Nikon 50mm f/1.2 vs. f/1.4 ???

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
Having been unable to find the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 manual lens, I decided to go with the the Nikon 50mm f/1.2.

Am I making a mistake?

Would love to know what you all think about these two manual Nikon lenses?

I've heard that the Nikon 50mm f/1.2 does not let in as much light as the 50mm f1/.2

I'm not sure I understand this. Because you would think that you get more light with a lens capable of a lower f-stop number.

But I don't know that much about lenses. Just looking for advice.

I've seen some tests of these two lenses on this forum and it did seem like the f/1.4 allowed more light.

But would love to know from anyone who has used the f/1.2. Is there a big difference light wise with the f/1.4

Thanks very much in advance,

- Nick
 
I tried both a couple of weeks ago. The 1.2 is hefty and yes there is more light input but it's also an older lens and I like the focus ring better on the 1.4D.
 
What has me a little worried is that I see most people shooting with the Nikon 50 mm f/1.4. I don't see too many postings on Vimeo or here of GH1 movies made with the Nikon 50mm f/1.2.

That's why I'm a little nervous about this lens.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
What has me a little worried is that I see most people shooting with the Nikon 50 mm f/1.4. I don't see too many postings on Vimeo or here of GH1 movies made with the Nikon 50mm f/1.2.

That's why I'm a little nervous about this lens.
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I wouldn't let that in itself worry you too much. The Nikon 50mm f1.2 is supposedly an excellent lens, it's just much less common and more expensive than the f1.4. The 50mm f1.4 is a very, very common fast 50mm lens on 35mm film platforms (hence looking around on eBay for example, you'll find lots of older SLRs with 50mm f1.4 lenses). Lenses with an f-stop of 1.2 are much less common (comparatively speaking) and so you'll probably never find as much information or test-photos out there as with the 50mm f1.4, and that's the case even if we were talking 35mm film photography. Now, out of that very small segment of the population that is using this lens for film/still photography, the number of users using the 50mm f1.2s with the GH1 is going to be microscopic, and the number of those users who post their videos/results on the web is going to be even smaller still.

I think I'd go for it (I did with the Canon route and got a 50mm f1.2) and see what happens, if you get a good deal on one through eBay, if it doesn't work out, you'll be able to sell it to someone else for what you paid for it (maybe even more), so there isn't too much risk. And if it doesn't work out, you have a zillion options for 50mm f1.4s - you'll probably end up getting a unique look by going the way of the f1.2 and don't forget, above all else, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for LIGHT, period, other factors for sure (sharpness, contrast, etc.) but you can never, ever get light back that you didn't start out with, and 1/2 a stop (or just about 1/2 a stop) when you *really* need it is priceless.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
Thanks,

I bought mine just the other day for $699 from BH Photo Video. Here's the link:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/36976-USA/Nikon_1435_NIKKOR_Normal_50mm_f_1_2.html

- Nick
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$700!! Yikes! I bought 5 of my lenses for that much! But I bet that lens is badass; if you got the dough though...

Just remember with the crop factor that's gonna be a 100mm telephoto on the GH1. I blew my dough on a nice 20mm since I already had a 28mm I figure those will be my most used lenses.
 
Ken Steadman said:
$700!! Yikes! I bought 5 of my lenses for that much! But I bet that lens is badass; if you got the dough though...

Just remember with the crop factor that's gonna be a 100mm telephoto on the GH1. I blew my dough on a nice 20mm since I already had a 28mm I figure those will be my most used lenses.
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While the 50mm lens on the GH1 will have the same FOV as a 100mm lens on 35mm still format, it won't behave the same way a 100mm telephoto lens would on a 35mm camera.

The other characteristics of the 50mm focal length will hold true, if you were to say, on a 35mm camera, take one photo with a 100mm at f2.8 and another photo with a 50mm at f2.8, and then cropped the photo taken with the 50mm lens so that the FOV would be the same as on the photo taken with the 100mm lens, the photos would not look the same.

They'd have the same FOV, but there are big differences in the way 50mm focal lengths, and 100mm focal lengths work in order to create images (DOF, Flattening, Distortion, etc. would all be very different) - they create very different images inherently.

So it is not, in fact, the same as shooting with a 100mm lens on 35mm film format (still), there is quite a bit of difference here, even though, as you've stated, FOV would be essentially the same.

That said, I wouldn't have a 50mm focal-length as the only lens in my kit for this camera...I may have gone overboard but for a Feature that I'm about to shoot I'm using the following:

Panasonic 20mm f1.7 Pancake (as soon as I can get my hands on one!)
Canon FD 24mm f1.4 L
Canon FD 35mm f2.0
Canon FD Tilt Shift 35mm f2.8
Canon FL 55mm f1.2
Zeiss 50mm f1.4 (Rollei to Eos to m4/3)
Samyang 85mm f1.4 (Eos to m4/3 - crazy good, crazy cheap lens!)
Canon FD 135mm f2.5
Canon FD 200mm f2.8

(And this doesn't even take into account the c-mount zooms I picked up, but have not yet had a chance to try out...the Canon 18-108 f1.6 that I got may prove useful however! I have doubts about the others...but we'll see!)

For my project I don't really need to go wider than 20mm, but if I did, the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 would be in my bag!
 
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I am fully that the compression of the lens will stay the same but there's no way I can frame a 105mm lens on my GH1 indoors like I would on my HMC/sgblade. For me the crop factor takes precedence over the DoF because normally I can't make my locations any bigger.
 
