[clackers]

Now that is one sharp portrait, making me wonder why you chose this particular lens for a portrait. I have heard that some ladies cover their faces when they see a photographer with this lens! Beautiful model, but something about her aura tells me that she definitely has a mind of her own. Perhaps you will wish to do PP before displaying this photo to her!

Oh, sure, Ivan.

All photos for publications are postprocessed. The SOOC jpg was just to illustrate the sharpness discussed in this thread, but the image below is the one Yasemin can actually use. And yes, she has a personality - a kickboxer in her spare time.

You don't want to put Vaseline over a lens anymore, editorial styles want high contrast these days - everything sharp except for skin flaws.

The guy running the workshop will look for five or six keepers for a model portfolio in a one hour paid shoot, and will post process maybe half an hour for every one of those shots, so his client billing reflects that time.

I just moved some sliders in Portrait Pro for a quick and dirty edit:



Below is the same macro lens, but instead of the strobe being distant, it's up closer and more frontal, so there are less shadows and they're filled in. Note how the macro lens is great for all the detail in the eccentric headwear.

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Last edited by clackers; 03-29-2017 at 05:43 PM.

[ivanvernon]

Oh, sure, Ivan.

All photos for publications are postprocessed. The SOOC jpg was just to illustrate the sharpness discussed in this thread, but the image below is the one Yasemin can actually use. And yes, she has a personality - a kickboxer in her spare time.

You don't want to put Vaseline over a lens anymore, editorial styles want high contrast these days - everything sharp except for skin flaws.

The guy running the workshop will look for five or six keepers for a model portfolio in a one hour paid shoot, and will post process maybe half an hour for every one of those shots, so his client billing reflects that time.

I just moved some sliders in Portrait Pro for a quick and dirty edit:



Below is the same macro lens, but instead of the strobe being distant, it's up close, so the lighting is softer. Note how the macro lens is great for all the detail in the eccentric headwear.

Thanks for the information about professional portraiture. Great photos and great models.

[mwilky55]

It's very sharp, EP - check out the incredible performance of its ancestor, for instance:

http://www.takinami.com/yoshihiko/photo/lens_test/pentax_normal.html

Perhaps you have a dud copy - mine did these:

That's so sharp, Clackers, it gives me goose bumps

[monochrome]

That's so sharp, Clackers, it gives me goose bumps

Sharp?

Those eyes could cut if you got cross-wise with her. .

[clackers]

That's so sharp, Clackers, it gives me goose bumps

Yes, I think you're referring to an earlier photo in the thread, very good eyesight on you and below is a crop of that one.

She's a circus high trapeze artist, BTW ... extremely fit. The lighting is from an old tungsten theatre spotlight on a stand, and I even kept its colour cast in post:

[SamuelDixon]

Does anyone in their right mind actually think these images would be better, taken with a sharper lens?

Yes. Also less weird HDR stuff.

[Kerrowdown]

hopefully a 135mm

Have you considered... a lens like my "Lady Luck” (Pentax-A* 135mm F1.8), she's quite a performer IMHO, albeit manual focus.

[englishphotographer]

Update your browser to use Google Drive - Drive Help Here we are chaps, a couple of samples from the Samyang 135mm with the K1. Personal pixel-peeking use only. Please do share sample DNGs with your sharpest/ best Pentax lenses!

[zapp]

Samyang 135 is really sharp, no AF, littel communication to camera
D-FA 100M is really nice with loud AF, no focus limiter and small footprint
D-FA 70-200 is also very nice

Keep the D-FA 100M for a long time now, love the D-FA 70-200 and sold the Samyang as manual focus is not my world for this type of lens.
The impression of sharpness pairs with the rendering of out of foucs areas, the larger the aperture, the more extreme is the impression of sharpness. D-FA 70-200 feels great at 200 mm, but 70 mm is sharper. Hoping for the D-FA 85.

[Stavri]

Update your browser to use Google Drive - Drive Help Here we are chaps, a couple of samples from the Samyang 135mm with the K1. Personal pixel-peeking use only. Please do share sample DNGs with your sharpest/ best Pentax lenses!

Ahhh...i see, indeed a very sharp lens grasshopper,....but answer me this?
-Is it sharper than a Japanese Katana?!...

[MJKoski]

Take a look at this properly sharpened pixel shifted 100% crop from an image taken with Leitaxed Zeiss 28/2 @ f/2.8. 50MP 645Z cannot do that.

https://mjkoski.1g.fi/kuvat/Miscellaneous/trash/IMGP0070.jpg/_full.jpg

It is only a link as this forum messes pics up after certain dimensions are exceeded.

[English-Photographer]

Take a look at this properly sharpened pixel shifted 100% crop from an image taken with Leitaxed Zeiss 28/2 @ f/2.8. 50MP 645Z cannot do that.

https://mjkoski.1g.fi/kuvat/Miscellaneous/trash/IMGP0070.jpg/_full.jpg

It is only a link as this forum messes pics up after certain dimensions are exceeded.

Thank you for sharing this. Do you have any DNGs with this lens that you can share?

[MJKoski]

Not really anything like that at same distance and aperture. I see if I come up with suitable test subjects in the near future. But any K-1 and 28/2 owner can do that. Just find a subject which suits the lens' field curvature and it will deliver.

[mattb123]

My Rokinon (Samyang) 8/3.5 and newer 14/2.8 are both pretty sharp, especially considering their prices. The 14 is better than the 8 for sure.

My sharpest overall lenses are probably a Leitz Summicron-R 50/2 and the FA 77. I also have the Leitz Elmarit-R 135/2.8 and it's very good but not quite as sharp as the others. The Leitz lenses had to have their mounts swapped with a Leitax type of mount to work for us. LiveView with peaking helps with focusing those manual lenses which can be difficult in some situations.

[Gedeon]

Zeiss zk 85mm is my sharpest lens.