Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Michael Erlewine on October 28, 2017, 06:32:52 am

Title: APO (or near) Lenses in Nikon F-Mount
Post by: Michael Erlewine on October 28, 2017, 06:32:52 am

I am intrigued by the report of Lloyd Chambers on the built-in focus stacking in the D850. He loves it. I might like to try it out, but I have very few autofocus lenses because I don't use autofocus... much.

I would appreciate hearing about ANY lenses for Nikon F-Mount (having autofocus) that are highly corrected (approximating APO-level). Any suggestions are appreciated.

Title: Re: APO (or near) Lenses in Nikon F-Mount
Post by: henrikfoto on October 28, 2017, 06:48:58 am

Quote from: Michael Erlewine on October 28, 2017, 06:32:52 am

I am intrigued by the report of Lloyd Chambers on the built-in focus stacking in the D850. He loves it. I might like to try it out, but I have very few autofocus lenses because I don't use autofocus... much.

I would appreciate hearing about ANY lenses for Nikon F-Mount (having autofocus) that are highly corrected (approximating APO-level). Any suggestions are appreciated.

I donˋt know if it has been tested, but the 200mm f2 must be one of the best af-lenses
from Nikon ever. Not a macro, but maybe perfect for your kind of work?

Title: Re: APO (or near) Lenses in Nikon F-Mount
Post by: shadowblade on October 28, 2017, 07:14:21 am

The problem with focus stacking is that, in most lenses, the focal length, and, thus, the magnification, changes as the focal plane changes, sometimes quite dramatically. You end up with a set of images that don't line up properly. I've tried it with long lenses for landscapes, to avoid having to stop down to f/20 for sufficient DOF - the results weren't worth talking about.

So far, I haven't been able to find a list of lenses where this effect does not occur, especially at the pixel level.

I suspect that the future solution to focus issues will be software-based deconvolution, likely combined with sensor oversampling to increase the data quality, rather than anything in lens design. Same thing with wavelength dispersion and diffraction-related loss of sharpness.

Title: Re: APO (or near) Lenses in Nikon F-Mount
Post by: ErikKaffehr on October 28, 2017, 07:53:21 am

Hi,

I don't subscribe to Diglloyd any longer, but I would recall that he has tested the Sigma 180/2.8 APO Macro lens. As far as I recall it was truly excellent.

If you subscribe, it may be on DAP or the Leica pages.

This one? https://diglloyd.com/prem/s/DAP/Sigma180-150.APO/compare-180mm-dolls.html?dglyPT=true

Best regards
Erik

Title: Re: APO (or near) Lenses in Nikon F-Mount
Post by: Eric Brody on October 28, 2017, 01:24:38 pm

Shadowblade, look at Michael Erlewine's website to see what can be accomplished with focus stacking. Amazing work can be done with a bit of care and an a good program such as Zerene stacker or Helicon focus. I have been using Zerene and it's pretty amazing.