Lenses – Page 2 – frederikboving

Review: Nikon AF-S 16-35mm ED 1:4G lens

Review of the Nikon AF-S 16-35mm ED 1:4G lens

Price

I bought my copy of the Nikon AF-S 16-35mm ED 1:4G lens in February 2021 for around 730 UER, but here in October 2021 you can get a used copy over at mpb around 450 EUR subject to wear and tear. I recommend you get a used copy as the lens comes with a gold ring (Nikons pro level lenses) and is hence built to last. If not forever, then for a long time.

Specs and build

The lens ranges from 16-35mm and has a constant aperture of F4. That may not be the fastest of lenses, but a bit controversial, Nikon has supplied this lens with vibration reduction (2.5 stops claimed) which allows longer shutter openings without camera shake. Some report that they have shot razor sharp images down to 1/10th of a second.

The lens takes Ø77mm filter threads – no issue with rounded glass in the front or the front turning. At 15cm the lens is somewhat longer that what you would expect from a wide lens, but it balances well on a Nikon D4 with its 680 grams. Lighter cameras like a Nikon D750 makes the combo a bit “nose heavy”.

The lens comes with a very short lens hood, which is what you would expect when the widest angle of view is 107 degrees. There are buttons to turn VR and autofocus on and off.

There are 9 rounded aperture blades inside the lens, along with ED glass and aspherical lens elements. Nikon has made the lens since 2010, so the design is relatively new (coming from a vintage lens enthusiast!). The focus motor is built into the glass (SWM – silent wave motor) and works silent and fast; albeit it is not far the glass has to be move to go from 16 to 35mm.

The lens is all made in plastic except for the lens mount, but feels solid and in good quality. My only issue with the lens build quality as such is the manual focus as there is a bit of play when you turn the focus ring before it engages and actually gets the glass moving. Plus the throw is rather short at around 90 degrees. Other than that, it seems like they have made a good job in Thailand assembling this lens.

Daily use

At first I was skeptical to the idea of both VR and a zoom lens – why not just give me a fast prime? But I must admit this lens has grown on me. The ability to zoom in and crop a bit where relevant is great when you are shooting with not-too-high-resolution cameras like the D700 or the D4. Here the zoom allows me to get the framing right in camera so I don’t have to crop in post.

The VR in combination with the not-so-fast aperture actually works really well. I think Nikon knows that a lot of issues occur for fast lenses wide open, so by stopping down to f/4 by design and adding VR instead, you get a really useful combo. Not great if you want to shoot fast moving subjects, but I think this lens is made for landscape photographers primarily.

I find the AF less useful. Don’t get me wrong – I am as lazy as anyone else, but I often take my time to focus when I shoot landscapes and AF is really not that important. I would much rather pay a little less for the lens and skip AF. What I instead could use was some depth-of-field markings on the distance scape. That is useful for finding the hyper focal distance. And then I would like to get a better manual focus ring that has a long throw and engages immediately.

I have a few times, especially when shooting at the ocean, missed the ability to go wider than 16 mm. I can see the difference to my 14mm Samyang prime, and believe it or not, the last 2mm makes a HUGE difference. So it would be nice if the next version of the lens could go a tad wider.

Image quality

The performance of a lens is always a co-operation between lens and camera, and there will be sample variations from any production line. For these reasons a MTF chart is more an indication than the absolute truth. Having said that, the image quality from this lens is from the top shelf. The red lines below in the MTF shows impressive performance in terms of contrast also close to the edges, whereas sharpness starts lower and declines more, but both in tele and wide we are at 0.9 or above, which in my opinion is very high. Now wonder Nikon gave this lens a gold ring.

I have shot more than 4000 images with this lens in the 8 months I have owned it, and I can confirm that the image quality is stellar. There are of course some that will be able to see the slightly softer corners, but I really doubt anyone will notice.

Sun stars and bokeh

I doubt anyone buys this lens for it’s rendering of out of focus elements – that is probably more relevant for a 85mm portrait lens. But of course there may be an architecture or real estate photographer that appreciates good bokeh. Being a landscape photographer, I am not a bokeh fanatic.

But what I am very interested in is sun stars. And these do not look great when the blades are rounded – see the example above? I prefer sun stars from straight blades any time.

Vignetting and distortion

Vignetting and distortion is bad, especially distortion. Good news is that it is only a click away in Lightroom. You can literally fix both issues by two clicks in Lightroom. However, if you are a real estate or a architecture photographer, then this could be an issue for you, so know that this lens comes with these issues.

Aberrations

Contrary to what the MTF charts show with the solid and dotted lines moving apart towards the corners of the lens, I have found aberrations very well controlled in this lens. Only if I shot at 16mm and in Lightroom zoomed in at 400% in the corners, was I able to find purple and yellow fringing, but for most users of this lens I think the bottom line is that aberrations are controlled so well that it is no issue at all. The fringing I did see was removed immediately when I hit the “remove CA” checkmark in Lightroom.

Flare and ghosting

This lens has Nikons latest and greatest ED coating, and flare and ghosting is very well controlled, actually to a level where I think this could be a showstopper for a videographer (they love flare!). Not that I think a videographer would be interested in this lens, but just to illustrate how well it is dampened.

Conclusion

On the plus side:

Price (450 EUR used)
Useful zoom range (16-35mm)
Vibration reduction (tripod less needed)
Super center sharpness
Super contrast
Not too heavy (680 gram)
Takes 77mm filters
Weather sealed
Constant aperture
Aberrations and flare well controlled
Can focus close (29 cm)
Color rendition as we know Nikon (which is good if you ask me!)

