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Top three 50mm lenses for D850?

Jack

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Ben730 said:
Interesting, I really like that bokeh. The Hasselblad V lenses have a similar rendering.
I would like to have a sharp AF lens with this bokeh.
Regards,
Ben
Click to expand...
The swirly in those I like, the jittery part not so much. If you want the jittery, go with the older Zeiss, if you just want swirly, then it gets tougher, but you should definitely try a 50/1.2. Here are a couple shots back when I had mine. Note I sold this lens because I preferred the overall rendering of the 50/1.4G, but YMMV.

50/.2 wide open, albeit on a D810 so for bokeh rendering -- the first you can see the swirling in the foreground bokeh, which is rarer than background swirl:



At 1.2, the background blurs pretty quickly, so the swirl is equally shallow:



Again, overall I prefer the look and convenience of the 50/1.4G, and sold the manual-focus 1.2. Oh, the absolute resolution of the 50/1.2 is behind the 1.4G, which is a notch again behind the Sigma ART -- but the ART had fairly so-so bokeh; nervously smooth rear, but little swirling and not much going on with a little more nervousness in the foreground:

50 ART wide open (older image on D800, again for bokeh):



But laser sharp --at least on the D800-- even wide open:



If I regret selling any lens, it's the Sigma Art 50 as it was an incredible landscape 50. But it's also a tank relative to the 1.4G and resolution is "close enough" for my needs, so the G won out. Upside is I can acquire another Art pretty easily whenever the mood strikes ;)

Hope these help!
 
dave.gt

dave.gt

Well-known member
Jack said:
The swirly in those I like, the jittery part not so much. If you want the jittery, go with the older Zeiss, if you just want swirly, then it gets tougher, but you should definitely try a 50/1.2. Here are a couple shots back when I had mine. Note I sold this lens because I preferred the overall rendering of the 50/1.4G, but YMMV.

50/.2 wide open, albeit on a D810 so for bokeh rendering -- the first you can see the swirling in the foreground bokeh, which is rarer than background swirl:



At 1.2, the background blurs pretty quickly, so the swirl is equally shallow:



Again, overall I prefer the look and convenience of the 50/1.4G, and sold the manual-focus 1.2. Oh, the absolute resolution of the 50/1.2 is behind the 1.4G, which is a notch again behind the Sigma ART -- but the ART had fairly so-so bokeh; nervously smooth rear, but little swirling and not much going on with a little more nervousness in the foreground:

50 ART wide open (older image on D800, again for bokeh):



But laser sharp --at least on the D800-- even wide open:



If I regret selling any lens, it's the Sigma Art 50 as it was an incredible landscape 50. But it's also a tank relative to the 1.4G and resolution is "close enough" for my needs, so the G won out. Upside is I can acquire another Art pretty easily whenever the mood strikes ;)

Hope these help!
Click to expand...
Jack,

Yes, that helps a lot!! Thank you for sharing those comparative images.:)

I am leaning toward the 1.4G to begin with as I really haven't decided the direction I am going with regarding the D850. Obviously, matching the lens for the tasks is important so the 1.4G looks like a good all-around starting point.And at a good price point, especially if I can pick up a nice used lens.

I think that my dream lens for the D850 is the 200/2.0 for portraits, but I would have to exit the Medium Format world to afford that...:grin: My Medium Format does quite well for portraits so... Yikes!

Choices are good, decisions are difficult at times, though.:banghead:
 
Photon42

Photon42

Well-known member
1.4/58 Noct or 1.2/50 or 1.4/50 Voigtländer or 2/50 Makro Planar Zeiss. All different in rendering, of course. The 1.2 is maybe the most interesting one: glow wide open and quite sharp stopped down a bit.
 
JohnBrew

JohnBrew

Active member
Dave, if you want a 50 1.8g to play with, I’ll send you mine. It refuses to focus on my Df, even with -20 adjustment. Yes, it’s under warranty. Getting lazy...
 
R

robdeszan

Member
It has got to be Sigma Art 50mm. It was an AF game changer for me. Once fine-tuned with the sigma dock I could finally rely on absolute accuracy. A very modern rendering.
 
dave.gt

dave.gt

Well-known member
robdeszan said:
It has got to be Sigma Art 50mm. It was an AF game changer for me. Once fine-tuned with the sigma dock I could finally rely on absolute accuracy. A very modern rendering.
Click to expand...
Hmmm.. can someone explain the Sigma dock thing to me? I haven't spent much time in recent years outside of Medium Format Digital and film, so I am a bit behind on what Signa has been doing.

Thanks!:)
 
R

robdeszan

Member
The main difference is that while in-camera AF adjustment has a global setting only, the dock allows you adjust focus accuracy for 4 distances across the focusing range: minimum and infinity, plus two middle distances depending on the focal length.

I think Tamron have a similar solution with some of their current lenses as well.

