50mm 1.4 vs 60mm 2.8: I have a Nikon D7100 and I think I’m doing a pretty good job at Shooting manual. The two lens that I use are Nikon 50mm Ai-S 1.4 and Nikon AF Micro 60mm 2.8. I’ve...

JohnBoy5562 Loc: Alabama

I have a Nikon D7100 and I think I’m doing a pretty good job at Shooting manual. The two lens that I use are Nikon 50mm Ai-S 1.4 and Nikon AF Micro 60mm 2.8. I’ve read that the 50mm is suppose to be sharp at 1.4 but it is a manual lens. And I’m still learning and manual focus for me at 1.4 is hard. On the other hand the 60mm is a 2.8 automatic focus and in my opinion it’s sharper than the 50mm. Here are some samples of the photos.
Is there a trick to get sharp focus at 1.4?

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revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Hmmm. Maybe manual where you (any human) is not as sharp as auto. Then again when you are at an extreme (1.4) things are not as sharp. Maybe the 1.4 needs calibration. Maybe you got a bad one. All sorts of possibilities. Quien sabe?

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

JohnBoy5562 wrote:

I have a Nikon D7100 and I think I’m doing a pretty good job at Shooting manual. The two lens that I use are Nikon 50mm Ai-S 1.4 and Nikon AF Micro 60mm 2.8. I’ve read that the 50mm is suppose to be sharp at 1.4 but it is a manual lens. And I’m still learning and manual focus for me at 1.4 is hard. On the other hand the 60mm is a 2.8 automatic focus and in my opinion it’s sharper than the 50mm. Here are some samples of the photos.
Is there a trick to get sharp focus at 1.4?

The 50mm looks great to me.
Don't see any issue at all.

ELNikkor

Without a split-screen match-up focuser in the middle, it is very hard to know exactly when exact focus is achieved, especially when the subject is not sitting perfectly still and the camera is not on a tripod. You could have exact focus, yet in the split second you trip the shutter, just a little movement by the subject or you will make the image soft.

CO

Ken Rockwell reviewed the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AI-S. This is what he says about the sharpness. It's possible that it won't be acceptably sharp until it's stopped down to f/2.8 even when perfectly focused.

Overall
It's softer from spherical aberration wide-open, and built like a tank for a lifetime of great pictures.

Sharpness
f/1.4: Spherical aberration lowers contrast. A lot of coma in the corners making them quite soft. Falloff.

f/2: Much better. Falloff much less.

f/2.8: Quite good, falloff and coma gone. Sharp all over.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

JohnBoy5562 wrote:

I have a Nikon D7100 and I think I’m doing a pretty good job at Shooting manual. The two lens that I use are Nikon 50mm Ai-S 1.4 and Nikon AF Micro 60mm 2.8. I’ve read that the 50mm is suppose to be sharp at 1.4 but it is a manual lens. And I’m still learning and manual focus for me at 1.4 is hard. On the other hand the 60mm is a 2.8 automatic focus and in my opinion it’s sharper than the 50mm. Here are some samples of the photos.
Is there a trick to get sharp focus at 1.4?

The detail in the printing on the Coke looks very sharp to me in the 50mm image. Keep in mind that at f1.4 there is quite shallow DOF (depth of FOCUS). Now my Nikons have focus assist where you can see in the viewfinder a confirmation "dot" when the image is sharply focused. Doesn't yours?

bleirer

Most of those shots have an area of sharp focus. At 1.4 the dof is so narrow that you will have areas out of focus, especially up close. 1.4 can literally be half the dof of 2.8, check out a dof calculator. In some the subject is angled relative to the camera, remember that the plane of focus is flat and parallel to the sensor, so where she is angled only the part that crosses the plane of sharp focus is sharp.

Also every lens has a sweet spot for aperture you can look up, usually stopped down one or two f stops, not for focus but for sharpness. Yours is best at 5.6 overall. https://photographylife.com/lenses/nikon-nikkor-50mm-f1-4-ai-s

Also you could apply a lens correction profile if there is one, if you think there are problems other than focus.

