An Oldie, but Goodie

For this review I have steered away from the “Brain Meltdown Recovery” program that has been the focus (excuse the pun) of most of the previous reviews on this blog.

From the title it should be obvious the subject of this review.  The Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS MF lens.  Like the 28mm lens of my last review this one again is a manual focus lens of the old design.  And just like the 28mm it is a lens that is still in production and thus can be purchased brand new.

As to why I decided to add this lens to my kit, is in some ways a mystery to me.  It was not meant to replace anything or really was it something I desperately needed.  After all I was already in possession of a 50mm f/1.4 AF-D and a 55mm f/3.5 AIS lens.  No I think the reason was because I was so enchanted after the acquisition of the 28mm f/2.8 AIS and it’s superlative quality.  Also there was the allure of a lens with f/1.2 maximum aperture.  As for any other reasons, just read on and maybe it will become apparent to you and for that matter maybe even to me.

BUILD

Considering today’s generous use of plastic, these older AIS lenses are just beautiful to behold.  First all of the materials used are of metal, glass and with a rubber covered focusing ring.  Really jewel like in comparison with most of today’s lenses.  Like all AIS lenses it has a full aperture ring with the aperture coupling flange for use on the older Photomic F series cameras.  These can be removed if so desired without effecting the lens.  It has a colored depth of field scale on the barrel between the focusing and aperture rings.  It also has an infrared focus mark (in red).  Focus scale is in meters and feet.  All of the marking are engraved not just painted on.  Being an AIS lens it comes with that beautiful black enamel finish (which I find to be even richer looking then the “crinkle” finish that comes on the AF-D lenses).  It feels very solid and yet light in the hand.  The size is, how best to say this, “petit”.

Handling and Performance

Of course it is manual focus only.  However it will work on all Nikon DSLR’s and SLR’s, though from what I understand the metering will not work on the lower end consumer cameras.  The focus is very smooth, you can actually do it with one finger.  After using the 50 for sometime I went back to the 28mm and found it a bit stiff in comparison.

Up till now I have only tried the 50mm on the D3.  My findings are a bit different then I had expected.  Let me explain first what I mean by that.  When I first started using Nikon equipment, I quickly came to the conclusion, that not all of their lenses were created equal.  At that time they were all manual focus of course.  What I did then for judging a lenses, was to see how fast I could focus one.  The faster that I was able to focus meant the sharper and brighter the lens was.  That is not really a possibility today and not just because my eyes are 40 years older.  Back then the focusing screens were made of ground glass or fresnel screens, which better reflected the actual brightness (maximum aperture) of the lens in use.  So if you had a fast lens it appeared much brighter then a slower lens would.  Most of them also had a split screen or some other guide to help in manual focusing.

Today the focusing screens have been optimized for the slower “consumer” or “kit”  zoom lenses f/3.5-5.6 and of course for auto-focusing.  They are much brighter overall then the earlier screens, but only up to f/2.8 or so.  You can test this by holding down the depth of field preview button (if your camera has one) and see for your self that it gets no brighter, when you go faster then f/2.8.  Other then the absence of a manual focusing aide, the biggest disadvantage of the new screens for a lens faster then f/2.8 is that you never see the actual depth of field when the lens is at it’s maximum aperture or faster then f/2.8.

Nikon does not make an alternative screen for the D3 that would aide in manual focusing, i.e. a split screen or any other manual focusing aide.  In doing some internet research I came across some discussions about the “split screens” giving the light metering systems some trouble.  This company does offer one: www.brightscreen.com.  However in the discussion thread it was not highly valued and did indeed impair the metering ( I have not tested, only what I read).  KatzEye makes screens for many Nikon cameras, but sadly not for the D3;  http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/cat–Nikon-DSLRs–cat_nikon.html

At first in comparing the 50mm f/1.2 to the 28mm f/2.8 AIS lens, it seemed harder to bring into focus, that is at least at first.  I really can’t say why that is, it just felt that way, but again only at first.  Though it may have felt difficult to focus at first, it is as sharp as you could possibly want from any optic. In fact sometimes I am surprised how sharp the image ends up being.  This is due in large part to the new style focusing screens and yes also to my aging eyes.  That is why my findings were different then I had expected.

