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28mm for D800(e)?

L

Lightleak

New member
Hello everybody,

I have been reading through posts of this forum a bit and recently decided to register. From what I have read so far I am afraid there is no ideal solution to my first question, but I would like to hear your recommendations nevertheless. Similar topics have been discussed here before but maybe somebody has had some new experiences, so here it goes.

As many others I am looking for a good wideangle lens for my d800e.
I am looking for a 28mm, if there is a much better alternative in 24mm (or 35mm) I might consider it as well. (I am currently using a 50mm 1.4G which I am very happy with.)

- I need this lens mainly for landscape photography
- I am fine with not using the lens below f5.6
- I am fine with manual focus

The Nikon 28mm f1.8 would be nice but it has the problem with uneven (shakey/blurry) areas in most of the images I have seen up to f.11 (where they seem to disappear(?)), as well as focus shift issues reported by some.

The Elmarit-R 28mm (version ii ?) with leitax conversion is often mentioned as pretty good, but some seem to have problems with the mirror hitting the back of the lens. I am not sure I want to dremel a leica lens, but if this is the way to go I might consider it. Can anybody provide full resolution landscape images of a d800 / d800e with said lens? I'd be very interested in these.

The results I have seen of the Voigtländer Ultron 28mm slII didn't seem too impressive, but if anybody can provide landscape (or cityscape) images at around f8-f11 (or f5.6), I'd be interested as well.

Same goes for the Zeiss 28mm.

The Sigma 35mm seems to be a common choice but I the overwhelming evidence about its problems with the d800(e) found across the internet disturbs me.

So, I'd appreciate if you could share your experiences with the D800/d800e
and wideangle lenses, especially in 28mm focal length.

Thanks a lot and best regards,

Harald
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Hmmm in regard to the Nikon 28mm. I just finished a huge project and used the 28mm a lot. It's actually the only thing I shot with it so far but it seems like a nice lens. The shaky blurry stuff I have not seen. Now my whole shoot was with lights so things are a little softer lighting wise by the soft boxes but all my images look the same and shot with the Sigma 35, Nikon 50 1.4 and Nikon 85 1.8. Now its not as good as the Sigma 35 but its pretty close.
Here is one shot at F10 at a 1 or 2 second exposure. I'm focused pretty much on the front two people and the rest is background.

Ill post some more when I get a chance but this is client work so I have to be careful

 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I'm going to post this and it is off topic no question. But it's great data for all of us to know and learn.

A fine member PM'd me about posting a image of all these kids without a released and its a excellent excellent question and hopefully this will keep folks out of trouble. In this shot with the kids they are all minors obviously and with that you absolutely need a release that is signed by there parents or guardians so his question is absolutely correct without a release I can get in serious trouble, lawsuits and all that.

Now my answer to him is here.


Actually that is a excellent question and your correct they should not be published anywhere without being released. They are all released though as my client here is the charter school and we released all the kids in all 4 schools we shot. Interesting out of all the schools only about 4 parents would not sign off on the release, so we left those kids out on the shoots. Great question and you are dead on with the release. These are certainly things every shooter should be aware off. I'm going to post this as its great data.

So lesson here folks don't ever take risks on stuff like this , get a release they are readily available on the net. In this shoot we actually drew up a very specific release for the parents to sign as we needed to cover worldwide distribution. This job is a national ad campaign so we need to cover everything that these images can be used for.
 
L

Lightleak

New member
Hello Guy,

thanks for the feedback on the Nikon 28mm. The image quality in this shot looks great, no doubt. It is only at 100% that I see the blurry areas in the test shots I have examined. As an example I hope it is ok if I link to a full size file on the cameralabs flickr page.

All sizes | Nikon AF-S 28f1.8G @f5.6 52880 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

If you scroll to the very bottom left of the image, then scroll right until you see the lilac flowers and then go up until you see the house+trees just above lilac flowers - there you can see it. it looks like camera shake, but most other parts of the image are fine.