And the less positive:

Some softness in the corners
Would be nice to go even wider than 16mm
Heavy vignetting and barrel distortion (easy fix in post)
Rounded aperture blades (sun stars not super pretty)
Manual focus ring quality (play)
F/4 not the fastest wide lens (but VR compensates)
No aperture markings on the distance scale

And things where I cannot mobilize a strong opinion:

Built in AF (I could easily do without – if the price came down)
Bokeh is fine (but I don’t really need it for landscapes)
Focus breathing is an issue, but I doubt videographers or macro photographers would choose this lens, and for the rest of us it is not important
Longer than you would maybe expect at 15 cm

So can I recommend this lens? Yes, absolutely, provided of course you need a wide lens. But get a used copy. There are plenty out there, and it comes with Nikons gold ring (pro level lens) so it is built to last.

Alternatives

If you want the very best wide angle in the Nikon lineup for the f-mount, you should take a look a the the 14-24mm f/2.8. It is a super lens! It is in almost al dimensions superior to the lens under review here, but be aware that the lens is 1 kg (!), does not take filters due to the rounded front glass and the price is close to double up! But if you want the best from Nikon – this is it.

If on the other hand you want something smaller, lighter and much cheaper, the little 24mm prime from Nikon that I have reviewed here could also be an alternative. It is going in the opposite direction in terms of price and size and zoom range, but it all comes down to what your requirements are and how much you want to invest.

Video link

Review: Nikon AF-S 70-200mm F2.8 G VR II lens

I think a few quotes from other reviewers to start with will set the scene just beautifully:

DXO Mark 2013: “[it] has no significant weaknesses and is the best zoom lens you can mount on a Nikon Full Frame body. If your photography demands a medium telephoto zoom with a fast maximum aperture that will deliver across the board, but particularly at 200mm, and your budget holds no bounds, go get yourself a Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED VR II. It’s one hell of a lens.”
Ken Rockwell: “I hate this lens because it is so good than now I want to buy one. I borrowed one to test, and it turned out so subtly excellent that it surprised me.”
DP review 2009, gold award: “Overall, though, it’s impossible to conclude anything other than that the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 G VR II is one of the most accomplished lenses of its type, and a perfect companion to Nikon’s top-end bodies such as the D3S and D3X. It’s an equally accomplished performer on both DX and FX that will satisfy the most demanding of photographers.”

Despite this lens certainly not getting any younger (production started back in 2009) it still today is a great lens, and as far as I know, still in production.

Price

I bought my lens for 900 EUR used (2020), and it came in good condition. Even though prices fluctuate over time, it is a rather expensive lens also used, but certainly much more within reach than the original list price of 2400 USD in 2009.

Build and layout

The lens comes with 4 buttons, two to control the AF, and two to control the VR. In addition good wide rubber grips are there for manual focus and zoom (just left of the buttons).

The full frame 70-200mm lens is packed with features:

ED: glass to control Chromatic Aberrations
AF-S: Built in auto focus motor, that also works on ML with FTZ adaptors plus on entry level Nikon cameras (!)
VR: Vibration Reduction so you can get more keepers with slower shutter speeds
1:2.8G: Constant fast aperture at f/2.8 throughout the focal range
IF: Internal focus, makes focus faster and allows filters to be mounted on the lens

You will have to accept a pretty high weight at 1.5 kilos, it takes Ø77 mm filters and you won’t be able to go closer to your subject than 1.4 meters.

The focal range from 70-200 makes lenses like this one a workhorse for portrait photographers, sports, some wildlife, photo journalists and wedding photographers. It is simply a super important range for many pros, and hence a lens that major lens manufacturers work very hard to get it absolutely right.

The lens features the golden ring that we know from pro grade glass from Nikon, but the jury is still out as to what exactly the gold ring signifies. Some think it is the ED glass, others that it is the weather sealing and yet others that it is pro grade glass. No matter what the right answer is, the lens is built very solid in most metal and some rubber (focus ring and zoom). And a bit seldom in this day and age, it is made in Japan (at least my copy is!).

All in all, you get the impression from handling this lens that it is built for professional use and designed to withstand a lot of beating from daily use in all kinds of weather.

Sharpness / contrast

There are many reservations to make before studying an MTF chart, and one of them is that your lens and your camera team up to produce the images, and hence studying a camera agnostic MTF chart may not reveal how your specific camera performs with this lens. And then Nikon does not provide data other than wide open and at the far extremes of this lens (wide and tele respectively), so we cannot see from the MTF chart how it performs in between.

Nikon AF-S 70-200mm F2.8 G VR II lens — The MTF chart as provided by Nikon.

However, as you can see, the red contrast line sits very high in the diagram and the blue sharpness is also impressive for center sharpness at least. Then it drops towards the edges, as is the case for so many other great lenses, but it remains over 0.7 close to 15mm from the center, and I find that impressive.

Just for the fun of it, and because people often tell me that primes are sharper than zooms, I made a little test where I looked at the center and corner sharpness and contrast, to see which one came out on top:Although the 180mm AF may not be the sharpest lens Nikon has ever produced, it certainly is a good lens and the 70-200mm won the center sharpness stopped down, whereas the prime won when going wide open. Maybe not a surprise, but to me this clearly shows that the lens in review here has very good contrast and sharpness.

Chromatic aberrations

This lens does suffer from chromatic aberrations, but I seldom come across them. In the image above with a high contrast image, the trees top left have a purple line where dark meets white. It is easily removed with the “remove chromatic aberrations” option in Lightroom. You may in stubborn cases need to also work with the manual sliders in Lightroom, but that is even more seldom. So I would not consider CA an issue for this lens.

