Just picked up this lens to use on my D750. I'm coming from a 5D3 and 50/1.2, a combo I have probably 75k+ shots through (all that to say I spend a lot of time with fast lenses). I'm finding the 58/1.4 a little ... inconsistent, at best. I have it at +10 microadjust now, and it seems close to accurate, but still not enough to count on. I wasn't expecting much sharpness wide open, but I figured it wouldn't give much up to my 50L. So far, the 58 seems soft enough that I have a hard time telling if it's actually in-focus.
Do I return it and hope second copy is better? Or is this just the way it is, and I'm expecting too much? I don't need razor sharpness wide open, I'm not a pixel-peeper. I need accurate focus, and great character and rendering, which this lens seems to have in spades. So I'm hesitant to even return it. Even with the issues so far, it's beautiful. Reminds me of my 50 Summilux in some ways.
Rob UK wrote:
Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to say thanks to all for sharing their images from this lens, Ive really enjoyed following this thread and I always look forward to seeing the new images, so thank you to all of you who have been posting images.
Right from its release I knew it was a lens that I was interested in and having seen what it can produce I'm even more convinced.
Just out of curiosity has any camera body in particular shown itself to be a good partner for this lens or does it just rock it with whichever body you use?
I still use D700's and whilst I think its a great camera I can't help eyeing up some of the other recent releases and its that thought that had me wondering about a 58 pairing, would any of you multi body owners care to comment?
I'd imagine this lens would do stellar on a D700; the low MP and great AF would lend itself perfect for this lens. On my DF, I struggled with this lens big time. I had incredibly inconsistent results. With the D4, it's bang on pretty often. It does front focus quite often when near MFD, but once I'm well past MFD it's bang on every time.
RyanFlynn wrote:
Just picked up this lens to use on my D750. I'm coming from a 5D3 and 50/1.2, a combo I have probably 75k+ shots through (all that to say I spend a lot of time with fast lenses). I'm finding the 58/1.4 a little ... inconsistent, at best. I have it at +10 microadjust now, and it seems close to accurate, but still not enough to count on. I wasn't expecting much sharpness wide open, but I figured it wouldn't give much up to my 50L. So far, the 58 seems soft enough that I have a hard time telling if it's actually in-focus.
Do I return it and hope second copy is better? Or is this just the way it is, and I'm expecting too much? I don't need razor sharpness wide open, I'm not a pixel-peeper. I need accurate focus, and great character and rendering, which this lens seems to have in spades. So I'm hesitant to even return it. Even with the issues so far, it's beautiful. Reminds me of my 50 Summilux in some ways....Show more →
I'd spend a day or two with it to see if you can figure out how this lens works. It can be a frustrating lens to work with because of focus issues. It seems to have a mindset different from all other lenses.
RyanFlynn wrote:
Do I return it and hope second copy is better?
My second copy was even worse than first. However, the third one -- which I bought here on FM -- was sent to Nikon for calibration by the previous owner. It's consistent, sharp and non-hazy. Requires +2 on my DF and +1 on D610.
Iluxa007 wrote:
My 58mm needed a 14+ tune on both D3s and DF, which I found strange.
Thanks for the Answer Iluxa007, Ive never looked at the fine tuning of my lenses, is this something people do as a matter of course or do you only do it if there appears to be a problem?
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Hardcore wrote:
I shoot with the D800, but this lens does have a resolution limit when shooting wide open. I'd say the resolution wide open is conservatively about 12-16 megapixels, so shooting with a d800 like myself you throw away a lot of pixels when you use this lens wide open.
The D700 would work great with this lens imo, but if your looking to upgrade I think the D750 would be tops in my list for current cameras. I just held one at my local camera store and fell in love and I didn't even turn it on to test the autofocus/high iso because I knew I would have walked out of the store with it.
I'm actually considering buying a D750 and selling my D800.
...Show more →
Thank you for the answer Hardcore, thats quite some endorsement for the 750 and from what I have been reading you aren't the only one who thinks highly of the camera.
Can I ask you to elaborate on the first part of your answer? how do you gauge what the resolution of the lens is wide open? you mention loosing pixels when shooting with a D800, are you able to say what you see in image characteristics? Please forgive my ignorance I have no frame of reference for what you are describing and I'm curious about it,
Thank you
Rob UK wrote:
Thank you for the answer Hardcore, thats quite some endorsement for the 750 and from what I have been reading you aren't the only one who thinks highly of the camera.
