ais35rendering

[stenrasmussen]

Finally got my 35/1.4Ai-S back to working order after tedious CPU modification and cleaning. It is one hell of a lens to assemble due to intricate cam arrangements. But it lives to render more from this world and here is one example from a flower at our front door (shot at f/1.4). No fancy PP involved - just curves, saturation, layering and sharpening played with.

[Frank Fremerey]

real colors??

[stenrasmussen]

real colors??

Actually, yes. Here's a small version of the jpeg SOOC.

[Akira]

Nicely exaggerated field curvature which is fitting to the subject.  Did you use an extension ring, or was the lens set at its shortest focusing distance?

[Peter Shawhan]

This photo illustrates well what people mean when they say that the 35mm f/1.4 AIS  has a dreamy quality, unusual bokeh and shallow depth of field when used at maximum aperture, as compared with its rather different qualities of high sharpness and fine detail when used between f/2.8 and f/5.6 or so.  I like the photo -- thanks for posting it.

I gather that you have a fair amount of experience working on lenses, as indicated by your willingness to tackle and successful completion of a CPU modification to this complex lens.  I haven't tried anything like that.  I have a Df, so I can use the 35 f/1.4 AIS via the "non-CPU lens" menu options.  While that means the lens can only be used with manual or aperture-priority settings, it's not difficult to use that way.  It says a fair amount about the quality of this lens that it is still delivering good images on DSLRs 35 years after the AIS version was introduced in 1981.

[stenrasmussen]

Nicely exaggerated field curvature which is fitting to the subject.  Did you use an extension ring, or was the lens set at its shortest focusing distance?

No extension involved, just near min. focus distance.

[stenrasmussen]

This photo illustrates well what people mean when they say that the 35mm f/1.4 AIS  has a dreamy quality, unusual bokeh and shallow depth of field when used at maximum aperture, as compared with its rather different qualities of high sharpness and fine detail when used between f/2.8 and f/5.6 or so.  I like the photo -- thanks for posting it.

I gather that you have a fair amount of experience working on lenses, as indicated by your willingness to tackle and successful completion of a CPU modification to this complex lens.  I haven't tried anything like that.  I have a Df, so I can use the 35 f/1.4 AIS via the "non-CPU lens" menu options.  While that means the lens can only be used with manual or aperture-priority settings, it's not difficult to use that way.  It says a fair amount about the quality of this lens that it is still delivering good images on DSLRs 35 years after the AIS version was introduced in 1981.

The lens is temperamental and has multiple uses as you say, dream on wide and sharp when choked.

[Akira]

No extension involved, just near min. focus distance.

Thanks.  Apparently the lens is worth trying to investigate its multi-faceted character.