Took a few snapsh!ts at an undergraduate demo session this afternoon. Pleasantly surprised with the results, considering the amount of bad rep the lens gets in some places. I think ‘realistic expectations’ are the name of the game here; you shouldn’t expect anything amazing from a $1000 1.1, but it’s definitely a fun lens to use!
Started out at 100 ISO which was giving ample shutter speeds for handheld, but bumped up to 400 to reduce motion blur of the more enthusiastic gesticulations.
Chromatic aberration can get pretty hideous; it’ll be interesting to see how badly it affects B&W film once I’ve developed the few rolls I’ve already shot (waiting on new chemicals for the darkroom).
This was the source of the most ‘enthusiastic’ gesticulations.
This was the closest I got to capturing an “Oh sh!t, it’s broken!” moment.
Even on an APS-C sensor the DOF was too shallow for groups, but the subject isolation for individuals-in-groups wasn’t bad.
Of course an effective 85mm focal length & minimum focus distance of 1m meant backing up quite a bit!