Can I ask you to elaborate on the first part of your answer? how do you gauge what the resolution of the lens is wide open? you mention loosing pixels when shooting with a D800, are you able to say what you see in image characteristics? Please forgive my ignorance I have no frame of reference for what you are describing and I'm curious about it,
Thank you
All lenses have a resolution to them. The way I determine my lenses resolution is to downsize them to the point where they appear very sharp wide open @ 100%. Usually with the 58mm, that is around the 12-16 megapixel mark. It is a very unscientific way to test
Woke up to a nice surprise today. I bid on one of these last night on ebay and put a price I didn't expect to win. Woke up today and saw that I won a mint copy for 1150.
Seems like a good price from what I have seen
Hopefully will be adding some shots to the thread by the end of the week. This thread is what made me bid in the first place
Went out with a local photographer tonight to exchange pictures of eachother's family, was a lot of fun. Depressing not being able to use the 58 wide open
Never seen this lens render like this before, specifically #2. I shat bricks.
webisweb wrote:
My second copy was even worse than first. However, the third one -- which I bought here on FM -- was sent to Nikon for calibration by the previous owner. It's consistent, sharp and non-hazy. Requires +2 on my DF and +1 on D610.
Were your first copies hazy? Like I said, I'm not expecting critical sharpness at 1.4. But I wasn't expecting a ton of veiling.
Hazy is a sign you are either front or back focused. I micro adjust my lens to where I cannot see any haloing on white text against black. If you see a slight purple or green hazy halo, you are either front or back focused.
Hardcore wrote:
Hazy is a sign you are either front or back focused. I micro adjust my lens to where I cannot see any haloing on white text against black. If you see a slight purple or green hazy halo, you are either front or back focused.
That would've been my thought, too, but I can see exactly where the plane of focus is going, and it's very hazy. Not that it lacks microcontrast (though it does) but that it doesn't resolve much detail it all. It honestly reminds me of a softer version of my super old Canon 50/1.4.
RyanFlynn wrote:
Just picked up this lens to use on my D750. I'm coming from a 5D3 and 50/1.2, a combo I have probably 75k+ shots through (all that to say I spend a lot of time with fast lenses). I'm finding the 58/1.4 a little ... inconsistent, at best. I have it at +10 microadjust now, and it seems close to accurate, but still not enough to count on. I wasn't expecting much sharpness wide open, but I figured it wouldn't give much up to my 50L. So far, the 58 seems soft enough that I have a hard time telling if it's actually in-focus.
Do I return it and hope second copy is better? Or is this just the way it is, and I'm expecting too much? I don't need razor sharpness wide open, I'm not a pixel-peeper. I need accurate focus, and great character and rendering, which this lens seems to have in spades. So I'm hesitant to even return it. Even with the issues so far, it's beautiful. Reminds me of my 50 Summilux in some ways....Show more →
I'd return it. As you can see in this thread, some copies are really good. I would do anything I could to get a sharp copy.
Some of you may not be aware, but the original Noct-Nikkor was plagued by this same issue. If you find someone who can prove they have a really sharp copy today the price gets even more ridiculous haha
ohsnaphappy wrote:
Some of you may not be aware, but the original Noct-Nikkor was plagued by this same issue. If you find someone who can prove they have a really sharp copy today the price gets even more ridiculous haha
I had to go through multiple Noct-Nikkors till I got a very good one. Maybe it's the time with the coatings I don't know, but the one I got now is one of the last serialnumbers (1998+), maybe its just the production date.
The Noct-Nikkor behaves different to the 58/1.4G in difficult backlight situations and is visible better with point light sources at the focus pane. I don't really know what optical aberration is better corrected with the Noct-Nikkor, but the center image sharpness is visible better with the Noct-Nikkor @f/1.2.
Here one of my early comparison shots Noct-Nikkor vs 58/1.4G
My version of the 58mm needed at MFD +18 on my D800E, which Nikon Canada repaired for the AF sensor issue 8 months ago, +13 on my new D750 and +9 on my girlfriend's D300. I called Nikon Canada and they said that they calibrate AF at f2.8 and not f1.4, so if one can adjust within the +20 and -20 in AF Fine Tuning, it is within specs.
After doing some tests, like other noticed, there is a focus shift to the rear from f1.4 to f8 near MFD.
