NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Lens Talk => Topic started by: Michael Erlewine on February 05, 2016, 17:10:09
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I am opening this thread because B&H has notified me by email that my copy of the Zeiss Otus APO 28mm f/1.4 ZF.2 for Nikon mount has been shipped.
Here is a photo of the Zeiss 95mm UV filter ready for the lens. The filter cost over $300. Ouch! I may take it off, but there are times with WA lenses when I will need it for close up work.
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i really don't understand why you would ever want to put a UV filter on that lens.... i would be afraid of degrading the lens by adding a flare producing piece of glass.
i am sure folks will correct me if i am wrong.
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i really don't understand why you would ever want to put a UV filter on that lens.... i would be afraid of degrading the lens by adding a flare producing piece of glass.
i am sure folks will correct me if i am wrong.
No wrong or right. In the studio, in the garden, in the park... no problem. However, in the streams, woods, etc. where I want to push this lens real close, I don't always trust myself... a branch snaps, I push into something I didn't see, etc. Then I am glad for a filter. It's my own mistakes I am worrying about.
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that's why i always use a lens hood.
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that's why i always use a lens hood.
Well, yes, a hood. I feel this is an individual thing. Of course I understand why not to add glass. Yet if I get into a bog or swamp, I also know all kinds of things happen, like I get Poison Oak (before the leaves show), a false move with hip boots and heavy equipment 100 feet out in the ooze of a bog, things do brush up against the camera. I will have to see how protective that hood is, etc.
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Michael,
I'm looking forward to your comments after you get the lens. Early reports talk about how large and heavy it is. Also, I wonder how it compares with the Milvus.
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Well, yes, a hood. I feel this is an individual thing. Of course I understand why not to add glass. Yet if I get into a bog or swamp, I also know all kinds of things happen, like I get Poison Oak (before the leaves show), a false move with hip boots and heavy equipment 100 feet out in the ooze of a bog, things do brush up against the camera. I will have to see how protective that hood is, etc.
sounds like you might invest in an insurance policy.. i do. as i take big glass (600mm, etc) into swamps all the time.
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sounds like you might invest in an insurance policy.. i do. as i take big glass (600mm, etc) into swamps all the time.
Insurance? For sure. Almost all of my gear is insured individually for theft or breakage for the price I insure for, not for what an insurance company is willing to pay. This is so much better than a policy where they decide what they will pay you. And it is not that expensive, either.
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Michael, good luck with the new Otus. I wouldn't give up my 55 for anything, but I have to take a pass on the 85 and 28 - they are just too freakin' large and heavy. Actually, as a landscape photographer I would like to see the same image quality in an f2.8 or f4 lens.
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I received the Zeiss 28mm today. It is not as large as I imagined. It is “fatter” than the others, but not as tall as the Zeiss 135mm APO, for example. It comes with and elegant box, indeed, which for that money it should.
I have no photos to show you, yet. I can say it will not take any extension, which I would expect from a wide-angle lens. I can use the K-1 Ring on it, which is 5.8mm extension, but I doubt that I will often. One thing: it is very hard to focus, again a feature of many wide-angle lenses. I have not been able to get control of it… yet. It is heavy. The focus throw is not very long, which I don’t like. Will update as I have something to look at.
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I've ordered mine too.
I can't wait to see your evaluation of this glass.
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Too cold to go outside. Here is a photo from our kitchen, taken in natural light, which is all the way across the room from these jars. I may not have gotten to color right, but it should give you some idea of the lens. D810, ISO 64, f/16, 1/6 second. Feeling a little more comfortable with this lens, but it is still a stretch from what I usually use. It is sharp.
I had to reduce the quality to get it to load.
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I don't see it mentioned anywhere, but the Zeiss Otus 28m APO has 9 aperture blades.
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\congrats with your new Otus lens. It's difficult to assess but it sure looks sharp and renders naturally. Just a bit blue-ish on my screen.
I am looking forward to hreading about your findings.
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It's difficult to assess but it sure looks sharp and renders naturally. Just a bit blue-ish on my screen.
I am looking forward to hreading about your findings.
It is too blue. It was very dim in the kitchen, with light only coming from outside windows across the room. I will have to do better next time. It is sharp.
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I can see only mild barrel distortion and I see some purple fringing upper left that I don't understand at f/16
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I don't know how to take shots that will be useful to you in evaluating this lens. Here is one shot at f/1.4 and one at f/16 of a still life. I really have to wait for spring and get out side to see what I will with this lens. I do still life like flowers, but bottles and such I am not so familiar with. Anyway, for what its worth, here are a couple of shots taken with the D810 in natural light coming in from windows on the right. I had to process it some so that you could see it properly, have done the best I can, but not sure if shows much. I can tell that this is a very nice lens, but also very unforgiving as well.
Don't shoot the messenger. Just trying to be useful. Single shots, not stacked.
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Michael, a question: Are you mainly concerned with flat field and sharpness?
You do not mention the render qualities of this lens, come to think of it, you do not even mention the rendering quality of your other lenses as well.....and I am not talking about Bokeh.