Vietnam Vet

I shoot Canon. When using manual focus the camera will beep when the subject is in focus. perhaps you have that somewhere in the camera settings and can turn it on

JohnBoy5562 Loc: Alabama

cameraf4 wrote:

The detail in the printing on the Coke looks very sharp to me in the 50mm image. Keep in mind that at f1.4 there is quite shallow DOF (depth of FOCUS). Now my Nikons have focus assist where you can see in the viewfinder a confirmation "dot" when the image is sharply focused. Doesn't yours?

Yes it does I’ve learned that from reading on line. And I do wear glasses and my hand shakes a little from having West Nile virus which has made my hands shake. That’s why I try and use a faster shutter speed. And I’ve calibrating the diopter. I’m not sure what soft means in a camera lens description. I’m guessing it means not as colorful with a haze look.

I’m try to achieve the same look with the 50mm that I get with the 60mm. Today I’m going to go out and take some photos with the 50mm at the same f stop as the 60mm to see if I can achieve the same results.

Maybe I should just use the newer 50mm lens like the Nikon AF 50mm 1.8. I do like the 50mm 1.4 lens but only got it because I got it cheap ($20) off letgo app.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

JohnBoy5562 wrote:

Yes it does I’ve learned that from reading on line... (show quote)

Nikon's 60mm Micro has a great rep as one of the sharpest Nikkors around. Nikon's 50mms also have the same rep. I would think that you can get equally sharp detail from either (I do from mine).

bleirer

JohnBoy5562 wrote:

Yes it does I’ve learned that from reading on line... (show quote)

You can go to the comparison sites to see side by side test images for each lens. Judge for yourself if you think the lens is holding you back or if technique could be improved. In this case knowing the lens is not sharpest at 1.4, you get similar results stopping down to f4, getting closer if you want less DOF, and or giving more room behind the subject for similar bokeh. For example f1.4 at 10 feet is similar dof to f4 at 6 feet. Also creatively use the angle of the subject relative to the sensor. You see a lot of portraits where the head is angled so the eyes cross the plane of sharp focus, if that is the look you want. If you want the face tack sharp everywhere, the sensor has to be as straight on to the face as you can, all within the dof range. Of course some of that is for how the light is falling on the face also.

Kaib795 Loc: Maryland, USA

I personally test my lenses in Live View focusing at 1:1, using a tripod and timer. This removes me from butchering the shot with hand shake. We are only taking about seeing what the lens can do, right? So do this and also take the camera and while on the tripod focus through the view finder and take another shot. You'll find your camera focuses better in Live View. I would then test the lens to see what shutter speed you can hand hold and get consistently good shots. We all talk about shooting at low shutter speeds but when the shot counts do you want to take a chance? Remember for people shots use spot focus and aim for the eyes and then re-frame the shot. I use back button focus so the shutter button only takes the picture.

JohnBoy5562 Loc: Alabama

bleirer wrote:

You can go to the comparison sites to see side by ... (show quote)

I haven’t thought of using a tripod while taking portraits. But I have a app for that. Thanks I’ll give it a try.
The app is called Cascable
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cascable/id974193500?mt=8

It’s a nice app and find it to be better than the on you use with Nikon.

therwol Loc: USA

JohnBoy5562 wrote:

I have a Nikon D7100 and I think I’m doing a pretty good job at Shooting manual. The two lens that I use are Nikon 50mm Ai-S 1.4 and Nikon AF Micro 60mm 2.8. I’ve read that the 50mm is suppose to be sharp at 1.4 but it is a manual lens. And I’m still learning and manual focus for me at 1.4 is hard. On the other hand the 60mm is a 2.8 automatic focus and in my opinion it’s sharper than the 50mm. Here are some samples of the photos.
Is there a trick to get sharp focus at 1.4?

If you compare performance at the same f/stops, starting at f/2.8, you'll hardly see any difference in the lenses if used for general photography. The 50mm f/1.4 is an outstanding lens, but in all of the test reports I've read, it doesn't become really sharp until around f/4. That's part of the issue you're seeing, as well as the extremely shallow depth of field at f/1.4. If you want to see better performance at the wider f/stops, you may have to spend some money. (Sigma ART, Zeiss etc.)

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

You can not calibration an ais lens .