Lola and I just got back from a trip to Utah, where I had a chance to test the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G lens, along with other 35mm lenses from Zeiss and Nikon. The last 3-4 weeks have been super busy for both of us and on top of that, our whole family has been sick for the last two weeks. Out of everyone in the family, I got a special present – a really nasty virus that put me to bed for two weeks! I don’t remember the last time I had anything like this. High fever with a really bad back pain. If it wasn’t for Lola, who kept on making me eat and drink plenty of fluids (including hot tea/milk with honey), I would have been in bed for a month!
Due to the above, I have not been able to post much on the blog lately. And the number of comments that I need to respond to have been piling up, don’t even know how I will be able manage several hundred comments. My apologies to all those who are waiting for my response!
Anyway, back to Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G – I loved this lens! And darn, I loved the Zeiss f/2.0, too. Never thought I would fall in love with a manual focus lens, but more on that later – in the upcoming Nikon 35mm f/1.4G lens review. I have a pretty good feel for the Nikon 35mm and I am glad that I was able to test it for portraits/weddings (see images below) and also for landscape photography (our trip to Utah), so the review should be fairly detailed and complete (a Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 review will follow).
Here are two image samples from the wedding that Lola and I shot a couple of weeks ago. Please note that the images are simply extracted out of Lightroom without any post-processing (except sharpening). Other image samples at different apertures with some bokeh will be provided in the upcoming review.
Click here to download the full size version of the above image.
Click here to download the full size version of the above image.
Full EXIF data is attached to both images.
* Edit – a full Nikon 35mm f/1.4G Review has been posted!
About Nasim Mansurov
Ok,
I have a question and I think I might know the answer but I want to hear it from here as well. On the second picture , where the couple is kissing, why are the skin tones so off? Is it the white balance? Is it the Nikon sensor? I shoot Nikon too, but when I look through magazines, let’s say Vogue , Peter Lindbergh shoots D3x , they retouch the colors so well, what would it be a good fix for that? Not many talk about this element, but color accuracy should be on top of the list. Any thoughts on this subject?
Gabriel, as I have pointed out above, I did not do anything to the image besides sharpening it a little while exporting it, so the image is “as is”, including White Balance settings. Lola really wanted to get the images corrected a little, but I did not let her :) The above image was taken with one flash through a softbox, mixed with some ambient light, which threw off the WB a little on the camera. I will ask Lola to perhaps create a small tutorial on how to fix skin tones in Lightroom, using the above image as a reference…
Gabriel, one more thing – the skin retouching process depends on how the photographer wants to express himself. In some cases, skin tones are really desaturated, giving them sort of a “cool” tone, in other cases with lots of colors present in the image, the skin tones are adjusted for color with plenty of yellow/orange tones.
From what I know, Peter Lindbergh is mostly a B&W guy. When he shoots colors, he purposefully de-saturates images. Skin tone adjustment starts with WB and then colors can be tweaked with saturating a specific skin color. In most cases, skin adjustments have to be done in Photoshop through masks and color isolation. Some techniques are quite simple, others require hours of post-processing work.
I know reds are strong especially on a Nikon sensor, it’s and oxymoron to have a Nikon camera and not like warm tones. Just that in mix lighting condition and especially with hot lights tones look not so pleasant on a Nikon. I looked again and the picture above is not a good example of what I was thinking of.
Well google helps quite a lot and I have found a nice and easy to do tutorial, I hope I’m not doing anything wrong posting this here
Hi Nasim,
I have been following your blogs and article ever since I have bought my Canon 550D in late January. I can say that most of my knowledge on photography I owe to you. Thanks for creating such a informative and demonstrative blog. It takes a huge heart to write about the skills you have meticulously learnt over the years and I must congratulate you for doing the same. Also the way you respond the reader’s query and solve their day to day problem is beyond appreciation.
I have a simple confusion: my camera came with a kit lens 18 – 55 IS f/3.5 – 5.6, which is a generic lens with good performance. For faster performance and portraits I have got a 50 f/1.8 which works good on the APS-C sensor. Now I wanna add another lens which is 70 – 300 to complete the environment for a while. I have zeroed in on Tamron SP70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di VC USD. Can you please guide me whether to buy this lens or not.
Thanking in advance
Best regards,
Rahul , New Delhi, India
You don’t need to get out of bed to finish your review of the Nikon and Zeiss lenses. Have Lola tape the test charts on the ceiling and take the shots from your bed, flat on your back, with elbows firmly dug into the mattress. No tripod will be needed.
So, now that I’ve solved your problem, get on the stick and finish your report…providing you conclude that the Nikon lens, considering everything, is better than the archaic non-auto Zeiss. Will look in tomorrow, and I’m sure the report will be completed.
By the way, antibiotics don’t work on viruses, but a bottle of white wine will make you feel much better.
Incredibly sharp lens.
Hi Nasim,
Could you please consider the little Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX to compare with in your review…
It’s been a cheap alternative for me in full frame ( D700 in FX mode) for quite a while, and despite some strong vignetting, it worked suprinsingly well and it’s incredibly sharp.
Some example found on flickr :
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=d700&m=pool&w=998405%40N20
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?w=1004615%40N20&m=pool&q=d700
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?w=1052992%40N22&m=pool&q=d700
Cheers,
Del-Uks