close up test at 1.4, the focus is just right and creates a lovely soft effect on the edges of the skull
I haven’t posted/photographed much lately because I’ve been crazy busy working, but I have to mention this new lens that stole my heart.
My uncles kindly gave it to me as a present for my graduation and I love it!
It’s a 50 mm f1.4 Nikon lens that I first tested at the British Museum with my Nikon D90 while visiting with a friend (who soon started wandering around on her own because I stopped for like half an hour to take pictures of the mummies, sorry Lenka!)
I adore the shallow depth of field that you can achieve with the widest aperture.
Unfortunately sometimes it’s hard to focus and it’s easy to end up focusing on the wrong area without realising it until the picture is blown up on the computer screen.
When shooting close ups I wouldn’t suggest to use the widest aperture. It would be better to shoot with a minimum aperture of 1.8 (or better, 2) to avoid disappointment later on. Anyway if you’re shooting still life you can always shoot a bit more to have some back up pictures in case the focus is off in the first one.
"crying" mummy, here the shallow depth of field brings the eyes to the "tear" detail
The lens is effectively a 75 mm and, while isn’t as wide as you may expect from a 50 mm, it’s brilliant for portraits.
Lenka
mi piace molto la luce in queste foto!
I have a Pentax 1.4 50mm that I use on my film body, a Pentax MX (I’ve also used it on my digital k10d body). It was nice to be able to experiment in digital for depth of field issues before I use it on film…but then, having a depth of field preview on the film camera also helps 😉 I love shots like the skeleton…the short dof is amazing and I’ve been striving to get stuff like that in my black and white film images. I’ve even put a neutral density filter on the lens to “slow down” the film so that I can use the wider apertures in brighter light 😉
it sounds lovely, have you got any example online by any chance?