If you’re looking for a high-quality, sharp lens with fantastic bokeh, vintage lenses can be a great option. They can give you images of great quality, yet you can buy many of them at very affordable prices. In this video, Mathieu Stern compares three vintage lenses for shooting portraits: Konica 40mm f/1.8, Porst 50mm f/1.4, and Jupiter 9 85mm f/2. He paid the cheapest among them around $6, so let’s see how they perform.
Konica 40mm f/1.8
Mathieu writes that Konica 40mm f/1.8 is ideal for full body portraits, considering its focal length. He paid it only €5 (around $6), and I find it impressive that you can buy a working camera lens at such a low price. Here are some of the photos Mathieu took with it:
Porst 50mm f/1.4
The Porst 50mm f/1.4 is a very rare lens. Still, Mathieu bought it for €50 (around $60). It produces gorgeous, large bokeh balls, and sometimes it also gives wonderful swirly bokeh. I really like the photos taken with this one:
Jupiter 9 85mm f/2
The Jupiter 9 85mm f/2 is a “must-have” for portraits, according to Mathieu. And indeed, I must admit that the photos taken with this one are my favorites. The bokeh is just gorgeous, background separation looks just right, and it’s a really sharp lens. Mathieu got this fantastic lens for €80 ($93), isn’t he lucky?
As I mentioned, the 85mm f/2 is my favorite of these three lenses. What’s yours? And is there a vintage lens you particularly like using for portraits? Share your impressions and suggestions with us.
[3 VINTAGE LENSES SHOOT THE SAME MODEL – Episode 5 | Mathieu Stern]
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