I enjoy portrait photography, especially with Nikon 85mm and 105mm lenses on full-frame cameras.
My gear is old and needs an upgrade. I'm considering M4/3 systems because of their size.
I read that M4/3 lenses don't generate a shallow DOF, something which is useful for portraits.
Why exactly is this
because the sensor is smaller (e.g. phone sensors are smaller still and struggle to achieve any background blur in portraits without additional computational changes)
and is it really a problem for portraits?
depends how much OOF blur you want, and whether you're prepared to adapt
in general, assuming nothing else changes, your m43 lens will need to be 1/2 the focal length and twice as bright to achieve the same (equivalent) image as your FF gear
so taking your 85mm lens as an example, you need a 42.5mm m43 lens (a 45mm will achieve a FOV similar to a 90mm FF lens)
the aperture also needs to be halved to achieve similar background blur (again assuming everything else is equal - cameras, subjects, backgrounds all in the same position)
so if your FF lens has a max aperture of 1.8, and you shoot wide open, you would need a m43 lens with an aperture of 0.9 approx
These lenses exist - f0.95 - in the form of manual focus lenses made by several Chinese firms.
i tried a couple of these lenses and wide open they're... full of ""character"" at best
and trying to take photos of playing kids, or even just kids, with a MF lens is futile, at least for this unskilled practitioner. i'm sure there are lots on here that will nail eye focus every time with a MF 0.95 lens, better than the best AF algos
and what if you want the equivalent of f1.4, or f1.2 FF? any f0.6 Chinese lenses? and even if there were, how many shots would you get in focus?
we can discuss this all we want but ultimately it boils down to all things equal, larger sensor = less DOF, ergo depending on the look you want pick the sensor to suit
yes there are plenty of situations where m43 is "enough" as is so often maintained on here. but there are a fair number of situations where m43 simply is not enough, or requires too many workarounds, or gear that is unnecessarily large and expensive
and that's all before even discussing the added IQ benefit of FF
m43 is indeed "enough" in many cases and i'm a big fan, but why are we trying to pretend that it matches FF in this or that regard?
it doesn't. hence why different formats exist in the first place
Starting to get to the situation at wide open where actual photographic skill is necessary* when portrait nose and eye are not in focus at the same time. Surely background blur as much as anyone could need. But f1.2 should be plenty and there are many of them available in M4/3 mount - most of them have automatic focus.
* don't blame the lens.
and therein lies the "problem"
you'll likely get a bunch of unnecessarily long and complicated responses, or workarounds, but this is what it boils down to
