Bokehlisciousness

[Lee Webb]

I recently invested in a Nikon 85 f/1.4G and I'm in totally in love with it, so much so that out of the 901 images I took on today's job, 899 were with this lens!. Here's one from today

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Bokin heck! That's some good lens.
The 1.2 85mm is my next lens I'd like to invest in, but looking at the 1.4, it may just be just as good!

 

[Lee Webb]

85 f/1.2 for Nikon? I thought Nikon only made a 1.4 and a 1.8?

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Ooohhh, maybe I'm dreaming of the dark side (canon) lol

 

[Lee Webb]

I think you probably are! If you are looking at the Nikon 1.4G at £1200, don't believe all of what you hear in the reviews. People say that the focus is slow and sure, whilst it's not as fast as the 24-70 or 70-200 it's by no means slow - it'll happily track people jogging at a steady pace on a decent body. When people say "it's very sharp wide open and doesn't get much sharper as you stop down" that you can believe, at f/1.4 it's incredible, f/1.8 is unbelievable and as sharp as it is at f/4 or f/5.6

 

[Peter McCullough]

Very nice Lee,

Beautiful image shot with your Nikkor f/1.4G 85mm, stunning quality, so real looking, very life like with superb clarity! wOOw

Was that shot on the D800?

 

[Lee Webb]

Hi Peter, shot on the D4 at f/2 handheld (and not cropped)
I tend not to use the D800 if I can help it, I only really use it for group shots at weddings where the dynamic range and large files are actually useful. I much prefer the responsiveness, feel and predictability of the D4.
...plus I need to micro adjust the D800's focus for the 85mm and I haven't been bothered to do it yet!

 

[Peter McCullough]

Thanks Lee.

I'm picking up a D800 around the first week of October, I've recently moved over from Canon, so the D800 for me will be a steep learning curve. Do you always need to micro-adjust each and every lens you own regards the D800 body?
At the minute I only have one lens to use on the D800 which is the Carl Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 Distagon T* ZF lens.

Thanks;
Peter

 

[Lee Webb]

Oh yeah I remember reading on the forum that you were changing over! I went from Canon to Nikon about 6 years ago - from 1DIIN, 5D and 40D to the D3 and D300.

It's always best to MA every lens with every body to make sure you're getting the best from it. The D800 is a tough camera to get the best from though - of all the lenses I own, I only get a really stellar performance out of primarily the Sigma 35mm which was practically designed for the D800, then then the 14-24 and the 500. The 24-70 really can't fully resolve 36mp (it really shows in the corners) and the 70-200 is alright from 100mm to 150mm but suffers a little at either end. I'll let you know how the 85 fairs on it when I get around to doing the MA. I'm sure it's fine, it's one of Nikon's recommended lenses for the D800... But the pure fact Nikon feels the need to have such a list shows that it doesn't suit all lenses. Far from it in fact!

Te files are great though, if you aim to slightly under expose each shot you'll get the best out of the files. At 100 ISO you can easily push the files 2 - 2.5 stops without losing anything.

Hope that's useful, any questions just PM me

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Look at that - hardly a sharp pixel anywhere other than the subject!

That's a lovely looking shot Lee - I can see why you like the lens

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Thanks Lee.
Very useful info there, I've only come over to the Nikon side myself not long ago.. And I'm liking it very much.

 

[Jonni Allen]

Really nice. Did you end up with a couple not sharp or did you get them all bang on?

 

[Lee Webb]

Hi Jonni, with the 85 the focus is incredibly accurate, out of the 900 shots there's probably 15 that aren't in focus but that was me being ambitious!

 

[Jonni Allen]

Thats very good.