glenerrolrd
Workshop Member
Diglloyd has obtained a new 58/1.4AF Nikkor and has been critical of its focus shift . Having followed lloyd s tests pretty closely I have no doubt that the lens he has in hand exhibits some level of focus shift ...but my question is "so what ?"
Evidently its not all that unusual in fast lenses and comes from a common aberration . Every lens design has trade offs (even the uber Zeiss ) and the Nikon lens designers accepted some focus shift to produce the new lens .
Personally when I have a lens that has focus shift ..I try to set it up to slightly front focus . The older 35/1.4 M asph had this problem ..but set it for dead on at F2 and with a little thought you could avoid any real impact .
I don t generally shoot at F1.4 unless I need to or am seeking some very limited DOF . If I did of course the lens can be set for perfection wide open .
Evidently its not all that unusual in fast lenses and comes from a common aberration . Every lens design has trade offs (even the uber Zeiss ) and the Nikon lens designers accepted some focus shift to produce the new lens .
Personally when I have a lens that has focus shift ..I try to set it up to slightly front focus . The older 35/1.4 M asph had this problem ..but set it for dead on at F2 and with a little thought you could avoid any real impact .
I don t generally shoot at F1.4 unless I need to or am seeking some very limited DOF . If I did of course the lens can be set for perfection wide open .