The G28 did a lot better than I had expected for aurora/stars. Even on my crop NEX-5R, the corners can get pretty dodgy on landscapes. If you look closely, the stars in the corners aren't perfect, but they're better than I've seen with most of my older lenses. The stars in the corners are short, thin lines rather than pinpricks, but they're surprisingly sharp - that is, they don't look like out of focus blobs or big coma triangles.
arduluth wrote:
The stars in the corners are short, thin lines rather than pinpricks, but they're surprisingly sharp - that is, they don't look like out of focus blobs or big coma triangles.
In that case the dominant aberration is astigmatism. It must be due to the sensor cover glass, since the lens is free of astigmatism. (I assume you are not looking at star trails.)
Toothwalker wrote:
In that case the dominant aberration is astigmatism. It must be due to the sensor cover glass, since the lens is free of astigmatism. (I assume you are not looking at star trails.)
That's not surprising. I don't think they're star trails - the exposure is on the edge of the 600/(FL*1.5) rule at 13s, but the stars are quite sharp in the center 2/3s of the frame.
We're in the middle of harvest and my big Defranceschi press failed. All is not lost as we have an old basket press as backup. Here is the old press in action.
Season of Touit - Picture 16 Week 40, Saturday - Inspiration and gear
"I’ve always been inspired by the high quality gear (at pretty rare occasions when I have had a possibility to use such) and Zeiss Touit 2.8/12 & Touit 2.8/50M are no different in this regard. Feeling that there are no optical obstacles regarding image quality can certainly be a source of inspiration that makes you work harder with your photography. I don’t want to say you need expensive equipment for better photographs, but my point is perhaps easier to understand if I turn it upside down. Take any point & shoot compact camera from yesteryear with their ‘cheap silver-plastic aesthetics’ and you will immediately see how such a gear can lower your inspiration because [...]"
Season of Touit - Picture 17 Week 41, Wednesday - Being and time
"I’ve been using the Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M in different scenarios and while it is a lens with great versatility, it is also difficult to come up with right kind of pictures that demonstrates its marvelous macro capabilities and still be interesting enough from photography’s point of view. To demonstrate these macro capabilities I wanted to do at least one picture at minimum focusing distance just to have a concrete example how close one can get with 2.8/50M and what kind of magnification does it offer. [...]"
Season of Touit - Picture 18 Week 41, Saturday - A Play in a Dark
"Learning photography is related to many things like understanding its technical aspects, developing your eye for better images, getting your work out there, etc. One of those things is learning to get good image quality. This is true especially from the technical point of view because no one starts with five star gear and in some point everyone needs to reconsider if they feel themselves satisfied with gear they are using at the moment - and because of this one might end up searching quite a long time for that 'perfect' camera or lens, which obviously doesn't exist. In some ways, working with Zeiss lenses is some sort of remedy to that kind of search [...]"
Season of Touit - Picture 19 Week 42, Wednesday - The Zeiss look
"The last week of the Season of Touit is starting and it might be proper moment to ask if something has changed in my photography after having high quality lenses like Zeiss Touit 2.8/12 & Touit 2.8/50M. When I started this season and I had Zeiss lenses for the first time in my hand, I had a somewhat unconscious preconception in my mind. My preconception was a concept and meme called 'the Zeiss look' which originates from Zeiss user base and is more based on cultural knowledge than concepts of optical engineering. [...]"
Season of Touit - Picture 20 Week 42, Saturday - Next level
"Stop the press!! Today's post was originally supposed to be the last post of Season of Touit before I start my last season. I had already wrote a part of it, when I got an unexpected e-mail which might change my plans. It could be the best thing ever happened in my story or it might not lead to anything, I don't know yet. Right now my project is now in its liminal state (between two stages in plain language) and before I can continue to the next level – that is the last season of Year of the Alpha – I have to wait and see what happens. But this is also good news, because I can continue the Season of Touit at least for a week (might be even more if the e-mail leads to something) and tell you about some things that I haven't touched yet. So, sit tight as I continue to share my experiences with the Zeiss Touits.
One of those things that I haven't discussed about yet, is the Touit 2.8/12's great functionality in small spaces. [...]"
A couple of test shots with the 645D and Hassy lenses.
Jack’s been helping me remember how to focus through an OVF for portraits in less than optimal light. This one’s with the CF Planar 100/3.5 wide open. It’s not a lens I acquired for it’s close performance, but it’s nice to know it’ll do in a pinch.
I picked up an F Sonnar 150/2.8 to use as a portrait lens. I thought I was going to go with the Planar 110/2, my only concern being whether or not I could easily focus it wide open. That wasn’t a problem, but I didn’t like the draw wide open, particularly the bokeh. The 150 appeared to be the better choice to me, so I found what appeared to be a decent copy at an acceptable price on eBay.
Unfortunately, I thought I was going to have to send it back because I couldn’t get the aperture to close down with the DoF preview lever engaged. Fortunately the seller was willing to work with me on it and the fix will be relatively simple. I’m just waiting on a part now. But the wide-open performance has me pretty stoked. I took this test shot with the ball as far out in the usable frame as I would be likely to place a subject, and I’m very happy with the sharpness. And I’m very pleased with both the near and far background OOF areas.
The best thing about this lens, once it has a working manual aperture, is that it will retain a near circle down to f/5.6. f/8 is sort of a roundish pentagon and f/11 is the typical Hassy pentagon. So, hopefully I’ll get good bokeh down to f/5.6, which will be perfect.
Season of Touit - Picture 21 Week 43, Wednesday - a Real Touit
"While I have shared my pictures taken with Zeiss Touit 2.8/12 & Touit 2.8/50M regularly on many photography forums, I have found that there is one preconception regarding the Touit family that emerges pretty often. It seems that there are many photographers who perceive the Zeiss Touit family different from other Zeiss products like ZA & ZM's. Many of them seem to ask if the lenses of Touit family are 'true' Zeiss lenses. [...]"