Flare and ghosts

I shoot a lot into the sun and hence both flare and ghosts often materialize. I find that both flare and ghosts are well controlled with this lens, and often to such extend that even when it is visible in the picture, either I don’t notice it or it is not a disturbing element. Much is still dependent on the lens hood and the photographer’s skills, but this lens gives you all that modern technology has to offer in terms of minimizing flare. I would even argue that if you are a videographer (they love flare!) you may find that flare is too well controlled for your liking!

Focus breathing

This lens suffers from serious focus breathing! The former version of this lens and the successor has much less breathing, as does the f/4 version, so if you are into focus stacking or a videographer, then this could be an issue for you.

Vignetting & distortion

This version of the lens is known to have both vignetting and distortion under very good control and apparently the engineers at Nikon did a really good job here. However, I do see some big shift when I push the profile compensation button in Lightroom, but it is not an issue as such, just interesting to see how big the change is at several apertures. I doubt you will be shooting architecture or other things with this lens where straight lines are important.

Vibration reduction

I don’t have much to say about the vibration reduction other than it works! I have been shooting at 200mm down to 1/80th of a second with no camera shake and it works in a way so I don’t notice it is on. When shooting ICM it is of course turned off!

Sun stars

I am not a big fan of the sun stars this lens produces and it comes down to the 9 rounded blades. The peaks in the sun star as you can see above are split and look messy to me. I much more prefer the sun stars that straight blades gives, but I also understand why Nikon has made the rounded blades, as most users in their target group prefer bokeh over sunstars.

Bokeh

The lens comes with 9 rounded blades that start to get to work as soon as you stop down the lens. I find the bokeh absolutely beautiful and have no complaints whatsoever.

Color rendition

I often get questions why I don’t comment on color rendition or color science when I review lenses and cameras and the answer is that I have seen the eye opening video by Tony Northrup where he documents that most of us are unable to consistently pick our favorite camera in a blind test and that we are influenced by brand loyalty when assessing color rendition and your WB settings are much more important.

So that is why I am hesitant to cover this subject. For this lens I will say that when I put in front of my D4, the pictures and colors it produces are absolutely stunning. If you want to have a closer look, I have a flicker album with these pictures. Link here. There you’ll also find the EXIF information, but please look at the pictures first and foremost.

Auto focus

It is fast and silent. Period. And it is so fast that I do not use the option to limit the AF range from 5 meters and out. Only if you are an extremely nerdy guy like me that likes to shoot lampposts at night will you sometimes experience the AF gives up in low light and you have to switch to manual, but for most normal uses the AF simply just works fast, silent and reliable. As you would expect from a pro grade lens.

Conclusion

My overall conclusion is that this lens probably is as good as it gets when we are talking lenses where the price point is within reach for normal human beings. Is it a perfect lens? No, you can find things that are not perfect for example the focus breathing. But it is a lens where I find that Nikon has made some very good compromises that add up to a very attractive package.
I can fully understand why working Nikon professionals 10 years ago had this lens sitting on their cameras. It is a pleasure to work with. It gets the job done. The vibration reduction just works silently in the background. The auto focus is fast and reliable. It produces great images.

My advice to you is consider if alternatives with more reach or maybe some lighter primes. There are also alternatives in the same range from Sigma and Tamron – or the not so fast f/4 version from Nikon.

This is exactly where I cannot help you, as only you know your personal preferences. This shoe fits my foot well, but that does not mean it will fit your foot well.

Video link

Shopping link

Affiliate link to the the 70-200mm at Amazon.

Review: Nikon AF-S 50mm 1.8 G lens

Welcome to yet another lens review of yet another 50mm! I bought this lens used over at MPB.com for 139 EUR in September 2021. My reason for buying this lens despite the fact that I have the AF-D version, is that I am ever so slowly preparing to move to the Nikon mirrorless camera series, and the AF-S lens here will give me AF focus on the Z-mount as the motor is built into the lens body.

Build and appearance

The first that stuck me when unboxing the lens was how light it is – around 180 grams and hence 40 grams or so lighter than the AF-D version. On the other hand the G-lens is both taller and wider than the AF-D version. The lens is built in China and has a filter diameter of 58mm. Needless to say, there is no vibration reduction.

50mm AF-S lens to the left, 50mm AF-D lens to the right.

A nice deep lens hood is supplied with the lens and on top of this the front of the glass sits rather deep in the lens, which keeps it well protected from scratches and the like. The deep position in combination with the lens hood should effectively counter flare.

The lens hood is supplied with the lens.

There is no aperture ring – aperture has to be controlled from the camera body. Other than the focus ring, there only is a M/A to M switch, that allows you to switch between auto focus and manual focus, with manual override of the former as soon as you touch the focus ring. The lens mount is all metal as we like it, and there even is a small rubber gasket to dust seal the lens/camera interface (the lens is not weather sealed). There is a simple distance scale for both meters and feet, but the depth of field mark is only made for f/16.

Sharpness and contrast

Looking at the MTF chart that Nikon has provided, the center sharpness should be quite good, and decline towards the edges in a rather constant manner (blue line). Contrast on the other hand (red line) is a better story:

This is of course only fully open as Nikon only reports the MTF charts for their lenses this way – as indicated by the f=1.8 bottom right of the graph.

I have done a bit of not-too-scientific testing with my Nikon D750 in base ISO, at 2 meters distance with manual focus, on a tripod tripod in aperture priority mode, and it confirms the above graph also for not-so-wide apertures. Contrast is very good but if you want sharpness in the corners, you have to stop down the lens to around f/5.6 or even a bit more before it compares to the center sharpness.

