Last Updated on 08/26/2016 by Chris Gampat
This is a syndicated blog post from photographer Horatio Tan. It and the images here are being used with permission.
This is going to be a quick writeup. It’s just going to be a bunch of sample images from the Nikon 105mm f/1.4E.
Overall, it is amazing. It’s sharp – really sharp. I mean crazy CRAZY sharp SHARP. And the bokeh is out of this world. The closer you are to the subject, the more amazing it is. And trust me, I’ve seen a lot of bokeh over the last couple of months. Click here if you haven’t seen it already.
But enough of what I have to say. I think that the images speak for themselves. The only goof that happened on this first look was user error – that is to say, I haven’t shot this much with a Nikon DSLR in over four years. So I had some problem with the focusing points – no surprise. Honestly, I just don’t understand why the auto focusing points doesn’t go all the way to the edge of the frame… spoken like someone who’s been spoiled manually focusing on the Leica SL!
Plus I accidentally put the wrong Nikon rear cap onto the rear of the lens… so the rear cap was stuck! I couldn’t get it off. It was very embarrassing. Turns out you have to unscrew the rear cap slowly, and with much pressure. I had to make an emergency call to my vendor for that bit of wisdom. So now you know, should the same thing happen to you.
But enough about my pitfalls. Onto the images. All my observations are in the captions under the posted images. All images shot at ISO 400, at f/1.4, on the Nikon D800E.
Image 1. 1/200th of a second. A perfect combination of sharpness and bokeh.
Image 2. 1/125th of a second. And it renders colors well too!
Image 3. 1/250th of a second. Doing my best to follow in the example of Stanley Kubrick. #BarryLyndon
Image 4. 1/250th of a second.
Image 5. 1/160th of a second. Extreme close up. Look at the eye lashes and the eyes. Crazy sharp, isn’t it!
Image 6. 1/125th of a second. But at this distance, there isn’t much background left for bokeh!
Image 7. 1/250th of a second. No amount of Lightroom could save this interior’s awful AWFUL white balance.
Image 8. 1/250th of a second. Oh yes…and bokeh at this distance from the subject isn’t all that nice either.
Image 9. 1/160th of a second. Back to back.
Image 10. 1/80th of a second. Surprised there wasn’t any camera shake! Going up the escalator.
Image 11. 1/80th of a second. Again, surprised that there wasn’t any camera shake.
Image 12. 1/160th of a second. Almost reaching the top. Surprisingly at this distance, bokeh is still respectable.
All images in this writeup are full crop. Images have been optimize in Lightroom to some extent.
Special thanks to Anna and her friend for being wonderful subjects! Sorry, I forgot to catch her name.
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