120mm or 135mm for Portraits

[mmanesh]

Hi all!

I am thinking about adding authors lens to my 45P and 1.9/80mm. It is mostly used for event documentary, portraits and occasionally shots in nature while traveling. On my Fuji X system I used the wonderful 80mm 2.8 (roughly a 120mm in FF terms) which is a 1:1 macro lens. It has been a speciality lens for me but also have me some beautiful portraits and pictures of flowers.

Anyone here with experience of either lens, 120 or 135 on the X2D?

[JCM-Photos]

Y own and use the XCD's 80. 90, 135 and extensively tried the 120 before owning the 135

For me it was definitely not the 120 for portraits even if it's supersharp because its not much more compact and lightweight than the 135 and has the poorest AF of all XCD teles what was a problem for me in dimmed studio light.

My preference goes to the XCD90

[mmanesh]

Thanks! I have tried all you mentioned and would say the ,,old" 90 is the best compromise. Will stick to the 80 for a bit... I need that 1.9 for available light.

[JCM-Photos]

The problem I have with the XCD80 is the super narrow depth of field with short distance subjects,  AF never finds the sharp plan because the focusing goes too fast to see it passing and even for your eye it is not visible in the viewfinder.
Even when manual focusing you have to turn the focusing ring very very slowly to find the sharp point.

The workaround that works fine is to prefocus roughly with MF after what in all cases the AF jumps directly and very fast to nail the focus.

[mmanesh]

I agree! Actually the 90 with its 3.2 and internal focusing is quicker and the chances for missfocusing are greatly reduced compared to 1.9. So yes I really believe the 90 hits the sweet spot!