OK, as predicted, here’s another image made with the Nikon 85/1.8, and most probably the last for quite some time 🙂
Actually this lens is quite OK when you know about its limitations. The most annoying thing is probably the purple fringing, something that many of the older Nikon primes supposedly exhibit when used wide open. I can’t tell, the 50/1.8 and the 50/1.2 don’t, but I remember having read it about the 24/2.8 and the 28/2.8. Anybody who knows?
Anyway. With this lens the rule is simple: avoid all extreme point highlights that would burn out, then you should be on safe ground. Raindrops in sunlight are about as deadly as it gets 🙂
Actually I really should not complain at all. This is a portrait lens like its big brother, the 85/1.4, and that means its failures work very well in a portrait situation, where utter contrast and sharpness are probably unwelcome anyway. In fact, it is really not a lack of sharpness, it is a lack of micro contrast, just like a softening veil. There you have it: fine for traditional portraits, not so fine for everything else.
The Song of the Day is the Robert Johnson classic “They’re Red Hot”, today interpreted by the legendary Peter Green on his 2004 album “Hot Foot Powder”, the second in the line of his Robert Johnson albums. Deezer has the whole album for you to hear.