New Lens disappointment

ndwgolf

ndwgolf

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Neil Williams
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So I bought myself a new/old 1960s Nikon 55mm f1.2 lens to try on my Z9. Using it in manual focus was a breeze once I reassigned the zoom button to the multi purpose joystick making it easier to zoom in for critical focus (we’ll get to that in a minute)
Anyway me and my girlfriend went out into Phuket old town to try this new lens out and it was really good fun. When we got home I uploaded the pictures into Lightroom and then I was like “SH*T” looking at them in full view they looked okay but as soon as I zoomed in to 100% they were NOT okay soft and just something not correct (it actually hurt my eyes looking at them). Out of the 500+ pictures we took 95% were really bad the other 5% i've posted below.
I bought the lens on Lazada which is the equivalent to eBay /Amazon here in Thailand. It came with a 7 day return policy which included “change of mind policy” but after contacting the seller on Lazada to say I wanted to return the lens his/her “Change of Mind” policy doesn’t apply to camera lenses (Ive started a dispute claim with Lazada, but I’m not holding my breath to get a satisfactory result.

I really enjoyed the experience of the manual focusing with the Z9 so Ive just treated myself to a brand new Voigtlander 50mm f1.0 ..........hopefully I will get a better result

NDW_3369.jpgNDW_3476.jpgNDW_3754-Edit.jpgNDW_5319.jpgNDW_5729.jpg
 
The dof is paper thin at 1.2 and I'll be honest, the older fast lenses were never sharp.
The Canon ef 50mm 1.2 is an example of how poor the image quality can be wide open.
 
soupdragon said:
The dof is paper thin at 1.2 and I'll be honest, the older fast lenses were never sharp.
The Canon ef 50mm 1.2 is an example of how poor the image quality can be wide open.
Click to expand...
Tony a few of them actually looked okay soft but the majority of them actually hurt my eyes looking at them. Ive been chatting with a few of my photography friends and they assure me that the new voitlander lenses are super sharp
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Old soft lens on 8k camera. What a combination! What did you expect? A z 50/1.2 quality?
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After the disappointment with the 1960s lens, I was tossing up whether to get the 50:1.2 (I have the Z85:1.2 already) but I went for the Voitlander 50:1.0 instead...........I like a challenge :)
 
I have to say I have F1,4 / 50mm on my old F2 and as above the DOF is wafer thin on that and the glass looks like its made by pepsi cola
pics look about right
 
I have quite a few old lenses and whilst they can perform well in the central area of the frame in some circumstances, for example stopped down and with little risk of flare, they can perform quite different such as when the sun is intruding or at wide apertures where some are best described as characterful.

If you do keep the lens I'd recommend you keep it for when you want that characterful look.

Good luck with the Voigtlander. I have a Sony and it's now available in Sony mount but I've just bought the f1.2 so I can't really justify going for the f1 now.
 
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sk66 said:
Enable subject detection... the AF point will move to the eye when detected, and then pressing the zoom will automatically center on it.
Click to expand...
I didn't realise that subject detection would still work with Manual focusing lenses
 
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sk66 said:
Enable subject detection... the AF point will move to the eye when detected, and then pressing the zoom will automatically center on it.
Click to expand...
Steven subject detection doesn't work with my Z9 and that Nikon Nikon 55:1.2 manual focus lens. It might work with my new Voitlander but unfortunately it doest work with this old lens. I can set it in the menu but it automatically switches back to MF
 
ndwgolf said:
Steven subject detection doesn't work with my Z9 and that Nikon Nikon 55:1.2 manual focus lens. It might work with my new Voitlander but unfortunately it doest work with this old lens. I can set it in the menu but it automatically switches back to MF
Click to expand...
That might be just a Zf thing... I just broke my Z9 so I can't check.
 
ndwgolf said:
Steven subject detection doesn't work with my Z9 and that Nikon Nikon 55:1.2 manual focus lens. It might work with my new Voitlander but unfortunately it doest work with this old lens. I can set it in the menu but it automatically switches back to MF
Click to expand...

If it helps at all...

When using manual lenses and intending to use the magnified view before I bring the camera to my eye I move the focus point to approximately where I think the subjects eyes will be and I can get close enough to save time and faff and thus take the picture quicker and keep the subject waiting less.
 
Neil. If you get a chance. Try the Zf. It has manual focus aids with subject detection. Features not found on the Z9 Z8
 
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