The “real world” image below is probably very difficult to see in details, but the corner sharpness for the same motive shot at 1.8 and 5.0 (right) yields very different results in quality: the left image is less sharp and along the middle stem you can also see a purple line on the right hand side, created by chromatic aberration. Mind you that this is zoomed in 300%, and most will never need to go into that level of detail or even see that there is a difference between the two images at normal zoom. But I did it here to illustrate the point that the lens is significantly softer and has more aberration in the corners wide open than stopped down.

A screen shot from Lightroom – the entire image top left, and to the right a zoomed in version with 1.8 left and 5.6 right.

Chromatic Aberrations

This lens will yield chromatic aberrations, especially wide open and especially in the corners. It is however, pretty well controlled and I have so far been able to remove it in Lightroom.

Purple and green aberrations along the pillars….

However, I did have to use the manual sliders to get the CA eliminated fully:

Autofocus

One of my reasons for staying clear of the 1.4 version of the 50mm AF-S lens is that it – other than being softer than this one – is reported to have a surprisingly slow auto focus, so slow that the AF-D version beats it! I am happy to say that the 1.8 version here has a fast AF as you would expect, maybe not sufficiently silent for videographers, but for most other uses I think you will love the fast and silent performance.

Also notice that this lens will give you auto focus on entry level cameras like the Nikon D5600 and it will also work fine on a mirrorless camera with an Nikon FTZ adapter.

Focus shift

My simple test of this lens where I focus manually at f/1.8, take a picture and then stop down to f/8 and take yet a picture, shows no focus shift between the two images. This is good news as the lens will focus well on a DSLR with a contrast detect focus system.

Focus breathing

The short of the long of it when it comes to focus breathing is: yes. And to such an extend that I think videographers should look elsewhere. Most others I think would not care and probably would not even notice.

Flare

Normally I test flare by taking my iPhone and shooting some light from the torch sideways into the lens, i.e. from a bit outside the angle of view. Due to the construction of the lens where the front of the glass is immersed, this has not been possible. So I instead used my iPhone to see if I could provoke some flare, and at f/1.8 I succeeded:

However, I find this to be pretty well controlled. You can see the coating of the glass makes the flare appear green and very dampened. Mind you however, that my reference point is how Nikkor vintage lenses produce flare, so my reference point may be a bit skewed.

Sun stars

This lens comes with rounded aperture blades and 7 of them. Normally I am not a big fan of rounded blades as it gives odd looking sun stars. But Nikon has somehow managed to find a good compromise here so the sun stars do look quite ok if you ask me. It is of course a matter of taste.

The 7 blades gives 14 peaks in the sun star here, made by the iPhone torch

Bokeh

The bokeh when the lens is fully open at f/1.8 is a bit to the oval side, which always surprises me as the lens is a round as round can be. However, this is what I get when shooting my coffee with a few lightbulbs in the background:

When I stop down the lens to f/2.2, I get completely round and beautiful bokeh:

I have absolutely no complaints here and think that Nikon – as so often before -have done a great job here.

Conclusion and recommendation

This is a very good lens taking the price point of 239 EUR used into consideration. But its performance in terms of corner sharpness may be something for you to consider, especially if you want to use this as a fast lens.

If you want a technically much more perfect lens to use on Z-mount cameras, I have seen the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S used over at MPB.com for 479 EUR, i.e. double the price. But then you get one of the best affordable 50mm lenses made so far – the reviews I have read of this lens are really praising it’s performance.

If built in AF motor is not that important to you, the 1.4 AF-D version could be a more budget friendly alternative at 194 EUR. It is also a faster lens, and the AF performance (other than being more noisy) will be at par with the reviewed lens for most Nikon DSLRs. But mind you that this option does not give auto focus on Nikon entry level DSLRs like the 3×00 and 5×00, nor on a Nikon Z mount camera with the FTZ adapter.

What about?

There are a few things that I do not cover in a review, that you may have missed, so I mention it here:

Color rendition is not covered, simply because it is subjective and difficult to test systematically. I will say that if you in general like the way Nikon glass renders colors, this lens will not disappoint you.
Distortion is not covered – this can for most modern lenses be corrected in post processing so this is less of an issue if you ask me. Of course annoying if you are a real estate photographer, but it really is easy to fix in post.
Vignetting – same as for distortion.

Video link

Review: Nikon AF-D 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 lens

Introduction

The Nikon Nikkor 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 AF-D was produced between 1998 and 2006, so obviously it is not in production anymore and hence you have to buy a used copy should this review give you the appetite for buying a copy. The lens is probably one of the underrated or forgotten lenses in the Nikkor vintage lineup in my humble opinion, and the fact that I recently bought my copy for 95 USD + import taxes (15% or thereabout) makes it an absolute steal. If you on top of that add that the lens with the zoom range from 28 to 105 is very versatile, it gets good reviews from most owners and those who have it report that it sits on their camera more than 80% of the time, then you have a gem of a lens that anyone with a Nikon camera body with the built in AF motor should consider as one of their first lenses.

What other users and reviewers report

Before I buy any lens, I always – after confirming it is within the reach of my budget – look to what owners of this lens report plus what reviews the lens has received. This lens does not have many reviews, but there are many users who have shared their view on this lens and the essence of all that is as follows.

First of all, the image quality is reported to be sharp throughout the range, the color rendition is great, the distortion is low and well controlled and the lens has a decent macro mode. Unfortunately the lens comes with a dramatic CA that reveals itself in high contrast situation, it is not the not the fastest lens (3.5-4.5), the flare control is poor as with so many vintage lenses and the there is some vignetting, but nothing that cannot be corrected in post.

