Playing Chess
I mentioned earlier last week that I planned on testing two lenses. I’ve been debating buying an 85mm for quite some time now, but I’ve been unsure if I truly needed one. I decided to rent a Canon 85mm and the Carl Zeiss 85mm manual focus. Long story short, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need this lens. And as luck would have it I’m in love with the Canon, which happens to be the more expensive of the two. I was really glad I rented the lenses and tried them out first, because originally I was leaning toward the Zeiss. The Zeiss is built like a tank, and the manual focus doesn’t even bother me, but at the end of the day I just liked the images from the Canon better. The one thing I’ve come to realize throughout the years is that optics are a critical part of our profession. For years, I’ve always focused on the camera body, but now I tend to think more in terms of the optics. I’m not a golfer, but my buddy is always trying out new clubs and I’ve often heard him go on about the “sweet spot”. He would go on and on about how he couldn’t miss! Well, that’s exactly how I felt shooting the Canon 85mm. When I opened the aperture up on this lens the bokeh was simply amazing and the colors vibrant. One giant sweet spot!
A funny story
So here I was playing with the 85mm near the Lakeshore. I came across some Russian gentlemen playing chess and asked them if it would be ok to take a few shots. “No problem” said one of the gentleman in his broken English. I shot a few frames and got ready to go and he asked to see the shots. I brought the camera over and showed him the shots. He looked at me and said, “How do you say it?” I said, “Say what? “ He said , “Not good,” and he made this picture box with his hands and says, “hmmm, NOT…..good composition”. I looked at him and said, “The composition is all wrong, is it?” He replied, “Yes, but you come here next week this time and bring me big, big, big print”. He smiled and I laughed. Everybody is a critic…. And everybody loves free prints!
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I'm a little behind on reading my emails. Can I ask what this 85mm lens does for you that your other lenses (keep in mind, I don't know what other lenses you have) don't do? I'm still in that mind set of trying to figure out why one lens is better than another. There are so many options out there.
Laurie,
Sometimes it just a matter of quality. The 85mm is a wonderful portrait lens. It's a prime lens. The quality of the glass is probably the best I've used. It produces very crisp images. It's great for low light but I think what I like most about it was the creamy bokeh it created….simply stunning. The Canon's 85mm is a very expensive piece of glass but it was fun to play with…;)