This is a very sharp and excellent lens for sure. I own one and I use it some of the time. My 85 mm gets most of my attention, but the 58 does come in handy quite often.
What I'm trying to figure out is, why do you folks always shoot this lens wide open in broad daylight and everywhere else? Everybody already knows how nice the blurred background is when shot wide open, it seems that every photo that I see on this forum from this lens is shot wide open. There is virtually no need to shoot wide open during the daytime using this lens (I guess that means that you're just goofing off and playing around with it). There is really not much in the way of technique when this lenses used wide open, it's just simply that, wide-open. I would much rather see good studio work with this lens or large depth of field landscapes. Shooting wide-open really does not display how good this lens really is. Anyway I was just curious as to why everybody shoots wide-open weather you need it wide open or not. I would much rather see more variety from everyone by stopping this lens down to at least F/8.
Here is a five shot panorama that I took with my D800 and this 58mm.
Nice shot Todd. Wide open is where this lens shines. Whether low light or bright and sunny, this lens performs best imo at F1.4 - F2. Anything above that, it still retains very nice rendering, but not nearly as nice as the range I specified.
If I were only going to shoot at F2.8 and higher, then I would keep my 50mm F1.8g and be happy. I don't buy F1.4 lenses to stop them down. In all honesty, if you can't see a reason to use this lens near open, then you probably are better off with a much cheaper lens.
I can shoot my 28-300mm in the studio and you'd never know the difference between that lens and the 58mm imo. Same for landscapes.
Todd wrote:
This is a very sharp and excellent lens for sure. I own one and I use it some of the time. My 85 mm gets most of my attention, but the 58 does come in handy quite often.
What I'm trying to figure out is, why do you folks always shoot this lens wide open in broad daylight and everywhere else? Everybody already knows how nice the blurred background is when shot wide open, it seems that every photo that I see on this forum from this lens is shot wide open. There is virtually no need to shoot wide open during the daytime using this lens (I guess that means that you're just goofing off and playing around with it). There is really not much in the way of technique when this lenses used wide open, it's just simply that, wide-open. I would much rather see good studio work with this lens or large depth of field landscapes. Shooting wide-open really does not display how good this lens really is. Anyway I was just curious as to why everybody shoots wide-open weather you need it wide open or not. I would much rather see more variety from everyone by stopping this lens down to at least F/8.
Here is a five shot panorama that I took with my D800 and this 58mm.
Jason_Brook wrote:
My wife is going to slaughter me.
I haven't sold my funding lenses yet and saw Robert's had ONE refurb left, so I stole from savings...
I think I got the second to last a couple minutes prior... best deal I could find anywhere. I was totally disinterested when it was announced but have been very impressed with what I've seen from it lately.
Palmguy wrote:
I think I got the second to last a couple minutes prior... best deal I could find anywhere. I was totally disinterested when it was announced but have been very impressed with what I've seen from it lately.
I had been watching it for the past few days. They've had 2 since Tuesday. This morning up until like 10am, there was still 2. I panicked haha
Todd, I do shoot the 58 stopped down sometimes. However, this lens' forte is its wide open rendering, that's why you see lots of wide open shots with it. If I have to stop down, I might as well just use my 24-70.
Jason_Brook wrote:
My wife is going to slaughter me. ...
Seen on jimmychooforum.com:
My hubby is going to slaughter me.
I haven't sold my funding handbags yet and saw Robert's had ONE refurb pair of heels left, so I stole from savings...
Todd wrote:
What I'm trying to figure out is, why do you folks always shoot this lens wide open in broad daylight and everywhere else?
The 58 is definitely sharp when stepping down. On my own test I figured the sweet spot was F5.6~F8, after that, the diffraction seems to start to affect the sharpness.
Nevertheless, I think the reason why most people shoot 58G wide open even in daylight is because the bokeh is just to die for!
58G, as well as its predecessor, the Noct, produce a unmatchable rendition at wide aperture and that is their signature look. Stepping down, there are plenty of lenses that can produce similar rendition, but wide-open, 58G is in a class of its own.
