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Belated LBA: FA*85/1.4

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Rodelion said:
frank said:
Thanks Rodelion. Glad you like them. You won't regret if you got the
lens :) And the lady w/ brown hair was my favorite lady during the
whole event ;-p

Cheers!
--
Frank
GMT+8hours
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/fengwei/Avatar/Avatar_160_5.jpg
Click to expand...
I bet she was! :)
Click to expand...
;-p
Rodelion said:
By the way, how do you like the focal length of the lens for general
portraiture? Of course it's great for headshots and catwalk, from a
little distance, much better then 85mm lens @ 35mm camera... But how
does it feel for shots with a model from just below the breasts and
up? Doesn't the distance between yourself and the model increase too
much?

Especially for full-body you probably need too much distance to work
comfortably with the lens in a studio...?
Click to expand...
Normally I only carry one lens when I'm out with the kids or out in the field alone, I'd adapt my shooting style to the lens I'm using: from 31 to 300mm. I don't really have a preferred focal length, but for portrait, I do like range between 50 to 135mm on a digital. 85mm is about at the middle, so it's a great focal length for my shooting style: half body or just head and shoulder, sometimes even just the head portrait.

I haven't shot any studio full body portrait, but I guess a wider lens like 35 or 31, even a 24 would be a better choice :)

Another thought about shooting models at an event like what I posted, a longer lens (at least 50mm) with fast speed would be preferable to get cleaner background.

For my kids, I've used pretty much all my lenses to shoot at them, and I don't really care which lens is better, just love them all, otherwise I won't keep it ;)

Cheers!
--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
Frank,
Congrat on your new 85mm
I love your kids' shops and there are no exception great ones too

But out of couriosity, I looked at the sharp shots (re hair) at #4, 5 & 6, they are all done with F2. Wow the DoF seems to be a lot more than I thought possible with F2 and 85mm. I would expect only part of head be in focus at F2?

Daniel, Toronto
http://www.pbase.com/danieltong
 
frank100557 said:
The son is great now. He was back to normal right after the first two
weeks :)
Click to expand...
Haha, typical :0).
frank100557 said:
Yes, indeed. they are great kids. But the bigger one got too naughty
sometimes :(
Click to expand...
It's the naughty ones that tend to be smart ;). Just as long as one gets them under control hahaha :-P. I'm sure he's very creative. The kids have to test the boundaries after all :).
frank100557 said:
Well, I took all these photos in jpg, but there are some PPing here
and there, not much though. I found K10D gives very good jpg result
simply by setting to VIVID mode, and with everything else in the
middle :)
Click to expand...
Mmm interesting... definitely good to know. :).
frank100557 said:
Well, they certainly look as beautiful as when I first saw them here
in Singapore several months back. But still, I haven't put my hand on
any of those yet :( Hopefully the DA1650 will be here soon :D
Click to expand...
Hehe and hopefully the lens will be nice to use. Any lens with some extra light is always great :D.
 
D TONG said:
Frank,
Congrat on your new 85mm
I love your kids' shops and there are no exception great ones too
But out of couriosity, I looked at the sharp shots (re hair) at #4,
5 & 6, they are all done with F2. Wow the DoF seems to be a lot more
than I thought possible with F2 and 85mm. I would expect only part of
head be in focus at F2?

Daniel, Toronto
http://www.pbase.com/danieltong
Click to expand...
Thanks Daniel :) You should look at the full sized one, they look alot impresive in full size :D The lens is way sharper than I expected, especially after I've had some experience with the A*85/1.4 and the 77/1.8.

--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
CopCarSS said:
Frank,

All the shots are great, but I really love the first one of your
mother-in-law. It tells such a great story, and that bokeh!

