Noct vs. NeoNoct

[stenrasmussen]

As I have a Noct available I thought I'd test it against my Neo.
Any wishes from my good colleagues here will be attempted fulfilled.
Will commence testing tomorrow.

[Erik Lund]

Field curvature; close, medium and far distance - Have fun! 

[Andy]

Thanks Sten,
do you have an early NeoNoct (low serial) or a later version (meaning higher serial) of it?

My suspicion is, that the early models had some issue with max sharpness and resolution with open aperture, which later production runs mitigated. I had 2 samples and could compare them directly, one a low sn, the other higher (sn > 15000) which was noticeable better. But it could very well be just individual sample performance. But the interest is still there if it is more "systemic".

rgds, Andy

[Andy]

While Sten is preparing the 2 contenders:

Maybe the interview with the designer of the NeoNoct - Haruo Sato - is of interest to understand aspirations, design goals, etc .....
http://www.nikkor.com/technology/02.html

Here is the story to the original Noct
http://www.nikkor.com/story/0016/

rgds, Andy

[stenrasmussen]

The Noct I have here is S/N: 1873xx...i.e. an early Ai-S, the Neo is late with its S/N: 210168. According to Roland's pages the serials run 200001 - 218556->.

[stenrasmussen]

I couldn't wait so I ran some prelim close range sharpness tests...and boy is that Noct good. Just about as good at f/1.2 as the Neo is at f/2! (crops at 100%)
I will continue this with the 50/1.8G, 50/1.4G, 50/1.4Ai and the little 50/1.8 Series E.

Behind OOF is smoother with the Neo. Foreground OOF belongs to the Noct.

[BW]

Call me old fashioned, but I would like to se some pictures The Noct is on my list as well. The list is named "Lenses I can't afford to buy for the time being". But I dont mind drooling over some pictures.

[stenrasmussen]

Call me old fashioned, but I would like to se some pictures The Noct is on my list as well. The list is named "Lenses I can't afford to buy for the time being". But I dont mind drooling over some pictures.

If you exercise some patience you will see plenty of pictures 

[BW]

If you exercise some patience you will see plenty of pictures 

The hardest exercise of them all

[richardHaw]

i want to have the money to even buy a neo noct! whatever that is

[Bjørn Rørslett]

i want to have the money to even buy a neo noct! whatever that is

'Neonoct' == The AFS 58 mm f/1.4 G.

[richardHaw]

oh,ok...

[stenrasmussen]

Ok, this took a bit longer than expected due to other chores...read: the government in da house wanted stuff done 
Anyways, I still have processing to do but here's a taste at f/2 of an aperture series from 1.2/1.4 to 4.0 with the three fast ones (Noct Ai-S, NeoNoct and 50/1.2 Ai-s)
Focus set to the polleneers in the middle. For this test getting super accurate focus on the same area isn't that critical as it is mostly for fore- and aft rendering I shot these.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Hm. You should have the equal magnification of the main subject, Sten. Now the camera has been fixed to one position? That'll make perspectives for all purposes identical, but due to the different scale depth of field will not be equal.

Nitpicking, I know. However, this also shows how futile it is to make all parameters of a comparison "the same".

[Erik Lund]

Well you just make things a little complicated also shooting the 50mm, we could just ignore that for now,,, and enjoy how similar the 58mm's are