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Nikkor 50/1.2 Ai on full frame DSLR, lots of samples
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PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2012 6:39 pm    Post subject: Nikkor 50/1.2 Ai on full frame DSLR, lots of samples Reply with quote
First opportunity to try out the D4 at night, snapshots walking home from a wet bar night Very Happy


ISO 12 800 Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai @ f/2 1/200s


ISO 10 000 Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai @ f/2 1/200s


ISO 12 800 Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai @ f/2 1/200s


ISO 1400 Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai @ f/2 1/30s

With this camera, one could shoot a goth wedding in moonlight Shocked

Last edited by Esox lucius on Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:05 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2012 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Legendary lens - your samples give us an indication of its quality. Thanks


patrickh


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2012 1:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Even at ISO of 10000, there is hardly any noise!


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
These images look like ISO3200-6400 of my D700 if I don't do noise reduction. Did you apply it?


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
No. Downsizing to 1024px takes care of most of the color noise, and I also used a neutral color profile with slight desaturation to remove the yellow street light glow (this further hides color noise).

When I'm comparing very high ISO shots from D3/D700 RAW files to those of the D4, the D4 seems to be about 1.5-2 f-stops better. D4 gives more detail, better color and increased dynamic range, clearly noticeable past ISO 3200. AF works at two EVs less light than D700 (down to EV -2). Metering also better, D4 has 91,000 individually measuring RGB sensors. D4 vs. D3s difference is smaller, but nevertheless in favor of the D4.

After 4 years of D3 and D700 use I had established ISO 4000 as my "quality" limit and ISO 6400 as my "emergency" limit. With the D4 it looks like I can use ISO 8000 or 10,000 as my "quality" limit and ISO 12,800 as my "emergency" limit. It's good to know I have this much room to work, but of course I use fast lenses and try to keep the ISO below 3200 as that ISO gives me 10 f-stops of dynamic range.

The D800 is no slouch at high ISO, but if the D4 & D800 battled in moon- or streetlight, the D4 would win 4-1, downsizing very large images takes care of color noise quite well.

Vilhelm

edit: grammar and vocabulary, shortened reply

Last edited by Esox lucius on Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:58 pm; edited 3 times in total


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2012 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Amazing results. Dream camera / lens combination.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Very kind of you all! Here are some samples of how this lens performs at close focusing distance.

Two versions of the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 exist; the Ai and Ai-S. They both have 7 elements in 6 groups, the Ai has 7 rounded blades and 180 degree focus throw, the Ai-S version has 9 straight blades and "snappier" focus throw of 110 degrees from minimum to infinity. Build quality is excellent, all metal and the tolerances are fine, focusing smooth. The Ai version is noticeably stiffer (and slower) to focus, I have three copies of this lens and they're all CLA'd so dry lube is not to blame.

This lens divides users - some love it while others claim it's an expensive dud. I think there are more bad photographers than bad copies, total depth of field wide open at minimum focusing distance is only 2 millimeters and most complaints I've seen of this lens come with front or back focused sample images (or too slow shutter speed for hand-held).

For close-up work I prefer the Ai with it's slower (read: more precise) focus throw but for street photography I find the Ai-S better. Some more samples, all shot at f/1.2 ISO 100 1/250s and flash bounced from a wall behind me.

1) 41464
Front focused this one


2) 41492


3) 41501


4) 41501
100% crop of the previous photo


5) 41504


6) 41509


Cropped out the vignetting and pulled up curves just a little in the middle


Postprocessing: ACR 7/CS6, color mode set to Camera Vivid, whites -30 and contrast +20, saturation -5, sharpening is set to default 25 (low), no vignetting removal. If you're seeing all white you need a better (or calibrated) monitor, the only clipping occurs in small areas on the baby's shirt and pacifier.

Last edited by Esox lucius on Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:59 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I am impressed by the ISO 10000 of the camera.
In all fairness I can't say I'm equally impressed by the lens' performance.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I agree with the lens, wide open it's not even "portrait sharp" but very suitable for dreamy high key (here contrast is further lessened by three speedlights washing the scene). At f/2 it kicks with detail worthy of large prints. It would be very easy though to make this lens look better, with proper post-processing those eyelashes would bite the screen (samples are with minimal pp).

