Noct 58/0.95 - technical

[Nikfuson]

Some other shots for anyone's evaluation.

[Erik Lund]

To sum up so far;
The lens is sharp and almost flat field.
Focus peaking is easiest on Z7 with the higher resolution focus peaking.
The Bokeh wide open is amazing and so is also color transitions.
Like other super fast lenses it doesn't like harsh or hard light.
Some CA issues that can be cured in post processing.
11 blades was not enough to mask the aperture blades in close up out of focus highlights.
Shoot it wide open   

[chambeshi]

Riccitalks (Nikon UK) with photos taken with Mega-Noct from out in the wild
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srn9KHz3nrY&fbclid=IwAR2ACrpmHbebcT8uKcDX3zHZYX3mUHzyfk_gudJ1j4mo1M6sl0-FUnLQgTk

[arthurking83]

....
FWIW, the Nikkor-O a.k.a. CRT Nikkor has 11 aperture blades. 

The other that I know of is the 105/4 bellows, also has 11 bladed aperture.
Also doesn't produce a fully circular pattern.

side note: I have a Schacht Novoflex 135/4.5 bellows lens too, has 16 blades, and does produce an almost perfect circular pattern(can only just detect that it's not fully circular).

[Erik Lund]

105mm f/4 Bellows lens; 12 blades like many EL-Nikkor.
The range finder lenses also has 10. 12, 16 blades and there abouts,,,
Always the data is on Ronalds pages http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/specs.html
Except for the Noct-Nikkor Z   

[Nikfuson]

Ok, took longer than I thought so will only have time to share a couple of images, both at f/0.95.
First one is focused on the white doors on the building to the left. Amazingly I have almost zero sharpening applied (ACR).
Second one is actually two images focused near and far.

[Nikfuson]

Couldn't resist to post a "killer" (in a slightly negative aspect for the lens)
Again at full opening.
Actually not bad for such a ultra fast lens.

[Nikfuson]

And here at f/1.4

[Birna Rørslett]

Hmm. More coma than I had expected at f/0.95. However, stopping down apparently helps mitigate this issue, so in the end, at f/1.2 I guess the new Ultra-Noct easily beats the old venerable Noct 58/1.2 thanks to a much flatter field.

[mxbianco]

105mm f/4 Bellows lens; 12 blades like many EL-Nikkor.
The range finder lenses also has 10. 12, 16 blades and there abouts,,,
Always the data is on Ronalds pages http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/specs.html
Except for the Noct-Nikkor Z 

Looking at my own ancient (1959) 13.5 cm Bellows-Nikkor, I counted as many as 15 blades, a truly circular opening

Ciao from Massimo

[Roland Vink]

Always the data is on Ronalds Roland's pages http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/specs.html
Except for the Noct-Nikkor Z 

Added now, along with 24/1.8 S
Need to find some pictures too.
Haven't added the Z DX lenses yet

[Erik Lund]

Hmm. More coma than I had expected at f/0.95. However, stopping down apparently helps mitigate this issue, so in the end, at f/1.2 I guess the new Ultra-Noct easily beats the old venerable Noct 58/1.2 thanks to a much flatter field.

Yes, same observations here. The lens is not perfect - But that was apparently not possible,,, Conclusion must be that stopping down is needed for night photography - What a pity, I had truly hoped Nikon had managed to eliminate Coma on this Noct - their Z flagship lens.

But OK, they came very close and the overall performance and appearance is just stunning - and the lens is still in stock in Copenhagen,,,, 

[Birna Rørslett]

The decision to make the new Noct a flat-field performer to the maximum extent possible would make coma correction extremely difficult. We have to assume the lens now exhibits the balance deemed the best by the optical engineers. With a lens this ultrafast, stopping down 1-2 stops is not a big penality anyway.

[mxbianco]

The decision to make the new Noct a flat-field performer to the maximum extent possible would make coma correction extremely difficult. We have to assume the lens now exhibits the balance deemed the best by the optical engineers. With a lens this ultrafast, stopping down 1-2 stops is not a big penality anyway.

An additional problem when it's really dark is the framing of the photo, wide open an f/0.95 lens would let a lot of light in and solve the problem, not a big deal if the actual shot is at 1.2 or 1.4

Ciao from Massimo

[Nikfuson]

Focusing near infinity at night is not as easy as it may sound. It takes a mere "breath" on the focus ring to get from hit to miss (and vice versa). This is something I will try to improve on tonight.