A video directly comparing the Z 85mm F1.8 against the F mount 85mm 1.8 and 1.4. 1. Looking at image quality, 2. Video AF 3. Focus Breathing If you want to check out my photography follow me on instagram : / nikonricci
Does the adapter that you need to use with the F mounts have any affect on the imaging? I would think that the f mounts are a little further from the sensor and cause a little less sharpness. (forgive the novice question)
The adapter makes no difference to the picture quality at all. The adapter makes the lenses the same distance from the sensor as they are when used on an f-mount camera.
Thank you for this thorough review! Very useful. Looks like the Z lenses are just better than F lenses. Looks like the Z 85 1.8 is as good as the F 85 1.4 and WAY less expensive. Now if only the Z 70-200 was out!
Liked the comparisons in detailed. This really helps for most of the people if they really are in dilemma of buying 85 1.8 G F vs Z 85 1.8 and also dream of buying 85 1.4. Personally after looking at your video the Z 85 1.8 is the best of both breeds 1.8 g F and 85 1.4 with best sharpness.
It would be really helpful if you pinned the title of each comparison section to the corner of the frame. That way I don't forget which lens you are comparing. I love the videos! Really appreciate all you do! Also! When you test the 24mm, can you check to see how the focus by wire system effects astrophotography and night time lapses. Thanks so much!
Glad you finally got to do this video. I had already decided to send back my 85 f1.8 G and I ordered a 85mm f1.8 S. Send the lens back today and got an email from Nikon that the S lens is on the way. You video just confirmed what I had hoped..... thanks.
The only way to make F-Mount lenses look bad, is to compare them to Z-mount lenses. Ain't that a bih.. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.. or rather PayPal. LOL Great test man!
Another xclnt and helpful review Ricci. When looking at your comparison images the detail of the texture in the plastic edge of your colour checker is mind-blowing for the Z1.8, also deliciously free of any colour fringing, what a performance. Really looking forward to seeing a Z 70-200 f2.8! Looking back a year when everyone in the industry was slagging Nikon for not having a mirrorless offering now we are seeing Nikon's mastery coming to the fore, superb Z cameras and virtually perfect glass appearing, I reckon Nikon will soon be back at the very top, glad I stayed with them for the last 25 years! Cheers.
Great comparison. Thanks Ricci. Just a suggestion for the future videos, it would be good if you can put a text overlay on the picture of what camera + lens + lens setting. It's hard to remember all the model numbers and settings just by listening.
It's been known for some time that the F1.8 F mount lens is as good as the F1.4 F mount, It's been the workhorse for many a photo shoot at the local portrait shop along with the D750, My F1.8 has little color fringing at F1.8 and I think its sharper than your sample, what it does have is just fantastic contrast. Next week I will be testing it with my new Z 6II and FTZ II adapter. If it's not as good then I will have to move to the Z 85 1.8 S as your testing has shown that it is sharp and has no color fringing. Thanks for the comparison.
Thanks for your work. However I didn't find enough reasons to switch my 85/1.4 to the newer Z lens. Those difference in sharpness is totally insignificant in portrait's work.
Yes, you are right, if you have a 1.4 85G but if you have a 1.8G or shoot where corner to corner needs to be as good as the center the lighter, lower-cost S lens is a very compelling lens. I have the 85 1.4G, 1.4D, 1.8G and now the 1.8 S. I will keep the 85 1.8G but decided I use the DSLRs so seldom now that moving to Z mount S lenses makes a lot of sense given their price, size and weight. The only lens I want that I do not have is the 70-200 2.8 S whenever it comes out. It will be expensive but if it as good as the 24-70 S, selling off the rest of the F mount glass will cover the cost and maybe enough to consider the 58 0.95(ok, dreaming)Every S lens so far has made me a believer. Even the kit 24-70 f/4 is used on commercial shoots all the time and for me, it outperforms the 2.8G and E version both of.which are packed up ready to sell.I did a whole theater company headshot shoot last week and instead of 40lbs of lenses and bodies, I took a small sling bag with Z6, SB900, spare battery and the 85 1.8 S and 24-70 f/4 S. about 1/10th the weight and 1/6th the size
I know the cat's eye effect is a technical flaw, but in a portrait lens, I find it an effective way to contain the composition. I wish I used my F-mount 85mm enough to justify upgrading to this one. Beautiful rendering out of that lens.