I have two 28mm focals, one is the Leica R Elmarit 28/2.8 E55 and the other one is the Nikon 28/1.4 which I rarely use as I prefer the Leica one for the unique render and color drawing. Why don't you get or try either of these unless you have them already?
I am not too concerned about flat field and corners in my line of photography but would sure like to hear you as to why you need a 28/1.4 which weighs a ton (1.35kg) cost as much as the other two lenses and, from the samples I have seen, does not really shine in color render attributes vs the Leica and Nikon.
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I am not an expert lens tester. For this lens I have to wait to get outside in spring. I am sure there will be many reviews that cover what you are asking. Everyone has different interests. I have not decided exactly how I will use this lens yet. I got it because I love the other Otus lenses. I need to get out in the woods, etc. Right now, all is snow. I have to see if I can take photos I like with it. I believe I can, but I probably should not try to share anything here until spring. I suggest you check reviews by Ming Thein and others.
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Its geometric distortion apparently is well controlled, and bokeh looks quite nice too. Like other Otus lenses, the overall impression is slightly 'dull' perhaps because the lens artefacts are so well under control?
Your kitchen and living room are much tidier than mine, by the way ....
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Its geometric distortion apparently is well controlled, and bokeh looks quite nice too. Like other Otus lenses, the overall impression is slightly 'dull' perhaps because the lens artefacts are so well under control?
Your kitchen and living room are much tidier than mine, by the way ....
Well, I purposely didn't show my office or my small studio which my wife allows me (sort of) to do what I want in. You can thank her for what you see.
I am not a tester like you are and you have caused me to spend a fortune, which my wife does not appreciate. I hear you about the "slightly dull," but to me that is more of a base from which I can then explore, rather than a liability. I have all kinds of lenses that ONLY have character and have not much of a level base, lenses I am sure you know well, like the CRT Nikkor, etc. I have no trouble with the Otus, and don't like the old "contrasty" Zeiss look.
I admit that I have to get outside to use this lens, shooting small diorama-type shots, etc. I am familiar with macro lenses and ultra-wide lenses and use them all the time, but seldom shoot at this focal length, so I have a LOT to learn, and I am clumsy at still life like these bottles, although I should discipline myself and learn. I would need more control of the lighting. The bottle in the most focus, Eden Organic Shoyu... I did the logo for that now well-known company back in the late 1960s. More than you want to know.
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Well, I like the OOF rendering this twenty-eight presents...more than the Otus/Milvus 50/55 and 85 show. Your stacking-style is not mine but it is very nice and you deserve credit for it. I am curious and eager to try out the 135/2 when my dealer gets a sample in store as I think I might really like it.
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Tests are starting to appear
http://www.lenscore.org/
Really a high score as predicted! ;)
Here in Denmark we can borrow these Otus lenses for free for two days, if anyone is tempted ;)
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Tests are starting to appear
http://www.lenscore.org/
Really a high score as predicted! ;)
Here in Denmark we can borrow these Otus lenses for free for two days, if anyone is tempted ;)
Those results are better than I thought they would be. To beat out the Zeiss Otus 55mm in resolving power and in contrast, and to beat out all the other Zeiss APOs in color and LoCA is amazing.
I am just learning to use this lens. I think I have all the lenses now I need other than: I would like an Otus 15mm FF lens and an Otus macro lens. I am going to start selling some of my lenses that I don't use. I am an archivist by trade, but I really don't need a museum for lenses.
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Strange that all the 'Voigtländer' lenses are missing at that lenscore.org site... (and a lot of (manual) Nikkors as well)
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BTW what lenscore mentions about the nikkor 20 f/1.8g i have to agree
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BTW what lenscore mentions about the nikkor 20 f/1.8g i have to agree
I could not find anywhere on their website as to how they do their testing?
Any clue?
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I could not find anywhere on their website as to how they do their testing?
Any clue?
No. I have looked also, but people seem to respect it, so take it for what it's worth. Having the lens in hand, it is (pardon the pun) a "handful" in all respects, but one I mean to master.
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I could not find anywhere on their website as to how they do their testing?
Any clue?
Only thing I spotted right away was that they use the Nikkor 85mm AFS 1.4 G as a reference lens, they have given it a score of 1000 points,,,
To me they are also just numbers in a list nothing more nothing less, it is of course still the images that count,,, ;)
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Only thing I spotted right away was that they use the Nikkor 85mm AFS 1.4 G as a reference lens, they have given it a score of 1000 points,,,
To me they are also just numbers in a list nothing more nothing less, it is of course still the images that count,,, ;)
Definitely the images :)
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As for LensScore, looking at the lenses I have and their scores, the numbers they post are in line with my own experience with the lenses, so they are reasonable.
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Michael your kitchen is way too neat and tidy. ;D
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Michael your kitchen is way too neat and tidy. ;D
Well, it better be! My wife, who has been away on a trip, is about to come home.
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Well, it better be! My wife, who has been away on a trip, is about to come home.
Batten down the hatches....
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Oh yes!