jeff7id
Senior Member
Last edited:
Nikon Df - the new King of High ISO performance ?
- Thread starter jeff7id
- Start date
tomcat
Senior Member
Will be checking it out this weekend. If all goes well, there will be some shots coming.
blurboiboi
Senior Member
Will be checking it out this weekend. If all goes well, there will be some shots coming.
Never shot with MF lens before.. can share ur experience with them vs AF lens... am contemplating getting one to try...
tomcat
Senior Member
I seldom shoot with MF lenses mainly bacause I'm very impatient about achieving focus after having been spoilt rotten by autofocusing. But there are 2 types of MF lenses. one that's 100% manual and the other with a CPU chip inside that's designed for the camera mount concerned.
With the 100% manual MF lenses eg Samyang lenses, you would have to set the aperture on the lens body and visually achieve focus using the focusing ring of the lens and no lens data like exposure settings, lens name, etc would be recorded in the image's EXIF.
For those MF lenses with CPU chips, the aperture can be set using the camera body's command dial and focusing can be confirmed in the viewfinder eg with the 2 green LED arrow heads and dot in Nikon cameras, and the image EXIF would contain all the exposure settings and lens details. Using such MF lenses is therefore almost like using the AF lenses except that focusing has to be manually achieved.
The Voigtlander DSLR lenses like the 20mm, 28mm, 40mm and 58mm are those designed with CPU chips for the respective camera mounts and some are supposedly optically superior even to Nikon's best prime lenses, especially those in the pancake category which I'm more interested in because of the retro look that matches the Df beautifully.
diediealsomustdive
Senior Member
Not true with respect to EXIF. Cameras like Df, D4, D800 have an option to enter non-CPU data into the camera, and Df can enter non-Ai data as well. Once the non-CPU lens data is entered the position of the aperture can be detected by the camera and EXIF will have all data intact. For Df and non-Ai there is the additional steps of flipping the Ai tab, and set the aperture on the ring to match the aperture value you set on the command or sub command dial. Work on M and A modes.
Once non-CPU lens data is in, the lens would work with full function (possibly without the benefit of matrix metering).
And this is crucial, as the metering system seems to need the data to meter correctly, not sure why. So if I have entered 50mm f/1.2 and forget to switch the data to 105mm f/2.5, my exposures will go all over the place.
And my experience with Nikon MF lenses is that I get the focus arrow indicators as well. Not sure why (or if) Samyang lenses will not show.
The Voigtlander DSLR lenses like the 20mm, 28mm, 40mm and 58mm are those designed with CPU chips for the respective camera mounts and some are supposedly optically superior even to Nikon's best prime lenses, especially those in the pancake category which I'm more interested in because of the retro look that matches the Df beautifully.
My reading of reviews were mixed, like the pancake 20mm apparently is not superior to the Nikkor primes, but that is from internet reading, and the reason why I read and stopped there (didn't pursue the 20mm BnS piece).
tomcat
Senior Member
That's why I'm only interested in those MF lenses with CPU chips built-in for my Df. Too troublesome otherwise. And I like Voigtlander lenses as they generally are great value for money lenses from my experience with them with my Epson R-D1s.
The 20mm f/3.5 SL-II is not that bad a lens from the internet reviews. It seems to be as good as the Nikon 20mm but it is smaller in size and works better with filters (can stack up to 2 filters without vignetting it would seem). It would look really good on the Df though. But then it is only a Color-Skopar and cannot match an Ultron in optical quality and I'm not really that into wide-angle photography with a MF lens. Hence my interest in the 40mm f/2 Ultron pancake lens.
diediealsomustdive
Senior Member
At the risk of going OOT, my AFD 20mm f/2.8 vignettes badly with a single B+W 62mm GND. I used to have an Ai 20mm f/3.5, which I liked a lot, but sold at the D70 era (lack of fund, mistaken impression that Nikon will not support older lenses) but had not experimented with stacked filters. The 20mm is currently my primary wide-angle for underwater shooting (with D800).
Anyhow I am determined to have fun with my non-Ai lenses. Tonight will try night scene (hand-held) with Nikkor-P.C. 105mm f/2.5, with the kit lens in tow as well.
Anyhow I am determined to have fun with my non-Ai lenses. Tonight will try night scene (hand-held) with Nikkor-P.C. 105mm f/2.5, with the kit lens in tow as well.
i tried my Df with mamiya 645 120mm f4 macro lens, not a fulltime or pro, but colour looks impressive on the colour.
but the metering could not be read maybe i did not set correctly. all down to old school learning of the various combination to shoot. handheld metering to be used if needed.
but the metering could not be read maybe i did not set correctly. all down to old school learning of the various combination to shoot. handheld metering to be used if needed.
Charmaine12
New Member
how is this compared to D700? alot better in terms of ISO performance?
tomcat
Senior Member
It's already better than the D800/800E.
So what do you think when compared to the D700?
jnet6
Senior Member
It's already better than the D800/800E.
So what do you think when compared to the D700?
Yes tomcat.
Please refer to:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1330445&page=13&p=8715358&viewfull=1#post8715358
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1330445&page=13&p=8716732&viewfull=1#post8716732
All exif info are intact, try the same settings other than ISO with your current camera and see if you are able to capture the same image handheld.
jeff7id
Senior Member
The difference is like Day and Night.
I was also a D700 user also last time. D700 was announced back in 2008, in my observation, there is more than 2 stops of high ISO improvement over these 5 years !
In D700, I am Ok to shoot at ISO 3200, but I limit myself at ISO 6400 to retain the detail & quality.
Max ISO of D700 is Hi-2 (ISO 25,600)
But in Df, I have no worry to shoot at ISO 12,800, and I limit myself at Hi-1 (ISO 25,600) to retain the detail & quality.
Max ISO of Df is Hi-4 (ISO 204,800)
Last edited:
wah bro... you don't zoom in the photo one??? ....... I use anything higher than ISO1600 on any FF... beh tahan already..... will revert to using flash and set at ISO 200 to ISO 400..... :embrass:.. that is why the Df caught my attention......
.... but then again.... any camera... be it FF, APSC, M43..... think also got good details at ISO200/400 using flash.... :dunno:.... I really think I did something wrong....:embrass:
Last edited:
jeff7id
Senior Member
wah bro... you don't zoom in the photo one??? ....... I use anything higher than ISO1600 on any FF... beh tahan already..... will revert to using flash and set at ISO 200 to ISO 400..... :embrass:.. that is why the Df caught my attention......
But I was shooting with Nikon Df as well, at ISO 12,800 handheld. This was the photo taken:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1330445&p=8711656&viewfull=1#post8711656
I will not shoot at HI-1(ISO 25,600) unless in urgency.
Last edited:
blurboiboi
Senior Member
iso 3200/6400??... you should be asking for even higher iso pics hee..
anyway sharing a iso 5600 pic... my one of the two models at home...
not a ooc jpeg though... i did some sharpening myself... no noise reduction though...
Last edited:
jnet6
Senior Member
Hey bro, don't sell yr DF la, since it can take yr models and without flash so well. Just continue to use it.
tomcat
Senior Member
Because got no built-in flash :embrass:
jeff7id
Senior Member
I also asked him before, and he replied because Nikon Df did not have the built-in flash .
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1330445&p=8717602&viewfull=1#post8717602
Similar threads
- Locked
