my initial take on the 105 f/1.4E

[schwett]

erik and others have already posted great threads showing the performance of the new 105 f/1.4E, which (among other things) led to one arriving at my door today, just in time for the last bits of light in what passes for winter here in california.

my first unscientific impressions are that there's a much bigger difference between 85 and 105 than i would have thought, that the transition from focus to out of focus is really nice and natural looking, that the background blur is very pleasing, and that it's tack sharp at closer focal distances, and while still excellent at distance lacking a little bit of the "bite" of some of the other long lenses in the bag.

here are some examples shot rather quickly, mostly with the d810 but a few with the d500. one noticeable characteristic at f/1.4 on the full sensor is pretty extreme vignetting especially at longer focal distances. this is a reasonable design compromise since it's so easily fixed, but can be a bit of a surprise.

the obligatory shot out the window. not much to work with here.


i can tell that i'm really going to like this lens for portraits. not quite enough DOF to keep both eyes in focus in the latter, but really nice overall rendering for my taste.



a flat subject in the foreground at f/4. very sharp edge to edge, with a nicely "unbusy" background rendering.


lots of contrast. boosted in ACR, of course.


here the buildings in the distance are OOF and seem to have a very slight reddish fringing. very slight, and not evident at these web sizes except as a bit of softness.


turning to closer subjects in the fading light, a couple unremarkable flowers, but illustrating the nice transition from sharp to not. the third one is at f/4, the others f/1.4.




here at f/4 all of the foreground building is just completely tack sharp with very nice detail to the edge of the frame.


a couple shots on the d500. of course the lens is taxed somewhat less, with the fading light giving a very soft quality.




all in all, i like it so far. it is a big chunk of glass, mostly in weight and girth, so it may not come in the bag with too many other lenses at any one time.

[Erik Lund]

Congratulations on the new lens! Enjoy

[Fons Baerken]

I wonder did you use any kind of sharpening in post, presuming you shoot raw.

[schwett]

I wonder did you use any kind of sharpening in post, presuming you shoot raw.

my usual workflow for posting to the web has some sharpening in ACR (usually around 35, 1.2, 35) and then a 25% standard "sharpen" after resizing and converting color space to web dimensions.

same thing here.

[atpaula]

Thanks for posting the test.

[Thomas G]

Thanks for testing and posting.

[Frank Fremerey]

My resitance was broken, the item is in the post, announced for monday delivery

[Bill De Jager]

My resitance was broken, the item is in the post, announced for monday delivery

I've resisted so far.  I keep telling myself that most likely there will be an f/1.8 counterpart that might be 90% of what this lens is, at a fraction of the cost and much less weight and bulk.  That was the case with the 85/1.4 and the 85/1.8.

[schwett]

i'm really enjoying this lens. it's just amazingly sharp and free of bad behavior. even when not shooting it for the "bokeh" the images really pop to me.

[PeterN]

Thank you for sharing. Your photos reflect the capabilities of the lens, including the "cose-up". I' ve also been thinking about adding a 100/105/135 for portraits and potentially close-up.Your photos convinced me to keep the lens on the list, despite its size and weight. Like Bill, I am also wondering when a 1.8 version will be announced.

BTW: my other options are: Zeiss Milvus 100 or 135, Nikon DC 105 or 135.