When it comes to usability, the relative lightweight (0.5 kg) of this lens makes easy to carry around, the focal range is surprisingly useful (28-105) and it is simply a great walk around or vacation lens. What impairs the usability is a slow AF due to gearing in focus mechanism, a rotating front lens when zooming (annoying when using filters), a slim manual focus ring with short throw which makes manual focus more difficult. The lens body, as expected when you are dealing with a 15-20 year old lens is not weather sealed nor is it vibration reduced.

The quality is reported to be really good, and the fact that the lens is “Made in Japan” is always a good sign. The lens is a good blend of metal & plastic which both keeps weight down and makes the lens sufficiently rugged to take some heavy usage. Unfortunately the sample variation is quite significant and the mechanical quality not up to the optical quality (zoom). Especially the latter part I can confirm when I unboxed my copy: the zoom does not feel premium at all, quite on the contrary.

Focal range coverage

So the lens has fairly good reviews although far from perfect, but no lens is perfect, and if it is close, then the price is typically through the roof. So the next thing to check before purchase is if the lens matches well into your lineup of lenses or plan for the same.

The traditional way of building a versatile lineup of zoom lenses is via the so called holy trinity, where the lenses cover the extreme wide, standard zoom and long zoom as depicted below:

The lens with the range from 28-105 is a bit of an oddity as it is too long in both ends to act as the standard zoom, and as such you may want to disregard this lens for that reason alone. However, I have found that this lens is surprisingly versatile – the 28 is wide enough for most landscape uses, and although the zoom to 105 is not as long as you could wish for, I have been surprised how little I miss extra zoom then using this as my walk about / vacation lens. And in between you find both your nifty-fifty covered along with your classic portrait 85mm.

How to build your lens lineup is of course entirely up to you, but if you are willing to accept that this lens does not cover one of the 3 classic roles in the holy trinity, I think its versatility will surprise you positively.

My review

So after consulting other users and reviewers feedback, I decided that even through the 28-105 does not fit very well into my almost-all-primes approach to my lens collection, I decided to buy the 28-105. I figured the price was so low that the risk is relatively limited (I can sell the copy if I don’t like it) and because I hoped the focal range could cover a few primes when on vacation or out and about.

I have only been using this lens on full frame cameras (D700 and D750), so I cannot really comment on the performance on cropped sensors (DX, APS-C).

After a few months of shooting my review in short is: This is an amazing lens when you consider the price point. The value for money is through the roof in my opinion.

Do I recommend this lens? Yes, absolutely. But you have to make sure that you get a good copy. I will revert to that point a bit later.

A summers day at the ocean — A summer’s day beautifully captured by the 28-105mm lens.

I have primarily been using the lens on my D700, and like many other users reported, the lens has been on my D700 most of the time. It is surprisingly versatile. The 28mm may not be wide enough for a landscape scene, but as can be seen in the above example, it certainly can be made to work, and you can always slap a shorter prime in your camera bag to cover the full spectrum. In the zoom range you also cover the nifty-fifty and the classic 85mm portrait lens up to 105 mm that of course should be longer in the best of worlds, but I am surprised how seldom I miss additional zoom. So the versatility of this lens is surprisingly good in my opinion.

I really enjoy the macro function, where you can get really close to your subject (25 cm) and hence you can leave the extension tubes at home. Some say it is fiddly to engage the macro function, but as long as you remember it only works between 50 to 105 mm, then you’re good. And a big orange line on the lens helps you remember that the macro function is to be engaged in this range. As you can see in the example below, the bokeh is ok, although not as soft and smooth as with other and faster lenses, but I think bokeh quality is a photographers thing, I doubt any end user of your pictures will ever notice.

Rose in black and white captured by the 28-100mm lens

The lens is not the fastest, and aperture varies with focal length, but as long as you do not shoot in low light conditions, I doubt you will miss any speed in this lens. However, my more technical test of this lens at varying apertures point to a bit of softness when shooting wide open, but the lens quickly gets sharp when you stop down the aperture a bit. You can see my test of the lens at different apertures here.

Example image with lots of chromatic aberrations aka purple fringing. — Example image with lots of chromatic aberrations (purple fringing)

One area where this lens is performing really bad is in some high contrast situations where the chromatic aberration (CA) gets crazy high! See the example below where there is a blue line next to the tree trunk in the middle of the picture:

Normally you can fix this in Lightroom (LR) by pressing “enable profile corrections” and/or “remove chromatic aberration”, but in this case LR could not fix it. Nor could the raw editor in Photoshop. I had to download the Capture NX-D software from Nikon in order to solve the problem. But then it was gone. And I have to underline that it is seldom I see this problem and even more seldom it is as bad as the example above. And if you are willing to extend your workflow in those rare cases and use the Capture NX-D software, then the problem can be solved.

Some say that the CA is worse with some copies of this lens than others, and that it could be subject to how rough a life the lens has led. I am not entirely sure of this, as my copy had almost no signs of usage when I got it from Japan – it looked like it has been lying in a drawer just waiting for me to buy it. I think it is more related to the lens being a zoom lens where the glass construction is more complicated than primes and hence there is always a risk that CA is there.

I normally refrain from giving my view on a lens’ color rendition, as this is very subjective and difficult to test. I am however a big fan of the Nikkor color rendition and this lens is no different – it is simply brilliant. But as I say, I cannot prove it, it is a matter of personal preference.

The lens has a bit of vignetting and also there is a bit of distortion, but as far as I can tell, LR does a good job of correcting these issues in post processing. There is a dedicated profile in LR for this lens, and hence I consider this issue solved or non existing, even if you are an architecture photographer where a straight line needs to be straight!

Finally the build quality is really good. The lens is not too heavy, and still there is a lot of metal in the “Made in Japan” construction. The only thing that disappointed me when I unboxed it was the feel of the zoom. It is not a very convincing part of the lens. It feels a bit wobbly, but works fine. I guess they had to save money somewhere back in the day. And after using the lens for some time, I hardly ever crosses my mind.

