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.