Gear Talk > Lenses
Battle of the 50mm's (1.2L , ZE 1.4, ZE 2.0)
samueljay:
Hi All,
I've recently got my 5D Mark III, and got it with the kit lens, and in a months time I really want to pick up a good 50mm prime (I've come from film, and a good 50mm prime was the lens that stuck to my camera body the most), so I've narrowed it down to these three choices. I'm liking the 1.2L, as I was really quite impressed with the build quality of the 24-105 (I thought I'd hate it coming from all metal film lenses), and the fact that it has a bit of a larger aperture, and let's admit, it looks really nice too.
The other two options are both Zeiss, and I'm considering these due to their build quality (closer to what I was used to) and the fact they're manual focus only is a non issue for me, I'm quite used to it from when I shot film, and the 5D III's focusing screen is super bright, and very easy to MF in (even with the f/4 lens)
So basically, I'm just wondering what people who've maybe tried any of these lenses have thought and which you would reccomend :) I'm sure they're all fine lenses and I'll be just as happy with any, but would love to hear some opinions.
Thanks in advance all! :)
RLPhoto:
Get the 1.2L. It has a unique look and sometimes it looks like the bokeh is swirling around the subject! It looks great!
Also it has an aspherical element which makes it sharper than the planars at wide apertures. F1.2-2.8 is great on the 1.2L. You also get AF when you want it, after all the 5d3 has fantastic AF.
neuroanatomist:
--- Quote from: samueljay on May 01, 2012, 03:21:18 AM ---...the fact they're manual focus only is a non issue for me, I'm quite used to it from when I shot film, and the 5D III's focusing screen is super bright, and very easy to MF in (even with the f/4 lens)
--- End quote ---
I would not be too sure of that. Unlike film cameras, the focusing screen of modern dSLRs, including the 5DIII, is laser microetched to make it brighter with slow lenses (probably because most consumer/kit lenses are slow). While you may find it bright enough with your f/4 lens, brightness isn't the only issue - in fact, it's not the main issue at all. The consequence of that laser microetching for a brighter VF is that the focusing screen does not show the true DoF with fast lenses. No matter how fast your lens, you're going to be seeing the DoF of f/2.5 at best. Selecting best focus looking at f/2.5 DoF means when your image is captured at the thinner DoF actually set, what you thought was in focus may turn out to be outside of the DoF.
As a side bar, you can see this effect on brightness - if you mount a fast lens, say f/1.2, on your camera and stop down as you hold the DoF preview button, you'll notice the VF doesn't start getting dimmer until you hit f/2.5 or so. The light is getting in - with an f/1.2 lens on my 7D (and presumably on the 5DII), the transmissive LCD (AF points, etc.) is pretty washed out at f/1.2, and gets less washed out as I stop down with the DoF preview button pressed - but the VF gets no dimmer and the DoF doesn't change.
So, relying on MF with the stock focusing screen and a fast prime is not a good idea, IMO. Canon makes high-precision focusing screens designed for fast lenses, which lack the microetching (meaning they're even brighter with a fast lens, but dimmer with f/4 and slower lenses). The problem is that the 5DIII does not have a user-replaceable focusing screen. There will be (perhaps already are) 3rd party screens for the 5DIII, as there are for the 7D - most makers of such screens offer installation as a service, and warn that it's not easy as a DIY.
Personally, I use MF with my 85L II pretty frequently on my 5DII, and for that I swap in the Eg-S focusing screen. There are several reasons why I chose to get the 1D X over the 5DIII, and an interchangeable focusing screen is one of them.
Given that, I'd go with the 50mm f/1.2L, or plan on going through the hassle of installing (or having installed) a 3rd party screen on your 5DIII.
Axilrod:
Do you shoot video or stills mainly?
I love my 50L, but I used the Zeiss 50 1.4 last weekend and was very, very happy with the results. It's not so great wide open, but at f/2 it really shines. All the Zeiss glass seems to have better edge sharpness than their Canon counterparts. And from what I understand the ZE 50mm f/2 Makro is significantly better and will probably be the one I end up going with. If you are shooting video I would absolutely go with the Zeiss glass, but if you're doing stills mainly I'd go for the 50L.
Bosman:
50L its sick! You will fall in love. One thing Neuro doesn't point out is that when you turn your AF on the lens off and hold your finger down halfway like when you do with auto focus and when you slowly focus it will flicker red when the object you are focussing on is in focus, it is quite accurate too! The little green circle also lights up when in focus. I believe it will use the focus point chosen too. Haven't tested that out thoroughly but i did just do that. I'm not sure the other non-canon lenses will do that or not. If its too dark to discern focus being accurate by looking thru the viewfinder, trust me its amazing. I used the manual focus for pics by the fire and some in almost no light and it worked like a charm.
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