Testing the 105DC / D700 (imgs)

Hi Folks,

Well, last weekend was the first time i took the d700 out for some test shots along with the 105DC.

I'm coming from several years of 4/3 use, so the point was to get accustomed to the new cam, and take some candid shots with quite thin DOF at f/2.

Nothing special - just jpegs out of cam... I played a bit with the exposure compensation since we were in the shade of a massive tree by some friends, outside the light was really bright. Because of the lush green shade, i adjusted the wb a tad.

The 105 was set at f/2 rear.

All in all i'm pretty happy - very responsive cam, and the AF-D performed really nicely, despite the paperthin dof.

Anyway, here's a few sample portraits - candids, test shots, nothing else !









last one with onboard flash, f/3.5 :



More to come next week - i'll exercise a bit more this weekend.

Cheers,

Marc
--
http://mdezemery.zenfolio.com/

Really really nice shot. I am overwhelmed by your pictures they are so sharp contrasty and vivid. What picture control did you use for these shot? They look so vibrant or do you add the in pp? That is one really nice lens the 105 DC. DOF are spectacular. Do you get the same effect when it's set to neutral? or rear @ F2 better?

guyverias said:

Really really nice shot. I am overwhelmed by your pictures they are so sharp contrasty and vivid. What picture control did you use for these shot? They look so vibrant or do you add the in pp? That is one really nice lens the 105 DC. DOF are spectacular. Do you get the same effect when it's set to neutral? or rear @ F2 better?

Click to expand...

Picture control was set to neutral, and the jpegs went to lightroom for a bit of a boost to the blacks, as well as some vibrance added (+5-10). AWB was set to a3 in cam.

The 105DC was set to rear2, but neutral gives almost equally good results - the busy background and my inexperience of the FX dof at f/2 were the 2 resons i set it to rear2.

Indeed, lovely lens, well build. Bought mine from Grays in westminster, shipped to France in 1 day - very good service from them.

Cheers,

Marc
--
http://mdezemery.zenfolio.com/

This is one of my favorite lenses.

One way to see what it can do is set up a dummy head, or get a very patient friend, and take a series of images at different f stops taking one neutral, then a series where you set the control to behind then go from that f stop on down to f2 then start over in front and go through the f stops.

In actual use I'm almost always using the rear setting since it is the background I want to soften. Ones or twice I've used it to soften some leaves in front framing the image.

Another thing I used to use quite a bit, but not as necessary now with all the new post processing tools, is to over correct the control ring inducing spherical abberation and softening the image. This works great on portraits of women. Again I'd suggest trying a creating a range of images using various settings.

Hi Marc,
very nice set...This 105 is an amazing lens!!!

Congratulation with the young child...Because at F2 i imagine that it wasn't easy
to have his eyes in focus.

If i can...2 snaps shoot also to my neveu and his mother. Also test because i received
mine also there a few days ago...
THX to sharing your nice picts









Last one of his father (my twin brother)





BY BY
Hugues

thanks for posting these. I am still saving to purchase the D700. I have a 105 DC lens that I used on my F5. I had asked on this forum if anyone had used this lens with the d700. Some mentioned of some issues with images taken at around f5.6 to f8. a bluish cast in the center of the pics. Have you tried shooting in the mid-range of f-stops? Please let me know. 'again nice shots. that is a great lens.

You've done really well - especially considering your limited experience with shallow DOF.

Also good to see that lens taking sharp shots - considering all the reports about back focus and front focus.
--
Never bite the Apple...

Ronni

http://www.pbase.com/ronnihansen

Marc,

Very nice shots and great results!

I also just got this lens from my local camera shop that does consignments for people.

I need to do some trials and definitely some more tests...being the "crazy" guy I am I immediately went to the max settings on rear and saw some really odd things...ie very soft and what would appear to be even thinner to no depth of field!

Maybe this is what scotch was mentioning about softening?

Already having the 85f1.4 I don't know if I'm going to keep the 105DC...I'm definitely finding the manuals instructions true...ie you can't "judge" the effect through the viewfinder!

As such I'll need to test this lens against my existing 105 micro and the 85f1.4 on my D3...definitely won't be getting rid of the 105 micro and just need to figure out if the 105 adds "much" over the 85.

Anyone know of a good link with general "rules" on how to best maximize this fine lens?

Dan

Found the general rules in the lens manual...kind of funny I guess...it specifically states set the defocus to the same as the aperture...going past this will create a soft focus affect.

So soft in some instances it appears to move the focus plane!

The DC definitely works wonders though...comparing it when set at the same aperture vs 0 it's quite the difference even on very short distances. I was shooting a vase of flowers and when matching the aperture with the DC the out of focus just blurs away so quickly.

Comparing the 85 f1.4, 105 VR and 105DC it would be a tough call.

Gotta keep the 105 VR for real close macro...so it might be the 85 that goes!

Time will tell...maybe I'll just keep them all though that's a LOT of dollars in one very tight focal range.

Dan