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+2I think a lot of people were waiting for prime updates. Somehow, I don't think this is going to be the one to satisfy them :angry:
I was also hoping to see something more in the Voigtlander SL II range but so far nothing
As a post at Nikon Rumors points out, the 50/1.4G has:
* No aspheric elements
* No ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements
* No Nano Crystal Coating
How then is this US$439.95 (RRP) consumer grade lens going to deliver "great bokeh and sharpness" and why is it so exciting? Because it has auto-focus. Right.
Totally perfect way to celebrate 75 years of Nikkor optical excellence. We should all be thrilled.
As a post at Nikon Rumors points out, the 50/1.4G has:
* No aspheric elements
* No ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements
* No Nano Crystal Coating
How then is this US$439.95 (RRP) consumer grade lens going to deliver "great bokeh and sharpness" and why is it so exciting? Because it has auto-focus. Right.
Totally perfect way to celebrate 75 years of Nikkor optical excellence. We should all be thrilled.
Vivek, even if I were a 50mm fan, which I'm not (see below), one look at the Zeiss 50/1.4's bokeh in Sean Reid's review and elsewhere would have made me lose interest immediately.The Zeiss ZF lens has none of that either, lacks the metering chip, no auto focus. How much does that cost? :ROTFL:
Lars, I stand corrected. The lens design and the nine-blade rounded diaphragm will largely determine the bokeh. On the other hand, while sharpness may not be determined by ED, ASPH, nano coating, would it not be enhanced by these features? For example, Nikon USA's page about the 14-24mm f/2.8G includes the following points:Interesting... so you think sharpness and bokeh are determined by ED, ASPH, nano coating. Would you care to elaborate?
Amin, did you read the weblog posts that David Farkas made from Photokina? Particularly in the context of this thread and your comment, I was fascinated by this post in which he wrote about a conversation with Peter Karbe, the head optics designer at Leica (his designs include the 50mm Summilux ASPH and 75 APO Summicron ASPH):It would have been great if Nikon, deciding to make a real statement, had implemented aspheric elements and a floating element the way Leica did with the 50 lux asph. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that this lens will offer excellent performance for the money.
Keep the Zeiss ... first, it is a Macro and secondly it's a Zeiss in the best sense of the word.Great news! The one hesitation I had in selling the Canon 5D and buying the Nikon D700 was giving up the Canon 50/1.4, which is a very good lens for the money. Sample images from the Nikon counterpart never looked as good to me, mainly due to the rendering of bokeh. I've been using the Zeiss 50 macro, but I missed having a fast 50 with autofocus. The Sigma seems a bit unbalanced. Great center sharpness, not so good in the periphery. That and I don't want to play the Sigma AF lottery having gone through that with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4.
I'll be pre-ordering this new Nikon 50/1.4 for sure. Question is, do I keep the Zeiss? It's a fantastic lens, but I'm not sure it'll see very much use if the Nikon is a winner.