Zeiss 85mm 1.4

[Guy Mancuso]

Well almostt everything is here 24 shift , Zeiss 50 1.4 and the Zeiss 85 1.4. Okay the 50 is really sweet and i can tell already it looks more like my M8. Now I shotthe 85 but did not move the AF points to confirm focus . Mistake i need to do that and my son is home and dad's on his tail to try it again. LOL

But my daughters girlfriend was here so real quick without using the AF points it did pretty good 1.4 is pretty soft but at F2 it starts rocking. Man this a lot like the 80 lux and 75 lux. Reason I bought it because I traded my 75 lux for a 75 cron so i still want day glow. LOL No sharpening

1.4
f2
f2
f2.8

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Damn the F2 shot is the same. Big dummy I am.

Obviously need to airbrush and all that but I just warmed it a touch and left it alone. I am in testing mode

Bokeh is very nice indeed. Maybe a little better than the Nikon which is on it's way to David.

BTW thanks to Ron Stamps here for sending me a mint copy of the Zeiss. Not sure he even shot it , that clean. LOL

 

[Terry]

So the way I understand how you would do this is pick the focus point and then manually focus but camera will confirm when you have focus. I'm assuming you were doing this in the viewfinder. How fast was it to get focus?
how quickly can you change focus points? Is this just something it takes some time to get used to.

Note to self - don't let Jack with medium format or Guy with sharp lenses take too many pictures that can show EVERY imperfection.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Great question Terry. The focus system as as few as 9 point to as many as 51 . I set my camera up to have 11 i believe or 9 . Now to activate a AF point just a half press and the commander wheel you can go up down, side to side and even diagonal to set where you want your point to be and yes it is very fast . So now you have the point at the place you would like you focus and a green indicator pop's on. Now that can be distracting so you have to be careful if shoot 1.4 it's almost a focus bracket deal. Certainly a better manual focus screen is needed and need to look into that.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Now having said that look how paper thin it is at 1.4 and you wonder why people complain about the Leica 1.4 lenses , no different here

Folks really need to be realistic about shooting at 1.4 . Because your gonna miss a lot

 

[Guy Mancuso]

This is pretty darn good at 1.4 from about 30 ft

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Well my subject was being a royal PITA. But the images are nice

 

[Guy Mancuso]

At 2.8 looks pretty good

 

[Steen]

Whoa, you nailed it at f/2 in those last shots of your son, not easy at such a short distance ! :thumbup:

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks Steen , looks to be a nice lens. Takes a little time to control everything but I am getting there

 

[neils]

Guy

How about another thread with shots from the 50. I'd like to see your take on that lens.

I shoot a D3, Leica M's idle but i miss the special look from the M lenses so when you compare Zeiss on Nikon look to Leica look I'm interested.

Neil

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Will do the 50mm also tomorrow.

 

[robsteve]

The bokeh looks pretty scary in the planter shots.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

That's a foreground pigmy palm . Ugly

 

[David K]

Guy,
How accurate did you find the AF on the Nikon 85 1.4 shooting wide open. These Nikon screens don't give me that "pop into focus" that I like to have when manual focusing so I really rely on the AF. These shots look very good from f/2 down... 1.4 is definitely soft.

 

[rayyan]

Terry, generally manual focusing on the d200/300 is difficult without a
katzeye screen. ( or similar )

Re: the autofocus confirmation indicator gets you pretty close, but not
necessarily is 100% accurate all the time, when you are in mf mode.

In autofocus mode the camera focuses on something which might be or
be not where you want it. the manual has a discussion on where the autofocus might be mislead.

I generally use a nikon dr-6 raf when doing macros at magnified strength.
getting a proper manual focus screen seems necessary!

My zfs are currently underutilised as the weight of the 100 makro + manual focusing without a tripod does not suit me.

So the way I understand how you would do this is pick the focus point and then manually focus but camera will confirm when you have focus. I'm assuming you were doing this in the viewfinder. How fast was it to get focus?
how quickly can you change focus points? Is this just something it takes some time to get used to.

Note to self - don't let Jack with medium format or Guy with sharp lenses take too many pictures that can show EVERY imperfection.

 

[rayyan]

excellent images Guy.

The nikkor 85/1.4( which I have ) has been compared with the zf 85/1.4 ( which I do not have ) and the differences make it a tough decision to choose between these two.

For me the af on the nikkor is the deal breaker esp. when i am shooting in dim light and without flash.

Rome/Vatican/nikkor 85/1.4

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I agree I knew buying the Zeiss could be a big mistake with regards to focusing and i am really good at focusing but still I am getting some misses so yes a concern. I just ordered from Rachael the katz eye screen. BTW she is doing everything to rush this out to me right away. She is a very nice person folks so please look into her website and see if this is what you may need. It's Sunday and she is sending me e-mails and such. Another hard working lady in the business , gotta love her support for the working Pro and her customers.

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/

 

[Jack]

Just my own personal observation, but I think the Bokeh at f1.4 is pretty harsh. Overall, I think the Nikkor lens did as well or better than this one...

My .02,

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks Jack , this is something I need to evaluate as well. That one image bugs me.