Clouds on a summer's day, lit up by the setting sun — Clouds on a summer’s day, lit up by the setting sun

So this concludes my review. I think that my observations are much in line with the reviews and user comments that I referenced in the beginning. My addition is that CA sometimes is an issue and that I enjoy the macro mode more than most. But I re-iterate that the value of this good lens is through the roof and that I cannot recommend this lens enough as a good first lens for anyone with a full frame Nikon camera body. This brings me to some buying advice.

Before you go and buy your copy of this lens

First of all, before you consider this lens, go check that you have an autofocus motor built into your camera body:

The lens needs a motor in the camera body in order for auto focus to work.

Above you can see that the Nikon D7500 has the AF motor built in whereas the D5600 on top does not. In general the 3000 and 5000 Nikon camera bodies does not have the AF motor built into the body, and hence you are left with a manual focus lens. Although it is not a catastrophe, I personally enjoy the comfort of the AF and therefore recommend this setup.

Secondly, if you can test the lens before you buy, this is the way to go. Apparently this 15-20 year old lens comes in copies with large variances and some of the bad copies are really bad apparently. That is also why you will find that the reviews of this lens is a mixed bag. Make sure you can test the lens before you buy, or if you like me buy via e-bay or Amazon, make sure you can return the goods if you are not happy. Some say they have been through several copies before they found a good one, so for you own sake, take steps to avoid ending up with a bad copy.

Summary

It is seldom that I recommend a lens or some gear wholeheartedly with very few reservations. But with the 28-105 I do. It is a great value for money lens with a surprisingly good versatility. But make sure to get a good copy for your full frame camera body with a built in AF motor!

Video link

Review: Nikon AF 24mm f/2.8 lens

Best VALUE landscape lens for Nikon F-mount?

Spoiler alert: Can I recommend this lens? Yes! But the recommendation comes with 3 caveats. Let me take you through these and then review this lens with sample pictures. It will not be a scientific review with pictures of brick walls showing how soft the lens is in the corners wide open, more a does-it-yield-great-pictures kind of approach.

Nikon Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 - a gem in the Nikkor vintage lineup — Nikon Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 – a gem in the Nikkor vintage lineup

The lens comes in different versions. The older ones does not have distance information (hence the name 2.8 without the D) and also the manual focus ring is very thin and plastic-ish. You can see that my 50 mm lens to the right below is the right version. The one to the left is the version you should not buy:

*The Nikon 50mm to the right with the wider manual focus ring.*

To my knowledge there is no major changes done to the glass from 1985 to now, so if you don’t mind the flimsy focus ring and do not miss distance information, the older ones may work well for you – bonus is that you may find a very cheap older copy on e-bay or amazon.

There is no need to buy a brand new copy of this lens. My copy is around 35 years old, and everything works like a charm and the glass is great. But make sure you check the glass well before you buy.

Make sure you need this lens (2/3)

This is a prime lens. If you plan to have the holy trinity of zoom lenses then this lens may not be for you. The 24 mm sits right between where a zoom set of lenses would shift between normal zoom and ultra wide:

So you may find that the 24 mm replaces both the extremely wide zoom and the standard zoom, in which case you have saved a lot of money and weight. On the other hand, you may find that the 24 mm is an odd animal and that you prefer to use your zooms. In that case, the 24 mm probably never leaves your camera bag and is wasted. Here it comes down to personal preferences. All I ask is that you check if you think you really need this lens.

Make sure you have an AF motor (3/3)

The tin may say auto focus, the lens may say auto focus, but if you have an entry level Nikon camera, then the AF will not work. The reason you see below in the picture – Nikon D5600 on top, D7500 below:

You should also be aware that some copies have a problem with the rear glass (known as the CRC) which yields out-of-focus pictures very consistently. This could be what why this lens has received some lukewarm reviews from many respected reviewers. Make sure before you buy that your copy does not have this issue (or simply ask the seller to confirm this is not an issue). Best way to mitigate a mis-aligned CRC is to test the lens before you buy.

Specs and review

Ok, with those 3 caveats out of the way, lets look at what this lens is all about. It is an old construction, so no image stabilization and no silent AF motor built into the lens. Just good glass and a mechanical AF system.

The price I paid for my 35 year old copy was 220 EUR, but I am sure you can make a better deal if you look carefully and have a bit of patience. I bought my copy in Europe, but in my experience the prices in the US is much lower. So around 200 EUR for this gem of a lens! Notice that in this price range you also find the Samyang 14mm ultra wide lens, and it is also a great lens with lots of super positive reviews, but it is also more heavy, larger and the front glass is round, meaning that buying any kind of filter could prove to be costly. But the Samyang should definitely be on your short list of ultra wide lenses to consider, before you make your decision.

It is a relatively small lens that takes up the same space as the classic nifty fifty that I showed above. At f/2.8 it is not as fast as they come, but unless you shoot indoor in low light i doubt the 2.8 will be a problem for you. The advantage of the 2.8 is that the construction is light at 275 grams. The angle of view is 84 degrees and that is more than double the nifty fifty at 40 degrees. You can really tell the difference.

Color rendition is very much up to personal preference, but I have always been a fan of Nikon in this regard. The below pictures show a piece of art from the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art north of Copenhagen in Denmark, and the colors are reproduced exactly as I remember them. In my mind Nikons color rendition is spot on, and the 24 mm is no exception.

From the shop at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

The minimal focal distance is where this lens really shines. Have a look here what you can do with this lens, where the art piece to the left is sharp and close up:

From the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

The minimal focal distance is 30 centimeters, and as you can see, you can get really close to your subject and still have it sharp:

Another area where this lens shines how much you can include in the frame. Below an example where I have shot with both the 50 mm and the 24 mm.

