Should i upgrade?

[astroNikon]

let's see you really put it to use and get a sharp, isolated photo of your little hammy.

I can't believe you posted that ... :er:

 

[Braineack]

It sounded better when it was said innocently.

:hail:

 

[hamlet]

That lens has beautiful out-of-focus blur.

let's see you really put it to use and get a sharp, isolated photo of your little hammy.

Once my D600 arrives, I'm fairly certain I'm going to pick up a 50mm 1.4D.

I have not used any other lenses with high apertures, but i like the bokeh on this lens.

I shot at 1.4:

 

[astroNikon]

nice shot - nice round bokeh balls
did you notice the shallow DOF
as you move back from his nose it gets OOF, such as his ears.

 

[hamlet]

That's something unavoidable. I took a shot slightly closer but my focus cant focus that close so its out of focus. I like this shot. This is as close as my lens will focus.

 

[astroNikon]

Yes - but it's not from how close you were.
The shallow DOF is because you used f/1.4. Thus the depth of focus cannot get the entire depth of his head in focus.
If you used, say, 2.8 the entire depth of his head would be in focus.

 

[hamlet]

I tried that, but the background became more visible as i closed my aperture.

 

[TheFantasticG]

Shooting @ F1.4 is a completely artistic decision and never useful to me. I almost never shoot lower than F2.8-F4 due to how much is out of focus and that's on DX (when shooting people). If the eyes are not in focus, the image is garbage 99% of the time, in my opinion, of course.

 

[astroNikon]

that's the give and take of DOF.
Did you try farther away where you would have to crop to get a head shot? to see the DOF / bokeh ?

 

[hamlet]

Shooting @ F1.4 is a completely artistic decision and never useful to me. I almost never shoot lower than F2.8-F4 due to how much is out of focus and that's on DX (when shooting people). If the eyes are not in focus, the image is garbage 99% of the time, in my opinion, of course.

I don't disagree, i'm still learning to find my middle ground, but i will go to the extremes of the lens if there is a certain way i want my shot to look.

 

[hamlet]

that's the give and take of DOF.
Did you try farther away where you would have to crop to get a head shot? to see the DOF / bokeh ?

The reason why i wanted to get a shot as close as i could is because the background gets more and more out of focus. But to answer you question: yes, i have taken several shots with different lenses even at all angles and distances. I just like this shot, but i still have to fine tune my skills. A speedlight could helped me get my eliminate the shadows on the face, my on camera flash is completely blocked by my lens and has officially become completely useless.