ZE 50 1.4 vs 2.0

[Mike Brent]

Good people,

I am going to order one of these two lenses this week. Please, is there anybody else that can comment? I find many good reviews for the 1.4, but a handful of people say that it is an awful lens. Some more input maybe?

 

[Barry_Green]

The 2.0 is better than the 1.4, better construction, bigger, nicer, with closer focus. That's why it costs twice as much.

The 1.4 is pretty hairy when used wide open, lots of chromatic aberration and a flat/muddy picture. When you stop it down to f/4 or deeper it's fantastic.

The 1.4 opens up an additional stop wider than the 2.0 (obviously), but it's not that great when fully wide open. If you stop it down it gets a lot better, which means that at 2.0, it performs about like the 2.0 at 2.0 (how confusing is this getting?) But at least the 1.4 CAN open up more, versus the 2.0 which is max 2.0...

If you're using it for stills, and you don't absolutely need that additional stop of light performance, the 2.0 is the better lens (as the price tag indicates).

But if you're using it for video, the lamer performance of the 1.4 wide open doesn't matter, the camera can't resolve anything more than what the 1.4 delivers. You just have to sharpen up the contrast in post a little.

 

[Mike Brent]

I have the body but no lenses yet, so I can't check if at 2.0 the DOF is "thin enough" for me. Do you ever use 1.4 in motion or is the DOF anyway too thin?

 

[Digigenic]

I personally preferred the 50 f2 macro. I guess since I'd gotten used to the 50 f1.4 look, the 50 f2 macro was like a breath of fresh air being as sharp as it was wide open and across the frame. My favorite ZF/ZE lenses right now are the two macros, 50 f2 and 100 f2. I have never seen bad results from either lens.
If I needed that little extra light, depending on the situation I would pursue several other alternatives over trying to open the lens wider, like adding more light if applicable, adjusting shutter, adjusting picture presets, adjusting ISO. I don't think I ever shoot anything wide open anymore anyway. Even if I had the 50 f2 I'd still probably keep it at f4 or f8. That's just how I roll.