HELLO EVERYBODY

It's been a while since i posted anything ...

First off, i wanted to ask you, if maybe you would know. Is the "dust problem" with the D600 solved/fixed already in newer batches? and how to know whether new batches or not? I'm asking about this because I read about it online and it's quite a problem especially if you are a landscape shooter (using small apertures). I thought "OK THIS IS JUST A SMALL PROBLEM" but it happened to my close friend who bought it maybe 4 months ago (not sure exactly when) and it was a big problem as shooting at even f/5.6 already shows the problematic dust bunnies on your images. Wonder what will happen at f8 or f16... and for some reason after he send it for cleaning the AF just stopped working and need to send it again for a 2nd time (the AF thing was maybe a fluke, not sure)

Secondly, I had the AFS 28 1.8G Nano for about 2 months. Read about the reviews online before buying. The good thing - the price is good and it's very light. Now to the bad thing - Basically the main problem most people are talking about the lens is that it has focus shift problems (you can read about it online for more details). Some say the problem is really pronounced and some say it just doesn't exist and it the cameraman's fault.

I used the 28G on mostly on a D3s and sometimes on a D7000. I used the 28G for several wedding shoots. This is what happened :

1. When shooting and viewing it on the camera's LCD it is okay and has good bokeh and colors.
2. When I got back home and checked in on my Adobe Camera Raw I was like "what daaafuuuu~~" The focus shift that some people are talking about really exist and it's not my fault! I do understand that with big apertures I need to be aware & careful of my focusing, but the thing is - my wide open shots at f/1.8 was fine and my f/4 & especially f/5.6 shots was making me crazy mad and worried to use the lens ever again!!!

3. The problem with this lens is focus shift, which most primes have to a certain extend but the thing that makes this lens especially heartbreaking is that is has a FOCUS SHIFT + FIELD CURVATURE. Double the trouble!

At f/1.8 and f/2 the focus is nice and the field curvature problem is not pronounced and most of the time you dont even know it has it. Going down to f4 and f5.6 you get serious problems here, the focus shift + field curvature problem is very pronounced.

EXAMPLE 1 : I was shooting a bride & groom next to each on a malay pelamin (bridal bed) and the background was the flower decoration on several images at f1.8, 2.8 all towards f4. Guess what? The bride & groom is sometimes in focus (not sharpest) and sometimes not in focus but the weird thing is that the decoration at the back has perfectly sharp focus like I was purposely focusing at the decoration. At first I thought I wrongly focused at the back OR the lens has backfocus problems but it turns out that ONLY my f/1.8 shots were fine and the focus field was as I would expect. At other smaller apertures it went backfocus.

EXAMPLE 2 : I was taking a picture of a bride & groom sitting by each other on a bed. I was kneeling straight 90 degrees towards them and using f/2.8 at around 1 meter from the couple. Yes their faces are really close like 10cm from each other & it was a wide shot & NOT a tight close up shot.Guess what? The focus on the bride is just barely okay and the groom just beside her is just like @#%^&! it's not in focus. People might think the lens is not sharp but the thing is that the bed/decoration behind the groom is really sharp and in perfect focus.. i was like WTH? THE SOLUTION : I SOLD THE LENS AND GOT A 16-35 VR. IT WORKS!

This is what i mean:



I had the D700 for quite some time and was satisfied by the performance. I tested out the D600 and was disappointed. The focus speed of d300/d700 was faster and more so in lowlight. 1/4000s on d600? Yeah.. that's why the initial price d600 was the same as the last price of d700 which is around 6k. The initial price of the d700 was 8-9k if im not mistaken. Again this is your choice if you are okay with the D600. I am not okay with it personally.

I had the 28G and really really really hated it because of that focus shift problem. It does not show (at least in my testing it) on DX but it does show this particular problem on FX. It would be a great lens with the Nano coating, decent price, colour, image quality and lightweight but it's not because of what I experienced. I say this : For environmental portraits (only one subject) shooting wide open (f1.8 or f2) this lens is really great and you don't notice the problem. For couple/group/family shots, basically if you have more than one subject and shoot at this aperture "f2.8-f5.6" forget this lens.

The other options like the AFD 20mm, 24mm & 28mm (all f/2.8) does not have the wide open sharpness & colour rendition of the 28G but these lenses work. FORGET the sigma equivalent it's much worse.

