Olympus 50mm f/2 vs Olympus 45mm f/1.2

[Bartholomew Segar]

Hello all,

I am considering to buy new portrait lens - Oly 45mm f/1.2. At the moment I have PanaLeica 25mm f/1.4 and Zuiko 50mm f/2 for this purpose.

I love both of them but want to improve the image quality [already great] but foremost AF speed and lowlight performance.

Do someone have experience with both of those lenses and can give me some comparisons?



Thanks!



Sample of my work with portraits for attention

 

[ahaslett]

As it happens, I have the 25/1.4 and 50/2 as well. Not the 45/1.2, so not much help.

May I ask about using f8 for your example? It’s a strong image, but you are shooting into the diffraction zone. I wouldn’t go beyond f4.5 for that composition and would expect that to give enough depth of field. Maybe it’s just my inexperience with portraits.

By f8, all of the lenses are going to produce similar images. I imagine AF on the 50/2 is the slowest, the 25/1.4 is in the middle, and 45/1.2 is fastest.







Andrew

--
Infinite are the arguments of mages. Truth is a jewel with many facets. Ursula K LeGuin
Please feel free to edit any images that I post

 

[Bassam Guy]

Hello all,

I am considering to buy new portrait lens - Oly 45mm f/1.2. At the moment I have PanaLeica 25mm f/1.4 and Zuiko 50mm f/2 for this purpose.

I love both of them but want to improve the image quality [already great] but foremost AF speed and lowlight performance.

Do someone have experience with both of those lenses and can give me some comparisons?

Thanks!

Sample of my work with portraits for attention

There should be plenty of sample images floating around the internet. If you're shooting at f2-f8 and they're for studio work you may not need the cost, paper thin DOF and weather sealing of the 45 f1.2 - of course the IQ is impeccable.

The O. 45 f1.8 and the P. 42.5s have excellent IQ too.

 

[Skeeterbytes]

Have a 45/1.2 and have fiddled with the 50/2.0. The 45 is far quicker focusing and able to use face-eye detection reliably, useful at f:1.2. As a step up I think you'll be very pleased.

Cheers,

Rick

 

[Sam Bennett]

If you're shooting at f2-f8 and they're for studio work you may not need the cost, paper thin DOF and weather sealing of the 45 f1.2 - of course the IQ is impeccable.

I would agree. But I'd add that if I'm working at f/2.8 or smaller in the studio I much prefer the flexibility of zooms for composition - with my "workhorse" being the 40-150/2.8 Pro. I will use the 45/1.2 for more "creative" portraiture if I'm really trying to throw the background out of focus or going for something more ethereal but for me that lens is only truly "special" when used wide-open. The way that Olympus engineered the "feathered bokeh" means that you really lose that effect once you stop down.

 

[Bartholomew Segar]

Thanks Rick, is the IQ comparable [sharpness, contrast, overall rendering]? Can I expect step up in this department as well?

 

[Bartholomew Segar]

May I ask about using f8 for your example? It’s a strong image, but you are shooting into the diffraction zone. I wouldn’t go beyond f4.5 for that composition and would expect that to give enough depth of field. Maybe it’s just my inexperience with portraits.

Andrew

Thanks for input.

I used f8 because wanted to control light more - used parabolic softbox with a grid, didn't want any light behind the model. Didn't want to use HSS as well.

I do not work only in studio, I am covering events as well and thus the fast aperture is a must - that's why I am planning purchase of 45 1.2 PRO. Just need a bit of push to be sure that it will be satisfying my needs much more than the lenses I won at the moment.



Example in the webinar studio with LED lights - faster aperture and AF would be nice:

 

[Bartholomew Segar]

Thanks Sam, I like to use zooms as well, but beside the faster aperture of primes, there is something unique to the rendering of the subject when I use primes - hard to point exactly what it is, but I "feel" the photo better when shooting on primes.

 

[Bartholomew Segar]

Yeah, lots of images but I am looking for the user experience info, not only image quality

 

[ahaslett]

Thanks.