Ken Rockwell has an excellent review of this lens that he did in 2007.  In it he states that at f/2 it is the sharpest Nikon lens at that aperture setting.  This I cannot verify as I have not tested or shot all of Nikon’s lenses at f/2.  It seems definitely as good as my 85mm f1.4, at f/2 though (which I consider as good as they come).  I do agree with him on that, in fact after a bit of practice I found that I could hit my mark almost 100%  of the time f/2.  It really has become easy now.  For the most part I have relied on the electronic focusing confirmation dot (the green dot with 2 green arrows) for my focusing and not the screen.  Later on he goes on to say, “The f/1.2 performs about the same as the f/1.4 lenses when used at f/1.4, also no big deal”. This at first I might have agreed with, however while shooting a lot of different subjects (mostly up-close) and then viewing them at 100%, I noticed that the lens was back focusing a little bit wide open and to a lesser extent at f/1.4.  So I decided to experiment a little. Using the focus confirmation dot – arrow combo, I focused until the right arrow and dot were both flickering and that is when I discovered that one can get very sharp images at f/1.2 & f/1.4. Better even at f/1.2 then my 50mm f/1.4 AF-D at f/1.4.  I have not done enough shooting with the new 50mm f/1.4 AF-S G lens to make that judgement call yet.  Whether this focus problem at f/ 1.2 is a sample only problem or something with the camera or a combination, it does make it hard to get really great results wide open.  If it is inherent in the lens itself, then should be taken into consideration in trying to get the best results.  On the few shots that I used “live view” the focus was right on.

At wide open and at f/1.4 there is “veiling” or glow around objects, which is a result of spherical aberration and lowered contrast.  This can contribute to an overall “soft” look.  However it cleans up nicely at f/2.  Other then the back focus issue wide open (which again may only be on my lens or camera or combination) I found the lens not to have any focus shift while stopping down, something unusual for such a fast lens.  Chromatic aberrations are present again wide open (purple – magenta fringing in front of focus and green in the rear of focus), but again cleans up nicely by stopping down and is free of by f/2.8.

****I made an error in the above paragraph that I would like to correct.  After further testing, with the camera locked down on a tripod and using live view, mirror lock-up and a cable release to achieve the best accuracy.  The findings result in that there is indeed focus shift occurring.  This is when the lens is focused at f/1.2 and then exposed at smaller f stops.  At f/2.0 I see no shift, however at f/2.8 and f/4.0 there is a noticeable shift in the focus.  This test was not part of the original review, as I have stated earlier I wanted to shoot all of my samples handheld.  Frankly I consider this type of testing as being necessary for accuracy sakes, but on the other hand something of a wank.  As I would under field conditions either focus using the focus confirmation dot or if “live view” then focusing at the aperture setting that I was going to expose for.  While performing this focus shift and with the camera all set up, I decided to check out the problem I was experiencing at f/1.2 and the focus “dot”.  The results were the same as I had encountered before.  Then I tried the same with a D2X and again encountered that same problem.  It would appear to me at least to be a sample variation or that the DOF is so small that where the “focus bracket” is placed is that critical.  And that folks is about as technical as I get.

Recommendation

This as it turns out is not so easy to say.  Like Ken Rockwell, I feel that either the 50mm f1.4 AF-D, 50mm AF-D f/1.8 or the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S G lens are the better choices to go for or at least the more practical choices.  Possibly on a portrait assignment I might use the 50mm f/1.2 AIS lens, but I seriously doubt that I would on an wedding.  Most likely because I do not have the confidence to manually focus fast enough.  However if one is willing to take into consideration that some lenses require a “learning curve” and want something a little more special, then this is an excellent choice.  Also it’s performance and construction alone could be enough of an inducement.

Recently I went on a trip to the west coast of France and though I took 3 lenses with me, I only shot with this lens.  A couple of times I felt compelled to shoot with one of the others, but just never enough.  One mistake that I did make was in leaving my polarizing filter sitting on my desk at home.  So I was not able to make as many images during the day at wide apertures as I had planned.  Given that most DSLR’s have a native iso of 100 or 200, then it is definitely a consideration to carry with you a neutral density or polarizer filter in order to expose at the widest apertures during the day.

For sure it is a little difficult to get sharp results at f/1.2, but when one does well . . . it is just magic.  In the end, though it may not have been a lens I needed, I am indeed very happy with it.  If not for my professional work then for my enjoyment.  For the time being it seems permanently fixed to my camera.  As I have said before if one is restricted to just one lens then a good fast 50’ is the way to go.

While making all of these examples, I never once used a tripod (a first for me).  As stated earlier for the most part I used the electronic focus confirmation, however I did use “live view” on several occasions with good results.  Being off the tripod I just found the electronic focusing confirmation easier to use.   With that said there were a few occasions that I focused relying on just the screen itself with mixed results.

The focusing issue at f/1.2 and how I resolved it.

One of the reasons I love the 50mm focal length – the way they can mimic a slightly wide and slightly telephoto lens.

As I have said before, I am not what one would call a technical sort of person.  Consequently these reviews are not technical in scope.  What I am endeavoring to do is to write a review from more of an emotional and personal use perspective.  With any kind of equipment I am not interested in how they work, only in what they can do for me and my personal style of vision.  Hopefully these reviews can help you the reader decide on what lenses to get.

Cheers,

JG