In the past, I found that camera's global adjustment was far from perfect. Also, all my sigma lenses needed minor adjustments as the focus was off. I bought the lenses and the dock knowing this would be the case and totally embracing Sigma's solution to counteract discrepancies between bodies.

dave.gt said:
Hmmm.. can someone explain the Sigma dock thing to me? I haven't spent much time in recent years outside of Medium Format Digital and film, so I am a bit behind on what Signa has been doing.

Thanks!:)
Click to expand...
 
dave.gt

dave.gt

Well-known member
robdeszan said:
The main difference is that while in-camera AF adjustment has a global setting only, the dock allows you adjust focus accuracy for 4 distances across the focusing range: minimum and infinity, plus two middle distances depending on the focal length.

I think Tamron have a similar solution with some of their current lenses as well.

In the past, I found that camera's global adjustment was far from perfect. Also, all my sigma lenses needed minor adjustments as the focus was off. I bought the lenses and the dock knowing this would be the case and totally embracing Sigma's solution to counteract discrepancies between bodies.
Click to expand...
Thank you that explanation. Never heard of it. It seems strange that Nikon does not have that. For that matter, I never had a lens that needed adjusting. On rare occasions, I sent a few lenses in for a CLA... but that was rare even for Leica lenses.

Btw, how does that "docking" even work? All electronic? Is there some sort of physical adjustment to the internal elements?
 
R

robdeszan

Member
Yes, basically an oversized, electonic rear lens cap (different dock types for different mounts) that connects to the lens and computer using a usb cable. You use Sigma's proprietary software to adjust the values which are then uploaded to the lens.

Exactly! Nikon can do the same as a chargeable service i.e. adjust all your lenses to your new body. I think giving the users a way to finetune their AF lenses is brilliant.

dave.gt said:
Thank you that explanation. Never heard of it. It seems strange that Nikon does not have that. For that matter, I never had a lens that needed adjusting. On rare occasions, I sent a few lenses in for a CLA... but that was rare even for Leica lenses.

Btw, how does that "docking" even work? All electronic? Is there some sort of physical adjustment to the internal elements?
Click to expand...
 
dave.gt

dave.gt

Well-known member
robdeszan said:
Yes, basically an oversized, electonic rear lens cap (different dock types for different mounts) that connects to the lens and computer using a usb cable. You use Sigma's proprietary software to adjust the values which are then uploaded to the lens.

Exactly! Nikon can do the same as a chargeable service i.e. adjust all your lenses to your new body. I think giving the users a way to finetune their AF lenses is brilliant.
Click to expand...
Well, thanks! :)

That is great to know! Another dumb question, what lenses/when did all this lens self-adjusting begin?

As a side note: It is this technology-crazed life that drives me crazy at times... In the not too distant future of a simple life I look forward to, I will be back to a single, simple camera with a MF lens or two, about the size of a Leica M, and it may or may not have batteries. Oh, my, I just described life with my M3!
:ROTFL:

But for now, a fling with the D850!:thumbs:
 
R

robdeszan

Member
From Sigma: "It is designed for use with the New Contemporary, Art and Sports product lines." Older lenses can't be adjusted.

While the process requires some trial and error and multiple tests, it is nowhere as frustrating as testing with film :) Zoom lenses require adjustments on multiple focal lengths at the before-mentioned distances which is much more work. Overall it is absolutely worth it.


dave.gt said:
Well, thanks! :)

That is great to know! Another dumb question, what lenses/when did all this lens self-adjusting begin?

As a side note: It is this technology-crazed life that drives me crazy at times... In the not too distant future of a simple life I look forward to, I will be back to a single, simple camera with a MF lens or two, about the size of a Leica M, and it may or may not have batteries. Oh, my, I just described life with my M3!
:ROTFL:

But for now, a fling with the D850!:thumbs:
Click to expand...
 
Shashin

Shashin

Well-known member
I enjoyed the 45mm Nikon tilt/shift on my D800E. I thought it performed very well. Not fast, but versatile. It is certainly an interesting option.
 
Shashin

Shashin

Well-known member
Dave, I used it for stitched panos, where I would shift it for the two-frame pano and tilt it to change the plane of focus.



Here was an experiment controlling the plane of focus to counter normal perspective:



Naturally, you can use the lens to create more normal photography. I found the lens sharp for that.

BTW, this is a manual focus lens.
 
dave.gt

dave.gt

Well-known member
Shashin said:
Dave, I used it for stitched panos, where I would shift it for the two-frame pano and tilt it to change the plane of focus.



Here was an experiment controlling the plane of focus to counter normal perspective:



Naturally, you can use the lens to create more normal photography. I found the lens sharp for that.

BTW, this is a manual focus lens.
Click to expand...
That's cool, Will!:)
Very nice images there, and yes it is a very interesting rendering for sure.

I had no idea.
 
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