I like my 50/1.2 very much. I use it for available light stuff, not for "normal" light. Too much flare and such for that.
The only minuses, I would say, are that it doesn't quite develop the superduper resolution of the 1.4 or 1.8 when you stop down. And the bokeh tends to develop contrasty outlines so you need to think about how OOF elements are placed in the frame. So bokeh-wise, it's no replacement for a good f/2 or f/2.8 if you have enough light for those.
But hey, the 1.2 is a trick lens, you can do nutty things with it. I will confess that I am using it mostly on a D700 d*g*tal now- they are a superb pairing IMHO. I have taken plenty of acceptable (to me) ~1/20 sec shots when the ambient light was so low that I couldn't even see my subject clearly and was just winging it with the scale. It freaks people out, they think I am doing some flash trick. No flash required, you can use subtle ambient light that most folks can't even see. If you want to see some examples and aren't violently allergic to ISO 4000 shots from a D700 then look here.
Basically, if going out at night, I don't leave home without my 1.2.
The only minuses, I would say, are that it doesn't quite develop the superduper resolution of the 1.4 or 1.8 when you stop down. And the bokeh tends to develop contrasty outlines so you need to think about how OOF elements are placed in the frame. So bokeh-wise, it's no replacement for a good f/2 or f/2.8 if you have enough light for those.
But hey, the 1.2 is a trick lens, you can do nutty things with it. I will confess that I am using it mostly on a D700 d*g*tal now- they are a superb pairing IMHO. I have taken plenty of acceptable (to me) ~1/20 sec shots when the ambient light was so low that I couldn't even see my subject clearly and was just winging it with the scale. It freaks people out, they think I am doing some flash trick. No flash required, you can use subtle ambient light that most folks can't even see. If you want to see some examples and aren't violently allergic to ISO 4000 shots from a D700 then look here.
Basically, if going out at night, I don't leave home without my 1.2.
Last edited by a moderator: