Well the lens came today, and I’m pretty excited about a new lens that I’ve never owned before. I took a couple sample shots here in the office, to compare the 85 to the 45. The differences probably aren’t huge to the untrained eye, but to me they are pretty significant! To me it’s easy to see how the 45 still has a wide angle effect to it, as seen in this first shot of the loose change on the window sill.  In the 45 shot, it looks like the dime and the nickel are at different angles, while they appear more parallel in the 2nd shot.  Interestingly, the lens causes the camera to perceive that the coins are at different angles, as you can see that the amount of reflected light off the silver coins is much different in the 45mm image than the 85mm image.  Also notice how I shot the stacks of coins at an angle, but aligned the focal plane along the tops of the coins, leaving the change below blurred out. This is what I jokingly call using the tilt shift “The Right Way”, when you are intentionally aligning things with the focal plane. Both of these lenses are excellently sharp, even hand held wide open at f/2.8.

left- 45mm .:. right- 85mm

Secondly I took a couple silly pictures of Richie in the foyer. Once again, the 45 has more of a wide angle to it. In this particular composition, I like the 45mm better.  But I’m pretty sure that if I was doing a close in headshot, that I’d like the more flattering flatness of the 85mm. In both these shots I’m using the lens ” The Wrong Way”, where I use the angled focal plane to blur out everything but the eyes.

left- 45mm .:. right- 85mm

Now I acknowledge wasn’t a particularly scientific “test” by any means. I didn’t even do a very good job of keeping the subjects face at the same angle so that you can compare the shots.  This was just an excuse to play with my new toy and to make funny faces for the blog!