AF-D 85/1.4 vs Ais 105/1.8 vs AF-D 105/2 DC on FX

[georg_s1]

<p>Ilkka, many thanks for your effort - hopefully you did have at least some fun shooting the candids - beautiful work, esp. the first one.<br>

May I ask about your processing? The crops look like a bit of gaussian blur was added, or some kind of noise-reduction.<br>

Overall your images look really crisp for wide-open-shots, I'm just a bit puzzled about the smoothness.<br>

In my „test” I was surprised how much detail showed up after changing the sharpening-amount from 25 (ACR-standard) to 50, without nasty collateral-damage like jagged edges or so. <br>

I don't plan to go the D800/D3X-route, so for my D700/D3s the 105DC seems to be a real good choice. I've tried some quick candids with the Ais 105/1.8 and found focusing it to be really challenging, so AF is very welcome.</p>

<p>Andrew, ACR 7.1 is really good in removing CAs in general, even the tricky longitudinal ones. This will solve some of the problems I've had with the AF-S 85/1.8G.</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p><em>The crops look like a bit of gaussian blur was added, or some kind of noise-reduction.</em></p>

<p>No, it's the lens that does this. I'll post a shot at f/3.5 so you'll get an idea of how the image gets sharper as you stop down. </p>

<p><em>I don't plan to go the D800/D3X-route, so for my D700/D3s the 105DC seems to be a real good choice.</em></p>

<p>On 12MP FX, the 105 DC is a darling. But I suspect eventually (5-10 years from now) all the cameras Nikon sells will have very high pixel counts. I sometimes forget how much "stuff" the D3X shows which doesn't really display in the print at typical sizes. </p><div></div>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>Image 5, 100% crop.</p><div></div>

[georg_s1]

<p>Here's a screenshot from my hastily done „test”. Processing was done with ACR 7.1, amount of sharpening was changed from 25 to 50, I've used the CA-correction feature (the JPEGs show LoCAs at camera and tripod).<br>

The magnification varies a bit, but after looking over and over the files (I've shot JPEGs and NEFs) I think that the differences between the four lenses wide-open are rather small. <br>

In my opinion those four optics are very good to excellent portrait-lenses; I hope to be able to try a 105DC in the future.<br>

Thanks, Georg.</p><div></div>

[georg_s1]

<p>Cross-posting - thank you, Ilkka.<br>

Eyebrows and skin on the last example look indeed much more natural to me. Some ladies probably prefer the skin-rendition at f/2...<br>

It's amazing for me to see the overall high contrast of your first examples and the soft skin-rendition in the same picture - the 105DC is a really remarkable performer.</p>

[zack_zoll]

<p>I have to agree with Ilkka, but moreso. The copy of the 105 f/1.8 that I had was great on my D200, but it REALLY didn't like my D7000. My copy had a LOT more LoCA wide open - enough that I couldn't shoot use it wider than f/5.6 unless it was one of those 'just have to catch the moment' shots, and anything f/2.8 and wider was frankly unusable unless it was black and white.</p>

<p>And they were some absolutely <em>gorgeous</em> black and whites. But they were hideous colour photos, with almost as much CA as there was image on reflective subjects.</p>

<p>Like I said, I suspect my copy was worse than others. But reviews of 'good' copies are not glowing enough to justify buying another one to try.</p>

<p>The 135, I suspect, has similar problems. I've been told that the optical design is quite similar, and that the coatings aren't really improved, but I haven't tried one myself, so that's all hearsay.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I've owned the 85 1.4D, and used the G version as well. I didn't get to try them side-by-side, but I couldn't see a difference in picture quality, other than perhaps a little more contrast and flare resistance in the G version. Plus the sealing, of course. It's supposed to focus faster, but I didn't see a different with the D700 or D300; I suspect maybe a D90 might focus the G version faster.</p>

<p>The 1.4D is without a doubt the easist lens to get dirty that I've ever owned. There's a little tiny gap between the aperture ring and the body (at least there was on mine), so if you might get dust in there, that fact alone is worth going for the G version.</p>

<p>If you're not shooting anywhere dirty, I'd recommend the 1.4D over every other similar (and similarly-priced) lens on the market. The pictures are beautiful, it's built well and feels great, and the manual focus even works really well. There's a perfectly good reason that you see those adapted to 5Ds for video every so often. The Zeiss version is sharper, but nothing under $2,000 has the bokeh of a Nikon 85 f/1.4.</p>

<p>For what it's worth, I also got some really good results using it to shoot sports with a 1.4x TC. That put me at about 120 f/2, and it still had less LoCA than the 105 f/1.8. It's not blazingly fast on the AF, but it's more than fast enough, if you're shooting gymnastics, wrestling or anything where you know more-or-less where people are going to be. I probably wouldn't shoot basketball with it.</p>

[georg_s1]

<p>Zack, I've just played a bit more with the 105/1.8 and at least on a 12MP-FX-body LoCAs are nothing to worry about with this copy.<br>

The higher pixel-density bodies (D7000) are probably much more demanding in this matter.<br>

I would say on the D700/D3s the new AF-S 85/1.8G is slightly worse than the Ais in terms of LoCAs wide-open.<br>

Some more impressions about the 105/1.8: vignetting seems to be rather low for a fast lens, flare and ghosting are within reason.<br>

It's hard to nail the focus - using the „safe haven” LiveView is out of question for grab shots. <br>

My old AF-D 85/1.4 is for sure a fantastic portrait-lens, for closer shots a dream-optic with good sharpness and a muted contrast, I just wasn't really happy with it's performance at medium distances, which led to this thread.<br>

Your note about using the AF-D even with a 1.4x TC is really interesting - I've got the AF-S 85/1.8G because I've found the AF-tracking of the AF-D to be to weak for indoor-sports like handball, hockey and the like.<br>

Cheers, Georg! </p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Ilkka - your shots are <i>so</i> much better than I've managed from my 135, from a LoCA perspective. I'm definitely going to have a chat with Nikon UK...</p>