Wrap up

Ok, I hope the above gave you some idea about what the 24 mm lens from Nikon can do. I have not talked about distortion because these can be fixed in post, so why worry? The sharpness is great in my humble opinion, but I have only the pictures to judge from – no studies of brick walls under microscope. I think others have done that, and concluded this is a sharp lens!

So in conclusion, if you need a 24 mm in your lineup and f/2.8 does not scare you off, then the value for money you get with this little lens, makes it very easy for me to recommend this lens with the aforementioned caveats.

Nikkor 24mm, Nikon D750: Video link

Review: Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 – Swirly bokeh!

Helios 44-2 58 mm

The Helios 44 is one of the most debated lenses in photography forums and youtube videos and I imagine the reason probably being:

You can get a copy for 50 USD or maybe even lower with a bit of luck
There were literally millions of copies made, so the supply is endless and gives a low price (I know some complaint the price has gone up, but really: 50 USD for a fairly good 58mm prime lens?)
Its bokeh is know to be swirly or at least different from what you see with other lenses
The lens is OK sharp if you you are so lucky to get a decent copy
Mirror less cameras have given a revival to vintage lenses with the focus aids like focus peak and focus highlight, making the vintage lenses in general more attractive than in the DSLR days

So in short, it is so cheap that there is a copy for everyone, and this in combination with the myth around the bokeh probably makes this lens both realistic and attractive for a large crowd.

History

The Helios lens was made from sometime in the 1960s to the early 1990s in Russia, and rumors has it that it was an attempt to copy a zeiss lens from that time. Although the ambition to make an “as good as zeiss copy” was not fulfilled, the Helios is still a good lens even with the standards of 2019. There were MANY copies made, some for export, others for the local market, so you can get a copy from Russia or Ukraine where the “helios” is written with Russian letters – pretty cool!

The Helios comes in many different versions, 44 were the first ones produced, then followed 44-2 and up to 44-7. The improvements were minor, probably improvements in coating, but I understand there is no dramatic improvement in the later models compared to the early ones. I have no complaints regarding my 44-2 copy.

Price

As stated above, the lens can be found used on e-bay and amazon. Always used, as they are not produced anymore. The price is typically around 50 USD, but many report that they have got copies down to 20 USD and at flea markets it should be possible to find them even cheaper. Often they served as kit lens for a zenith camera, and many get the lens for almost nothing, pretending to be more interested in the zenith camera than the lens as such.

If you buy this lens in Russia or Ukraine via the net, be aware that postage costs to e.g. Europe can be quite significant relative to the price of the lens. Remember also to set off some money for a adapter for this lens (M42). They come cheap and quality is usually ok, also for the cheapest ones, but if you are on a budget, both postage costs and adapter should be included in the total price before making a purchase decision.

Copy variation is an issue. I do not know why, but my guess is that quality control varied back in the days when it was produced, or the quality was dependent on individuals performance in the production line. Whatever the reason, quality varies and it is a bit of a lottery, so if at all possible, see if you can test your copy before making the purchase decision.

Characteristics

First and foremost this is a manual lens – no auto focus, no CPU contact, no metering, nothing. Just glass. So if you are not comfortable with manual focus or EXIF information in very important to you, then this lens is not for you. Secondly, it is a prime lens, so if zoom is important to you, you probably want to look elsewhere.

The lens is well built, all metal and surprisingly light IMO (warning: I am used to Nikon vintage glas!). The focus throw is long (270 dgrs) and reminds me of the Samyang 14mm lens – you turn and turn and turn, and then some more!

At 58mm and with full frame coverage, this ens is excellent for portraits, flowers, still life, product shoots or basically any stable subject that is not too far away. Maybe even street photography if you are a manual focus shark! But the classic use for this lens is portrait as far as I can tell from the blog posts. I use it mainly for flowers and product shoots.

At f/2 it is a reasonably fast lens, and it has a dual aperture control system, so that you can limit the upper limit of the variable aperture. I am not a video shooter, but supposedly this feature is valued by video shooters. The aperture does not move in clicks but is completely step-less, another feature that video shooters appreciate. The aperture ring on my copy is wobbly to say the least – if fear it will fall off any day soon! Aperture range is form f/2 to f/16. The focus ring has a loooong throw – around 270 degrees.

Distortion, vignetting and CA is seldom an issue for me, so I have not really looked into this in details, but I understand from others that the lens does OK here.

Color rendering I find to be quite natural, maybe at bit more warm than what I am used to from my Nikon lenses, but very pleasant (others report the opposite, so opinions are a mixed bag here).

Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 — Notice the bokeh!

Flare control in my experience is non-existing! Maybe this is a bit harsh, but it is not super well controlled, and some video shooters actually use the as a creative feature rather than trying to suppress it. I find as a stills shooter that the flare can be reduced surprisingly much by closing down the aperture just a little bit, so you may give that a try if flare with this lens bothers you. A lens hood should also help mitigate the flaring.

Sharpness is excellent, especially center sharpness. All the way from f/2. When you stop down, the corner sharpness improves a lot, and at f/8 I dare to call this a very sharp lens edge to edge, even compared to modern lenses of 2019. Contrast is good, but only when you are in the clear when it comes to flaring or you have some bright light in the frame.

Bokeh

The bokeh is what most talk about when it comes to this lens, and it is special. Probably due to a construction error, the bokeh balls of this lens gets oval towards the corners, which is probably the reason for the swirly reputation. Take a look at these two picture, taken 20 seconds apart with a slight variation in composition.

