Nikon "G" 1.4 primes, a mini review...

[Evin Grant]

Thanks for the review Evin. I guess there are two pieces that would make these an obvious choice over their Canon counterparts:

1. Estimated availability of the Nikon mount for Epic
2. Availability of the Redmote Pro and its viability as a decent wireless follow focus (to negate the reverse focus gear issue)

Jarred?

Of course these are the questions, but I do think that Red is on it. I will still be using my Optimo DPs for most cinema work, but for light weight/location work the new Nikkors offer some real compelling options.

[paul engstrom]

Thanks for the pics Evin. Great shots!

Does your Nikon do moving images? In other words, can you test breathing/image shift with these lenses?

[Sanjin Jukic]

Thanks Evin for a nice images!

Then I was also counting on that fast Nikon G prime combo...

Just in a case if you have more time to do a kind of second part of your test at more convenient situations with low and available light something

like a car inside shot during a night drive, ordinary street night shot that could involve a mix of many lights from cars, streetlight vapor and neon, night cityscape, etc,...

Only in that sort of test we could see possible lens aberrations (mostly coma, chromatic aberration, diverse flares, light bubbles and ghosting, etc...).

Why?

Because shooting dogs or girlfriends in a way doesn't tell us something more about a quality of any lens wide open.

[Richard Foster]

Agreed, Jacek and Larry. Nikon makes awesome glass.

[Elsie N]

Thanks for this Evin. I have the 50mm 1.4 G in my Amazon cart already. Your review clinches it for me.

[AnthonyFlores]

Thanks Evin. You mentioned the M series ... but have you evaluated the Leica Summilux-R 35, 50, and 80mm? How do they compare? Another stellar wide open performer I hear is the entire Leica S line, though they are "slow" in the 35mm realm at only f2.5 ... but for MF lenses they are super fast and everything I've heard about them (including the charts) speaks to them being some of the best still lenses ever made. Their downsides, apart from speed, are limited range of focal lengths, insane price ($5-7,000 per lens) and scarce availability.

Anyway, thanks again for posting this, I always thought Canon L glass was superior to Nikon and was going to go with Canon glass on the Epic, but now you've pretty much convinced me to go with this set whenever I need AF lenses.

I hope these can be obtained given all that's going on with supply for high-end camera gear.

Anthony

[Justen Nguyen]

Thanks again for the review Evin! I always love reading your thoughts/review.
I'd also be interested in your thoughts on the Leica R's. Though I think Anthony is confused as the 'summilux' denotes f1.4's as the largest aperture. I do believe the he's referring to the "elmarit's". In either case I've been interested in getting leicas, I'm sure we've all heard of the van diemen lenses that were converted from leicas.
There's just something about a manual aperture (built into the lens) that does it for me.

But all in all I've always loved Nikon glass. I use ai-s lenses on my 7d haha

[Shane Betts]

Thanks Evin. I have a serious love affair with Nikon glass - even if I'm sorta trapped into Canon right now. You know, looking at that little lineup, it occurs to me that, with the addition of another two or three fast lenses, Nikon could have a worthy set of alternative primes on it's hands. Red's new cameras open this stuff up even more to motion work. Come on Nikon. Give us a 14, 18 and a 135 at 1.4. I double dog dare ya!

[Julio Quintana]

Come on Nikon. Give us a 14, 18 and a 135 at 1.4. I double dog dare ya!

Oh man. If ANY still lens manufacturer would produce those focal lengths at f1.4, it would be very difficult for me to justify buying cinema glass for the DSMC cameras.

[Evin Grant]

I'd be happy if they just did the "G" treatment to the already stellar 105 and 135mm F2 DC lenses. As for a 14 or 18mm I'm perfectly happy with the 14-24, at those wide focal lengths 2.8 is fine for me.

I've not had much experience with Leica R lenses but from what I've seen they are also stellar performers but considerably bigger than the M series lenses. Same with the S line, extraordinary performance but I had a hard enough time affording my M9 kit, an S2 is just a little out of my range with Epic coming.