In my case I use my 85 1.8g more than my other lenses... I got mine with like-new condition for 225$ so it is hard to justify the upgrade... will get one if I find got deal
Hi Ricci, thank´s for the great video. Yesterday I was allowed to pick up the z 85mm from my photo retailer and was able to take a few pictures with it. Wow what great sharpness, etc. The subject is almost unbeatable in the price-performance ratio. I think that will give you a lot of pleasure. It may be that the internal software copes better with the Z lenses than with the FTZ adapter and the F-lenses and we therefore see that the lenses 1.8 are much sharper than the lenses. Greetings from Berlin
Once again, great comparison video Ricci. If you get time to show the focus breathing comparison between Z 35,50,85 S f/1.8 lenses, that would be interesting to see. Thanks.
Excellent video, Ricci. I went to collect my 85/1.8S yesterday, traded in my 85/1.4G. The test confirms my gut feeling. As to the F lenses, it also shows an 85/1.4G to be a very fine portrait lens for studio use at F/8 (where I would put it when I do not need to blur a background). Bokeh balls becoming eggs off center? The "balls" reflect the optical elements - take a circular thing like a beer mat and hold it in front of you looking at 90 degrees and it is perfectly round. Rotate it off to say 45 degrees and the round thing looks oval. The same thing happens in the lens the more you go off center with objects causing bokeh balls in the middle.
Ricci! Thank you for your videos! 👌 I still have my 85 1.8G and keep thinking of switching to the 85 1.8S. I fear it's just a case of Nikon Gear Acquisition Syndrome though. I already have the the 24-70 & 70-200 2.8S, 28 & 40 SE, 24-200 S & 180-600 ℤ-mount lenses for my ℤ f.
This was a fantastic review. Just saw the trade in bonus by Nikon and switching from my 1.4 F-mount to the 1.8 Z will only cost me $52 (after trade in), which I think is worth it for fully integrating to Z-mount lenses. Thanks for the review!
Man your videos are REALLY good. I've been a sub for a while now and you've helped me pick the right lenses back when i made my purchases. Fellow youtuber here. Cheers!
I've got to say at least compared to the 85 1.8G lens I had, the 85 1.8 S lens is an excellent lens. Even wide open I can see it's much sharper than my G lens (which I ended up returning after about 3 weeks--I mean the lens was sharp but had to be stopped down quite a bit, to 5.6, which I guess many do, but still, I mainly bought that lens to shoot it near wide open). The 85 1.8 S I have no problems shooting that wide open. (Never owned, and probably never will, a 1.4 lens to be honest--for me, the extra cost can't be justified as this is just a hobby for me).
Thanks for sharing this. Very helpful. I'm in the situation you described, using an F105/1.4 and a couple of wider angle Z lenses, often renting a 70-200 and longer telephotos for sports, but trying to plan for the near future. As I look at the Nikon's roadmap for the Z lenses I keep vacillating on what to buy now vs what to wait for and your videos are the most-helpful input I've found. Suggestion: It might be useful to compare Z vs F using the same set of sharpening, contrast since Z comes with a baked in adjustments. Now back to 20-70/2.8 Z now or ..... this is painful :)
I am not sure, if that comparison made a lot of sense in this form. First of all 85mm is usually used for portrait photography. Color fringing is there usually not a big problem because the high contrast is just missing. And btw, it can be easily fixed in post. Sharpness wise I can understand the judgement but one should not forget, that the z lens is round about twice the price of the f-mount lens. In other words (469 Eur vs 939 Eur), not to speak about the fact that it is easily possible to pick up the F-mount 85mm 1.8 for 250EUR used. And ... the in order to demonstrate the difference in sharpness really, it had to be viewed at a sub-optimal 200% Lightroom ad hoc scaling process. Another point is that for the price of the Z mount 1.8 lens you get an F-mount 1.4. So that would be really the contenders. And there the 1.4 would be because of the better bokeh the clear winner.
