To chime in this is what I have seen so far. All the Zeiss lenses that I own are superb in construction and I love the focusing rings it really makes MF an enjoyable experience. The only negative I have to say about them is that some may cast a strong vignetting at wide apertures (sometimes a little to much for my taste) this can easily be fixed in PP.
Zeiss 21mm by far my favorite lens, I find it to be the lens 90% of all my landscape shots. Rendition and color are with out comparison.
Zeiss 25mm f2,0 another gem but a little more complicated to use than the 21mm, but when it hits the spot the IQ is just outstanding. I got this lens a month ago so I am still learning how to maximize its use. Cant wait to use it for some night shots.
Zeiss 100mm probably the best "macro" I have used. I say "macro" because you have to learn to live w/o the 1:1 ratio but I find myself using it mostly as a telephoto for very tight compositions and the images are on their own league.
I am also using a Zeiss C/Y 35-70 f3.5 and so far it hasn't let me down. The images really pop out, one of the best zooms I have ever used. It is a pain to use with a CPL but that is a small detail compared to all the benefits it provides.
I am still waiting for the 15mm, hopefully Zeiss will release it soon.
bluetsunami wrote:
The D600 and the supposed specs and price sounds like the FF body for me but the only niggling point is if the focus screen will be easily replaced with a precision one.
the D600 probabely will not have the possibility to dial in legacy lenses to aquire correct metering and exif (as the D700 has). Or has anyone read it will? Although recently the rumours changed from "no motor" for older D-Lenses to it will have a motor. We'll have to see what is true.
I am also a bit frightened by the pixel count of the D800. Don't want to buy a new computer.
No one any pictures to show yet? First ones start appearing on the Zeiss thread...
I have the D800 and the 35/2ZF.2 and the 100/2MP ZF.2. Having upgraded to the D800 from a D300, I immediately benefited from the larger VF and the better AF-Confirmation abilities of the D800. Also, as I shoot a lot handheld, I use the autoISO function with the SS being 1/2*SS. This is a very nice feature and also allows me to make crops. I love this autoISO feature on the D800. Most images made with the D800/Zeiss combo are of friends and family, and I have (actually wifey has) a strict policy of not posting them on the internet.
I do find that the Zeiss glass is complimentary to the D800's high res sensor and allows me to make some pretty daring crops, which would not have been possible on lower res cams.
I hope this provides some insight to readers who are interested in this combo.
carstenw wrote:
How is your keeper rate, with respect to accurate focus?
With the D800, I get about 80% of my focus on target or better. The greatest number of missed focuses are the ones that are focused using the max aperture (ie. f/2) on both the Zeiss glass. When I close it down to f/2.8, the accuracy improves. I guess the increased DOF helps to hide the missed focus.
However, as regards to "keepers" because of image quality, that is quite low
AMaji wrote:
I do find that the Zeiss glass is complimentary to the D800's high res sensor and allows me to make some pretty daring crops, which would not have been possible on lower res cams.
up to how much? I am interested in this since I contemplate the use of an APS-C or even m43 as complementary body with my D700 for wildlife shots with a 280mm f4 Leica R Telyt (manual focus). If the D800 can be cropped by a factor 1,5 or even 2 it probabely would be the better option to sell my D700 and go D800 for all uses. The 36 MP frighten me though
cyra wrote:
up to how much? I am interested in this since I contemplate the use of an APS-C or even m43 as complementary body with my D700 for wildlife shots with a 280mm f4 Leica R Telyt (manual focus). If the D800 can be cropped by a factor 1,5 or even 2 it probabely would be the better option to sell my D700 and go D800 for all uses. The 36 MP frighten me though
On my D300, I found that some cropping (something that left between 8 to 10MP) was acceptable for printing 8x10. So, you can crop almost by a factor of 2 with a 36MP file. You have to be careful though and use at least 2xFL as your SS, for non-VR glass. I think with your Leica, make sure you don't shoot lower than 1/500 sec.
I have read that. The D800 needs IBIS ;-) I guess it means to crank up ISO more often.
so you are calculating the croping of the D800 via your experience of the D300?
I'd just try it with a real file, if I had the camera... sure it depends on the use. For internet 72dpi there might be a lot to crop. I guess if vastly depends on the lens how far it goes.
cyra wrote:
I have read that. The D800 needs IBIS ;-) I guess it means to crank up ISO more often.
so you are calculating the croping of the D800 via your experience of the D300?
I'd just try it with a real file, if I had the camera... sure it depends on the use. For internet 72dpi there might be a lot to crop. I guess if vastly depends on the lens how far it goes.
Experience is the best teacher, and nothing like experimenting to gain experience. Starting off with my experience with the D300 seems a good idea to me, but different strokes for different folks... so YMMV.
cyra wrote:
I have read that. The D800 needs IBIS ;-) I guess it means to crank up ISO more often.
so you are calculating the croping of the D800 via your experience of the D300?
I'd just try it with a real file, if I had the camera... sure it depends on the use. For internet 72dpi there might be a lot to crop. I guess if vastly depends on the lens how far it goes.
experience with the d7000 ought to tell you how croppable it is pretty well with any given lens since the pixel density is the same. obviously there are probably differences in sensor toppings (especially in the E version). just assume the d7000 image is already a 1.5x crop and go from there.
