28mm brief non scientific comparison

[atpaula]

My little Buddha had extra work today.
Just tried to compare five 28mm lenses.
Zeiss f/1.4 Otus and f/2.
Nikkor f/2, f/2.8 and f/3.5.
Not enough patience to include the PC f/4 and f/3.5.
Same D810 for all.

WIDE OPEN:

OTUS



ZEISS f/2



NIKKOR f/2



NIKKOR f/2.8



NIKKOR f/3.5




AT f/3.5:

OTUS



ZEISS f/2:



NIKKOR f/2



NIKKOR f/2.8



NIKKOR f/3.5 (again)

[Erik Lund]

The first Zeiss image wide open is really good.

The last nikkor shot at f/2.8 looks really good to me.

The Zeiss images look like you focused on the ears when stopped down, I sure hope it doesn't have focus shift,,,

Edit to add; You where not on a tripod,,,

[atpaula]

The first Zeiss image wide open is really good.

The last nikkor shot at f/2.8 looks really good to me.

The Zeiss images look like you focused on the ears when stopped down, I sure hope it doesn't have focus shift,,,

Edit to add; You where not on a tripod,,,

No tripod, sorry.
I placed my elbows on the same spot to hold the camera.
The focus is not precise indeed. I placed the focus brackets on the Buddhas face, but maybe it did not work properly.

[Chip Chipowski]

Nice to see the f/3.5 Nikkor in this lineup - one of my favorites!

[Erik Lund]

28mm f/2.0 shot at f/3.5 i believe

[John Geerts]

I find the Nikkor 28/2 and 28/3.5  surprisingly good in this comparison.

[Chip Chipowski]

28mm f/2.0 shot at f/3.5 i believe

I think the OP used three different Nikkors for this comparison, but I could be mistaken.

[atpaula]

3 28mm Nikkors: Nikkor f/2, f/2.8 and f/3.5.

[Jan Anne]

For me foliage is one of the hardest backgrounds to capture in a pleasing manner, in this setting the only way to make it look nice is to use the raw power of a fast lens to throw the background more out of focus at these distances. So regardless of character and draw the Otus wins this round hands down for me because its the only lens that can do this.

If the test would include other f/1.4 28mm lenses the outcome might have been different

Thanks for sharing btw and congrats on the new lens, looks like a winner.

[atpaula]

For me foliage is one of the hardest backgrounds to capture in a pleasing manner, in this setting the only way to make it look nice is to use the raw power of a fast lens to throw the background more out of focus at these distances. So regardless of character and draw the Otus wins this round hands down for me because its the only lens that can do this

If the test would include other f/1.4 28mm lenses the outcome might have been different.

Because of the different max apertures I took some samples with all 5 lenses at f/3.5.

[Erik Lund]

3 28mm Nikkors: Nikkor f/2, f/2.8 and f/3.5.

Well then you need to be more specific, there are many very different versions for the 28mm Nikkors f/2.8 and f/3.5! Where the 28mm f/2.8 Ais is a stunning performer btw

[Jan Anne]

Because of the different max apertures I took some samples with all 5 lenses at f/3.5.

I know but the only pleasing image in this test series is the one taken at f/1.4

Here's an example with the Sony Zeiss 35/2.8 FE, an amazing lens but as an f/2.8 lens it wasn't able to throw the foliage out of focus enough for my taste at that distance even though the focus was very close. The result was that I brought the much heavier 35/1.2 from that moment on as that lens could have thrown that background more out of focus.

Please remember that I go out with only a few primes spaced well apart so don't have the option to go from a 28mm to a 35mm or from a 35mm to a 50mm so the lens that I have mounted needs have a faster aperture where others might grab a slightly longer lens to smoothen the background blur.

[Andy]

@atpaula,
thanks for the work and for sharing your images with the 5 lenses.

In case you are interested, "how" the lenses transition from the focus plane to the background blur, you might setup your little buddha the next time a little bit different.

The current setup has 2 "planes". The "focus plane" and the "background plane", which is out of focus. While this shows the famous bokeh in the background, there is unfortunately no visual elements in between the 2 planes which would show the - what I would consider important - visual transition. It is interesting to see, how lenses with similar focal length but different optical design render this transition differrently - even when set to the same f-stop.

If the foliage in the background is a garden fence: You might shoot your little Buddha not 90 degree towards the fence, but for instance in 45 degrees or in 30 degrees (and closer to the fence). Or any other setup, where you can create a continous depth (i.e. here as an example)


May I share some 50/58mm pics I found on my webserver from the old "comparison" days a few years ago?
Nothing special, just a few quick&dirty shots to get a feeling about the different lens rendering characteristics

4 lenses:
1) AFS 50mm/1.8G
2) AFS 50mm/1.4G
3) AFS 58mm/1.4G
4) AiS 58mm/1.2 Noct


Set at same f-stop - f2

AFS 50mm/1.8G, @ f2


AFS 50mm/1.4G, @ f2


AFS 58mm/1.4G, @ f2


AiS 58mm/1.2 Noct, f2




followed by each lens's max open aperture

AFS 50mm/1.8G @ f1.8


AFS 50mm/1.4G @ f1.4


AFS 58mm/14G, @ f1.4


AiS 58mm/1.2 Noct, @ f1.2



rgds,
Andy

[atpaula]

Well then you need to be more specific, there are many very different versions for the 28mm Nikkors f/2.8 and f/3.5! Where the 28mm f/2.8 Ais is a stunning performer btw

Mine are both Ais late versions.

[atpaula]

I know but the only pleasing image in this test series is the one taken at f/1.4

Here's an example with the Sony Zeiss 35/2.8 FE, an amazing lens but as an f/2.8 lens it wasn't able to throw the foliage out of focus enough for my taste at that distance even though the focus was very close. The result was that I brought the much heavier 35/1.2 from that moment on as that lens could have thrown that background more out of focus.

Please remember that I go out with only a few primes spaced well apart so don't have the option to go from a 28mm to a 35mm or from a 35mm to a 50mm so the lens that I have mounted needs have a faster aperture where others might grab a slightly longer lens to smoothen the background blur.