In my last post, I highlighted my favorite portrait lens - the Sony 85mm f1.4 G-Master ii. That lens is completely awe-inspiring in my opinion. The colors that come from that lens are accurate, the images are always incredibly flattering, and the 85mm completely isolates the subject from the background in such a beautiful way. Look at the portrait on the left. This subject was lying down in the back of an old Chevy truck, but I wanted to highlight her face, and specifically her eyes. I used the 85mm G-Master because I knew that I only wanted to isolate her face so that she was the star and not the classic truck she was in. The background melts away while the hint of blue in the truck accentuates the green of her eyes.
So your eye is drawn to hers.
There is a downside to the 85mm lens, however - distance. The 85mm focal length has long been praised as the standard for headshots, and I would agree it's simply stunning for that application. Can you use the 85mm for couples? For families? Absolutely, the 85mm can be used for several subjects at once. The downside is that the more people or the more of the person that needs to fit in the frame, the further back the photographer needs to be. While that may be acceptable in certain situations, in many situations it is just not practical.
If you read my last post, the 85mm needs a complementary lens for situations where the photographer can't move further away from the subject. Following the advice of many photographers with much more knowledge than myself, I acquired a Sony 35mm f1.4 G-Master. The 35mm is a beautiful lens as well, but I quickly found that with such a wide focal length, even at the 1.4 aperture, the background didn't melt away like with the 85mm. This candid image was taken on the 35mm f1.4 G-Master for one main reason - I wanted the full beautiful background. But do you notice the amount of bokeh (blur)? To capture such a wide image, I needed to also sacrifice background blur.
The full image, however, is the star of the show - not just the subjects.
So what is the middle ground? If I'm on location and just able to use one lens (or let's be honest, if I get tired of switching lenses back and forth) is there a lens that looks as good at the 35mm and the 85mm, yet also melts the background in a way that rivals the 85mm G-Master? YES!!!
The Sony 50mm f1.2 G-Master is that lens!
The 50mm focal length is closest to what the human eye sees, so images taken with that lens tend to look most like how I try to frame my subjects. The f1.2 aperture is even more wide open than the 85mm or 35mm at f1.4. That means that images in low light completely blew me away. In this image with my subject sitting in a field of purple flowers, we just did manage to catch the very end of a sunset. I know this picture doesn't convey just how dark it was, but with no flash and only shooting wide open at f1.2, this is the image this lens captured! The colors are perfect, her hair is illuminated, there's a slight flare that draws the eye to her face, and the foreground and background melt away so as not to distract. The image in the header of this blog post was also taken with the Sony 50mm f1.2 G-Master. You'll notice in that image that only the flowers in the same focal plane as the subjects' faces are in focus, and the rest of the flowers form a warm bed of orange to draw your attention to their faces. I've included a couple more images below to highlight just how amazing this lens is! Let me know if you want anymore lens reviews. Until next time, keep capturing the joy around you!