AMaji,
didn't mean to question your experience, just seemed to me, if you had the D800, you might have tried to see how far the reach is by cropping. It has a much newer sensor, different engine and whatever else. I guess it looks somewhat different from a D300 crop, maybe also different from a D7000 picture, but maybe not. That is what I am interested in.
You said with your Zeiss glass you could do daring crops. Since I also own a bunch of ZF lenses I am interested to know how much is "daring"
sebboh,
The pixel densities in the D800, D7000 and NEX5N are similar, D800 having slightly less per sensor area, but that might be an artefact by rounded numbers in the specs (4.16/4.6/4.87 MPix/cm2 sensor area).
I really need to shoot my lens with the D7000 I will have access to next week. That will tell me a lot about wheter to stay with this pixel density or possibly go up another step to OMD/NEX7 7.11/7.31 MPix/cm2). The 800 sure woun't be any worse than the D7000. With the smaller sensors it might be a different story. There is always some punishment in reduced pixel size. DR, colours, grain. Plus I am getting even less coverage on the lens and use only the middle spot.
I am warming more and more to the idea to abandon the small solution and get the D800 instead. It is even cheaper when I sell my D700, than buying an OMD + related gear and lenses.
Not good for my back though ;-)
cyra wrote:
AMaji,
didn't mean to question your experience, just seemed to me, if you had the D800, you might have tried to see how far the reach is by cropping. It has a much newer sensor, different engine and whatever else. I guess it looks somewhat different from a D300 crop, maybe also different from a D7000 picture, but maybe not. That is what I am interested in.
You said with your Zeiss glass you could do daring crops. Since I also own a bunch of ZF lenses I am interested to know how much is "daring"
I did not take any kind of offense, as I realized that it was a question to what extent one can crop...
You can check the original sizes on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/15485435@N08/
For reference, the full FX large image size for D800 is 7,360 x 4,912 pixels.
Here is a crop with size 2608 x 3912 pixels from D800.
thanks for the samples. These are with the 200/2.0?
Those chicks are very impressive, the fine detail on the feathers is awsome (the larger samples at your account).
cyra wrote:
thanks for the samples. These are with the 200/2.0?
Those chicks are very impressive, the fine detail on the feathers is awsome (the larger samples at your account).
I used the Nikon 70-200VR1 with a Kenko 1.4TC. The 70-200VR1 vignettes a little at 2.8 and 4, but goes away with software lens correction very easily on ACR.
I liked the Zeiss ZF2 35/2 so much that i have since sold my 35mm f1.4G Nikon. The 35mm f1.4G was sharp but to me appeared boring, cold and had no character. While the Zeiss 35mm was addictive to use and gave great results straight from f2 and is very easy to manual focus on the D800.
I also love my 21mm Zeiss, which has since replaced the 17-35mm and 14-24mm Nikkors. I simply dont need any other lens in that superwide focal length.
jasenz, thanks for ur income.
Could you answer a few questions please?
1) What AF points settings do you use for manual focusing (single/9-expanded/21-expanded; central AF point or peripheral)? What setting gives you the best focus acquisition?
2) Audial/sound (beep) focus confirmation: does it work with manual focus lenses?
3) How accurate D800 rangefinder focus assist system is for MF lenses?
4) AF points layout inside viewfinder: do they draw your attention away from making a good composition through VF?
5) Any complaints about LV that make its usage for nailing focus too complicated/impossible?
After I read D800 manual I found out that the camera can be completely customized for right hand operation if Play, Menu and ZoomIn buttons are assigned to Fn, DOF and MS-center buttons respectively. Hope it will help for better handling MF lenses with the camera.
1] I have not found any variation in the focus points to be honest. I use any of the AF points, i try to not focus and recompose so always aim to use the AF point closest to my subject, for greater accuracy.
2] There is no beep comfirmation with Nikon D800s as far as i know.
3] My rangefinder focus assist is spot on, with focus being at the middle between < .... 0 .... >
I think if you find yours is not quite in the middle you can AF fine tune until it is accurate. My previous 100mm Zeiss ZF did not allow me to do this on the D700 so i have since sold it but my newer 21 and 35 ZF2 allows me to AF fine tune but fortunately both do not require any adjustments.
4] No, i find the AF point layouts non distracting and easy to see.
5] LV nailing focus is difficult in midday sunlight. Otherwise the new LV is miles better than my D700 which was slow and painful. I set my sharpening to max to assist my manual focusing using LV as i only use the NEF files anyway.
Copied/pasted from D800 manual:
d1: Beep ➜ Custom Settings menu
Choose the pitch and volume of the beep that sounds when the camera focuses using single-servo AF (091), when focus locks during live view photography, while the release timer is counting
down in self-timer mode (0106), when time-lapse photography ends (0207), or if you attempt to take a photograph when the memory card is locked (034). Note that a beep will not sound in
movie live view (059) or quiet-shutter release mode (mode J; 0103), regardless of the option selected.
• Volume: Choose 3 (high), 2 (medium), 1 (low) or Off (mute). When an option other than
Off is selected, c appears in the control panel and information display.
• Pitch: Choose High or Low.
Doesn't it work with MF confirmation? Could you check it out please?