I have witnessed this in many pictures by a few different people, the shakey area(s) are always roughly in the same spots though.

I am sure I am guilty of pixel peeping here, but I would like to to print at a maximum size and then this will show.

What I see (and sometimes stronger than in this image) is probably the field curvature that was mentioned by some in the earlier topic about the 28mm 1.8g by Tim Ashley.
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
We do need to understand this lens does certainly have field curvature so this maybe exactly what you are seeing and most lenses will have this in the wides. A great lens is the Zeiss 25mm F2 which unfortunately I just sold so i can get a Leica 19mm but I would like to get that lens back again soon when more money comes in. I found it maybe the best wide in that focal length. Now you are running into the same issues we all are having is wide angles in 35mm specifically Nikon mounts. All the zooms are okay and at 28mm the 24-70 is pretty good and my bet so is the 16-35 but if your picky like me especially for landscape type work when detail is important than we have to dig deeper into the quality issue. I bought the Nikon 28mm more for PR type work like we see here where corners are less meaningful. Now when I hit the road for landscape this lens may stay home as the Leica 19mm and Sigma 35mm are better. I kind of have two sets of lenses. The Zeiss 28mm F2 was a okay lens but the 25mm F2 is actually better than the 21mm , yea i know going against the great 21mm but its is a newer design and I found just lovely of a lens. But your asking great questions here as we are all running into this as pixel peepers. LOL

The Zeiss 35mm F2 is also good but again I think the Sigma is better and at 1.4 just outstanding for a lens wide open. That right there is hard to beat. The Zeiss 35mm F2 is excellent though. You may want to think about 24/25 and the 50 kit as a option. The Nikon 24mm 1.4 is also a very good lens. Unfortunately you just may have to gap like this 24/25 , 50mm. Hell if you can swing it financially the Zeiss 25mm and Sigma 35mm would be a great setup.

I'm going to go eventually to the Leica 19mm, buy the Zeiss 25 again, Sigma 35mm, 50 1.4 and 85 1.8 as my landscape, high quality kit. Right now I need something over 85 and I may just buy the Sigma 150 again. Im spoiled I had the 200 F2 and there is nothing out there like it in that area . I am not a big zoom guy
 
L

Lightleak

New member
Hello Sergio, thank you for the example shot, it looks good.
Do you have one with say f8-f11 as well? Maybe something more landscape-ish (without objects in close distance), so I can relate to how it would look in the way I want to use it?

Guy, that's good advice to be careful, I wonder how this is handled over here in europe.

Best regards,

Harald
 
Guy Mancuso

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I also been thinking about the Leica R 28mm as well as i shot that years ago and really liked it.
 
L

Lightleak

New member
Guy, I will look for samples of the 25mm Zeiss. I would prefer to go wider than 28 rather than towards 35, so this might be interesting. I see the price is „zeissy“ as well, but I assume it is an absolute bargain compared to the new generation of zeiss lenses coming soon for probably something around twice-thrice that much..

Do you (or does anybody) have an example shot in full res of the 25mm zf.2 f/2 ? Landscape would be great or something like it.

Thanks for the replies!!
 
Y

Y Sol

Active member
I had the Elmarit 28mm V2 and used it on the D3x.
Unfortunately I sold the lens 2 years ago. :banghead:
I would love to use it on the D800. It's a fantastic lens.
Here is a shot with the D3x @ f8 and some details at 100%.
There was no lens correction in this shot.





 
L

Lightleak

New member
Thank you all for posting these pictures, much appreciated and very helpful. Indeed these show off the quality of the elmarit-r on the d800. Will do some research on how to get around field curvature next as well as trying to find some more 28mm elmarit-r images taken with the d800(e) as well as 25mm zf.2 images.

From the first impression both of these lenses seem to work very well on the d800(e) and will much likely satisfy my needs. I'll see if I come across one of them in the near future. (hunting mode: switched to on.)
 
