Im honestly just so fed up with my 24-120mm zoom its just so soft especially at the long end and i feel like im losing my mind zooming in to 100 percent and seeing nothing but mush. My logic was that buying a zoom would give me flexibility for this wedding im shooting in Seattle next month but now im panicking because none of the test shots look professional enough. I need something that is tack sharp like bitingly sharp right from wide open because i cant afford to miss focus or have that hazy look anymore.
I was thinking about a few things:
- the Sigma 35mm Art
- Nikon 85mm 1.8G
- maybe an older Zeiss manual focus?
I heard the Sigma autofocus can be finicky on DSLRs and i dont have time to mess with a USB dock right now to calibrate it. Then i thought maybe the Nikon 105mm f1.4E but thats probably way out of my budget which is stuck at roughly $1100 and i really just need one lens i can rely on for portraits and detail shots that wont make me cry when i open Lightroom. Is there like a definitive king of sharpness for the F-mount that i should be looking at before i just give up and sell all my Nikon gear...
You should check out the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G if you want sharp without spending a fortune. This lens is basically the gold standard for F-mount portraits and its way cheaper than the 1.4 version. That lens will handle the wedding perfectly and fits way under your budget. Maybe grab a used Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G with the leftover cash too... worth a look imo.
