Approaching The Scene 276: Nikon’s Plena 135 Review + ZF First Impressions 

:-) First name is Hudson... But no big deal at all.

@@HudsonHenryPhoto not a big deal maybe, yet a very stupid mistake. Thanks for correcting Hudson. Won’t do again 😅 Extremely useful and clear conclusion of your test. Feel the same than u regarding 85/105/135.

They'll be coming. ;) I agree!

Will you be keeping both?

I will keep both as they give me a different perspective and each seem to have their own characteristics. If I could only keep one, it would be the 85mm though as the 1.2 allows for great low light capture and is a little more all rounder. Both are excellent. Nikon is killing it on lenses right now.

Background Compression is the main difference between 85 and 135

I have the 85mm f/1.2 and think it's a gamechanger but I'm intrigued by your comment about the difference between it and the new Plena. Would you be able to elaborate?

Thanks Adrian! We're of a kind on focal lengths. :)

That'll come with the review and setup guide. :)

Might be a couple more weeks, but it'll come. :-)

I will when I'm out with a friend with one. I have several who've bought them. One is returning it for the 800PF. It's not that it wasn't amazing, but he already has the 400 2.8 TC and finds it better (it should be) and really just wants the 800's reach. I have the 800PF and I adore it. It's not enough smaller and lighter to trade down. It's a lens I know I'd love, but not use with the 800PF in my kit.

Thanks. I’m in the midst of the same decision just not quite as far along.

Thanks! First name is Hudson, but no big deal. No. The Q3 is really very different. The 60MP sensor is just keyed to that 28 1.7. A pefect union with near perfect user interface to match. It's special. The ZF allows the use of any of my Nikon lenses, feels like my old FM3a, handholds incrediblly low shutter speeds with that crazy IBIS, helps with manual focus lenses and works technical wonders, but... It's 24MP Sure you can use 96 pixel shift on a tripod when everythign around you is perfectly still. But how often is that? The Leica is smaller, simpler and nearly flawless except for being locked into 28mm. But then... that's likely partlly why it's so perfect. It only has to do that one thing well.

I love that lens too. Best macro I've owned. It's very slow to focus though. I really wish they'd made the focus limit so you could lock out close instead of only the opposite... :-(

Nope. Just epic glass.

If that's of interest, I'd point you to the Voigtlander 50 1.0 Nocton. I LOVE mine. Much smaller with a fabulous aperture ring, it suits the ZF beyond perfectly. bhpho.to/3X6lGNc The 58 is much more of a bear to carry and shoot. Lovely, but a beast. The Nocton is really something special.

If your bread and butter is tight headshots, the nothing beats the Plena. It's tough to work with 135 on a regular basis though. I loved the 85 1.2. It's Bokeh is not as perfect edge to edge, but 85 is a much more all purpose focal length to my taste. 105 is my favorite for this type of lens, hence my sticking with the 105 1.4 F mount for now. Last of my FTZ lenses...

It's the wrong time of year in the wrong place Scotland. I'd have shot stars since you asked me to prior to leaving, but I didn't see many between the awesome ever changing clouds. I love shooting stars and the Milky Way with Earth as the foreground. My 20 1.8 S is as perfect as I can imagine for that with the msm tracker. I have zero interest in personally shooting deep astro. I prefer to gaze in wonder at what Web sends back from deep out there. ;)

Didnt think about time of year involving cloud cover .. and i wasnt trying to call you out as I didnt even know if you remembered that convo as it was a while ago 😅 Thanks for thinking of me at least lol. I guess ill have to rent the lens down the road and try Andromeda myself.

Turn on Extended shutter speeds in the custom settings menu and dial in 120s. :-)

@@HudsonHenryPhoto thanks I have done this but the shutter dial only goes to 30s i Gus’s I should have asked how do I by pass the shutter dial?

No, with extended shutter speeds activated (d6 in the CS menu) the shutter goes to 900s in manual mode. That's 15 minutes using the dial. :) I love that feature. If you don't activate it, it maxes at 30s and you have to use the bulb setting to go over with a remote release.

@@HudsonHenryPhoto your the best!! That’s bring me to another problem I can’t. Fine a shutter cable that fits ZF, just so I am clear you are saying after I activate the extended shutter in the menu that changes what the dial number mean. I am still confused sorry for taking up your time, but am so appreciative of your channel

It's much more about the 105 focal length (which is dramatically "better" for me than either the 85 or 135) and a love of that 1.4's size and aperture, but we all have different tastes and needs. That's what makes the world a far more interesting place. "Better" is subjective not absolute in this case. If they build a 105 1.4 plena, the same size... I'll happily pay for it. For now I chose instead to invest in the ZF and a Voigtlander 50 1.0 which I love using more than any of the aforementioned lenses. Again, subjectively "better" for me, but not for a working portrait headshot photogragher. For them I think the Plena is subjectively better than any of these lenses by quite a fair bit.

The video on my Kase page www.hudsonhenry.com/kase makes clear why I recommend saving resources, weight and space along with avoiding vignetting by adapting all your lenses to at least 82mm filters. If you go smaller, you're sure to fall in love with an 82mm threaded lens released soon after.

They absolutely have. Every Z lens made has taken advantage of that wide mount to absolutely trounce the performance of narrower F-mount lenses that preceeded them. The F4 Z lenses have better edge to edge performance than the 2.8 F lenses across the board. The Z lenses have all been mind bendingly better than similar F lenses exactly because of the short flange distance and wide mount. As you say... From the start.

The Z system lens's are accross the board lightyears better than the F equivalents with a very few minor exceptions. The 135 DC is of course legendary and very few photographers have it. Much the same as the original Noct lens. I have a 105 1.4 that I adore and will keep. The Plena's bokeh is kind of nuts and it's light, silent, insanely fast focusing and built for far more than the D850's megapixels. It's quite easy to see that pixel peeping. The real joy of the Z system, aside from the insanely fabulous viewfinders in low light and lack of need to don reading glasses for menu navigation or image reivew in camera is the optics across the board. The wider mount and shorter flange distance have opened up a whole new world of quality unimaginable in the DSLR days. I shot Nikon film cameras and pretty much every DSLR from the D70 to the D850 and D5. I used AF-S 2.8 glass and fast primes in those days. These new lenses for the Z system slay the old AF-S kit. Slay it. When I first ordered my Z7 intending to hate it and send it back, it came with the 24-70 F4. My shock was that that lens was better in the corners at 46MP wide open than the 24-70 2.8 AF-S on my lower megapixel D850. I've found that accross the board. The F4 glass is sharper in the corners wide open than the F-mount 2.8 glass at equivalent apertures and they stand up to much higher resolution sensors. I have to VERY STRONGLY disagree. The Z system is absolutley all that. The new 14-24 S is flat mind bending. I mostly carry just the 14-24, 24-120 F4 and 100-400 F4 these days. The quality is shocking. I think the challenge is to take a Z8 with that kit on a month of exclusive shooting and try to go back to a DSLR afterward. I sincerly doubt you'll be able to. It's why in the past 3 years of teaching workshops around the world, I've seen 1 DSLR show up. That ship has sailed.

So simple to control... Stop down or step back. ;)

Those who have those for portrait work love it. I love the 1.4 for lowlight and street work myself and can't imagine ditching it. The Plena is a stunner though. If it were a 105 1.4 with that bokeh, they'd have had me...