So thanks to this thread, I finally succumbed and put up WTB for it here and was rewarded yesterday -- with luck I'll have it in time to play with over the weekend.
Firstly, I'd appreciate all/any usage tips!
Next, at what aperture does it start to lose its character and look like any other 50? I ask because in the dozens of images I've reviewed from it, many still seem to carry the character at f8 in the oof areas even if only slightly -- which doesn't seem reasonable but is what I see.
What specifically attracts me to it is firstly of course the bokeh rendering. But additionally it being just enough longer than a 50 to not render closer in portrait noses as bulbous as the 50 sometimes can. I think it's going to be a nice pairing with my 85 Viltrox Z -- a lens where surprisingly the oof character wide open is smoother than the Nikon Z 85, and I think it will pair well with the 58 images I see here. We shall see...
Congrats on your purchase. If you look at the equine photos by anitrone above you will notice the subject is given space. My experience is that is where this lens shines. Leave the tighter portraits to the 85 and give this lens a bit of room and you will really like the results.
gear-nut wrote:
So thanks to this thread, I finally succumbed and put up WTB for it here and was rewarded yesterday -- with luck I'll have it in time to play with over the weekend.
Firstly, I'd appreciate all/any usage tips!
Next, at what aperture does it start to lose its character and look like any other 50? I ask because in the dozens of images I've reviewed from it, many still seem to carry the character at f8 in the oof areas even if only slightly -- which doesn't seem reasonable but is what I see.
What specifically attracts me to it is firstly of course the bokeh rendering. But additionally it being just enough longer than a 50 to not render closer in portrait noses as bulbous as the 50 sometimes can. I think it's going to be a nice pairing with my 85 Viltrox Z -- a lens where surprisingly the oof character wide open is smoother than the Nikon Z 85, and I think it will pair well with the 58 images I see here. We shall see...
Mine came yesterday. I spent a little time tuning the AF -- it did need a small tweak on my Z7ii. Here are two images taken at f1.4 during my first trip out with the lens and I am actually impressed with how sharp it is wide open. Perhaps it's sample variation, or perhaps it's just the time I spent fine-tuning AF, but regardless I like it a lot more than one I demoed several years ago when they first came out. The one nit I have with it is it has a decidedly warmer color cast to it than my other Nikon lenses, then it actually cools down to more Nikon normal by about f2.8 -- which I find a strange behavior. Could be something weird with mirrorless WB, IDK...
First image of the old house showing foreground bokeh on the fence:
Second frame showing a woodpecker "pantry post" with house in background:
gnet158 wrote:
Are the branches in the photo actually purple or is that fringing from the lens?
If you zoom in it's obviously some serious purple fringing. I haven't seen this yet in my usage, but assume it will go away when stopped down a little.
I have shot wide open with the lens, but only at night. Typically, that's the only use I have for f/1.4 and with modern sensors producing such good results at high ISO even that's not really necessary.
gnet158 wrote:
Are the branches in the photo actually purple or is that fringing from the lens?
It's a vine of some kind and some of the newer growth branches are actually a bit reddish in color, but purple fringing in this image greatly exacerbates it. Keep in mind too, they are in front of the PoF, so not in focus to begin with; I don't see much fringing along in-focus high-contrast edges, only the oof ones. I have another shot at f2.8 and it is essentially gone, but they're more in focus too. Here's a 100% crop of them from that frame so you can see it better:
Another one -- I am liking the way this lens renders more than I thought I would. Little bit of a learning curve to it though. It does seem to like carefully-chosen focus points...