If you are on a limited budget I recommend this :

D600 + AFD 28 or AFD 35 + SB900

This post has been edited by alpha_company: Mar 1 2013, 10:33 PM

Thanks bro

As far as I know, focus shift happens to most, if not all prime lenses. The only difference is that whether it has a large or small focus shift. It usually disappears or appear to be gone by f/8 or smaller.

This is what happens to my 28 1.8G :

1. I focus and shoot at f/1.8 - Dslr achieves focus but on this particular lens (28G) the range of the area in focus will be a little bit more towards the back, but still the subject will be clearly in focus. Not a problem here for me.

2. I focus and shoot at f/5.6 - When you half-press the shutter button, the camera ALWAYS achieves focus at the widest aperture regardless of the setting on your camera (in this case f/1.8) , but when you fully press the shutter button to snap an image, only then the camera stops down to f/5.6 and the problem here comes because at 5.6 the focus area shifts more towards the back compared to the wide open focus area.


THIS IS WHAT I MEANT BY FOCUS SHIFT

For most zoom lens lets say the 2470G :

1. When i shoot at f/2.8 on a human eye, the focus area is, lets say TOTAL 4 inches (2 inch to the front of the eye and 2 inches to the back).
2. When i change to f/5.6 lets say the focus area is TOTAL 8 inches (4 inches to the front of the eye and 4 inches to the back)

That is usually what happens for zoom lenses or what we would like to it to be. We have more control here.


For primes lets say 28G :

1. When i shoot at f/1.8 on a human eye, the focus area is, lets say TOTAL 4 inches (2 inch to the front of the eye and 2 inches to the back).
2. When i change to f/5.6 lets say the focus area is TOTAL 8 inches (2 inches to the front of the eye and 6 inches to the back)

It depends on the severity of focus shift. If it shifts too much like what I experienced for 28G (especially at close range) it will be useless for shooting at various apertures because you don't know what to expect.

It has a solution however, sort of that is. If you are shooting at only a certain aperture like say you are ONLY shooting at f/5.6, you can adjust the AF-FINE TUNE so that it would have perfect focus at that specific aperture, but the downside is that at other apertures, the focus will be follow the same af fine tune setting, eg. if you set it to be more front focus, at 1.8 it will have too much front focus.

FIELD CURVATURE

The other problem is the field curvature. Nice for environmental portraits because of the way the focus area is curved, but not nice for most other types of shooting especially landscape. The 28G has it and combined with the focus shift as you can see in the image i posted above, the problem got much worse.

I'm not sure sure why this happens and to what types of lenses but I've read somewhere it has to do with the construction or build/shape and/or material of the elements inside the lens. Most people think to make lenses you need glass, but like spectacles, camera lenses also uses plastic optics.

This post has been edited by alpha_company: Mar 1 2013, 11:53 PM

Like ifer said, it's true. It's a lens & body combination. Take for example my friend's AFD 80-200 that he used on his d7000. it front focuses quite badly. but when tested out on a d700 and d800, the focus was sharp and it was fine. Another example would be my case, i tested it out on a d7000 for a while and it was fine and on fx the problem was clear for me to see. I was really satisfied by it when I shoot it for a company's family day, the bokeh was not distracting and wide open sharpness was really good. I shot it around f/1.8 to f/2.8 on single subjects, and wideopen on suitable distances, it will make the subject pop even if this is a wide angle lens. But when subjected to shooting couples & groups with apertures ranging from f4 to f5.6, that's when I saw the focus shift problem. I was forced to shoot at f1.8 to 2.8 ..then skip the whole range and can start back again at f8 to be safe.

Yes there are people who shoot with this lens and satisfied by it and gave good to great reviews about this lens. I saw the reviews' images taken with this lens and it the images were great, but all (at least what I saw) were done on single subjects. When I shoot on couples and groups, and when the objects or people in the back are sharper... yeah this is where I was like "OHH dang, i should have listened to those other reviewers who talked about the focus shift problem". It became a f/1.8 and f8 only lens for me.

1. If say it was my copy of the lens being problematic -
(A) My copy was a new batch with very recent production/serial numbers so that means that this problem is still there.
(B) If my copy of the lens was problematic, doesn't that worry you as the problems I am having are clearly the EXACT SAME with others. Meaning that this exact problem of mine doesnt just happen to me, it happened to others too. I would be fine & not worry if this lens had a faulty af motor, sharpness or other problems, but this lens has the same problems as others have said. That means that most probably this problem is wide spread and a reviewer also said that this happens because of the lens elements used & the way the lens is designed and if that's true, we're doomed.

