Archive 2014 · Nano Coating

Jason_Brook
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Nano Coating

I'm sure this has already been discussed at length, but I didn't kick up anything in a search.

Do you personally notice a difference from lenses with nano coating in color/flare/contrast? I've often wondered how the nano coated lenses would perform without it. Lately, I haven't been using anything with nano coating, but when I threw on the 60/2.8G for some playground snapshots, I quickly remembered how much I loved the fairy dust.....and then I got sad that I sold most of my nano-coated lenses.

*disclaimer to statement above; I use my 16-35 often, but I don't have another wide non-nano coated lens to compare it to.

Jul 09, 2014 at 08:35 PM

hijazist
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Nano Coating

I notice some difference with regards to contrast/color mostly especially with the 70-200 VRII, 60 2.8g, 28 1.8g and 24-70 2.8.

Jul 09, 2014 at 09:17 PM

mshi
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Nano Coating

60G Micro is a highly-corrected lens and turns out to be one of the sharpest lenses with nearly no distortion. I wouldn't use that as the standard to judge other Nikkors.

Jul 09, 2014 at 09:20 PM

OccAeon
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Nano Coating

I've noticed that my 70-200 f/4 w/ Nano coating tends to produce much more contrasty images straight out of camera than my 300 f/4, which lacks a Nano coating. I think that the Sigma 35A is probably as good as the 70-200 f/4, though, and it lacks a nano coat.

Either way, it seems like it can be mostly fixed with a couple of clicks in post.

Below are a couple of images before/after processing that I pulled to test my theory. I don't think that it's a great test, because this is just comparing the fully-processed files to the unprocessed files.

Jul 09, 2014 at 11:06 PM

Jason_Brook
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Nano Coating

hijazist wrote:
I notice some difference with regards to contrast/color mostly especially with the 70-200 VRII, 60 2.8g, 28 1.8g and 24-70 2.8.

Agreed, I really noticed it comparing the 28/1.8G to the Sig 35. Makes me really miss the 28/1.8. The 24-70 was also much more noticeable in the overlap area with the 16-35.

Seriously debating dumping some gear to get the 28 and 24-70 back in my stable.

Jul 10, 2014 at 06:43 AM

CGrindahl
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Nano Coating

This is a bit like tasting wine... everyone will have a different subjective experience/opinion. At wine tastings the reviewers don't know WHAT they are tasting, so it is possible to separate the good from the better from the best without reference to who made the wine. The true test is for someone to post multiple photos of the same subject from lenses with differing lens coatings. You could also include differing optical designs if you were daring enough to include some older MF lenses.

I've no doubt that Nikon and other producers are working to provide ever better equipment to photographers. But lets not forget that "new and improved" has always been enticement offered to buying a different product. Whether "new and improved" actually means anything in the real world is an open question. Perhaps for pixel peepers scouring a photo from edge to edge there will be something to celebrate but in this modern era of digital processing in which we have amazing tools for manipulating images, whether perfection is needed out of the camera or not is perhaps beside the point.

YMMV.

Jul 10, 2014 at 12:15 PM

Joseph.
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Nano Coating

In my experience, the nano coated glass usually end up rendering deeper colors and better microcontrast. I have thousands of photos with both the 16-35VR and 18-35G (which are both new designs) and the 16-35 tends to have more pop. The files also seem to respond well to saturation and vibrance sliders.

Also, I haven't owned a 200 f/2 VRII, but everytime I see images from this lens, I feel like they have slightly deeper color than my VR1 can produce SOOC.

Jul 10, 2014 at 01:31 PM


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