Hi Ricci! Are you sure that this S lenses for Z cameras dosen't have any CA like you present them? 🤔 Because I know that nikon has work with adobe to embeded a lens profile in the raw file straight from the camera and you can't undo this in Lr. Is baked in the raw file. I think it would be fair if you did this comparaisons in a raw developer that is neutral. I wold like to hear your opinion about this. In the end I realy like your videos. Keep up the good work! ✌
Lateral CA can be removed through software corrections, although I don't believe Nikon is using much (if any) for the f/1.8 primes and f/2.8 zooms, it is mostly the f/4 zooms that have lots of software corrections. Longitudinal CA (the fringing in the out of focus areas) is not removable through automatic corrections and has to be carefully masked manually, which is a huge pain, and so the advantage of the Z 85mm in this regard is huge.
We see this across the board with mirrorless vs DSLR lenses. We owe a hats off to Lumix and Olympus for figuring that the decreased flange distance would make controlling aspherical and chromatic aberrations far easier.
Well as long as I find these new S lenses perfect for its dedicated Z system, I will keep many of my F mounted lenses and primes because they simply work so well on all my Nikon F100-F55-F65-D780-D4S and Z8 camera ! 😊
thanks so much for your reviews! makes my inner geek soooooo happy! i think that i prefer the f designs which sharpen up nicley by 5.6 but are nice and soft wide open. thats good to have sometimes. but the eveness of the files with the s lens is amazing. just one thing: when you say "lets look at the depth of field" don´t you actually mean "out of focus area"?
Ricci, Great Video. The broadcast quality on my end is only 360p resolution. I don't know if it's network quality on my end or RU-vid's broadcast. It really makes it hard to see real detail in the video. Again, thanks for all the great videos and hard work (that you love to do) show the great stuff for the Z6 and Z7!!! -Bud
It’s with every RU-vid video if you upload it. It’s processing in the background. In a few minutes should pop up the other resolutions! Need to be patient
Now that I've had a chance to see it in HD, Great Video! As always, your presentation is straight forward and very informative. I did notice the Z 85 was much quieter than the F 85. Definite ticks and wurs in the focus motor in the F. Thanks for another awesome production!
Beautifully explained,I'm looking to get the nikon 85mm f1.8 F or Z, ideally the Z but prices for the F have gone to half the price of the Z glass making it so much more cost effective! Segways suggestion, can we get a Techart ef to Z adapter with canon 85mm 1.8,1.4,1.2 comparison with Z lens?? Really appreciate your work man keep it up! - shooting with z6,d800e, em1 mark ii
Great video Ricci. Just what I was waiting for. It's quite clear on the video that Z lens is better, but would you mind sharing these comparison RAW files so we could have a better look? Thanks!
Based on this excellent review, I decided to go ahead with a puchase of the Z 85 F1.8 VS for my new Z-7II and just keep my F series lens as is and buy a FTZ.
Every lens has his pro's and con's. They all render different. The Z-mount excels in having no color fringing. The sharpness is not that much better to invest in de 'Z' series for now. See your head shot. Even with the coming of the D6 the F-mount still remains a very good lens. The 'Z' series render like a Sigma and have some flatness to them. It is Pixel peeping what we are doing and the new isn't always better in total. If you want and can effort it...and F-mount is dead mentioned by people is a not founded statement!
The disappointing thing about the 24mm S lens is the price - it's £250 more than the US price. I was ok with £850 but £1050 is getting very pricey. My Sigma 24mm F1.4 was £650 for instance.
I have the legacy 105mm and 60mm Micros that I use on my Z6 for detailed B-Roll... I believe that - only the manual lenses can be predictable used to pull focus ie IF you use something like Rhino ArcII/focus you cannot be sure that the exact same focus to distance will be captured with a Z lens... the Z lenses use “electronic” focus and rely of autofocus... Which makes me think that you will want to use legacy lenses - manually focused - for applications like focus pulling on a slider.... Opinions:
Really interesting video actually. So after 5.6 all the lenses are the same apart from the z being better in the corners. BUT below 5.6 the z is stand out sharper on maximum cropping. Obviously we'll want to use at the lower F stop for low light and bokeh... Both dslr lenses are pretty much the same quality.