2. I thought about sending it for focus calibration, but i wised up and thought, i wouldnt waste my time with it. How the heck to correct this lens focus problems other than physically opening & fixing the lens. Why cant focus calibration work? I can do focus calibration myself on the camera body but the thing is that if they correct it for a certain aperture, it would be correct only for that aperture and have wrong af for others. It's not as easy as fixing a back/front focus issue which is easier because it's telling the camera+lens to focus more to the front or more to the back, that's all.

I used quite a number of nikon lenses and tested out some of tamron lenses & sigma's prime 50 & 85 (which is prone to having a back/front focus issue for certain cameras, some new & some after a few months of using) but you know what? This is the first time I think that there's no real fix for the problem I am having. Man I was so dissatisfied with it, I sold it within around 2 months after buying it.

Got a few hardcore friends that likes IR images... they said that d70/d70s is good but D50 is the best for IR at colour reproduction. Not sure why though..maybe the sensor or weakness or IR filtering on the sensor.

One friend has this group that sends dslr cameras to Indonesia for conversion. They bring a whole bag full of dslr bodies for conversion. They charge around rm700-750 iinm. Even got a few people converting D3s ... They will bring the dslr to indo maybe 2-4 times a year, as long as they achieve their quota. Can choose a number of false colour/IR versions.

My other friend did his IR conversion in Ipoh (done by his friend). Can be done as fast as a day if really urgent. Can choose a number of false colour/IR versions. Around 500+ I think..

As far as I know full IR requires quite a bit of editing in photoshop and know-how to process it so that it will come out good, otherwise it will just be a bunch of weird colours. Another thing to note, different lenses will produce different grades of colour reproduction. Some lenses will make your ir/false colour pop and some other lenses will make it look duller. Not sure why though, maybe the nano coating block certain type of light? One of the best (at least what my friend said after testing a lot of lenses) is the 18-55VR... .. great colours and it's cheap!

Both parties can do full IR, but most of these IR junkies are more interested in false colour. Im not sure how to say it but as far as i know.. they used a certain kind of IR glass filter or maybe a combination of them to block certain lightwaves and letting in specific ones in, thus the trademark colours of false colour names like Batavia, Littoralis etc.. and if you buy from them they will give a set of WB presets to achieve those trademark colours.

This post has been edited by alpha_company: Mar 3 2013, 01:14 AM

You can see the seriousness of the problem.. he sold it within 2 weeks.. I could have sold it within a month if I had a buyer then, but needed to wait another month for a buyer. You would NOT see the problem when testing it at the shop... unless you can take specific kinds of test shots at the shop and transfer the images into a PC/laptop and look at it. Yeah right...

Like I explained before in my previous post, dont be surprised if some said it is a great lens. They tested it out on a ONE subject at mostly wide open apertures. IT"S JUST IMPOSSIBLE to see it at those settings.Yeah this lens is great at wide open (sharpness,colour) but the reviewers who saw this problem tested it on numerous other things/subjects including a focus chart at various apertures. I just dont know why nikon produced such a flawed lens. Im not so surprised as around the same time they produced the D600 with the dust problem which is a PHYSICAL defect/design & D800 with the left focus point issue. I can understand software/firmware defects but if its physical, especially if it's the insides of the camera or lens.. i'm much better off buying older proven technology.

Yes, exactly.. field curvature does that but the most horrible thing is when this two guys come together : FIELD CURVATURE & FOCUS SHIFT .. Double trouble. I explained it in my previous post. You'll know pain when you take group shots and the center is soft/blurred, the guy standing on the SAME LINE at the left & right is sharp, the guy on the THIRD LINE is sharpest .. WTF?

You can find a used AFD 35 f2... the lens is tough enough cause it doenst have an af motor. a used AF 35mm f2 (non-D) will be much cheaper. Both will AF fine on your camera.