Notice the bokeh ball in the top right corner – here it is nice and round:

But moving the camera just a little bit so the bokeh ball now is closer to the corner, you see that the ball now is more oval than round:

All lenses probably has this characteristic, but the Helios simply enhances or exaggerates making the out of focus areas oval. In order to make the best use of this (swirly) effect, you ideally need either a lot of small lights surrounding your subject, or some sort of structure that will reveal the bokeh distortion.

See this example of an ordinary hedgerow, nothing special going on here, other than maybe a foreground out of focus:

But if you zoom in on the foreground, the notice what happens to especially the background to the right – all of a sudden circles appear:

The same subject with my beloved Nikkor 50 mm 1.4D at f/1.4 gives this where the bokeh balls do not have this swirly effect:

So with a subject right in the middle of the frame, you can get this swirly effect of circles encompassing the subject, giving a dreamy effect:

In conclusion

So who is this oddball of a lens for? If you fall into one of these categories, I think this lens is for you:

You find the bokeh effect great fun and want to see what you can do with it
You think it is good sport to find a lens at a bargain, that performs well
You are new to photography and want to try something more than the kit lens on your camera without breaking the bank
You are a on a very tight budget

This lens is definitely not for you if:

You are not comfortable with manual focus
EXIF information is vital for you
Good flare control is a must
Corner sharpness fully open is important
You are not comfortable with the lottery of getting a good copy

Nikon AF-D 50mm 1.4 is so much fun!!

The Nikon 50mm 1.4D comes with mechanical auto focus, and hence only works for those Nikon cameras that have a built in AF motor. So if you have a D5x00 or a D3x00 series Nikon, beware that AF will not work. The entry level cameras simply assume that the lens has built in motors. It is a mechanical construction with no motor and no stabilization. The construction is an oldie, but still a goldie:

The aperture ring enables you to manually switch from f/1.4 to f/16, and the lens is an FX lens, meaning it will work both on full frame cameras and on cropped sensors. However, on a cropped sensor, you may want to go for a 35mm lens to get the equivalent of a 50 mm.

Why the Nikon AF-D 50mm 1.4?

Price. Unless you are flea market shark (very lucky or a very good negotiator) you will find that a lens as fast as f/1.4 is very expensive, as it requires a lot of glass. This lens will only set you back 230 USD, which compared to other lenses is a true bargain. I think it is because the lens construction is very old and has been produced in so many copies that the R&D that went into making this lens has been recovered many times since the first version of this lens saw the light of day back around 1950. You can get it used a lot cheaper, and if you go for a Pentax 50mm f/1.4, then you can get it down to 50-80 USD if you follow e-Bay closely for a while!

Low light shooting. This lens is fast and will let in a lot of light. Lots of light enables you to shoot where there is very little ambient light, without adding flash or the like. For each f-stop you go down, the amount of light the lens lets in doubles, i.e. it is not a linear relationship but a more “explosive” one. So a 1.4 lets in double the amount of a 2.0 which is also considered at fairly fast lens.

Background separation. When the lens is wide open and you shoot at f/1.4, the depth of field (DoF) is very narrow, meaning that you will have excellent background separation, even to the extend where parts of your subject may be out of focus! I find that if I take a picture of my cat at f/1.4, then if the eyes are in focus, the nose may not be! The DoF is that shallow! At 45 cm distance (minimum focus distance for this lens), the DoF is 1-2 centimeters!

Shooting wide open on a summer’s day

You may find that your pictures are overexposed if you shoot at f/1.4 on a summer’s day.

The problem is that the lens lets in so much light, that even at a ISO 100 and maximum shutter speed, to much light hits the sensor. My Nikon D750 has a maximum shutter speed at 1/4000th of a second, and shooting a white or yellow flower in bright sunlight leads to over exposed pictures. The solution (other than stopping down) is a Neutral Density filter. I find that a ND3 filter (takes out 3 stops of light) solves the problem in most cases.

Sample pictures

Below some sample picture that I hope can give inspiration. I really enjoy shooting with the 1.4 lens, and if you are a photography nerd but have never tried to use a super fast lens, I can only recommend you try it! It is really great fun! If the price tag seems steep, try to see if you can lend or borrow one – but be prepared to be hooked! PS: Links to related reading at the bottom of the below images.

A thermometer – notice the blurred background.

The below is a wine bottle cork with some graphics on top. It stands on my kitchen table. But because the DoF is so shallow, the structure of the wood is only visible very close to the subject – the rest is blurred:

A small souvenir from Rome... — A small souvenir from Rome…

Price

Specs and build

Daily use

Image quality

Sun stars and bokeh

Vignetting and distortion

Aberrations

Flare and ghosting

Conclusion

Alternatives

Video link

Related reading

Price

Build and layout

Sharpness / contrast

Chromatic aberrations

Flare and ghosts

Focus breathing

Vignetting & distortion

Vibration reduction

Sun stars

Bokeh

Color rendition

Auto focus

Conclusion

Video link

Related reading

Shopping link

Build and appearance

Sharpness and contrast

Chromatic Aberrations

Autofocus

Focus shift

Flare

Bokeh

Conclusion and recommendation

What about?

Video link

Related reading

Introduction

What other users and reviewers report

Focal range coverage

My review

Before you go and buy your copy of this lens

Summary

Video link

Related reading

Best VALUE landscape lens for Nikon F-mount?

Make sure you need this lens (2/3)

Make sure you have an AF motor (3/3)

Specs and review

Wrap up

Related reading

Helios 44-2 58 mm

History

Price

Characteristics

Bokeh

In conclusion

Related reading

Why the Nikon AF-D 50mm 1.4?

Shooting wide open on a summer’s day

Sample pictures

Related reading

Video link