That at about 11:08 is awesome. But the intention to buy a 1.4 lens is to use it at 1.4. Advantage F 85 1.4: weight and size. Not in comparison to the Z 85 1.8 but: I also have the Z 50 1.8 and 1.2 and if the Z 85 1.2 will become such a weight monster as the Z 50 1.2, the pretty awesome Sigma 85 1.4 DG HSM Art will become a lightweight lens. Off all my primes, the Sigma kept the weight record until I got the Z 50 1.2 and honestly, I can’t understand, why the awesome Z 50 1.8 is such a convenient lightweight, the one stop faster 1.2 so monstrous lens. The Sigma is so far one of the best primes on the planet.
To be short: So far all Z Lenses are amazing! And the Price is moderate. My problem is now, buy a D850 and use the 85 1.4 70-200 fl and the 20 1.8 or change to mirrowless.
It is funny!!i am thinking almost the same...i have d 850 but i dont know if i should keep it because i dont like 35 50 and 85mm g lenses....i love the d850 but i wish nikon f mount lenses were better...
Hello, great video, can you please do a Coma test in low light? I recently got the 85 1.4 F mount because I still have DSLRs. You can't go ZtoF obviously so I needed a lens that could be used on both. I'm curious on how this stacks up on low light vs the F mount, I may transition to all mirrorless someday.
Hi Ricci, love these videos. Can I ask what focus modes etc you use when making these? Very impressive how quickly and accurately focus changes when you hold each lens in front of your face :) Looking to make some videos for clients using Z6. Thanks a million
Hi there! Does anyone has a doubt about IS THE 85/1.4 IS REALLY IN FOCUS? Lower sharpness? ok, old optical scheme. Bigger aberrations? - ok, the same. BUT. In some cases with the same aperture, the F lens has the smaller DOF. That's really strange. I think you all understand what I mean (about accuracy of the focus with the F lens). Now is popular to tell S LENSES TOTALLY BETTER THAN F ONES. Maybe not so totally, who knows. Sorry if I'm mistaken, its just a thought, imho.
At least it focus breathes in the right direction - as in it gains focal length rather than loses it. Looks like a stellar lens tbh! The focus falloff is unreal. Thanks for testing. Btw how do you remove Lo-CA easily? To me it's the most difficult kind to remove, since it often overlaps and blends with other colours.
You can make a radial mask adjustment layer to rebalance green and purple more towards the corners, but really it is just a characteristic that is accepted of that era of lens design.
Please let me know. Can Z 50mm f/1.8 take portrait photos as good as Z 85mm f/1.8? I have a budget to buy only one of them, not both, for taking portrait photos and others.
Hi Ricci and thank you for your great tutorials. Question: Can you shoot with the Z7 handheld and still get sharp pictures? (assuming a relatively fast speed appropriate for the lens focal length and with relatively good steady hands). Most professional photographers seem to consider high pixel count DSLR cameras (D81, D850) as being almost exclusively to be used on a tripod because they are highly susceptible to motion blur. Since the Z7 has IBIS, I wonder if that makes it less blur-sensitive, specially with S-lenses (5-way image stabilization). Thank you for considering my question.
Iv used the D850 and Z7 professionally yes they are affected by motion blur but I would put that down to bad technique. If you know ur camera and know ur shutter speed they give amazing results. The Z7 ibis does indeed mean you can shoot a slower shutter speeds and still get sharp results. So the Z7 is more forgiving than the d850.
1. I must say that you are misusing the term "Depth of Field". If you don't like the now well known Japanese term 'bokeh ボケ , which is the quality of the out-of-focus regions of a photograph, you need to find another way of referring to it. .. BECAUSE .. "Depth of field" is a measure of how far in front of and behind a particular point of focus of a lens throughout the aperture range. This is affected by focal length, distance from image plane and the aperture used. 2. I find the F-mount AF-S NIKKOR 85mm 1.8G to be the superior portrait lens over tge Z, because the Bokeh is smoother (nearest to Leica quality) and detail rendering in the corners is rarely of interest with portraits. .. The video comparisons were interesting. 👌 Thank you.
Its possible that its just because I'm watching this on a TN panel screen, but even on the higher F stops it seems like theres a lot of color fringing on the Fmount lenses. Anybody else see that too or is it just my awful screen?