FYI, the OLD Nikon 85mm 1.4D is still in production.. the OLD Nikon 50 1.8D is still in production.. the OLD Nikon 20 2.8D is still in production. Guess what? The 35D is still in production.. why? market wise if this lens was discontinued, what other 35mm prime can you buy for FX? The AFS 35 1.4G? you know how much that costs? Nikon doesnt want people to buy to Sigma/Tamron lenses..they need variety in their product line (price wise).

Dont think Nikon will fix it? Man.. if you buy new, it has a warranty card. THEY WILL FIX IT.

Resale value of the 35D? Around 700-900 depends on age/condition/warranty etc..

This post has been edited by alpha_company: Mar 3 2013, 01:55 AM

Muahahahah... if the lens cost 1.2k ..how much lower can it go down lah kann.. haha.. lucky lah u rugi a bit only..dont know y some people worry too much..hehe..

Nikon needs to stop the production of the OLD 24 2.8D so that everybody can buy the 24 1.4G... cause Nikon knows that everybody has lombong emas belakang rumah..

you reffering to 2nd hand price ar?

Shot last year with my gang...

I had the 50 1.8D and now got the 50 1.8G

The D has the same speed as the G in normal conditions. In lowlight I would say the G is a little bit better.

If the D is used on stronger motorized bodies like D300/D700 or D3/D4 which has an AF screw which is faster than d90 etc..., maybe the 50 1.8D focuses faster... but definitely the 50 1.4D focuses faster on stronger motorized slr/dslr bodies.

50 1.4G is slow on whatever body because it depends on the motor in the lens.

I would have to agree with that.. and both 50 1.4G & 1.8G have more accurate focus lock compared to their D versions.

A tribute to old D lenses.. durable indeed. Still can go on and on.. if only they could put weather sealing on those D lenses like the tank-like 85 1.4D

Tried the sigma 50 1.4... i can say that the lens locks on faster than nikon's 50 1.4G.. the only downside is that it's heavy and big for a 50.

yup2.. kawan naem kaki vanggey tu la..haha

Tell your friend naim .. mmg body 5dm2 slow ponnn~~ last2 pinjam pakai nikon jugak shoot event.. LOL!


I tested two different sigma 50 1.4 with two 5dm2 - really quite fast in daylight .. but didnt really look closely whether the focus is accurate

I tested two different sigma 50 1.4 (one older version with matte black coating & new one with smooth black) with one d3s - I can disregard camera shake or subject moving as the shutter speed is well above 1/1000s, wide open, stationary human subject & sunlight. Now this is a little bit weird... i took several shots at the same angle on the same point at the subject, when I zoomed in some were sharp enough (even at 1.4) but some were off like it was front focusing or something & thus making it soft. Im using the 50 1.8G and took a lot of moving subjects on the go and it suffers very little in terms of accuracy.

People on the net were saying it was prone to back/front focusing problems and yes this proved it. Some were fine out of the box but later after a few months .. got back/front focus probs.. got my other friend went to buy this siggy 50.. then he saw it's off focus.. the tokei kedai said, "adjust the af-fine tune.. that lens always like that one" what worries me is that my friend need to adjust so much till it was almost maximum just to get it right.

The only thing I noticed right away is that the sigma 50 1.4 is less contrasty making it more natural looking and better for portraits compared to the 50 1.8G... but AF wise I dont really trust it

This post has been edited by alpha_company: Mar 4 2013, 03:36 PM

the power of film.. (has build in super processing to remove chroma fringing) hahahaha.. in all seriousness though, digital still has it's weaknesses

Are you exclusively doing video?

Either way I would advice to get TWO or several 16gb class 10 rather than one 32gb. I am saying this because quite a number of my friends suffered data loss and/or lost/destroyed/damage the card itself, and if that happens to you you will lose more data on a 32gb rather than losing less when using 16gb or 8gb.

I shoot raw all the time and I use 16gb & 8gb cards... It's enough for me. I do not know what you are shooting but it is enough for me doing weddings. btw my files are RAW uncompressed 12mpx at 14bit... as far as I know theres no UNCOMPRESSED setting for raw in d7000.. the files should just be a bit bigger than mine considering d7000's raw is compressed..

Yeah.. i was wondering. What was the fix for all the D800 left AF problem? is it hardware and/or software issue?

What camera model is that ar? Rangefinder ar? Ada DX logo summore.. suppose like the "FX for point & shoot" ? hehe

I want to ask.. anybody bought the new sigma 35 1.4 ART? saw raving reviews about it on the net