[TOUGEFC]

DA*55 wide open will be about as close to the 85mm full frame look as you can get but the DA*55 wide open DOF will only equal about 85mm f/2.5 DOF on full frame.

Just buy a full frame and be done with it

[rawr]

Related to this whole thread:

The Online Photographer: In Defense of Depth

[joe.penn]

There have been many images posted on the forum sharing the same depth or spacial dimension as the images you've posted.

Yep, like most of outsider's work, here is one of MANY of his threads -> https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/177053-streets-random-people-2-27-12-a.html

These were done with the [Sigma 85 1.4] IIRC...






...

[top-quark]

I suspect that all the examples are down to the skill of the photographer rather than some ineffable magic of a full-frame sensor. Were it the latter, then professional portrait photographers would be forced by competition to shoot medium format or larger exclusively, because they in turn would be magically better than 35mm, wouldn't they? To get these sorts of results you need a sensor capable of isolating the subject and the right glass to take advantage of it, but I'll wager you can find equally appealing results taken with four thirds.

Read a book in portraiture. It'll be all about lighting and positioning. Barely a mention of cameras and lenses. Your examples show the effect of good lighting and technique, IMO.

As for shooting people at F1.4 with an 85mm lens, there's no EXIF available to say "rubbish", but I doubt it. You've got all the light you need, so you don't need the light gathering ability. What you do need is for the tip of your subject's nose to be in focus when you're focusing on the eyes. As far as I'm aware, you use F8 - F11 for portraiture with a maybe a wider aperture for special effects, like the OOF right hand in sample 1. I'd say that sample 4 is using too wide an aperture - the guy's ears are fuzzy.

I also suspect that the secret to achieving that 3-D look is a large physical space between your subject and the background. Easy to achieve in a studio, I daresay, harder in your living room. A Canon 5D ain't going to make your apartment any bigger.

[brandonbpm]

You all are truly helpful, although maybe a little divided at times haha. I guess the dilemma for me is if its worth switching systems, seeing as Pentax does not have any digital full frame offerings, just to get that extra reach in DOF. You all have shown me that I can definitely achieve similar results with an APS-C under the right conditions, however a full frame OPTION would be nice. I will stick with what I have right now, because I've heard some grumblings of a K-3 full frame but speculation is just that. So a 85mm f1.4 on APS-C would be more like a ~128mm f2 from roughly the same distance?

[er1kksen]

As far as I can see in this thread, along with past experience, what really matters for that desired effect is the degree of local contrast within the plane of focus.

As others noted, this is primarily due to proper lighting and post processing. The primary FF advantage here is being able to use a sharper, higher-contrast aperture for the same dof (or less) within the "normal" focal length range, let's call it a FF equivalent of 35mm-85mm. Longer or wider and the perspective is too unnatural to render that effect, and if the plane of focus is too deep OR too shallow and lacks sufficient local contrast it's unlikely to produce the desired results.

No real mystery, no magic lenses or sensors, just a set of ingredients to seek out.