maybe primes are not that much more sharper but they certainly do 'appear' sharper because of bokeh. the blur background emphasizes the sharp foreground. e.g. something would look more 'yellow' if shot with a blue background.

Even without that, there are zooms which are far sharper than primes.
If any the lack of dof makes it feel "blur" rather than sharp. More so when it's mis-focused.
My 50mm wide open looks really soft compared to my zooms.

hmm... was thinking about 85mm vs the 70-200mm... saw on the DXO mark web, diff lens have diff score on diff bodies... for example the D7k, DXO mark for 85mm is higher than 70-200... is the diff alot? or only notice if we pixel peep..

which 50mm are u using? so far as i know, the nikon 50mm f1.8d will become sharp @ f2.8 on wards... wide open soft oso

Of course, all lens do become sharper when you stop down by 1-2 stops.

There are zooms which are sharper than primes at wide open. Eg: 70-200 f/2.8 IS II or 24-70 f/2.8 II

Which 50mm primes I use ?
Canon 50mm f/1.8, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and Canon 50mm f/1.2.
No doubt that some are sharp enough wide open, especially the later 2. It's just that the thin DOF makes it seem less sharp, more so when you did not nail the focus right. AFAIK the canon 50mm f/1.0 is extremely soft too.

Of course, all this is not that important unless you are a pixel peeper. On a small screen like your camera LCD, all should appear tack sharp.
Since 50mm are mostly used as a "portrait" lens, sharpness isn't exactly the most important thing too.

Not to mention I'm comparing all of this based on wide open sharpness aka 50mm f/1.2 at f/1.2 against 70-200mm f/2.8 at f/2.8. Just want to debunk the myth that a prime is always sharper than a zoom.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Feb 17 2013, 04:30 PM

yea.. not all are sharp @ wide open... btw.. so... prime = cheaper way to get sharp lens? agree?

In the old days of film SLRs, the saying that primes are sharper than zooms is true because back then zoom lenses are still in their infancy and not all that sharp.

Nowadays, that is no longer true. Premium zoom lenses are as sharp as primes. Some are even sharper.

Anyway, sharpness should never be the measuring stick for choosing lenses. As long as a lens is decently sharp, it's a good lens. You can always sharpen your image during post processing. The important thing is to get a lens with a focal length that you can really use. Not because it's sharp or a lot of people are using it.

I choose primes mostly because they are more compact than premium zooms. So it's easier to carry multiple primes rather than multiple zooms. Before anyone say that one zoom can be used to replace multiple prime focal lengths, I want to stress that this is not true if you want premium zooms. Premium zooms are rarely more than 4x zoom factor. So to cover wide angle and portraits you would need at least 2 zooms : the 16-35mm f2.8 and a 24-70mm f2.8 and both these lenses are big, bulky and heavy. Another drawback is that the zooms will usually have a slower aperture rating than most primes. Primes can go to f1.8 or even f1.4 while zooms have yet to break the f2.8 aperture rating.

Prime lenses also force you to take note of the composition of your photos. If one angle does not work, you have to move and find another angle. You do not have the luxury of zooming in or out.

i second that f1.8 ftw ~ !:thumbs:
and not to mention lower cost to obtain quality image of a premium zoom lens? true, no?

btw if for group shots of a few people... is f2.8 enough to get them all in focus? lets say for 35mm.. and how about 85mm?

It depends on how far is your subject and what focal length is your lens.

okay am enjoying the 35mm and the 85mm btw as for wide angles landscape.. any prime to suggest? or my 18-105 kit should be enough..

For group shots it depends on how the people in the group is located. If they are all line up in one straight line from left to right and you are directly in front of them then f2.8 should get them all in focus.

In reality, this rarely happens as some will be in front, some will be standing one or two steps back or stand in a semi circular fashion. Then f2.8 will not get them all in focus. You need to stop down to at least f4 and sometimes f4 is also does not provide enough DOF to get a group all in sharp focus.

yeah, sometimes i find its kinda hard to take group shots with primes... but i think 35mm is still okay...

btw is there any suggested prime for landscape? or should i go for UWA lens instead.

For landscape any lens within the 16mm to 24mm range can be used if you are on full frame sensor.

Crop frame sensor should look to something around the 12mm to 18mm range.

The above all all considered ultra wide angle to wide angle focal lengths.

The smaller the focal length, the more distortion the lens will display so it's up to the individual tolerance for distortions in selecting the lenses.

One thing to note is that UWA lenses tend to take in a lot of the scenery. This means it may take in a lot of unwanted elements into your frame thus UWA lenses are not that easy to use.

you have to know the lens you use first and how far they stand.
If it's 200mm? Even f8 also not enough la.
Normally I use 24mm with f4 for 2 rows ppl, distance is about 3 meters away.

Who will use a 200mm lens to take group shots?

if the space is allowed why not?
i prefer to use tele lens for group photo most of the time unless there is limitation from the environment(e.g no space or too dark)

I will get a 24mmf1.8 for my nex6..soon...for portrait purpose..
already got a 50f1.8...

I got two units of the rare primes Pentax SMC-M 50mm f/1.4, planning to let one of them go.

I know NEX/PEN users apart from Pentax users can utilize this lens...
hell... even Canon DSLR users who likes to shoot video can utilize it (with adapter of course PK->EOS).

There is no need for me to hog two lens of the same type.



Here is the lens:





Here is the lens review:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SM...-F1.4-Lens.html



Here is DIY lens cleaning (quite easy):





Here are some pictures produced (by me, 2nd by others)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36822916@N02/...tream/lightbox/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jomak14/sets/...5008316/detail/



Here are some videos:






PM me if interested. I'll give reasonable price for it~

This post has been edited by CyberSetan: Feb 20 2013, 01:11 AM

Hmmm yes.
But it's quite pointless since you need to stop down. And unless you are printing a large print, the sharpness doesn't matter too.

i think its just the 50mm f1.8d not sharp at wide open... saw the others in the DXO marks... eg : 85mm and 35mm are sharp @ f1.8 .. for me i'm more to the low light, easy carry around + shallow DOF ...

Of course. You have to pay a premium price for primes that are sharp wide open. But even so, it's still usable.
It's more of the shallow dof that I'm worried off.
Sometimes the dof is less than 1cm. Move abit=GG