Nikon D800E -in pursuit of sharpness

[Cheesecake]

Compare to the Nikon 24-120 VR at 24mm , again full picture, 100% center crop, 100% corner crop

[/url] Ni24_120_24mfull by AchimReh, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url] Ni24_120_24mcencrop100 by AchimReh, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url] Ni24_120_24mcorncrop100 by AchimReh, on Flickr[/IMG]

So far the first results of my lens and resolution test , Nikon D800E .

Conclusion
It becomes very clear to me that only the best lenses will deliver suitable results on this camera. Lenses which performed reasonable good in other tests,( like the example above, the nikon AF-S VR 24-120 ED)are not able to deliver the required sharpness and resolution for this camera. The 24-120 was performing well on my D700 , but on the D800E , the camera can not show its full potential, it is very much limited by the lens. The Zeiss Planar performed as expected, a razor sharp lens , it can't get any better. The Voigtlander Color Skopar performed reasonable well, given the fact that it costs only about 1/3 of the equivalent Zeiss lens. Value for money .
One other thing became clear to me. This is not a point and shot camera. No shots without good tripod and detailed set up. Using this camera to its full potential is a bit like large format photography. If you don't want to do this, save yourself a lot of money and buy a D7000 or similar model. Otherwise you will never see the full potential of this outstanding camera .

More test to come ;-))

sorry, just to ask, what is the shutter speed?\

is the VR on while on the tripod?

 

[Achim Reh]

Why is everybody, echoing this fact???? in various forum, in various 'review'....

May I ask a naive question?

Suppose I use the same 'OK' lens: one on D800, one on D700, and maybe on D7000 or whatever , D3000?? (factor the DX, but that is another thing.)

Take the same shot/subject.... and view and or print same size....

Will I get the same quality or the quality from D800 will be the worse????

If the quality is from the D800 comes out best, then what is the real practical issue??

First of all, let me clarify one thing here. I am talking about the maximum possible image quality , suitable for fine art printing.
The practical issue is of course picture quality and print quality . I am not talking about jpg pictures in 72dpi resolution on screen display, or 5R prints from your lab around the corner. You would not see any difference there.

Ok, lets say , I put the VR24-120 on a d700 ( which I use to do) . If I print this pictures, the difference to the Zeiss Planar was not so much , it was, in fact noticable, but not really disturbing.
When I print the same pictures now form a D800E file, I have 3 times the resolution ( probably even more, because of the absence of the AA filter) , my printout will be sharper and with more details. Now, as I have a sharper over all source file ( or I wish to have) it will become much more noticeable, that my 24-120 lens is not as sharp in the center and by far not as sharp in the corners. So, in real life , a picture taken with a D700 and a VR 24-120 would probably look better than the same picture taken with a D800E and the VR 24-120 ...(while better really depends on the observer , some might not notice the problems) , but my picture taken with D800E and a Zeiss Planar would look much better , because it just has much more details and is razor sharp.

 

[Achim Reh]

sorry, just to ask, what is the shutter speed?\

is the VR on while on the tripod?

As I used a very !! stable tripod and outmost caution ( and had the luck of totally no wind, as mentioned before) , there was no need for VR .
Shutter speed was 1/60.

 

[Cheesecake]

As I used a very !! stable tripod and outmost caution ( and had the luck of totally no wind, as mentioned before) , there was no need for VR .
Shutter speed was 1/60.

on tripod, the VR should not be turned on anyway, i was just wondering if you might have accidentally left it on.


maybe u can post a few more samples to share with the members here.

 

[Achim Reh]

Cheesecake, I will post more samples , for sure. Just need some more time to do so ;-)

 

[Cheesecake]

Cheesecake, I will post more samples , for sure. Just need some more time to do so ;-)

sweet!


i do not own the AFS24-120 VR thus, cannot be sure of its quality either.
it will be interesting to be able to view more samples.


cheers!

 

[Achim Reh]

Cheesecake, I can assure you, the camera itself is very demanding ....to the lens as well as to the operator. My first shots where more or less dissapointing ...not much better than I use to get from my D700. But , I did not follow the "rules" as mentioned in the beginning of the post. I would like to highlight again to everyone: From my point of view, this camera is only for the serious user , who wants to put in the effort necessary , to use it to its full potential. That "effort" means , high class lenses , use of tripod and so on , as mentioned in the beginning of my post. If you are not willing to do this, better save the extra money, get a good camera for half the price and you will not be disappointed ether.

 

[DeepOne]

Cheesecake, I will post more samples , for sure. Just need some more time to do so ;-)

did you try different f-stops .... what about edge sharpness difference ...

 

[Achim Reh]

did you try different f-stops .... what about edge sharpness difference ...

As stated at the beginning, i choose F8 for all lenses to get optimal performance.

Each shot full frame is followed by center crop 100% and a corner crop 100% . Clear to see that the edge sharpness difference is huge .

 

[reject]

it's sad to see that 24-120 didnt live up to my expectations after your test. then what's the best all around lens for d800/d800e?

