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 p.1 #1 · About the 35mm f1.2S sharpness and some thoughts about sampe variation. | |
Hi,
I have the Nikon 35mm f1.2 S since two weeks and I'm truly impressed.
I have 3 systems (L-mount, Sony FE and Nikon Z) and I have used a lot of 35mm in the past. I think this one has the best rendering.
However I'm a bit concerned about the sharpness wide open on my copy.
I only have the Z6III right now and I think the lens lacks a bit of crispness in the center wide open.
At f1.4, my 35mm GM looks noticeabily sharper, the Viltrox 35mm f1.2 I had (I returned this one because of firmware issue) was also sharper at f1.2 to a lesser extend.
Davision on Youtube had the same experience with the Viltrox and the S :
It's only when I stop down to about f1.6 that my 35mm f1.2S becomes very sharp, still not as sharp as my Sigma 28-45mm at 35mm but more or less the same than my 35mm GM (which mirror the labtest of theses lens on "Digital Camera World").
I saw some pretty sharp JPEG samples of the 35mm f1.2S wide open on this forum and on Dpreview (oddly the files from the Dpreview articles are only in JPEG for this lens), but other ones look much more like my copy.
By example on the Digitalcameraworld review, the full size samples (JPEG) look similar to my copy. I also found a lot of raw samples from a Japanese Youtuber using this lens on a Z6III, and again the samples look more or less the same than my copy. It's not the lens is soft wide open, but I thought it would have been slightly sharper, especially at this price.
Here is a link to the Digitalcameraworld review and the Youtube video where I downloaded the raw samples of the 35mm f1.2S :
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/lenses/nikon-z-35mm-f-1-2-s-review
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mSfKAGKYBMxGe9jIOiezgv0qHOFmWu7O (Raw samples from the Youtube video link).
I don't know if the lens is prone to sample variation (I've seen no evidence of this from now).
If I look at the Digital Camera World review of the 35mm f1.2Z, the wide open sharpness is not very high, like the samples from the same site. And it looks more or less the same than the 50mm f1.2S they tested. I also own this lens and when looking closely, my 50mm f1.2 is very slightly sharper my the 35mm (difference is almost insignificant).
When looking at both the "Photographylife" and "digitalcameraworld" reviews, both the 35mmS and 50mmS have indeed more or less the same sharpness in the center wide open, the 50mm f1.2 tested on Digitalcameraworld even looks a tiny bit sharper than the 35mm, which again mirror my experience :
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/lenses/nikon-z-35mm-f-1-2-s-review
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/reviews/nikon-z-50mm-f12-s-review
https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-z-35mm-f-1-2-s-lens/2
https://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-z-50mm-f-1-2-s/2
Lenstip has not tested the 35mmf1.2S yet but they have tested the 50mm f1.2S and according to their review, it has much less resolution wide open than the 35mm GM at f1.4 or the 28-45mm at 35mm, which seems to confirm my experience with theses lenses (my 50mm GM f1.2 was also sharper than my 50mm f1.2S).
https://www.lenstip.com/609.4-Lens_review-Nikon_Nikkor_Z_50_mm_f_1.2_S_Image_resolution.html
https://www.lenstip.com/598.4-Lens_review-Sony_FE_35_mm_f_1.4_GM_Image_resolution.html
https://www.lenstip.com/675.4-Lens_review-Sigma_A_28-45_mm_f_1.8_DG_DN_Image_resolution.html
However (and that's what make me doubt even more), I saw someone on this forum and on Dpreview saying its 35mm f1.2S has more resolution wide open than its 50mm f1.2 and looked very sharp.
Sample variation is a real thing and with some lenses and I often had very different results than Lenstip.
By example, my first sample of the Sigma 28-45mm was different than the sample they tested, mine was pretty soft at 28mm. My second sample (I still have this one) is one of the sharpest lens I own. At 45mm it is razor sharp, nothing like the sample Lenstip had tested. My sample looks more or less the same than on the Digital Camera World review, showing excellent sharpness in the center wide open at 45mm :
https://www.lenstip.com/675.4-Lens_review-Sigma_A_28-45_mm_f_1.8_DG_DN_Image_resolution.html
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/reviews/sigma-28-45mm-f18-dg-dn-art-review
Also, I know it's difficult to compare lens sharpness between different systems because when using my Megadap Pro+ and my Sony lenses on my Z6III, they look very slightly less sharp (when pixel peeping) than on my Sony cameras.
I don't know if it's because of the adapter or if Sony use some backed in sharpening in their raw files but my Sony files still look slightly more cripsy (almost if they have some digital sharpening backed in).
I must say the very sharp samples (wide open) of the 35mm f1.2S I have found on the net were all taken with a high resolution bodies like the Z7 or Z8. Every sample I have seen from this lens on the Z6III looks more like my copie, so it's also possible the Z6III soften a bit the picture because of its AA filter.
I remember seeing on this forum, Facebook groups and Reddit some people saying the Z6III was softer, "dreamier" or more "painterly" than the Z8 or even older 24MP Nikon cameras.
It is something I never really seen when I compared my 42/44MP to my 24MP Panasonic or Sony cameras, by example, my S1II (no AA filter) produces very crisp details, similar to my S1RII. But maybe it's different with Nikon because of the AA filter.
Here are some flat and boring full size samples of my 35mm f1.2S wide open with my Z6III.
They are processed with ACR and Adobe default settings (Sharpness 40, 0 luminance, 0 clarity etc), only exposure was adjusted in some cases. Maybe some people owning the lens could share their impressions about my copy :
I also share some comparison pics between the 35mm f1.2S, 50mm f1.2S and the Sigma 28-45mm (at 35mm) :
f1.2 :
35mm f1.2S at f1.2
50mm f1.2S at f1.2
Bonus : the Z 40mm f2 at f2
f1.4 :
35mm f1.2S at f1.4
50mm f1.2S at f1.4
f1.8 :
35mm f1.2S at f1.8
50mm f1.2S at f1.8
28-45mm at 35mm f1.8
For people owning the 35mm f1.2S with a 24MP Nikon camera like the Z6III, I would be grateful if you could share some raw or processed files with ACR (with Adobe default settings).
The lens is not cheap so I don't want to keep a lens which is not as sharp as it should be.
Thank you !
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cheers.