keirst

<p>Nikon always seems to be dropping support for older cameras with their software, not to mention totally abandoning scanner support for mac OS X a few years ago. This is why I’ll stick with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, and why I convert all my NEF files to DNG, a universal, public format that Adobe has promised to support as long as they are around. </p>

<p>David you might be interested in Ming Thein’s review of the 50mm and 90m Schneider lenses. He thinks the 90mm is pretty good, and the 50mm isn’t good, but he mainly uses the Nikon 85mm these days for high end watch photography clients. See: http://blog.mingthein.com/2014/03/18/review-schneider-pc-ts-50-90/</p>

<p>Read this blog post. Lens QC varies a lot among manufacturers, though Zeiss is a bit more consistent at producing good lenses than Canon and Nikon.<br> http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/09/there-is-no-perfect-lens</p>

<p>Looks like you need to AF Fine Tune the lens, because the actual focus appears to be behind the model’s head. Also there is noticeable evidence of vertical camera movement, so you need to increase shutter speed (and possibly ISO speed), or use a tripod or monopod, to reduce camera shake. Alternatively, check on your handholding technique to see if it can be improved. See http://vesnakozelj.com/photography/support-camera-with-hands for tips on proper handholding stance and arm position for maximum stability.</p>

<p>Alternatively you can use a camera oriented at an angle to a ruler or similar scale target, focusing on a particular point on the scale. A good target for this method can be found here: http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart This target has a line for focusing with light grey numbers nearby that the PDAF sensors ignore. Also in this method, you do not have to worry about getting the camera and tripod perfectly positioned, it just needs to be at an angle, such as 45˚ or 30˚ to the target. The angle isn’t critical.<br /><br />Lenses vary quite a bit in how much AF Fine tune they need. On my D800E, my Zeiss ZF.2 lenses all require 0 as does my old 85mm/1.4 AFD lens. My 28mm/1.8 G AFS requires -17. Your numbers will vary, due to +/- tolerances in cameras and lenses. Zeiss deserves kudos for better consistency and tighter tolerances than Nikon uses.</p>

<p>Are you focusing with the optical viewfinder’s Phase Detection AF system? AF Fine Tune is only applied to PDAF/eye level focusing, not to Live View or tethered focusing, where focus is determined solely by the contrast detected on the CMOS imaging sensor. AF Fine Tune corrects for the mismatch between the mirror and PDAF sensor and the CMOS. Images focused in Live View or by computer controlled live view need no correction because focusing is done on the image-capturing sensor itself.</p>

<p>Weird that no one calls it a fluoride or fluoridated coating. Marketing trumps precise chemical terminology I guess.</p>

<p>No, you can’t see them with this link.</p>

<p>One thing that can complicate testing of some lenses is field curvature, which I read that this model of lens exhibits to some degree. Lenses with field curvature don’t actually focus a perfect plane of subject onto the film or sensor, but instead the area off perfect focus resembles a parabolic dish, where the corners may focus either closer to the camera than the center of the image (forward field curvature, example 28mm/1.8G AFS Nikkor) or further away (rearward field curvature, example 28mm/2 Zeiss ZF.2). <br /><br />Lenses that exhibit no field curvature are called flat field designs, such as the 55mm/2.8 Micro Nikkor. Flat field lenses are very good at projecting a planar subject such as a brick wall or 2D artwork onto a sensor. Curved field lenses are not as good at this and the corners will be soft when the center is focused perfectly, and vice versa, focusing for the corners will soften the center of the captured image, unless you can stop down far enough to bring the every part of the subject plane into depth of field.<br /><br />In photographing 3D objects, field curvature is not really much of a problem, and may be even helpful. For example, I find the 28mm/1.8G Nikkor’s forward field curvature helps increase foreground detail in my use of the lens for vertical landscape frames, whereas the Zeiss 28mm gives slightly softer foreground corners in the same kind of picture, even stopped down to f/11. <br /><br />I have not used the 70-18mm Micro lens, so I’m not sure how much the field curvature issue affects it, but you probably want to look for it as you test. You might want to include both flat test targets and 3d subjects at different distances in your evaluations, and try different apertures from wide open to the minimum aperture. Also be aware that diffraction will start to blur the image as you stop down past f/8, so even as you gain depth of field there is a trade off resulting in less resolution at the point of focus.<br /><br />Hope things work out as you get to know the lens.</p>

<p>Lorne is right; this is not a planar subject, nor is it parallel to the imaging plane of the sensor. I think you need to be more methodical about your testing before assuming there is a problem. F/11 isn’t going to give deep focus (especially examining the image at the pixel level) with a telephoto focal length, even at 70mm zoom. Did you use a tripod or monopod support? If not, there could be motion blur added to out of focus blur. Have you AF fine tuned the lens? Did you try focusing in Live View? If the the focus is substantially different between Live View and focusing using the prism viewfinder, then the lens needs AF fine tuning.</p>

<p>You might want to try renting lenses before you buy, if that’s an option where you live. <br /><br />Personally I like primes a lot, and Nikon and Zeiss have some prime wideangles that have worked well for me with my D800E for landscape. The 28mm/1.8 G AFS Nikkor is very good all the way to the corners, fast and lightweight. It has some forward field curvature (corners will be focused closer to the camera than the center, but I actually like this because it keeps foreground corners in good focus). Zeiss 25mm/2 ZF.2 is also excellent, and has similar field curvature but better correction of longitudinal and lateral chromatic aberrations, though it’s much more expensive and a heavy all-metal mount. The Zeiss 35mm/2 ZF.2 is not quite as good, flatter field than the Nikkor 28mm/1.8, but noticeable lateral chromatic aberration (easily fixed in post production with modern RAW developers), but it has beautiful bokeh, especially at f/4. <br /><br />On the telephoto end I also like the Zeiss 100mm/2 Makro, 135mm/2 Apo Sonnar, and the 180mm/2.8 ED Nikkor. <br /><br />The Zeiss 135mm/2 is an amazing lens, but really large and quite heavy (and expensive). It’s tricky to focus correctly on the D800E, because Nikon DSLRs' viewfinders were not designed for good manual focusing performance. So it’s probably best used on a tripod with Live View focusing, especially at mid to close distances. Alternatively, bracket your focusing. The Apo Sonnar focuses quite close to 0.8 meters and 1:4 reproduction ratio (4x6” subject area). Aberration correction on the Apo Sonnar is without peer in telephotos for 35mm format cameras.</p>

<p>FYI, make sure you get the right file for the Firmware update for your camera. I accidentally got the D800 version first which my D800E camera did not recognize in the Firmware panel of the Setup Menu. I needed the D800E version, which is different from the D800 version of the update.</p>