Zeiss 50MP 2.0 for Portraits?

I have looked at about 80% of the photos in the lens archive, and just a small handful are of people. While I love to shoot everything, right now my heart is within shooting people. I have recently started working on a small studio in my garage. My 85L works awesome, but is just a little long. A 50mm would be perfect. I have limited time with MF, although I recently picked up an AE-1 w/50mm and started playing around with it. I am open to the 50L as well, but the colors and micro-contrast of the Zeiss is just winning me over. I am typically a fan of fast lenses, but I am fine with my 85L and 35L for those needs. I normally spend a lot of time around the F/2 range anyway. So, I guess my long winded question is, is anyone out there using this lens for portraiture or even studio work? I would love to see some photos if so. I realize the benefit of AF over MF with portraiture, but I would imagine with some good practice I could make it work. Oh, and I am hoping to use this lens for family, infant (maybe), model, and possibly as a walk around, although I love my 35L for that purpose.....Thanks in advance....Jake

Let me tell you something With the gear you have today, you should be winning all photo contests in people photography

50L or Sigma 50 in studio. The CZ are nice (especially the MP's) but I heard they can be a little too sharp for most portraits if you know what I mean. I'd also prefer AF in studio instead of MF. with that said, I too have been looking through the 50MP thread and lusting for it but will probably designate it to more of a misc lens than a portrait lens. The 50L and Sigma 50 on the other hand, are still extremely sharp, maintain AF and won't be limited to situations where MF is out of the question.

Ferrari_Alex wrote in post #13146696
Let me tell you something With the gear you have today, you should be winning all photo contests in people photography

I wish, I guess I am definately doing something wrong.

i use mine for portraits and it's pretty awesome, (except for the MF part)
colours and sharpness are top notch

i dont see why it wouldnt make a bad portrait lens. im looking at the zeiss 50 1.4 for general photography and occasional portraits

rwong2k wrote in post #13146806
i use mine for portraits and it's pretty awesome, (except for the MF part)
colours and sharpness are top notch

Any chance I could see some of your work?

jakeg1999 wrote in post #13146907
Any chance I could see some of your work?

Let me try to dig something up,

I used it mainly for food shots, but i'll have to check to see if i have any portraits left

with that being said, is there an easy in lightroom to search photos by lens used?

Yes, in the library function, there should be a metadata tab at the top but below the very top tool bar. I'll try to check exactly. Jake

jakeg1999 wrote in post #13147026
Yes, in the library function, there should be a metadata tab at the top but below the very top tool bar. I'll try to check exactly. Jake

Yes - in the metadata search there is a choice for lens.

Several examples go to:

http://www.zeissimages​.com/index.php
At the top of the page click on "Search"
go to "lens" Select lens used "ZE Makro-Planar T* F2.0 50mm
Don't hit return yet, but click on "Select Category" then click on "General" People-Street" or "portraits"

Mike K

I'm SO glad Jdizzle hanst posted yet....

I've used a 70-200 IS2 for some portraiture- it was VERY sharp. So I had to soften the skin out a bit in photoshop; an easy fix.

50mm is the standard focal length for 35mm film and sensors, and as such may be a touch wide for SOME tastes(not mine, I <3 50mm)


Chances are you are using full frame: grab a focusing screen. They are kick butt!

Pink Avocado wrote in post #13147475
I'm SO glad Jdizzle hanst posted yet....

I've used a 70-200 IS2 for some portraiture- it was VERY sharp. So I had to soften the skin out a bit in photoshop; an easy fix.

50mm is the standard focal length for 35mm film and sensors, and as such may be a touch wide for SOME tastes(not mine, I <3 50mm)

Chances are you are using full frame: grab a focusing screen. They are kick butt!

LOL!! :p

I love my 50 MP. It can be too sharp for portrait work but, there's less to PP imho.

So this afternoon I took some shots of my two year old chasing our dogs with my 135L in MF. It was definitely a challenge, but something I would probably never do with a MF lens. I did enjoy it though. The focus range is extremely sensitive with this lens, with a MF lens such as the topic lens, is the MF less sensitive? Going to look at those portrait photos now. Jake