mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

A faster lens will give you some room to stop down to take advantage of the lens sweet spot in low light. For example a 1.4 lens may have a sweet spot stopped down at 5.6. You will not have that option if your lens wide open is 4.5.
Mundy

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

Very nice images.
Mundy

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

A faster lens will give you some room to stop down to take advantage of the lens sweet spot in low light. For example a 1.4 lens may have a sweet spot stopped down at 5.6. You will not have that option if your lens wide open is 4.5.
Mundy

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Those of us who must shoot straight out of camera and who have paid attention to what higher ISOs do do picture quality and color rendition (even when using modern cameras) have absolutely no problems discerning and understanding the benefit of faster lenses. For those who have the luxury of using their cameras to generate coloring book pages to be finished later, the benefit can be less.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I shoot both jpeg and raw. Using fast lenses is just as important in my photography when editing raw images in post. As I indicated earlier, most of the time I stop down when using my fast lenses when I want a greater depth of field and because when stopped down my lenses become extremely sharp from edge to edge. But often I will shoot wide open, or close to it

Besides the obvious advantages of using fast lenses for controlling depth of field for subject separation and keeping ISO at reasonable levels in very low light, there is a third very important use for those of shooting manual focus fast lenses. Many MF lenses impart a very specific character when used wide open and lack the more clinical sharpness of many modern autofocus fast primes. . The images from some of my very fast lenses when shot wide open are "sharp'" but have a slight vintage "glow" around the hard of edges object which can be a very desirable characteristic for many photographers depending on what they want to achieve.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

All makes sense but your last paragraph strikes a note and does make me sad. When I first joined the forum, I wrote, not in a boastful and bragging way, that I am a professional photographer. I immediately encountered a few "who do you think you are" kinda responses. I sensed a resentment toward commercial photographers. Perha still exists around here?

Perha man of the professional fleed someof the nonsense that goes down around here- not that there's no-nonsense and some "crazy" politics among professionals in their own organizations. It happens. Professional jealousy can be rough stuff but good, clean, friendly competition is healthy as is good sincere debates.

The absence of pros is a loss to the community. It is not that professional/commercial shooters are sons or kids of the "elite" groups or the ultimate gurus. It's just that workg professionals need to get things done in methodical, effective, efficient, and cost-effective ways and are requr to come up with good results on time. This precludes all the nonsense and there s a lot to be learned from this philosophy.

A lot of this protracted and ongoing argument about EQUIPMET CHOICES could be shortened and concluded to a better understanding by underrated the "professional" approach. Not every photographer has the same vision, interpretation, and specialty. Each has its own toolbox based on the work they do and the way they do it. If a photogher does more diversified work he or she will have a more diversified toolbox. For E.g. You don't need an ultra-fast lens to shoot the preverbal "black cat in a coal mine at midnight" if you can employ Speedlight or multiple flashes BUT what if there's flammable dust or gas in the coal mine? Out comes the fast glass and possibly the noisy high ISO. Sure enough, you can freeze sports action with the strobe- unless it is prohibited at the event.

Times change: Years ago "PRESS" photographers used press cameras- big-bulky, flash-equipped large-format film cameras with normal or moderately wide-angle lenses. At VIP political events, the photographic press pool had closer access to political leaders and celebrities. They could work in close proximity to those folks- even after the assassination of JFK and RFK. After the assassination attempt on President Ragen, everything changed. Oftetimes the press photographers were literally placed in a "cage-like area or barricaded somewhere far away. So, most press shoots carried several very long and very fast telephoto lenses. Well, the guy who took a shot at Ragen was not a photographer but it's easier to restrict photographers than real assassins.

In portraiture and some fashion, fast glass can be important in background management- "bokeh" and selective focus do not come in at f/22 and possibly not enough at f 3.5 either.

The point is different strokes for differet folks in different situations. Professional shooters can't go by "trends" as to what's hot and what's not in the equipment reviews- they need to select the gear according to their actual requirements.

In my other toolbox, the one with hammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers. I have a sledgehammer, a ball-peen hammer, several claw hammers, a small hammer for picture-framing tasks, a rubber mallet, a wooden mallet, and even a tiny precision hammer I inherited from my grandfather (a watchmaker). You gotta use the right tool for the job at hand and since I don't break up concrete- I don't have a jackhammer!

My "professional" advice is not to "collect" lenses just to have them or say you have them but acquire the ones you need to do the work you do or aspire to.

User ID

My 85/1.5 does that. Its just and old T-mount preset, and at one point I thought about selling it. A typical preset short tele is about $35, but I looked it up anywho.

This one brings about $350 ! Its "famous" controllable halo glow earns it that extra zero on its price, and there were articles written about this particular oldie by its cultish fans.

Acoarst not being a bonafide member of that cult, my real world most useful "fast fast" 85mm is a compact 90/2.8 ;-)

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

That what I meant about it being a very desirable characteristic for many photographers depending on what they want to achieve. It is a "look". Some admire it and seek it out. Others dislike it and are more interested in modern clinically sharp images wide open. My 35mm f/1.2 Voigtlander, at f/1.2, is a good example of that "look", and while I have on occasion made use of it, for the most part I don't shoot that particular lens wide open unless I have a damn good reason. A lot of very fast lenses also tend to have less contrast wide open than they do stopped down which may be a negative aspect of very fast lenses depending on a photographer's goals.

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I have a 3rd party 24/2.0 that has typical (desirable) color and contrast beginning from 1/2 stop down (f/2.4). Wide open theres a very distinct drop in contrast, a "veiling".

If I wanna avoid the veil then I can shoot at f2.4 but for many dim available light scenes "the veil" has a great advantage of boosting shadow detail. Sometimes I hafta sacrifice DoF to improve the shadows.

In that type of challenging lighting, f/2.0 shots dont look low in contrast cuz the real scene is too contrasty in the first place.

Some users might recall the concept of "flashing" your film stock before use. I can choose which specific frames to "flash" just by opening past f/2.4.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

I think a shallow DOF is VERY useful in extreme wide angle lenses which focus VERY close to isolate interesting objects. Industrial machinery, BW architecture, interesting lines etc...

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I have a 15mm that focuses even closer than what you meant by "focus VERY close". In real world use it needs all the DoF it can wring out of f/8 or greater.

Urnst Loc: Brownsville, Texas

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

I hear you...I was thinking about VERY interesting angles and isolating a VERY small part of the image.

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

Very nice images.
Mundy