ebogaerts

Thank you, Bill! In comparison I don't see a *great* difference in terms of the OOF rendition between the 50mm f/1.2 and Zeiss ZF. But, as always, it's a subjective viewpoint.

I don't want anyone to think I'm shilling, but I just noticed that Cameta is selling a "factory demo" 50mm f/1.2 through the famous auction site for $330.

"Brand new, USA, I recently saw the 50mm f1.2 Ais priced around $760."

 

B&H has USA models on backorder for $559. I don't know how long it will take them to get more, but they also have grey market for $429.

"One person also suggested a tough shot into the sunny leaves."

 

Actually, I was suggesting more that you keep the sunny leaves behind an in-focus subject, so that we can get an example of a pretty tough bokeh scenario. :)

There is also an AF limit switch which will speed up the AF operation.

Hi Bill - I'm very much interested in seeing the results from this lens, particularly the out of focus highlights. If you do end up doing a test, could you include some backgrounds that might be considered "tough" for lenses to render well (sunlight through tree leaves, ect)?

"It's sharp, very fast and the Defocus control is at least a nice toy"

 

It can also produce some nice OOF highlights with it activated.<div></div>

50mm f/1.2. Sold my "professionally-used" sample to buy one brand now.

The F4 is far, far rarer - at least in the states. AFAIK the F4 was only sold over here as an F4s or F4e configuration. The MB-20 battery pack, which converts the F4s or e over to a "regular" F4 goes for a lot more money than the MB-21 (which would make an F4 into an F4s) on the secondary market. It's all a matter of supply and demand. When I owned the F4 the MB-20 was absolutely invaluable in a number of shooting circumstances, all the way from macro use to flat out wanting a lighter and smaller profile particularly if I was going to be carrying it around all day.

The DC lenses in general are Nikon's greatest gift to 35mm portrait photographers (speaking in terms of how great and customizable the out-of-focus highlights are when using the lens). With the DC ring unused they are also some of Nikon's sharpest optics - although the 105mm DC is *generally regarded* to be better than the 135mm version.

"Another issue with digital is that background blur can now be easily simulated in PhotoShop. Thus part of the argument to use fast lenses for shallow depth of field also goes away. I know it'll never be the same in the eyes of purists, but that is a practical alternative for most people."

 

Well, I guess it depends on how "easy" someone may consider going about adding gaussian blur to digital photos. I for one don't want to waste the time (and I also don't really consider it that "easy") It's not an anti-digital thing at all (however, I do know the source of your comment above because I know how loudly you support digital on this forum, Shun) but for me it's just a matter of not wanting to spend the time on it. There is a great contingent of photographers who frankly want to minimize photoshop workflow.

Wow - excellent. I had to wait 4 months to discover that the post office had apparently lost my piece of mail (first time that's happened in my life, BTW)) and I had to re-submit and mail back in the information. I got mine about 5 1/2 months later.

". A 50/1.2 AIS is in the super speed category and best applied where you need a fast lens for very low light or where you want very shallow DOF."

 

That's basically where I stand with the 50mm f/1.2. I love the lens, but it's really a special-purpose optic. As I learned when I went about testing it, there are a lot of optical compromises with such a fast lens. Still, as Robert mentioned I'm also curious if the new Zeiss 50 is going to have very low-levels of distortion - at least in comparison to other 50mm f/1.4's.

IIRC, there was a great debate years ago when the optical formula of the 70-300 Nikkor ED was startlingly similar to the Tamron equivalent, and of course immediately there were rumors and accusations that the lens was made by Tamron and on and on. In any case I think that there was likely a collaboration between them on *some* level on that particular optic. I don't know what the odds are that two seperate manufacturing entities could invent a nearly *identical* optical formula for two lenses of similar focal length and aperture range.

 

But as Ilkka said above, the glass inside the Nikkor is going to be Nikkor glass, not Tamron.

Curious Dave: What do you mean when you refer to the 15mm as the "Star Wars" lens? :)

Nikkor lenses without CPU contacts on the lens mount will not activate Matrix Metering on the F5.

 

If you are looking for a Nikkor camera that will activate Matrix Metering with manual focus lenses, you need to seek out the F4. You do have to remember that in that case, Matrix Metering will only work if the lens is AIS or genunine AI. Non AI or AI-modified lenses will not activate Matrix Metering on the F4.

I attempted to purchased used from them through their website. A salesman called me back the next morning to tell me that the lens I had selected had a scratch on the front optics that they had originally not noticed (or words to that effect) and that they had another example of the same lens for about $60 more.

 

Needless to say, I didn't order the lens from them. Personally, it felt like a bait-and-switch tactic.

"Oop, just checked, The F4, F-501 and F-301 will also take advantage of the AI-S lenses, although only the FA and F-501 take full advantage."

 

The F4 takes advantage of the maximum aperture indexing post which is *also* on genuine AI glass, including AIS. This maximum aperture indexing post is also taken advantage of in the FA camera - and in both cameras this mechanical post is read by the mechanical linkage in the F4 and FA to operate maxtrix metering in both cameras. (the F4 defaults to the lens' cpu information if the lens of course has a chip)

 

It is also true that in the case of the FA, AIS will offer *full* features, but the only one that AIS uniquely and truly offers the FA is if the lens is over or under 135mm's in focal length. The FA offers a "stop down trick" for non-AI and AI glass in Program or Shutter Priority mode - and this mode is rumored to be true for the FG and N2000(2) cameras as well, but it is not featured in any of the other Nikkor cameras.

How would the 55mm f/2.8 macro stack up at infinity against the 50mm f/1.8 AI at an equal aperture?

 

Would the difference by say f/4 or so be like splitting hairs?

"I believe it is going to cost around $800. That is a lot less expensive then the 105 f/2"

 

Actually, the grey market version of the 105mm DC is under $800. The "USA" version sells for slightly over $900.

IIRC, David Hartman noted that the 50mm f/1.8 AI and *early* AIS were of the same optical design. The *later* AIS version (which they call the "pancake") is of a different design and said to resemble the series e 50mm.

The 105 DC is an *amazing* portrait lens. Not only is the bokeh controllable if you wanted to have the background be softer than the foreground (or the other way around) but you can also throw a very very subtle degree of soft focus over the entire image, if you wanted it there.

 

And with the DC ring at "neutral", it's a great all-around 105.

I think it'd be *very* difficult for just about all but the best zooms to equal the performance of basically any 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor. And, if you say that it *equals* the performance, where at? The same aperture? If the 18-70 starts out at f/3.5 or so, the 50mm f/1.8 is basically hitting its sweet spot. As has been mentioned ad nauseum, it's tough to find differences when you're at f/8 or so between zooms and primes, but this kind of question begs for specifics.

Genuine AI manual focus lenses will trip AMP (the FA's matrix metering) on the FA, as will AIS glass.

 

Pre-AI will likely damage the AI prong on the camera, so you would need to have these AI-converted. You won't be able to get AMP with Pre-AI or AI-converted glass, (genuine AI and AIS glass have a mechanical maximum aperture indexing post at the rear of the lens, this feature is ONLY used by the FA and F4) but as I mentioned in a previous post - it has been said that pre-AI glass will *indeed* provide an acceptable exposure on P and S modes due to the "stop-down trick".

The stop-down "trick" I guess isn't a well-known feature on the FA (and perhaps even on the FG and N2000) but it's noteworthy only because of the so-called need to have manual AIS glass with those three cameras. There also seems to be a lot of mis-information about which cameras can do P and S modes (the F4 is often incorrectly mentioned as being able to do that here from time to time and I also think on Thom Hogan's website) with manual focus lenses.