Just decided to check out the sharpness of some of my older and newer lenses. I had a couple surprises in this test.
All these shots are a the widest aperture for the lens and are natural light, straight out of camera. Focus was on piping on the corner of the cushion.
Nikon 50mm f1.4D – Least sharp fully expected
[exif id=”6030″]
Nikon 50mm F1.4D
Nikon 85mm F1.4G – Next least sharp – bit of a surprise, I expected it to be number 1 or 2 in the list, but it is still very sharp in my estimation, just no longer the top of the heap in my collection and is a very versatile portrait lens. I thought the fact that it was so easily bested by the Sigma and the Zeiss was a result of focus issues so I switched to manual focus. The sharpness improve a bit, but not significantly. Unlike the Nikon 50mm 1.4D, In day to day use I never had an issue with sharpness wide open on the 85mm.
[exif id=”6032″]
Nikon 85mm F1.4G
Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art – Crazy sharp and great Bokeh, better CA control than the old Nikon 50 F1.4D. I never traded up to the newer Nikon 50, so I cant really compare. I expected this to blow away the nikon 50mm 1.4D ina pixel peep test. But the Nikon is still very good, I found that I did not like the Bokeh and as a result did not use it as much as my other lenses and stayed away from shooting the 50. Having the Sigma Art has renewed my interest in that focal range.
[exif id=”6029″]
Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art
Zeiss 135 F2 APO – No comparison: Bokeh, sharpness unmatched. Definitely the king of this heap. This lens is manual focus and so I don’t use this for events, it is mainly for product, still life, or portrait so far.
[exif id=”6031″]
zeiss 135 APO F2
Leave a reply