Review: Nikon AF 85mm f/1.4D vs Nikon AF 85mm f/1.8D - part 1 + part 2

[ArcspacE]

What would justufy spending 3x on the f1.4?
I'm definitely going for the f1.8

[CTM]

(09-29-2009 09:53 PM)Felix Wrote:  fantastic effort...the only thing i dont get is that why 1.8 has better corner sharpness than 1.4 lens.

That is also something I am curious to find out. My copy of the 85/1.4 I feel has decent corner sharpness, I haven't compared it to a 85/1.8 so I can't comment.

[yellow15]

(09-29-2009 09:53 PM)Felix Wrote:  fantastic effort...the only thing i dont get is that why 1.8 has better corner sharpness than 1.4 lens.

Probably a design tradeoff in order to get some better performance in other area? i don't know.

but the review from photozone also found the 1.4D is a lot softer than the 1.8D in the corner esp at wide open: (epsecially the 1st copy of 1.4D they tested)

http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-ap...rt?start=1

http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-ap...rt?start=1

Remember they were testing with a D200 so i would guess on a full frame camera like the D700 i use, the 1.4D's corner performance wil be even worse.

And remember there are sample variations, check the large difference in results between the 1st and 2nd copy of 1.4D Photozone.de tested, so it is quite possible my test copy's corner is softer than average 1.4D



And a few things i want to add:

1. I'm cropping at very extreme corner. If i crop slightly more closer to the center, the result would be better.

2. I've done no postprocessing/sharpening to the pictures. A small amount of sharpening would make quite a big difference to the picture.

3.For "normal" use, i.e. viewing picture on screen (even full screen) or print out to anything small than A4, it's really hard to tell if the corner is soft or not at all.

4.On the normal photos i took, (e.g. people, animals... anything apart from brick walls or newspaper), i never notice the corner picture quality problem even when i'm shooting at f/1.4 and have something near the corner.

It's only when we are pixel peeping at 100% then you notice the soft corner problem.


I'll try to do another round of comparison photos when i've a bit spare time

[yellow15]

(09-29-2009 09:58 PM)ArcspacE Wrote:  What would justufy spending 3x on the f1.4?
I'm definitely going for the f1.8

there are a few things...

build quality
better bokeh
extra 2/3 stop
better manual focus

but isn't it always like that? the money you have to pay for the faster version is not directional proportional to the increase in picture/lens quality.

(price from B&H, US stock)
AFS 300m f/4.0 US$1495 vs AFS 300mm f/2.8 US$5300
AF 50mm f/1.8 US$135 vs AF 50mm f/1.4 US$330

or look at Canon's 85mm
EF 85mm f/1.8 US$439 vs EF 85mm f/1.2 $2000!!!

[ArcspacE]

(09-30-2009 07:20 AM)yellow15 Wrote:  but isn't it always like that? the money you have to pay for the faster version is not directional proportional to the increase in picture/lens quality.

That's my point.
IQ is not 3 times better it seems.