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Making Close-Range Portraits
Examples and discussion of the challenges of close-range portraiture with the Zeiss 135mm f/2 APO-Sonnar.
Impressions
I was concerned that focus accuracy would be an issue, but right off the bat I was delighted with the 135/2 APO-Sonnar— while the 100/2 Makro-Planar has given me fits focusing manually on my Nikon bodies (and I am not alone in that regard), I found that the APO Sonnar presented no difficulty at all, leaving only the inherent challenges of shooting a slightly moving person handheld at close range (photographer and subject movement together where only a few millimeters of movement with either cause blur).
The 135/2 APO offers stunning contrast wide open, and this is plain to see when focusing both by eye and with Live View. Totally absent from the 135/2 APO is the veiling purplish f/2 haze of the 100mm f/2 Makro-Planar, which for the 100/2 introduces an ambiguity in accuracy no matter how focus is done (by eye or with Live View). With the 135/2 APO-Sonnar, the image is crystal clear wide open at f/2.
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Nikon D800E + 135mm f/2 APO-Sonnar