It wasn't discussed in this thread, but there are already FW updates for both the Z and E 35 EVO (1.02 and 1.06 respectively).
1.02 on Z introduced some focus pulsing in AF-S that I had not seen previously in my shooting, and I've gotten video and sent it off to Viltrox for inspection. I'd stay on whatever your lens ships with for now on Z at least, as I don't believe downgrading is possible now that they use the cloud app.
jrscls wrote:
Thanks for commenting. Sorry you don't like the images, but I rather like the shallow DOF to show the out of focus rendering near MFD and if there is any fringing in the high contrast areas like the whiskers. Of course, these could have been stopped down to capture more detail and increase the DOF, but they were shot at high ISO in dim lighting.
My comment had nothing to do with anything subjective about your images. In fact my comment was about the 'wow looks great' or whatever it was response as I was not at all seeing that.
It is unfortunate that some take a comment on lens performance as a personal attack of some sort. I bought the lens as well, thus far a bit underwhelmed but not ready to make a final decision on it just yet. It's fun to chase down the next great deal in an inexpensive prime and photography forums are just the place to do that. I'd have thought if there was ANY place on the internet where one can make an honest assessment of lens performance it would be here. And not just here but here and in a thread specifically about that lens.
jrscls wrote:
I just unboxed my 55 EVO and it looks identical to the 35 EVO other than the focal length designation, even the hoods are the same model.
I'm starting to compare the 35 EVO to the Z 35/1.4 and the yellow tint of the EVO stands out like a sore thumb in A/B tests. These are on totally neutral profiles in LR with no color or lens profile correction. In the end, the EVO meters 1/3 stop dark and 200k warmer.
It's also surprising how much wider the Z FOV is.
Z
V
Getting the files to the same WB and exposure, we can still see that the Viltrox has a "hot spot" in the center of the frame wide open with no corrections in terms of exposure (something that really stood out to me on a brick wall test).
Z
V
Another interesting thing is, despite being a "deeper" FOV, the Viltrox has less bokeh than the Z at the same aperture. I've seen this behavior against the other 35s I've shot it against as well. In practice, the Viltrox is closer to F2.0 wide open in terms of bokeh. The light gathering of the Viltrox is also significantly worse.
A bokeh test, just to see shapes at distance across the frame. Note that the Viltrox devolves into cat eyes rather quickly, though the edges of each shape have far less definition than the Nikon.
In the near ground, the bokeh on the tire rimes is noticeably busier on the Viltrox, though I'm starting to think this is because the Viltrox has less effective bokeh as mentioned before.
The EVO's killer feature to me is the edge to edge sharpness combined with a total lack of fringing.
You'd hope that the Z would clean up a bit by 1.8, but it's still blooming and fringing very hard on the backlit leaf edges (left side of frame). We also see some honestly disgusting fringing INSIDE of the bokeh balls on the Z here (best seen at 100% opened in a new tab).
I wonder which lens manufacturer is going to make us an AF 35mm f1.4 - f2 AF APO lens with smooth bokeh, neutral color, good transmission, and low vignetting first, so we can stop "needing" multiple 35mm lenses.
The Sigma Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG II seems very close, but it's a large and heavy lens to carry around if all you need is f2.
I may have spent some time online this week comparing 35mm options
DWOfPaul wrote:
I wonder which lens manufacturer is going to make us an AF 35mm f1.4 - f2 AF APO lens with smooth bokeh, neutral color, good transmission, and low vignetting first, so we can stop "needing" multiple 35mm lenses.
The Sigma Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG II seems very close, but it's a large and heavy lens to carry around if all you need is f2.
I may have spent some time online this week comparing 35mm options
Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM is pretty close. It's not completely apochromatic, but it's very close to the Viltrox in that regard. It doesn't quite meet your vignetting requirement (but I've never minded that personally). I have both it and the Viltrox, and even though the Sony is the better lens, I'm probably going to sell mine soon just because I am shooting less and less stuff that needs a fast 35, so it's hard to justify keeping the much more expensive lens when the Viltrox does a pretty darn good job on its own accord at 1/4 the price.
The bokeh samples here illustrate what made me return my Z 35/1.4 - those purple green gumdrops, especially in the corner, were just eminently distracting to me.
Annoyed to report that the 55 EVO hood is even worse than my 35's, it requires a forceful palm down press to fully seat flush to the lens (clicks past some sticking point). It would seem those of you that got copies with good hoods should say a little thank you to the quality control gods
RoamingScott wrote:
It wasn't discussed in this thread, but there are already FW updates for both the Z and E 35 EVO (1.02 and 1.06 respectively).
1.02 on Z introduced some focus pulsing in AF-S that I had not seen previously in my shooting, and I've gotten video and sent it off to Viltrox for inspection. I'd stay on whatever your lens ships with for now on Z at least, as I don't believe downgrading is possible now that they use the cloud app.
At least at the moment is no firmware update for the 35 EVO Nikon Z mentioned. Maybe they pulled it.
