85mm Nikkor 1/80 f/1.4 iso 3200
So I just picked up a new lens. As you can tell from the title of this post its a Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Lens. I was a little skeptical to get a Manual Focus Lens. Oh I didn’t tell you!? There is not Auto Focus here.
First Impressions:
1. I was having a real tough time getting this thing to focus on what I wanted it to focus on. Especially wide open at f/1.4.
-Focusing Ring has very long throws, which makes it easier to focus in on your subject precisely.
- Every time I thought it was focused, I would take the picture and review it, only to my frustration I would find out, it would be an inch or two out of focus. I thought to myself, Maybe I just need to get used to the MF way of life, I have been so used to just getting my focus power from the AFF (Auto Focus Fairy).
- After a little bit of reading about the lens (Which there is not much information out there), I noticed people were talking about a little green dot that would pop up in the View Finder to indicate that you were in focus. For the life of me, I didn’t know where to find this green dot, nor did I notice it ever before. After looking all around my VF for this green dot, I noticed it was on the bottom left corner of the VF along with all of the other camera settings. After using the green dot as my assistant, my photos were all in focus! This made me one happy boy. I also felt like such a newb for not knowing about the Focus Indicator.
2. Colors Rendering and Contrast is the bomb diggity.
- Beautiful
-Stunning
- Blows my Nikkor 50mm 1.8 color out of the water. (Even though I still think that lens is the best glass for the money and its a really awesome lens)
3. This thing’s middle name is Sharpness
- Wide open, it’s sharp with a little hazy goodness all around.
- Past f/2 it only gets noticeably and awesomely sharper.
4. Bokeh
- Just beautiful Butter Sauce all around town.
5. Distortion
- I still want to do a little more testing in this area, but from what I see in my sample photos, it handles distortion really well.
6. Conclusion:
At first I was really regretting my purchase and was hoping I didn’t make a big mistake in buying this lens. I wasn’t able to get anything in focus for the life of me. And maybe if I had consistent practice with MF all day every day for a while, I would probably be a serious MF pro, but I don’t know if I have the patients. I wanted results now, but I wasn’t really getting them. I loved the color and contrast right away. I loved the bokeh right away. I loved the build of the lens right away – It was solid and and felt like it was made out of pure titanium from a Government F-15. Everything about this lens other than the MF was great, but if I couldn’t take a single picture that I wanted, it was as good as dirty underwear (not good at all, incase I have some freaks reading this). But everything changed as soon as I discovered the magical green dot to assist me with making sure my focus was dead on. I will be very anxious to get out and shoot a little more with this lens and see what kind of stunning images I can produce. I still need to answer the question: Is it practical? That will answer itself with a little more time.
7. And one more thing…….
HELP ME CONTINUE WHAT I LOVE!
- I support my growing family through my Photography and through this Blog. If you enjoy the material that I post or find it helpful then I just ask that you support me by leaving a donation by clicking on the donation button on the right hand side or share this post with your friends so that I can continue doing what I do. It would help me out a great deal.
- Since Google’s disclaimer forbids anyone to ask people to click on their ads, I guess i’m not allowed to ask you to click on my ads and help me out. ; )
- If you like my work please make sure to “Like” me on facebook, You don’t even know how much that would help me!
- If I have done work for you in the past and you are pleased with it, please leave a review on my Page here!
- And if you know anyone getting married? or maybe not even know them, but just heard about it, or a little birdie told you, pass the word along!
Thank you
-Valentin
Sample Images - Click on the pictures to see them in full resolution.
I also added screenshots of some of them at 100% crop
1/60 f/1.8 iso 1000
1/50 f/2.5 iso 500
1/250 f/1.4 iso 400
100% Crop
1/60 f/3.5 iso 400
100% Crop
1/60 f/3.5 iso 400
100% Crop
Nikkor 1/160 f/1.8 iso400
100%
1/160 f1.8 iso 400
1/160 f/1.8 iso 400
100% Crop
1/200 f/1.4 iso 400
1/125 f/1.4 iso 640
1/80 f/1.4 iso 640 See what I mean by the focus being a hair off!
1/60 f/1.4 iso 1000
1/60 f/2.5 iso 2500 Pushing the ISO
1/60 f/1.4 iso 1250
1/60 f/1.4 iso 1250 – Unedited
1/60 f/1.4 iso 640
1/60 f/2.2 iso 6400 Really Pushing it.
1/80 f/1.4 iso 3200
1/80 f/1.4 iso 3200