P

paulraphael

Member
Guy, I'm almost 100% certain there is no issue with photgraphing minors for this sort of use. The laws for model releases are the same for minors as for adults, with the exception of who needs to sign. The law concerns commercial purposes, not editorial or artistic.

New Jersey is considering a law banning the photographing (not just publishing) of minors without parental consent. This is similar to the crazy French law prohibiting photographing anyone anywhere with out permission. But unless this law passes, you don't have to worry.

That being said, you can sue anyone for anything. The laws can be stacked against the plaintif; it doesn't stop them for causing defendants an expensive and ugly headache.
 
P

Photojazz

Member
I can't wait to try a 28mm 1.4d I have coming soon, on a D800E I have coming soon as well, it may take me 1-2 weeks to get everything in here. To me, the IQ of the 28 1.4 was always superb. I owned one, and then sold it, like an idiot. I am correcting two wrongs I did, selling that and my 58mm 1.2 noct. I have the noct replaced now with a very nice copy, and now the 28 1.4 has fallen into place. Unexpectedly I might add. I cannot wait.

Doug
 
L

Lightleak

New member
Hello Doug,

a couple of full res shots of the 28mm 1.4 on the d800e would be greatly appreciated, once you get the lens and the camera. With distant subjects, if possible, this would be very interesting! Sounds like an excellent setup that you will have there, quite sought after as well.
 
P

Photojazz

Member
It will be interesting to see. I actually just accidentally found a deal I could put together for one. Oh, it's not the perfect one, no box, it's an import vs a US lens. But I am hopeful, that it will function well for a long time. It has the crack on the focus selection ring as well, like my last one did. I sold my last lens, regretably along with a Noct about the same time. I have recently already corrected the wrong of selling the Noct. In a week or two, hopefully the second mistake will be corrected. lol.

Oh, there will be test shots for sure. I will try and post back results.
I always loved the 28 1.4 rendering. Such a fine lens. and how good were Nikon's 2nd generation pro bodies, the D2X series camera? Well, pretty darn good.

This brings back memories, my first 28 1.4 on a D2Xs series camera:
.8 sec @ F9


I actually have a 2nd version of below I like the framing better, but the water looks best in this shot, so I showed it for the detail up front with the rocks and dead tree. I always thought it was amazing. Tri-pod and release used for sure.

.45 seconds @ F9


Doug
 
J

jduncan

Active member
Photojazz said:
It will be interesting to see. I actually just accidentally found a deal I could put together for one. Oh, it's not the perfect one, no box, it's an import vs a US lens. But I am hopeful, that it will function well for a long time. It has the crack on the focus selection ring as well, like my last one did. I sold my last lens, regretably along with a Noct about the same time. I have recently already corrected the wrong of selling the Noct. In a week or two, hopefully the second mistake will be corrected. lol.

Oh, there will be test shots for sure. I will try and post back results.
I always loved the 28 1.4 rendering. Such a fine lens. and how good were Nikon's 2nd generation pro bodies, the D2X series camera? Well, pretty darn good.

This brings back memories, my first 28 1.4 on a D2Xs series camera:
.8 sec @ F9


I actually have a 2nd version of below I like the framing better, but the water looks best in this shot, so I showed it for the detail up front with the rocks and dead tree. I always thought it was amazing. Tri-pod and release used for sure.

.45 seconds @ F9


Doug
Click to expand...
Nice good old days. I remember back then, the progress from one camera to the other was amazing , and I dreamed and dreamed about a good 24mp full frame camera as I struggled with a point and shoot, after my analog camera was stolen. Good art was done with digital, but resistance remained high.

Good capture.

Back on topic. I have been pondering about the new Nikon 24mm (my Nikon is a D600 prosumer). I like that is very lineal compared to the zooms (14-24 and 24-70). Why the inclination towards the 28mm?. I also love that is a good tool for street photography as it is fast.

I have zero experience with the 28 so it's not a suggestion, but a simple question.

Thanks,

jduncan
 
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