Turbo Lens Help!

Darren Troy C

Turbo being the speed @ which I am having to figure this out. :huh

The soft, dreamy bokeh most of you get in your portrait work w/ the 50mm (manufacturer un-specific) lens is outstanding. I apologize if this is incorrectly placed (forum). I am bidding on another lens and have about 4hrs to make a decision. It's either the lens I am bidding for (Tokina 12-24 f4) or save the money and get the Sigma 50mm 1.4. I really want the 50....help me....talk me into it....beat me over the head....whatever! The 12-24 will be a landscape-primary tool but I REALLY want to do alot more portrait type work. I searched the internet, found many great reviews....even found a "not-so-necessarily all it's cracked up to be" review.

HELP a fellow wannabe out, won't you?

Clock's ticking.....GO!

Zarathustra

The soft bokeh that you're looking for is a function of the aperture/DOF. The lower the aperture, the narrower the DOF, the easier to get crazy bokeh. You'll be wasting your money on the 12-24 f/4 if you're looking for a lens for portraiture of the type that you see here. A telephoto length plus wide aperture is what you are looking for. If you are shooting on a camera with a magnification factor, i.e. is not full frame, then 50mm is the equivalent of about a 75mm which is fine for portrait work. Save your money!

Qarik

You won't get the bokeh from the 12-24mm because defocusining effect of bokeh, ie "creamyness" increases as the zoom factor increases. So an 85mm lens will have "more" bokeh then the 50mm, etc.

That said the other thing that mainly determines bokeh quality is the blades that control the apertures...whether they are rounded or not. Not sure how the lenses you mention are in those regards.

Nikolai

While shallow DOF is important, the "dreamy" look you are referring too is mostly achieved in post-processing.
Also keep in mind that you won't be shooting portraits at f/1.4, since all lenses are *too* soft (aka not sharp) wide open. Besides, you most often need more than one square inch to be in focus.

Candid Arts

Agreed with everyone. If you're looking for crazy bokeh and a lens for portraiture, get the 50mm 1.4. I can't speak for the sigma version, but I have Canon's 50/1.4 and LOVE it. The bokeh is crazy smooth and just gorgeous. I've shot with one sigma lens in the past (50-500) and was not impressed, I just loved have the zoom. It wasn't that sharp, and was generally not pleased with it's results, although many others on here will disagree with that. It did provide some good results, but on the average, not so much.

For what you are saying you want out of the lens and what you want to be doing with your photography, easy solution: 50 1.4.

Darren Troy C

Yep....sorry. I didn't make myself very clear. The 12-24, like I mentioned, would strictly be for landscape work (not looking for bokeh in that respect). I was simply wanting to get a good handle on whether or not the 50mm 1.4 would be a better choice to spend my money on. It'slike comparing apples and oranges @ this point. Someone that wants apples is asking if he should spend his money on oranges....get my point? I value alot of what you guys/girls have to say and greatly respect much of the creamy portrait bokeh created by both your creativity and a lens like the 50mm 1.4. I've been shooting landscapes for years and it's still a favorite....but you can't beat the quality of alot of the portrait work lurking here on DGrin. So, that was my angle.

Darren Troy C

Candid Arts wrote:

For what you are saying you want out of the lens and what you want to be doing with your photography, easy solution: 50 1.4.

THAT'S what I was lookin' for! See, that wasn't hard yall. (A truly southern term, BTW )

Candid Arts

Idlewild wrote:

See, that wasn't hard yall. (A truly southern term, BTW )

Haha, I'm from AK and say Yawll all the time (cept I obviously use a "w" in my spelling.

System

huuu
50/1.4 versus 12/24 mm .... portrait vs landscape...

what the hell are you doing?
I mean you don t have to hesitate beetween these 2 lens. they are completely different. if you are making portrait buy the 50, if you are making landscape....

btw : I owned the tokina, it is a really great lens, and you can do funny things with it (one day I took a portrait of a cow with it... she tried to eat my nikon )

and you know what ? I used a 24/36 film bessa ... with a 35mm/1.4
great for the DOF and the landscape