PDA

View Full Version : Nikkor 105dc f2.0d


S_Leeper
December 5th, 2003, 11:03 AM
One advantage to having a birthday in December is ability to group presents…

Have recently been trying to decide between 85d f1.4, 105dc f2.0 & 135dc f2.0--though a bit long.
Found many more discussions & reviews on the 85d f1.4, all of which gave it an unqualified rating of great (if there was one or two negatives, I don’t remember them) & extremely sharp, with excellent bokeh.

Found a more modest number of discussions & reviews (maybe 1/4th as many) on the 105dc f2.0. Most “rated” great, reasonably sharp, excellent bokeh… usually a bit more reserved in praise that what was given for 85f1.4. However, for each lens there were some who claimed to have had both, but now primarily use X.

One I found mentioned only minimally was that use of dc feature would impact sharpness…

Based on above I decided on 105dc. My planned uses were for some low/lower light limited indoor usage, outdoor portraits & general usage (similar to usage of 50mm indoors).

After the first few test shots I felt like I should take it right back. To be fair I decided to do some testing… What a pita!!!

Defocus control is labelled F 5.6 4 2.8 2 | 2 2.8 4 5.6 R
Per the directions use the F to blur the foreground, use the R to blur the rear.

My first test (on second lens tested) revealed that the “neutral” point was not as expected, but rather F 2.8. (This was actually case for both lenses tested.)

Picture below is to provide some perspective of sizes & distance…
First sample is of low light clarity.
Second is of foreground & background blur.

S_Leeper
December 5th, 2003, 11:08 AM
100% crop.
org, org, off

S_Leeper
December 5th, 2003, 11:13 AM
100% crop/sample
org, org, off

Only has foreground & background clips.
Primary focal target was equally sharp for the above dc settings.

S_Leeper
December 5th, 2003, 11:19 AM
One additional sample...
This was at f/stop 2.4, 1/60, flash used, std, std, on (one of the rare times I actually had the sharpening on), dc set to F 2.8.
Approx distance 6 feet. I believe the dof at that range is approx 1 inch.

killians913
December 5th, 2003, 12:20 PM
I guess I am missing the point in the photos and the series of postings.

Can you help me to understand what you are saying regarding the performance of this lense?

Thanks! :confused:

S_Leeper
December 5th, 2003, 01:31 PM
Not really saying anything... I was putting up what I prefer to see when testing a new lens--the unprocessed image at wide open or near wide open. For this specific lens I also wanted to see just how much of a difference the dc feature made.

To me the the low light performance is very good & relatively sharp (keep in mind the samples are 100% views with no sharpening, except the in-camera sharpening on the last).

Also I like the ability to make some noticable changes to the near background, with no deterioration of the subject. (If I had adjusted the rear defocus to R 4 or R 5.6 there would have been noticable, though not necessarily objectionable, softening of the subject.)

This was one of the things I really wanted as I often take photos where the background is only 1-3 feet behind. While the additional blur is limited it is enough to take the texture out of vertical blinds 12" behind the subject, or soften some leaves 18 inches behind...

S_Leeper
December 25th, 2003, 10:06 PM
A shot of my sister-in-law about three feet in front of her tree.
@ f2.8 neutral dc position
Merry Christmas

S_Leeper
December 25th, 2003, 10:10 PM
A shot of a friend. The window frame behind her on her left is only about 12-18" behind her. Also at f2.8