Full body portraits on the street - 50mm f/1.2L or 85mm f/1.4L IS

[antonioleandro]

Hi,

I am currently developing a project to make full body portraits of workers on the street. I would like to make portraits with huge bokeh in order to isolate the worker from the street, albeit showing a litte context. Which lens would you choose, the 50mm f/1.2L or the 85mm f/1.4L IS? I am worried about the working distance necessary for the 85mm, however, I am afraid to buy an old lens as the 50mm and then see its next version released as soon as I have bought the older version. Unfortunately, renting theses lenses is not an option in my city.

Yours sincerely,
Antonio L

 

[Ah-Keong]

Have you considered 35mm f/1,4L II?

 

[stevelee]

Have you considered 35mm f/1,4L II?

That would make sense, but he probably wants more background blur than the 35mm would give.

I do recall that just after I got my 28mm lens (summer of 1970, I think), my Friday classes were canceled, so I took the bus into downtown Dallas and shot pictures with the lens. I liked the look because of the perspective and the sharpness of the buildings in the background. But that is not the look Antonio is going for.

It was an interesting day. A lovely young woman didn't say anything to me, but it seemed apparent she was posing by a fountain. A young black guy walked up to me and said, "Take my picture." So I did. He asked what paper or something would the picture be in, and was a bit disappointed when I told him I was just having fun. I had just the camera and the one lens, but that must have been enough to make him think I was a pro. So I didn't have to approach people or sneak pictures. I still have a couple of 11" x 14" prints from the day.

I don't recall seeing any rumors here that the 50mm f/1.2L is about to be replaced any time soon, but I may have missed something.

 

[PavelR]

Do you have any lens covering 50mm and 85mm? Try to fix the FL for the shooting with each FL and see if the working distance is so different and inacceptable on 85mm. IQ difference of the mentioned lenses is pretty big off the center of the frame.

 

[jolyonralph]

For your needs I'd think the 50mm would be a better match.

 

[privatebydesign]

Take a look at the website The Sartorialist, http://www.thesartorialist.com . He has a very famous style that he created using a 5D MK? and the 85 f1.2 normally shot at f2-2.8. He now uses other cameras as well but all his early work was with those two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=e5NgG5koPZU

So if you like the perspective of his early work get the 85 f1.4, if you particularly like the exceptional smoothness of the bokeh in his early work get the 85 f1.2. If you want more subject immersion then get the 50.

But any differences are only going to be relevant if you use the full frame and don't crop otherwise the two focal lengths are close enough for your purposes to be interchangeable. That is, you can crop a 50mm image to be identical to an 85mm image if you stand in the same place to take the image.

 

[Arty]

It really depends on how much room you have. If the streets are narrow and distances are short, a 35 or 50 makes more sense. An 85 can be too long in tight spots, but can work in larger spaces. There is no simple answer, but I would be inclines to go with a 50, rather than 85.
Will you be shooting in good or poor light? This matters as well. Do you need F1.4 or F1.2?

 

[dickgrafixstop]

Consider using a 24-70 f2.8 zoom or the 35mm f1.4 if you really need the faster lens.

 

[Larsskv]

I’d say you can do very well with both 50 and 85mm. The main reason to go for the 50L would be the shorter and more flexible working distance.

I love my 50L, but I mostly use it around f2, and prefer it for pictures at closer distances, and not so much for longer ones, such as full body portraits. At f1.2 and f1.4 you might find it soft and hard to nail focus. The 85L f1.4 focuses better, and is much sharper at f1.4, than the 50L is at f1.2 or f1.4.

When shooting full body portraits you will get more and smoother bokeh from the 85 at f1.4, than the 50L at f2.

You can check out flicker and search for groups dedicated to the lenses you want to compare, and have a look for yourself. Good luck!

 

[Ah-Keong]

Have you considered 35mm f/1,4L II?

That would make sense, but he probably wants more background blur than the 35mm would give.

I do recall that just after I got my 28mm lens (summer of 1970, I think), my Friday classes were canceled, so I took the bus into downtown Dallas and shot pictures with the lens. I liked the look because of the perspective and the sharpness of the buildings in the background. But that is not the look Antonio is going for.

It was an interesting day. A lovely young woman didn't say anything to me, but it seemed apparent she was posing by a fountain. A young black guy walked up to me and said, "Take my picture." So I did. He asked what paper or something would the picture be in, and was a bit disappointed when I told him I was just having fun. I had just the camera and the one lens, but that must have been enough to make him think I was a pro. So I didn't have to approach people or sneak pictures. I still have a couple of 11" x 14" prints from the day.

I don't recall seeing any rumors here that the 50mm f/1.2L is about to be replaced any time soon, but I may have missed something.

I see..... Sorry, my bad. I was thinking of environmental portraits in 28mm ~ 35mm.
In this case, the 50mm would be a better choice for full body portraits.

 

[antonioleandro]

Folks,

Thank you very much for your answers and sorry for the delay to reply.

