helimat wrote:
Wonderful shot from a wonderful lens. I miss having one, but I just couldn't justify having it and a CV 125/2.5... Maybe again one day.
Thank you very much! This is my second copy of Nikkor 105/2.5 (the first one was Ai version; shortly after selling it I started regretting it, and that is why I bought this lens a few months ago). This is truly amazing lens and commonly regarded as one of the best portrait lenses ever.
Bifurcator wrote:
I don't feel any need to defend Nikon's lens design but I do like correct information and these descriptions don't seem to fit. On a M4/3 sensor it's one of the sharpest lenses I've used so far (out of about 230 in total, probably -20 for duplicates) across the entire half-ff-width. It was sharp enough to put a smile on my face. The only other lens that's done that consistently is the Canon FD 300mm F4.0L and this Nikkor is as sharp or sharper than that lens. With this Nikkor the OOF areas are soft - obviously - but the rest isn't.
I can't speak to the corners on digital but I just put the lens on one of my Nikon film bodies and spent 20min with it pointed at a res-chart. I know very well what good glass (or soft corners) looks like through my Nikons and this lens seems fairly exceptional as far as sharpness across the fame goes. I took it outside and pointed it at some far off distant buildings with tile surfaces and it also seems exceptionally sharp there too. The Sun is uber-bright today and there are no noticeable fringes looking through the FF either.
The images I shot with it on the M4/3 were sharpened ever so slightly but I needed much less than I do with just about any other lens. It had that Zeiss condition where sharpening actually ruins the image by doing nothing other than adding black or white halos around contrasting edges. All of these here and above were sharpened with a radius of 0.3 pixels and between 30% and 60% - tho most were on the low side of that.
"Corners are only an issue when shooting planar objects" - yes I noticed some focus field curvature on the FF just now - at some distances. Mostly close focusing. But this isn't a macro lens so I don't expect flat-field rendering and it wasn't too bad. About average for 50~65mm lenses - so a little much for an 85mm but still not too bad.
Nice images, Bifucator! I am glad you have found a lens that needs little post-processing ! The number of lenses you have gone through is impressive indeed! I am wondering if you have used any of the new Zeiss SLR lenses that have been released relatively recently, e.g. ZF? I know you have been a staunch defender of the post-processing in favor of the expensive Zeiss and find it curious that you are smitten by this Nikkor lens
bluetsunami wrote:
Applied a slight distortion fix to my 28/2 AI in Photoshop (+1) and it clears whatever slight barrel distortion is present...
I can appreciate a distortion free photo, it makes symmetry and prominent lines in a photo look more impactful
I completely agree about your last comment. A 45/2.8 PC-E was on my mind for this exact reason, until I picked up a 28/2.8 AI and read your fix tip.
(all pics taken w/ a 5Dc)
Great stuff!
! The number of lenses you have gone through is impressive indeed! I am wondering if you have used any of the new Zeiss SLR lenses that have been released relatively recently, e.g. ZF? I know you have been a staunch defender of the post-processing in favor of the expensive Zeiss and find it curious that you are smitten by this Nikkor lens
