fetopher Offline Upload & Sell: Off
|
Hey folks,
I hope you can lend some extra sets of eyes to help me determine if my new Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens is focusing as I should expect. I have two sample photos (and 100% crops) below.
First, some background...
Through extensive testing with FoCal over the past few months, I've come to learn my D800 has a front-focusing issue. My lenses require a fine-tune adjustment of +9 to +20. So, whenever I buy a new lens in the future, I plan to give it a good testing, both with FoCal and in the real world, so I can determine if I need to return it. With that established as a starting point, what I really need help with is figuring out if a newly purchase Nikon 85mm is focusing properly.
This is actually my second Nikon 85mm f/1.8G. The first copy needed more than +20 according to FoCal (as much as +36, which is not possible, obviously). So, I returned it for another copy. It's much better and within my fine-tune range. FoCal says it needs +12 when the subject is close (4 feet) and +18 when the subject is far (15 feet). I'm usually shooting close to 15 feet than 4 feet, so I settled on +16 as the fine-tune adjustment for this lens.
Then, I set out with my wife and son to take some test shots at the park. Here are two shots, with 100% crops after each. Note that these are straight out of camera. I applied no sharpening and no CA fixes, so these will improve once post processed, but I figure it would be most useful for evaluation to look at them untouched. Also, these two photos are about as any of the 200 I took. I'd say 3-5% are roughly this sharp in the batch.
Also, I'm not super comfortable at this focal length (50mm is my best), so I'm willing to accept user error. I also don't know if 3-5% keeper rate is good, but considering this was my first serious attempt at 85mm, I'm guessing it will improve.
So, looking at the sharpness of these photos, would you be happy with the results? I suppose another way to look at it is, would you load these in and say, "wow, tack sharp!" or would these samples leave you wanting more sharpness?
Thanks for your time!
- Chris
Subject far away, pretty stationary (not walking in any direction), focus on eyes.
100% crop of previous.
Subject near, walking towards me, focus on left eye.
100% crop of previous.
Edited on Jan 06, 2014 at 02:36 PM · View previous versions
|