[Leica] Nikon vs Leica first test results.....

[red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone)]

Don?t get on my case, this testing if for me
.  YMMV

( Ted, go take a blood pressure pill or push the delete button).

 

Lenses:  

18-35 AIS F3.5-4.5 lens  ( Non ?G lens)

24-85 AF S G F3.5-4.5 non-VR Lens

 

I have several other Nikkor lenses, all fixed FL, but for this stage, they
will not be tested.

 

Methodology:  In this case, I took my 2 ?new? lenses on my D1x body to see
what they could do, hand held at F3.5 or as open as possible  Figure the day
was a sunny 16, so the shutter speed was up there.
..  NEF Images were taken
and neutrally processed in LR4.  I was pixel peeping at 1:1.  

No companion Leica images.

 

The body is a Nikon D1x  ( 1.5 crop / reduced format /small / old technology
/ cheap / maybe they call it DX format?  APSC format?)

Why?  Because I own one and it was sitting in my bag.  I do not own (yet)
and did not rent (yet) the expensive part of this project, a full frame
D800e ( or similar).

 

Implication: I was using the center of the frame
. The ?sweet spot? of the
lens. Not exactly pushing the lens for its best.

 

Images were taken outside of my back patio
. The subject were some high
voltage towers about ? of a mile away.  Basically infinity.

 

Without a lot of wasted verbage:

First, the S lens ( silent wave) focus motor DID work.  Yes, I read it
should work, but more importantly, it DID work.

Second.. there is difference in the color of the images
 John, right on that
subject
.  I think a bit of work in either color balance or just image
warmth would neutralize that.  No big deal.  I could not find any CA or
other weirdness in the images.

Third, the images came back pretty sharp
.. in the corners it was just fine,
center it was as good.  ( Zoom lens vs fixed FL issue resolved.  Good enuf
is good enuf).  They passed the first requirement
 sharp enough on my
existant camera.  ( if they failed on this camera, they would have really
done poorly on a D800e so I would not have continued)

Fourth, it fits in my camera bag ( at least the smaller 24-85 does.  The
18-35 is a bit too long.

Fifth, the BEST output came from my 1980?s vintage 50mm F1.4 AIS manually
focused lens at F4.  No surprise to me.

 

So, first cut, the idea to replace Leica with Nikon is still a go
.testing
will go further
. And be more precise and fussy.

 

Frank Filippone

Red735i at verizon.net