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Sigma 14/1.8 - why I like fast ultrawides
#1
This very beautiful weekend in autumn I took my old 14-24/2.8 Nikkor and the much less older Sigma 14/1.8 Art with me to try and see what happens to both in front- and sidelight. I knew the Nikkor is not good in handling flares, what i didn't know was, "is the Sigma although wider open, better in avoiding flares?"

 

It's no problem to provoke the Sigma showing bits of flare. These are just not as rainbow-colours as the one from the Nikkor.

 

[Image: _DSC0716-XL.jpg]

 

This kind of flares I find hard to deal with in post production.

 

[Image: _DSC0715-XL.jpg]

 

1 ½ stop faster and less issues at f/5.6, cool.

 

But that's only one bonus (and to be expected from a prime this size and weight)

 

The other is the combination "close-up, wide open"

 

[Image: _DSC0703-XL.jpg]

#2
... to be continued

 

[Image: _DSC0700-XL.jpg]

 

This one was wide open at f/2

 

Here's a crop:

 

[Image: _DSC0700%201-XL.jpg]

 

What I like with this kind of lenses is the possibility to show a hint of a lot of background and melt it away in nice blur, while something pops out of the picture just because it's much sharper than the rest.

 

Like this foliage - the colours would be enough

[Image: _DSC0814-XL.jpg]

#3
... and the third and last one

 

[Image: _DSC0829-XL.jpg]

 

Again f/1.8

 

[Image: _DSC0825-XL.jpg]

 

And the last one is a focus stack, handheld at f/2.5

 

[Image: Br%C3%BCcke-XL.jpg]

 

It's not perfect, parts of it I should have cleaned better - but I was amazed that I just could sit next to the rail, keep the camera sort of steady and start a 30 frames focus stack.

#4
      Nice shots through the leaves at sunset JoJu!.........

         

 

 

I will have to do a comparison with my Samyang 14mm F2.8 to see how the lens performs bokeh wise, as soon as my D750 comes back from Nikon for the shutter recall.....

 

   

 

    ...........though I will say that the third and fourth image bokeh look somewhat busy.....

#5
Actually, bokeh is not a gaussian blurr to even out all nervousness  Wink

 

It was a field with a lot of different plants and a lot more bees, so these were beesy to do nervous bokeh  :lol:

#6
             Ah!!  got it....

 

                             .........busy bees............busy bokeh!   Rolleyes 

#7
Yeaaah, that's how we do in showbeeeeezness  ^_^

#8
Some really nice shots, JoJu. I love wide open close up with ultrawides.

 

The 30 shot focus stack is a clear demonstration how useful is to have such gimmicks easily accessible from the camera body too. Now you know you can get away with a quick and dirty stack so you won't refrain from it the next time you see an opportunity. Good to know Wink

#9
I came home with 4 stacks: 10, 20, 30, 40* pictures each. That's the thing with unfinished (imo) software-options: A finished option would ask me "tap closest distance" ok "tap farest distance" - ok, "with aperture f/2.5 you need 28 shots. Push shutter release to start."
  • No messing around with steps between 1 - 10, 
  • freedom to close aperture and need less shots, 
  • also to make the transition between out of foucs areas and first and last shot more smooth
  • no need to tap start in the menu
  • Helicon remote control can do this since 5 years, just saying...
 

All the menu options come in landscape orientation. Going to portrait orientation = turn head 90°. Yawn... Nikon, just look at PhaseOne, they do know their stuff.

 

But you're right, it's such an advantage to have this kind of DoF enlargement onboard.

 

*10 being not enough, I guessed 20 - also not enough, then I had the glorious idea to check the distance scale. With 30 shots, it ended up close to âˆž, but I did a 40 shot row just to be sure. 30 were enough. I think it took a bit too long to find out. Next year with Arsenal I gonna see if they have a better usability concept. At least, they merge the stack in-camera, if i want.

 

Thanks for the compliment, wide open at close distance still is not overly in use. It's worth to face the challenge of focusing. Smile

#10
Had made one just yesterday. Missed the critical focus though, should've stopped down slightly or actually checked the shot before eating the rest of the subject Smile.

 

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This was a lucky shot that came out of nowhere. I was there, shooting some trees until my friend noticed what's on those trees. Took a bite, noticed how cute it looks, made a shot to send to the gf, noticed how good the shot turned out but only after subject was fully consumed.

  


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