, both taken on a tripod with Nikon D610 for your analysis. Photo #1 1.4 ISO 220 #2 5.6 ISO 2800. Thank you for any and all input. Marty





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Aug 2, 2015 13:43:49   #
oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA
 
streetmarty wrote:
... I did the research on the Nikon 50mm 1.8 and 1.4 .... After about a few hundred pictures out of focus to my eye, ..."focus shift and spherical aberration". Well there's some information I could have used earlier! ....... when if ever will I shoot wide open,...

Can't imagine ever shooting a portrait wide open.
That 1.4 lens should be set around 4-5.6 for general use.
A shot which can be carefully focused and only requiring a very narrow DOF like a painting can be made at F2.

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Aug 2, 2015 13:47:14   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
oldtigger wrote:
Can't imagine ever shooting a portrait wide open.
That 1.4 lens should be set around 4-5.6 for general use.
A shot which can be carefully focused and only requiring a very narrow DOF like a painting can be made at F2.


I did not know this. What would you shoot at 1.4, if anything? Thank you for the help.

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Aug 2, 2015 14:03:11   #
SonyBug
 
In the dark! HaHa a joke. I have a 85mm 1.4 and rarely use it wide open.

But, you can check where it is focusing. Set up a yardstick with big numbers at a 45 degree angle to the shutter plane. Take a pix at the 16 mark, and then blow the picture up and see where it starts to come in focus and goes out. The DOF should be less than an inch at that short distance and wide F stop. It also means that you have to have both eyes the same distance from the sensor, or one will be out of focus.

My lens proved that the D800E I was shooting with was not focusing. So, I returned it to Nikon 3 times before they got it to where I could do an in-camera adjustment.

It would also help to check the download box and then we can blow up the pix you post so we can really pixel peep.

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Aug 2, 2015 14:09:30   #
oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA
 
streetmarty wrote:
I did not know this. What would you shoot at 1.4, if anything? Thank you for the help.

Juke joints, pool halls and rock singers.
Shots where i want to seperate subject from foreground/background or i want to soften the subject or focus isn't important.
Or shots where image plane and sensor plane match...

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Aug 2, 2015 14:40:52   #
Rongnongno Loc: FL
 
Prime lenses are really bright but what makes the real difference is the quality of the glass...

You almost never use a prime lens at its maximal or minimal aperture.

These lenses have a 'sweet' spot that includes both the aperture (8~11) and the distance from your subject.

You need to experiment with the aperture range given then with the distance. Once you have done that you will have tack sharp images*

---
Assuming to do not use the damned auto-focus.

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Aug 2, 2015 14:53:37   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
Rongnongno wrote:
Prime lenses are really bright but what makes the real difference is the quality of the glass...

You almost never use a prime lens at its maximal or minimal aperture.

These lenses have a 'sweet' spot that includes both the aperture (8~11) and the distance from your subject.

You need to experiment with the aperture range given then with the distance. Once you have done that you will have tack sharp images*

---
Assuming to do not use the damned auto-focus.


Thank you for the help, Im on this. :thumbup:

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Aug 2, 2015 14:55:36   #
Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California
 
Ditto what Oldtigger said ....

The sweet spot for general use on that lens starts at 4.0 with F5.6 - 8.0 being the sharpest, after that it doesn't get any better. F/11 is still pretty nice, after that you start to deal with some diffraction.

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Aug 2, 2015 14:56:14   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
nikonbug wrote:
In the dark! HaHa a joke. I have a 85mm 1.4 and rarely use it wide open.

But, you can check where it is focusing. Set up a yardstick with big numbers at a 45 degree angle to the shutter plane. Take a pix at the 16 mark, and then blow the picture up and see where it starts to come in focus and goes out. The DOF should be less than an inch at that short distance and wide F stop. It also means that you have to have both eyes the same distance from the sensor, or one will be out of focus.

My lens proved that the D800E I was shooting with was not focusing. So, I returned it to Nikon 3 times before they got it to where I could do an in-camera adjustment.

It would also help to check the download box and then we can blow up the pix you post so we can really pixel peep.
In the dark! HaHa a joke. I have a 85mm 1.4 and ra... (show quote)


Thank you. I did check that box,wonder what went wrong?

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Aug 2, 2015 14:57:03   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
Beercat wrote:
Ditto what Oldtigger said ....

The sweet spot for general use on that lens starts at 4.0 with F5.6 - 8.0 being the sharpest, after that it doesn't get any better. F/11 is still very usable, after that you start to deal with some diffraction.


Thank you :thumbup:

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Aug 2, 2015 14:57:26   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
oldtigger wrote:
Juke joints, pool halls and rock singers.
Shots where i want to seperate subject from foreground/background or i want to soften the subject or focus isn't important.
Or shots where image plane and sensor plane match...


Thank you.

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Aug 2, 2015 15:26:19   #
SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer
 
streetmarty wrote:
I did not know this. What would you shoot at 1.4, if anything? Thank you for the help.


The f/1.4 comes in handy for a bright image in the viewing screen allowing you to focus better, etc. The other use would be for very low light situations where you simply do not want to set the ISO any higher than you have to. FYI, the DOF for a 50mm lens set at f/1.4 for a distance of 2' is .03', or a little over 1/3 inch.

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Aug 2, 2015 15:32:05   #
oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA
 
SonyA580 wrote:
The f/1.4 comes in handy for a bright image in the viewing screen allowing you to focus better, etc. The other use would be for very low light situations where you simply do not want to set the ISO any higher than you have to. FYI, the DOF for a 50mm lens set at f/1.4 for a distance of 2' is .03', or a little over 1/3 inch.

At first thought this may seem like a disadvantage but i often found it useful for creating a uniform softness to an image when shooting targets of opportunity at a wedding..

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Aug 2, 2015 16:17:07   #
streetmarty Loc: Brockton, Ma
 
Rongnongno wrote:
Prime lenses are really bright but what makes the real difference is the quality of the glass...

You almost never use a prime lens at its maximal or minimal aperture.

These lenses have a 'sweet' spot that includes both the aperture (8~11) and the distance from your subject.

You need to experiment with the aperture range given then with the distance. Once you have done that you will have tack sharp images*

---
Assuming to do not use the damned auto-focus.


Hi again, I've been thinking about above auto-focus comment and what it means. Are you suggesting to use manual focus? I use aperture priority and back button focus and auto-ISO. Thanks....Marty

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Aug 2, 2015 18:07:59   #
oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA
 
streetmarty wrote:
Hi again, I've been thinking about above auto-focus comment and what it means. Are you suggesting to use manual focus? I use aperture priority and back button focus and auto-ISO. Thanks....Marty

Though we all like to brag about our super bright 50/1.4 lenses, their real value is in the quality of the image at f4.
If you want that DOF you'll have to shut it down.
For a sleeping baby i'ld use manual focus and place the plane of the eyes closer to the sensor plane.

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