What should I buy?

xarqi wrote in post #16651238
It is not caused by the lens, so it is not a fault of the lens. It is purely an effect of perspective and that is totally determined by the relative distances to various parts of the scene. That is your call, so any fault is yours.

too much emphasis on technicality and not on practicality. @24/28mm you can produce perspective distortion that's rather unflattering. Good luck creating that same distortion with a 135...... rah rah distance rah rah.

Why would you purposely ignore framing?

"Distance distortion" == "perspective distortion" just so we're on the same page.

Charlie wrote in post #16653824
too much emphasis on technicality and not on practicality.

Good practice is easiest when there is an understanding of the technicalities, but if you find it too much, please feel free to ignore it.

Focal length does not affect perspective; only subject distance does, so yes, it's possible to produce unflattering effects with either lens, and the effect will be identical if the subject distance is the same. If you reread the thread, you'll find that I entered it to challenge the notion that the 24 produced significantly greater distortion than the 28. I see you agree with me that this is not the case.

Compared to a 24 or 28, to achieve comparable subject framing with a 135 will necessitate a greater distance to the subject, so the effects of perspective will be diminished. Again, it's not due to the focal length of the lens, but to the distance. Stitch together some 135 mm shots from the same distance as needed to frame a shot at 24 mm and you'll get the same "distortion".

I wasn't aware I had. In any event, the premise of this discussion involved maintaining the same subject framing, with the consequence that distances, and therefore the operation of perspective, depended on focal length.

I agree with and understand XARQI's explanation thank you for clarifying,
I seek to learn all that I can. A revision perhaps:
My example about a door frame taken with the 24L level vs tilted up toward the ceiling
Makes the two sides and top of the frame lines not straight. "distorting" the actually shape of the door itself.
I did not mean in relation to the smoother bokeh of the background.

|_| becomes S_S Perhaps the phrase: The 24L exaggerates perspectives flaws more than an 85L
because of the FL itself, not any inherent fault of the lens.

If I were to go with a zoom instead and went with one that is f2.8 instead of f4 what would the suggestion be?

Jstuver wrote in post #16655688
If I were to go with a zoom instead and went with one that is f2.8 instead of f4 what would the suggestion be?

You won't really be able to achieve your focal length objectives at f/2.8 with just one zoom, unless I'm forgetting something.
There are a number of lenses from around 24 to around 70 at f/2.8, and there is a Sigma 50-150/2.8, and that's about it.

Two zooms?
16-35/2.8L and 70-200/2.8. Use your 50 to fill the gap.