Author Topic: 1st outing with 1.4/58mm  (Read 1139 times)

paul_k

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1st outing with 1.4/58mm
« on: May 01, 2016, 20:19:00 »
Over the years I bought several iconic Nikon lenses like the 2/200, 2/135 DC, 1.4/85 AF D (and even a 2.2/80mm Petzval), in pursuit of the holy grail of 'perfect bokeh'. Love all of them, shot some great pictures with them, but nevertheless always kept a lingering feeling that there might still be some other lens around that could/would fit the 'profile' even better.

So, after reading plenty of threads and reviews about it, tests of it (most of those seemed vexed at labelling as a nice lens, but disappointing for the price, and by no means as 'sharp' as nowadays seems the new holy grail to be chased after), but more importantly researching a lot of pictures shot with it, I finally pulled out my wallet (no buying big price tag items on a credit card for me) and got one a couple of weeks ago. Obviously did some tests with it, and things looked promising, but it just was playing around really ::).

Yesterday I at last was able to put it to the test for the kind of photography (fashion, portrait) I have for it in mind, at a very small low profile amateur J Pop Lolita fashion catwalk. Maybe not professional 'top' models, but rather really sweet and most coorperative 'normal' girls, who allowed me to do some impromptu on location shooting on a nearby lawn. And a great opportunity to play around with the 58mm/put it to the test, and yes, I'm convinced.

Didn't need any AF fine tuning on my DF (and D800), works fine for me as it is even if it may not be sharp at 100% pixelpeeping and despite all the MTF charts at wide open at 1.4. And yes, the bokeh is as wonderful as I had hoped it would be.
Processed in NX-D and NX2 (due to some software glitch I wasn't able to open my D800/DF files in NX2 after I installed NX-D), and converted into B/W on my tablet with the 'Silvered' option of the Photoshop Express app

http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/image/163122717
http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/image/163122715
http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/image/163122716

Looking forward to do some 'serious' shooting with it  :)

Frank Fremerey

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Re: 1st outing with 1.4/58mm
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2016, 21:09:25 »


Lovely photography, which I attribute most to the photographer and not so much to equipment attributes...
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

Me: https://youpic.com/photographer/frankfremerey/