06-15-2010, 10:53 AM
[quote name='joachim' date='15 June 2010 - 08:19 AM' timestamp='1276586391' post='530']
Why? In my experience AF is next to useless in a portrait situation (typically getting the tip of the nose and not the leading eye in focus). MF lenses are miles ahead when it comes to damping and steepness of the focus ring.
I wish someone came up with a good MF lens (integrated into the camera's electronic to e.g. show enlarged centre section when focusing) for µFT.
[/quote]
Toni, since you said your main uses are macro and portrait, you don't absolutely need AF. It depends on if you like to manual focus on your camera (or does it have a poor viewfinder?).
The Zeiss 85/1.4 and Voigtländer 58/1.4 produce fantastic portraits (the latter is perfect for crop cameras). Other than that I'd say the Canon 135L is the obvious next step up ... but it's very long on a crop camera. I use this lens a lot for portraits and it is really special - though it is also quite merciless because its so sharp across the frame. It's good to carry a panty-hose or soft filter around.
Personally, I would not orient myself around the 1.6 crop format, because it makes no sense for the future. When I have clients that want 35mm film, I just migrate all my lenses to my EOS 5, and there's nothing more to carry except an extra body. It's worth bearing in mind, because more demanding clients sometimes want you to shoot film for portraits.
Why? In my experience AF is next to useless in a portrait situation (typically getting the tip of the nose and not the leading eye in focus). MF lenses are miles ahead when it comes to damping and steepness of the focus ring.
I wish someone came up with a good MF lens (integrated into the camera's electronic to e.g. show enlarged centre section when focusing) for µFT.
[/quote]
Toni, since you said your main uses are macro and portrait, you don't absolutely need AF. It depends on if you like to manual focus on your camera (or does it have a poor viewfinder?).
The Zeiss 85/1.4 and Voigtländer 58/1.4 produce fantastic portraits (the latter is perfect for crop cameras). Other than that I'd say the Canon 135L is the obvious next step up ... but it's very long on a crop camera. I use this lens a lot for portraits and it is really special - though it is also quite merciless because its so sharp across the frame. It's good to carry a panty-hose or soft filter around.
Personally, I would not orient myself around the 1.6 crop format, because it makes no sense for the future. When I have clients that want 35mm film, I just migrate all my lenses to my EOS 5, and there's nothing more to carry except an extra body. It's worth bearing in mind, because more demanding clients sometimes want you to shoot film for portraits.