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Great for what? fast 50's flare ("vintage glow") wide open can make them great for portrait photography because it gives a pleasant quality to skin. It's a sham

Great for what? fast 50's flare ("vintage glow") wide open can make them great for portrait photography because it gives a pleasant quality to skin. It's a shame that pixel-peepers get to define what a good lens is these days, but unfortunately they are the people who buy new, expensive lenses... ...Nikon making their flagship lenses for their mirrorless camera "slow" is a very good sign to me. It is a sign that they are concentrating on their photo-taking ability rather than specs. I think they did serious soul searching after their dud 105mm f/1.4 (it's great at f/1.4, as long as you only want one eye in focus)

Sharlin 8y ago
Yes, the dreamy glow can be useful in certain situations, but on the other hand many feel the effect is overused and passé. Plus you can always achieve it in post, but you can't make a dreamy-glowy photo sharp. A sharp lens is strictly more useful in the digital era.
- rangibaby 8y ago
  > Plus you can always achieve it in post, but you can't make a dreamy-glowy photo sharp. Actually it is possible to mostly get rid of the kind of flare I am talking about in post. It depends on the lens but often the are actually have high resolution wide open, just the flare makes them look softer. > A sharp lens is strictly more useful in the digital era. Sure, if sharpness is the only criteria you judge usefulness by. Nifty 50 lenses are still tiny and cheap and sharp enough for most things.
- jasomill 8y ago
  Lens resolution doesn't necessarily translate to maximum image sharpness in particular shooting scenarios, digital or otherwise. For instance, when subjects are not neatly aligned near a narrow plane orthogonal to the lens axis, employing a bit of lens tilt may enable shooting at a considerably larger aperture without losing focus on any of the subjects. In such cases, as a result of diffraction effects at larger apertures, a tilt/shift (or view camera) lens that fares comparatively poorly in resolution tests may nevertheless produce a sharper image of the subjects than a lens without movements could ever hope to produce, even in theory. Yet many feel tilt/shift effects are overused and passé, and mistakenly believe they are always achievable in post…

Sharlin 8y ago

Yes, the dreamy glow can be useful in certain situations, but on the other hand many feel the effect is overused and passé. Plus you can always achieve it in post, but you can't make a dreamy-glowy photo sharp. A sharp lens is strictly more useful in the digital era.

rangibaby 8y ago
> Plus you can always achieve it in post, but you can't make a dreamy-glowy photo sharp. Actually it is possible to mostly get rid of the kind of flare I am talking about in post. It depends on the lens but often the are actually have high resolution wide open, just the flare makes them look softer. > A sharp lens is strictly more useful in the digital era. Sure, if sharpness is the only criteria you judge usefulness by. Nifty 50 lenses are still tiny and cheap and sharp enough for most things.
jasomill 8y ago
Lens resolution doesn't necessarily translate to maximum image sharpness in particular shooting scenarios, digital or otherwise. For instance, when subjects are not neatly aligned near a narrow plane orthogonal to the lens axis, employing a bit of lens tilt may enable shooting at a considerably larger aperture without losing focus on any of the subjects. In such cases, as a result of diffraction effects at larger apertures, a tilt/shift (or view camera) lens that fares comparatively poorly in resolution tests may nevertheless produce a sharper image of the subjects than a lens without movements could ever hope to produce, even in theory. Yet many feel tilt/shift effects are overused and passé, and mistakenly believe they are always achievable in post…