[Studor13]

My bad, I guess.

 

I had always thought that when one talks about a portrait lens that they are talking about how portraits/models look. I didn't realize that that is not so important.

 

Well, I know that Bokeh is important but for me a portrait lens needs to perform well in a number of areas; not just the background blur.

 

The thing that I want the most is for the skin to be rendered well. You can see in the first two shots below that the bokeh is pretty much the same (one has more rounded rings, the other more like cat eyes) but some may like one more than the other.

 

To me one has better skin. It seems more radiant.

 

And in case you are wondering, it is the Nikon 32mm f1.2 shot at f1.2. The other is the 85mm f1.8D shot at f3.2.

 

The other thing I want is a lens that is sharp. Who doesn't? the 32mm is fairly sharp at f1.2 (although the focus accuracy can be a hit and miss affair) but at f2.8 it is killer sharp. I almost fell off my chair when I first saw it.

 

And lastly, you will notice that in the two black and white shots the f1.2 image doesn't quite work. The expression is not as special as the f2.8.

 

So, whilst the f1.2 shot has creamier background the f2.8 is my preferred image.