 

[Achim Reh]

it's sad to see that 24-120 didnt live up to my expectations after your test. then what's the best all around lens for d800/d800e?

reject, I did not test many lenses on the D800E, but from my long expereince in high quality photography and printing, I am sorry to tell you, I expect , there is no all-round lens that can perform as good as necessary to use the full potential of this camera. If you really want to use the D800E to its full potential, get use to carry several fixed lenses around. The 2 I have tested , the Zeiss Planar 50/1.4 and the Voigtlander 20/3.5 performed both very well.
There are many other very sharp lenses out there, but of course, I also do not have the money to buy them all and test them all. On the wide angle range , have a look at the Zeiss Distagon Lenses, the 18 / 25 / 35 . I have bad experience with Nikon wide angles , they never performed up to my expectations in the past . Use to test the 20 and the 24 ( on film , long ago) . If it comes to light tele , the Nikon 85 1.4 seams to be great and the Zeiss Macro Planar 100 of course .

 

[Cheesecake]

Cheesecake, I can assure you, the camera itself is very demanding ....to the lens as well as to the operator. My first shots where more or less dissapointing ...not much better than I use to get from my D700. But , I did not follow the "rules" as mentioned in the beginning of the post. I would like to highlight again to everyone: From my point of view, this camera is only for the serious user , who wants to put in the effort necessary , to use it to its full potential. That "effort" means , high class lenses , use of tripod and so on , as mentioned in the beginning of my post. If you are not willing to do this, better save the extra money, get a good camera for half the price and you will not be disappointed ether.

I do not haf the afs24-120 nor the zeiss.

My results w the older D lenses convinced me tat there is no need to upgrade.

Maybe our shooting conditions n applications differ vastly.

to potential new owners, do not be put off by the resolving power of the d800e. If applied in the right condition, you will get amazing results.

But the high mp count n huge file size should be a main consideration too.

 

[recap]

Recap, I intend to agree with you , but according to the MTF Data, the 1.4/50 Planar has a ( slightly)higher maximum resolution than the 2/50 Macro Planar. Anyway, I also only have the 1.4/50 Planar and not the 2/50 Macro .

I was thinking of getting the Zeiss 100 Macro Planar. This is, according to Zeiss and other sources, a photographic version of the world famous cine lens developed by Zeiss for Arriflex, and , at least according to the information I was able to get from Zeiss in Germany , the sharpest lens available in the market.

Correct. That lens beats the Leica R APO Macro 100/2.8 at close up distances, middle distances AND infinity. It has a near flat field, and its imaging performance across the entire sensor is unparallelled. I own both, and so far, testing with the D800E bears that out.

As for the 1.4 vs 2, the 1.4 is slightly sharper in the central foreground for most shots, so that's why the MTF registers higher therein. however, the f/2 has far less field curvature, which extends its ideal zone of sharpness to the edges for flat subjects.

but we are quibbling over small things here. i tested both extensively and settled with the f/2 - the bonus was the ability to do macro as well if needed.


Anyway, for everyone else, this thread has nothing to do with VR, nothing to do with AF, nothing to do with shutter speed. Its about pure image quality of a given subject for a given light - and I am completely inclined to agree - its like shooting medium or large format. slow, deliberate and careful.

the vast majority of nikon lenses i've tested are not up to spec on this sensor. the ones that are doing very very well at this stage are all the Zeiss/Contax primes and Leica R lenses.

 

[natasastra]

I do not haf the afs24-120 nor the zeiss.

My results w the older D lenses convinced me tat there is no need to upgrade.

Maybe our shooting conditions n applications differ vastly.

to potential new owners, do not be put off by the resolving power of the d800e. If applied in the right condition, you will get amazing results.

But the high mp count n huge file size should be a main consideration too.

NO need buy D800E lah, D800 will do. Later use D800E got blur pics how? Better play safe hor... :nono: or even better buy Canon 5D MIII. Plenty in the market... :devil:

 

[K S Kong]

Basically, there is no serious lens sharpness tests will be conducted
in luminosity and unstable environment. Usually outdoor shot is just
testing the camera's white balance and color temperature,
or maybe the AF speed.

 

[DeepOne]

image removed.

 

[icceman]

The images taken by the D800E with Leica lens made the grass so sharp that it cut my eyes

 

[Cheesecake]

NO need buy D800E lah, D800 will do. Later use D800E got blur pics how? Better play safe hor... :nono: or even better buy Canon 5D MIII. Plenty in the market... :devil:

As for d800 n d800e, To each his own.

If my cheap less than S$200 Nikkor AF28-105 f3.5-4.5D can perform on my d800e, i think i can safely say, do not be afraid to buy d800e if u hanker after sharpness n resolution.

Just use it with the right technique n understanding.

 

[Cheesecake]

The images taken by the D800E with Leica lens are so sharp that it cut my eyes

The best part is you do not need an expensive leica lens which most users do not have to give u sharp images.

 

[Achim Reh]

The images taken by the D800E with Leica lens made the grass so sharp that it cut my eyes

Of course, thats the purpose of developing such a camera and suitable lenses in the first place