I did a bunch of GH1 tests with the canon and nikon 50mm, f1.2 and f1.4

results are here, hope they are of use :)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?p=1718559#post1718559

3828040040_6316663d83_o.jpg
 
apocalypse, the perspective should be the same as long as the distance to subject remains the same. DOF will be different, yes.

Oh yes, check out J Davis's thread. Very nice comparison.
 
yslee said:
apocalypse, the perspective should be the same as long as the distance to subject remains the same. DOF will be different, yes.
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Agreed. The perspective will be the same, but I think there is a misconception out there that shooting with say, a 50mm lens on one of these crop cameras, is just like shooting with a 100mm lens in still 35mm format. Perspective is definitely the same with both, but a 50mm lens and a 100mm lens handle very differently.

The image one gets from a 100mm lens (aside from perspective) is not *exactly* the same as one gets if they just crop out the middle section of the image created by a 50mm lens (assuming a 2x crop factor).

That said, I guess my point is that, say in this example, if one were to do an A/B test on the same subject, same distance, etc., a photo taken with a 100mm f1.2 (if one exists) @f1.2 on a 35mm body and a photo taken with a 50mm f1.2 @f1.2 on a GH1 with the 2x crop factor, aside from perspective, would be *VERY* different looking images, and I think this is an important thing to note.

I'm done now, I promise, I'm not sure what I have to say has much point from a practical perspective, but I still think it is a worthwhile discussion.
 
Thanks very much for all your feedback.

I should also mention that I happen to still own the following Zeiss lenses that I purchased two years ago when I had my HVX200 and Redrock Micro follow focus

My three Zeiss ZF prime manual lenses: • 50mm f1/4 • 35mm f/2 • 85mm f/1.4

Just curious though, I don't see many people here or on Vimeo shooting with Zeiss prime lenses for use with the GH1. Are Zeiss prime lenses not such a good idea when coupled with the GH1?

Are people getting better results with Nikon and Canon prime lenses with the GH1 than with Zeiss?
 
I'd love to have a full set of Zeiss lenses. However I got together my second hand Canon FD kit - 20mm 2.8, 28mm 2.0, 35mm 2.0, 50mm 1.4 and 100mm 2.8 for less than one new Zeiss ZF. The dream kit would be either the Duclos Lenses cine modded ZFs or the P+S Technik Zeiss with Nikon mounts made for their 35mm adapter.

http://www.ducloslenses.com/DL/ZeissZF.html

http://www.pstechnik.de/en/optics-lensset.php

The one that I use at least 60% of the time is the 35mm, not surprising since I always preferred 40mm on film cameras and a 70mm on my Pentax MX back in the 80s when I was doing still photography.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
Thanks very much for all your feedback.

I should also mention that I happen to still own the following Zeiss lenses that I purchased two years ago when I had my HVX200 and Redrock Micro follow focus

My three Zeiss ZF prime manual lenses: • 50mm f1/4 • 35mm f/2 • 85mm f/1.4

Just curious though, I don't see many people here or on Vimeo shooting with Zeiss prime lenses for use with the GH1. Are Zeiss prime lenses not such a good idea when coupled with the GH1?

Are people getting better results with Nikon and Canon prime lenses with the GH1 than with Zeiss?
Click to expand...

It's a cost issue, Zeiss are great lenses.
 
thisisapocalypse said:
While the 50mm lens on the GH1 will have the same FOV as a 100mm lens on 35mm still format, it won't behave the same way a 100mm telephoto lens would on a 35mm camera.

The other characteristics of the 50mm focal length will hold true, if you were to say, on a 35mm camera, take one photo with a 100mm at f2.8 and another photo with a 50mm at f2.8, and then cropped the photo taken with the 50mm lens so that the FOV would be the same as on the photo taken with the 100mm lens, the photos would not look the same.

They'd have the same FOV, but there are big differences in the way 50mm focal lengths, and 100mm focal lengths work in order to create images (DOF, Flattening, Distortion, etc. would all be very different) - they create very different images inherently.

So it is not, in fact, the same as shooting with a 100mm lens on 35mm film format (still), there is quite a bit of difference here, even though, as you've stated, FOV would be essentially the same.

That said, I wouldn't have a 50mm focal-length as the only lens in my kit for this camera...I may have gone overboard but for a Feature that I'm about to shoot I'm using the following:

Panasonic 20mm f1.7 Pancake (as soon as I can get my hands on one!)
Canon FD 24mm f1.4 L
Canon FD 35mm f2.0
Canon FD Tilt Shift 35mm f2.8
Canon FL 55mm f1.2
Zeiss 50mm f1.4 (Rollei to Eos to m4/3)
Samyang 85mm f1.4 (Eos to m4/3 - crazy good, crazy cheap lens!)
Canon FD 135mm f2.5
Canon FD 200mm f2.8

(And this doesn't even take into account the c-mount zooms I picked up, but have not yet had a chance to try out...the Canon 18-108 f1.6 that I got may prove useful however! I have doubts about the others...but we'll see!)

For my project I don't really need to go wider than 20mm, but if I did, the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 would be in my bag!
Click to expand...

Don't even get me started on how badly I want that Tokina but there is no way I am spending the money for it right now....I am sorely tempted by the 20mm pancake though (despite already having a GIANT 24mm f/1.8) just because it's so damn small and I could carry my camera in my freaking jacket and pull it out and use it anywhere...hmmmmm..
 
So If I'm not mistaken Canon FD 50/1.4 is considered to be the best start up lens for GH1 (apart from the kit lens) ?
 
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