jeffersoncasey
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 Re: Your experience with the FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA | |
It's an old thread but I'd just share my experience anyway since this thread is quite informative and hope I can help those who's looking at this lens.
Basically it took me 2 copies to be happy with, first one being used copy as it's somehow rare in stocks and availability nowadays even for a used copy, in where I lived. Ordered a new one few months back, and received it recently, turned out to be a stellar copy.
It's easy to make assumption when one doesn't have at least 2 copies to comepare side by side, I assumed the first one was normal as the sharpness in the center is what I would expect, and edges/corners were soft, pretty much the same except maybe bottom left (instead of the common right side softness).
Coming from CV 40mm 1.2, somehow the lens didn't produce as much contrast or 'bite' for lack of better words, but I'd just use it anyway, and put a +1 on sharpness and contrast and be happy for SOOC jpegs (I shoot both and usually use RAW but for not so important shots I use JPEG).
However, on the new copy first thing I noticed was the contrast seems to be different, or perhaps increase in micro contrast. Shots simply has more bite to them, and upon portrait testing, I'm seeing over sharpening (!) with the +1 sharpness setting which didn't happen on the previous copy. Also the bokeh noticeably smoother and less outlines in busier background. It felt as if the optics were so well aligned that not just the sharpness but everything improved compared to the old one.
And last but not least, identical scene (wall test) confirmed that the new copy indeed produce stellar uniformity across the frame, center sharpness has a lot more bite with corners being just ever so slightly less sharp, in fact to my eyes the corners are perhaps as sharp or better than the previous copy in the center (!).
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