Today I had a fantastic shoot with Rachael, and here is one of my favorite shots captured after we finished 
shot with the Sony A7 and the Zeiss FE 55mm 1.8, wide open. An incredible lens, with af spot on every time
more after the break
another shot with the Zeiss FE 55mm wide open at 1.8
The rest of the images will go up soon.
Keep in mind this is not your standard 50mm lens covering a FOV of approx 25.4 Degrees horizontally, the 55mm lens
covers approx 23.1 Degrees, which doesn’t seem like much of a difference on paper, however, definitely noticeable and for many, including myself, a bit too long to be considered a standard lens. The Zeiss FE 35mm 2.8 will make a much better all round lens.
For studio portraits, field portraits and full figure shots the 55mm works perfectly.
Although this lens produces very nice bokeh, it doesn’t beat Canon’s 50mm 1.2 L or the Nikkor’s 50mm/55mm 1.2 bokeliciousness, which is totally ok because it outperforms them at their optimum aperture setting already at 1.8!
For the rest of the shoot, lots of “lensing” with the Nikkor Series E 100mm. Hope you like the shots, stay tuned for more!
If you find this article helpful, please consider helping me maintaining this blog by purchasing your gear through my product links to Adorama and B&H and Ebay. It will cost you nothing and allows me to keep adding! Or consider making a direct donation using PayPal, thank you!
Thanksi Charles! in bright light, like for the scene above, I had it on medium flexible point, af-c, rarely missed focus, of course it does misfocus from time to time, but compared to shooting with the 5D3 or the D800 wide open with a 50mm, I have a much higher keeper rate with the Sony. If you haven’t done so yet, activate the square indicating phase/contrast detect points and try avoid using af points above and below.
Lovely photos. I also picked up an A7 and the FE 55mm lens recently.
It is fantastically sharp, but I have missed focus sometimes with my models.
What focus mode and technique do you use?
Charles