Originally posted by kunik I know threads can be difficult to follow but if you look back this was in response to someone saying "It's such a rarity that anyone shoots this wide open. If .02% of all shots ever taken are at f1.4 than why would lens manufacturers care about making a lens sharp at that f stop?"
The closest example I had at hand of an exceptional set of images shot "wide open" happened to be a 200/2 on a Canon FF. It just so happens that it has a very similar DOF to the 55/1.4 - but the point being that wide open shots on "fast glass" can produce very nice results so many people (myself included) would not buy a lens that was not sharp wide open...
Bottom line is, don't buy a lens that's not sharp wide open, if you need it wide open. Buy a lens a stop faster and then shoot at the f stop you would have shot with the other one, or buy a lens that is sharp wide open. Shooting a stop up from wide open is usually always going to be sharper than using any lens wide open. If you like shooting at f 1.4, I'd buy an f1.2 lens, as it's most likely going to be sharper at f1.4 than an f1.4 lens wide open.
Originally posted by kunik I can't tell if you are being serious or not? There was a page linked in to another part of the forum recently with a guy that shot portraits with a 200mm F2 lens and always shot it wide open. On full frame (Canon 1Ds) the DOF is thinner than on our crop pentax. Here's his gallery.
Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open. - FM Forums
You may or may not like the shots but he is apparently somewhat successful and seems to shoot wide open quite a lot. Fortunately for him his 200mm F2 is sharp wide open. I guess thats why fast and sharp lenses cost so damn much eh?
Some of his shots work, some don't. I personally would never shoot portraits at 200mm, as it flattens the facial features too much. This guy even commented that an 85mm makes noses bulbous looking, so he's pretty extreme if he thinks that.