I didn't buy it to reproduce maps though, and I think very few people buy an f/1.2 (or faster) lens to use for work that requires resolving power with lens wide open.

Esox lucius wrote:
Of all the superfast normal focal length lenses I have used (Nikkor 50/1.2, Nikkor 55/1.2, Nikkor 58/1.2, Canon 50/1.2, Leica Noctilux 50/1.2, Leica Noctilux 50/1.0, Leica Noctilux 50/0.95 and Voigtländer Nokton 50/1.1) wide open the best was the Konica Hexanon 60/1.2 (undoubtedly due to focal length making it easier to design a lens performing at superfast aperture).


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Omar wrote:
Wow! This lens and the D4 high ISO capability+ good photog= awesome!


+1 thank you for sharing!


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Esox lucius wrote:
I agree with the lens, wide open it's not even "portrait sharp" but very suitable for dreamy high key (here contrast is further lessened by three speedlights washing the scene). At f/2 it kicks with detail worthy of large prints.


More than sharpness (which is not really assessable at the provided size, but appears to be more than adequate), I was thinking of the flare resistance and macro contrast,
for both of which I would have expected a better performance.

Esox lucius wrote:
Then again, I think very few people buy an f/1.2 (or faster) lens to use for work that requires resolving power with lens wide open.


Yes and no. I can't speak for the Planar 1.2/55 (Contax), which I never tried, but my 1.2/85 Planar "50 years" AEG version offers a killer resolvance wide open, whose effect on perceptual sharpness is only partially attenuated
by the unavoidable residual spherical aberration. The flare resistance is amazingly high for a lens with a full 77mm frontal glass, and the macro contrast near perfect. The designer Walter Woeltche described
his creature's performance as "astral". I can confirm that. However, with the lens market of today, such an extreme performing f/1.2 lens would be probably impossible to market, as people is more and more used
to using average performing (and much cheaper) fast lenses to be later "boosted" with software.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
More than sharpness (which is not really assessable at the provided size, but appears to be more than adequate)


You probably missed the fact that #4 is a 100% crop of detail when coupled with the 16mpix sensor. I'll be happy to show you that detail on a 36mpix D800 with later samples.

Comparing a 50 to an 85 is not objective. 50mm f/1.2 lenses can't compete with 85mm f/1.2 lenses when it comes to image quality, because of much wider and steeper angle of light hitting focal plane. I certainly didn't expect the Nikkor to perform for more than it costs now (300 EUR). When those two lenses sold new, the Nikkor 50/1.2 Ai retailed for one fifth of the 85/1.2 Planar's price, which usually is a good indication of quality differences Wink

Orio: Do you have a topic on the Planar 85/1.2 fünf-zehn jahre? I would love to see photos, but the search isn't really working Confused

EDIT: Google found some, wow!

http://forum.mflenses.com/planar-1-2-85-some-night-photos-t40303.html

Last edited by Esox lucius on Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:46 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Esox lucius wrote:

Orio: Do you have a topic on the Planar 85/1.2 fünf-zehn jahre? I would love to see photos, but the search isn't really working Confused
EDIT: Google found some, wow!
http://forum.mflenses.com/planar-1-2-85-some-night-photos-t40303.html


Only some of those were taken wide open. You can figure out which ones by yourself. Comparison is interesting because you
can see that there is very little difference in terms of overall contrast between wide open and stopped down.

In the selection I made for the "best of lenses" gallery, most pictures were taken wide open, with only a few taken one stop down:
http://forum.mflenses.com/carl-zeiss-planar-t-1-2-85-contax-cy-t38113,highlight,%2Bplanar.html
at the bottom of the thread, there are a couple of 100% crops.

By the way, thanks for bringing up that thread. I need to enter a couple of those in the "best of" selection. Smile
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