@ Ah-Keong

I have not considered the 35mm because I really would like a very strong bokeh as a separating factor between the subject and the background. As the portraits are going to be taken on the street, I would like the streets to be on the bokeh, so that they are only suggested and I think that longer lenses might help me create a stronger bokeh.

@ stevelee

As you noticed, I am really looking for a strong background blur.

@ PavelR

I have managed to get a 50mm f/1.4 and an 85mm f/1.8. I will try these lenses to evaluate if the focal lenghts are what I am looking for and after my decision regarding focal lenght is made, I will try really hard to get the 50mm f/1.2L or the 85mm f/1.4L IS.

@ jolyonralph

Thank your for your input.

@ privatebydesign

Thank you very much for your tip about The Sartorialist. I didn´t know his work and I really liked it. I will study his work.

@ Arty

I will shoot in good light. I am considering large apperture lenses because of their ability to blur the background and not for the need to shoot wide open to nail exposure.

@ Larsskv

I have had the chance to try the 85mm f/1.4 L IS recently. The bokeh this lens produces is amazing. I took a picture of a couple. The husband was two feet behind his wife and she was in perfect focus and he was out of focus on the background. I think I have found what I want, too bad this lens is not available at Canon store in Brazil.

@ dickgrafixstop

I am thinking about a lens with a larger apperture than the 24-70mm f/2.8 and a longer focal lenght than the 35mm f/1.4 because of the background blur.

 

[Ah-Keong]

Hope Canon come up with a "50mm f/1,4L IS USM" soon....

or something like the Nikkor 58mm f/1,4G

 

[sanj]

Please consider crowd factor before deciding. If there are lots of people on the road 50mm is better so can be closer to subject and not too many people will cross the camera.

If there are not much people who is cross the camera then 85mm is a far better choice.

 

[ahsanford]

I'll +1 the focusing comments and wide-open performance of the 85 f/1.4L IS. The focusing is night and day more reliable than the 50L and quicker than the 85 f/1.2L II.

I've never shot the 85 f/1.2L II, but I have used the 50L. I frequently (like the prior poster) had to stop that lens down to get results with it, but the 85 f/1.4L IS you can shoot wide open without reservation.

I'm not saying the 85 f/1.4L IS is the best of the three -- that depends on your needs. But know that the 85 f/1.2L II has quite slow AF (for a USM lens) and the 50L's AF is a finicky diva when shooting wider than f/2.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Hope Canon come up with a "50mm f/1,4L IS USM" soon....

or something like the Nikkor 58mm f/1,4G

Doesn't have to have the red ring, IMHO... but it wouldn't kill me if it did.

- A

 

[antonioleandro]

@ sanj

The crowd factor is very important and I hadn´t thought about it before. Thank you very much for reminding me about it. I will try to take some pictures with the 85mm f/1.8 and the 50mm f/1.4 on the places where I am expecting to conduct this project to see how the crowds will behave.

@ ahsanford

I fell in love with the 85mm f/1.4L IS on the second photo I took with it while testing the lens at B&H Photo. Unfortunately, I could not buy it while I was there (I do not have funding for this project, so I will try to use whatever I already have until I have funding for the job). The subject isolation offered by this lens in unbelievable.

I don´t understand why Canon won´t release a new 50mm. There is obviously room for improvement, the 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.2L are ageing and there is a market for it which is dominated by Sigma and Zeiss. Why can´t we have a 50mm f/1.4L IS or a 50mm f/1.2L II (or both)?

 

[sanj]

@ sanj

The crowd factor is very important and I hadn´t thought about it before. Thank you very much for reminding me about it. I will try to take some pictures with the 85mm f/1.8 and the 50mm f/1.4 on the places where I am expecting to conduct this project to see how the crowds will behave.

@ ahsanford

I fell in love with the 85mm f/1.4L IS on the second photo I took with it while testing the lens at B&H Photo. Unfortunately, I could not buy it while I was there (I do not have funding for this project, so I will try to use whatever I already have until I have funding for the job). The subject isolation offered by this lens in unbelievable.

I don´t understand why Canon won´t release a new 50mm. There is obviously room for improvement, the 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.2L are ageing and there is a market for it which is dominated by Sigma and Zeiss. Why can´t we have a 50mm f/1.4L IS or a 50mm f/1.2L II (or both)?

Don't get people (one in particular) on this topic. It is a sore topic for many.

 

[Quirkz]

It was an interesting day. A lovely young woman didn't say anything to me, but it seemed apparent she was posing by a fountain. A young black guy walked up to me and said, "Take my picture." So I did. He asked what paper or something would the picture be in, and was a bit disappointed when I told him I was just having fun. I had just the camera and the one lens, but that must have been enough to make him think I was a pro. So I didn't have to approach people or sneak pictures. I still have a couple of 11" x 14" prints from the day.

You know, you can’t tell this story and not post a scan of these ....