Thanks for sharing!
--
Chris May
Denver, CO
http://www.pbase.com/copcarss
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris. Glad you like them :) I myself like this in-law shot too, especially for the first shot from this lens ;)

Cheers!
--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
Frank,

Some great shots from this lens. I've been cosidering one myself. The choice between the FA-85/1.4 and the 77ltd is keeping me form pulling the trigger. Shots like yours certainly make the fa85 preferred. If you could have only one of the 2 which would you keep? In my case its to shoot my daughter (4 yr old, very active). Do you find it easy to keep the little ones faces in the DOP when they're on the go or do you need their cooperation keeping still.

Out of curiosity, how much is reasonable for this lense. They seem to be over $1100 now, is that too much?

Thanks
Kerry
 
Something is off here. Two tries and you couldn't get the Samsung camera in focus? ;-)
frank100557 said:


Click to expand...
Great shots. Thanks for the series.

--

Judging a photographer on the basis of equipment is like speculating one's physique from a gym pass.
 
GossCTP said:
Something is off here. Two tries and you couldn't get the Samsung
camera in focus? ;-)
Click to expand...
Well, I didn't even notice she's holding a Samsung camera when I took those shots. The other parts looked alot attractive to me ;) I only noticed this when I process these photos.
GossCTP said:
GossCTP said:
http://www.eng8.nus.edu.sg/FileStorage/Frank/Photos/Beijing2007/IMGP4165_s.jpg
http://www.eng8.nus.edu.sg/FileStorage/Frank/Photos/Beijing2007/IMGP4169_s.jpg
Click to expand...
Great shots. Thanks for the series.
Click to expand...
Thanks, glad you like them :)
GossCTP said:
--
Judging a photographer on the basis of equipment is like speculating
one's physique from a gym pass.
Click to expand...
--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
buzzinhornet said:
Frank,
Some great shots from this lens. I've been cosidering one myself.
The choice between the FA-85/1.4 and the 77ltd is keeping me form
pulling the trigger. Shots like yours certainly make the fa85
preferred. If you could have only one of the 2 which would you
keep? In my case its to shoot my daughter (4 yr old, very active).
Do you find it easy to keep the little ones faces in the DOP when
they're on the go or do you need their cooperation keeping still.

Out of curiosity, how much is reasonable for this lense. They seem
to be over $1100 now, is that too much?

Thanks
Kerry
Click to expand...
Hi Kerry,

Thanks for the comments.

If I have to choose one between the FA*85 and 77LE, I'd go with the FA*85 :) It's a better portrait lens (but not guaranteed to take better photos) to me. It's quite alot bigger and heavier, but I really like the way it works on my K10D. Of course the 77 is alot easier to bring out, especially with kids around. That's why I'm keeping both, for now :)

My daughter is 3.5yrs, and my son is reaching 1.5 yr soon. Both are very active like your daughter. But kids would stop moving once in a while, I'd try to capture that moment as much as I can.

Here are some kids photos taken by the FA85:
My son:



My kids:



My son (FA85 @F1.4):





My daughter's playmate:



As for price of the FA*85, it's hard to say. I got it at a very reasonable price, but all my friends say it's a steal for current market condition. I guess US$1k to 1.1k for a decent condition one is a reasonable price right now.

The 77 is also a great portrait lens. I'm sure it'd be sufficient for taking your daughter's photo too :)

Good luck.
--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
Frank, I notice one particular special feature in all your pics is how you always manage to get very even lighting on the "subject", as well as the background. I absolutely crave for that but cannot achieve. Do you use some special setup or equipment? Please share the secret, thanks.
 
kguru said:
Frank, I notice one particular special feature in all your pics is
how you always manage to get very even lighting on the "subject", as
well as the background. I absolutely crave for that but cannot
achieve. Do you use some special setup or equipment? Please share the
secret, thanks.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the compliments (well, I think they are ;)). Normally I'd choose a better day and better light condition when taking photos. You can see I take my kids photos mostly. I'm with them all the time, so I don't need to shoot at them in the dark ;) Just wait till the good day comes, and we are all in good mood, then we'd have some keepers.

I do have some 'uneven' lighting ones too ;)



(K10D+FA31 @ F2.2)

Cheers!
--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
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