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Nikon 58/1.4g and Baby Blue Eyes

Dan Bellyk

New member
Joe,

Your image compositions and processing are stellar, and your eye for capturing expressions is excellent.

That out of the way, understand this comment is not about you or your images, it is about the performance of the lens only -- I hope you don't mind because the lens is new, expensive and as such draws a lot of attention: I see what appears to me as just plain soft -- images missing that sharp-edged glint, seen especially lacking on the speculars in the child's eyes. It almost appears as bad to my eyes as slight subject motion blur, or simply a poor lens. I'm sorry, just sharing what I see and it's not just your lens either. Jan posted an excellent composition and low light capture of a firetruck in the dedicated 58G thread, and I see the same lack of crisp detail -- and he was shooting at f2!

Sorry folks, I just don't see anything that turns my crank from this lens yet. In fact the only good thing I can say about it is I like the way it renders oof background highlights, and that's about it.

Sorry,
I agree Jack, beautiful bokeh but soft, what the hell was Nikon thinking?
If you have a sharp image you can make it soft but you can't make a soft image sharp :(

Joe your images are beautiful, my other comment was about the lens your photography skills are excellent!
 
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Sharokin

New member
I still haven't seen a single image shot wide open with this lens that is sharp. My 50L is soft at 1.2 but sharpens up nicely by 1.6 with lovely color and bokeh.
 

bensonga

Well-known member
You have captured lovely images of this little girl Joe. I for one don't have a talent for taking photos like these.

I have a question for those who have used the Nikon 50 f1.2 AIS lens....do you think it would produce images that are sharper at f1.4 or f2 than you've seen from the new 58/1.4 lens?

I'm thinking about getting a Nikon 50/1.2 AIS to use with my D700...until I can afford the Otus 55/1.4 and a replacement D800.

Gary
 
I appreciate the nice compliments and I'm happy to provide images to help critique the lens. However, I'm probably not the ideal person to be testing the 58g for sharpness. Why? Because I've been shooting almost exclusively wide open at 1.4 - and to date most of my images are quick candids and/or include moving subjects. Without a doubt, the narrow DOF combined with the designer's intent to give this lens beautiful rendering has created less sharpness wide open. I can't say how much sharper the lens would be at 1.6 or 1.8 because I haven't shot at these apertures very much. As I've stated, the 58g does not have bite wide open although sharpness does appear to increase with distance. I think it's perfect for weddings which is where I plan to use it and I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying this focal length.

If you are bored and want to see more images (mostly at 1.4) from this lens here you go:

Nikon 58g gallery
 

bensonga

Well-known member
Hi Joe. In hindsight, this thread wasn't really the right place for me to post a question about the 50/1.2 AIS lens. I definitely don't want to take the thread away from discussions about the new 58/1.4. I'll try to find a better place to post my question.

Gary
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I agree Jack, beautiful bokeh but soft, what the hell was Nikon thinking?
If you have a sharp image you can make it soft but you can't make a soft image sharp :(
Wrong! It's very easy to make the photos above very, very sharp (try USM 70/0.5/0 on these photos), but very difficult and much more complicated to create the OOF background and the beautiful transitions during PP if the photos were taken with an inferior lens. In addition, USM can be run as a batch job in PS if large volumes are needed, while softening photos would have to be done individually for each photo.

In short, I don't understand why this lens is criticized for lack of sharpness. All the information is there and it's as sharp as you want it if the PP is done right.

When that is said, the Otus is clearly a superior lens, but it's manual focus, and it costs almost as much as the Nikkor plus a Df. Then, there's the $400 Sigma 50, which is no slouch when it comes to OOF rendering, but I doubt that it captures as much detail as the Nikkor.
 

D&A

Well-known member
You have captured lovely images of this little girl Joe. I for one don't have a talent for taking photos like these.

I have a question for those who have used the Nikon 50 f1.2 AIS lens....do you think it would produce images that are sharper at f1.4 or f2 than you've seen from the new 58/1.4 lens?

I'm thinking about getting a Nikon 50/1.2 AIS to use with my D700...until I can afford the Otus 55/1.4 and a replacement D800.

Gary
Hi Gary,

I'll give you one thing to consider regarding the Nixon 50 mm f.2 Ais. It flair a easily and it was in virtually all samples I've tried. Reproduction of point light sources with that lens also leaves something to be desired. It's an extremely fine lens and aim just highlighting a few things to consider.

Dave (D&A)
 
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