It's easy to get wrapped up in the latest and greatest gear; it's something you ought to do your best to control. But every now and again, it's worth getting swept up!
I'm absolutely not condoning buying the new Sony 50mm f/1.2 — It's nearly $2,000 and I haven't had it in my own hands yet. That doesn't mean, however, you can't enjoy some great imagery being produced with it and wonder whether it's worth the investment. In this video, Manny Ortiz — somewhat of a master portraitist — heads out on a number of shoots with this new lens to put it through its paces. I don't know where he lives, but it always seems to get annoyingly great light!
For the uninitiated, unsure why you would spend the best part of 10x the price for an f/1.2 over an f/1.8, it all comes down to two things. One of those things is slightly overvalued and the primary concern of too many people and the other is talked of less. The first is bokeh. We all know that word and we all know what it means, and images with great bokeh are beautiful, there's no doubt about that. That said, the second benefit of such a fast lens is subject separation, and that's what attracts many veteran photographers to it. Even in tight spaces, you can get your subject tack sharp and still manage to blur your background to near mush. The results, as seen in this video, are simply dreamy. Yes, Ortiz is photographing beautiful women in beautiful light, but if you can look past that, you can see just how impressive this new lens is.
Will you be buying the Sony 50mm f/1.2? Do you have a better alternative? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Some very nice images there.
"Manny Ortiz — somewhat of a master portraitist"
Seriously??? He's ok, but no where NEAR a "master", talk about hyperbole!!!
Whoever is taking a portrait at full aperture of its very expensive fast prime lens is automatically a pro/master of portrait !
Why do you buy fast prime if it is not to be able to claim you are a pro ? ;-)
Manny has already sold me too many portrait lenses, so I won't be adding this one. No doubt this is a fantastic lenses, but I've never been a fan of 50mm for portraiture preferring 85mm, 105mm and 135mm (I can't afford a fast 200mm). Thus, nothing here entices me, but if 50mm was in my wheelhouse, I'd love to see how this lens compares to the Canon RF 50mm 1.2 lens.