NEX-5 + CV Nokton 50mm f/1.1

[wintershrooms]

Finally had a chance to get out and shoot with my NEX-5 and Nokton 50/1.1. Very happy about the results I get from this little camera and big lens! Here are a few shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wintershrooms/5175830512/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wintershrooms/5175830128/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wintershrooms/5175276183/

My only complaint is that I noticed "purple fringing" at certain edges in some photos. You can see the purple fringing at the interface of the subject's blouse/coat in the first photo link if you view it large. I don't know what causes that or how to prevent it. I vaguely recall hearing about this problem in other cameras but never paid attention. If anyone knows anything about it, I'd love to hear an explanation or remedy.

Other than the purple fringing issue, I'm really happy with the output of this camera/lens combination. I shot some video with the combo on Sunday and I'm currently processing and uploading it; hopefully it'll give you a sense of the camera's video possibilities.

Cheers!

 

[wintershrooms]

So the purple fringing is a lens issue, not a camera issue?

Here's a short film I shot and edited last night with the NEX-5/Nokton combo: http://vimeo.com/16852450.

 

[Sonnar2]

Try it with a Canon 50/1.4 you will see it's gone.

 

[wintershrooms]

Recently processed a couple more shots with the NEX-5 + Nokton 50/1.1 combo. This is my favorite digital combination now (well, since I don't have an M8, M9, or RD1):




and

 

[nightfly]

Beautiful soft colors.

Can you tell us a little about your post processing?

 

[Jerry_R]

Wide open samples I saw on Flickr, in their maximum size, far from 100% - look very bad due to chromatic aberration and lack of sharpness...

 

[Krosya]

Wide open samples I saw on Flickr, in their maximum size, far from 100% - look very bad due to chromatic aberration and lack of sharpness...

I just looked at the large samples of the photos and I agree with this 100%.

 

[kshapero]

All good stuff. The combo's of NEX 3/5 and legacy lenses is endless.

 

[Renzsu]

Easy fix, don't look at them at 100% and try how they look when you make a print...

 

[wintershrooms]

Thanks for the comments, all.

My processing for shots like these involves "going to town" with the sliders in LR3: adjusting WB/tint, brightness and contrast, playing with the hue/sat/lum for major colors, adjusting the hue and saturation for both highlights (in the yellow range) and shadows (in the blue range), vignette, etc. Occasionally a little sharpness plus noise reduction, but not always. I do everything "to taste," not to any specific numerical end point, and I rarely use a preset, though I might create one eventually so I can have fidelity between photos from a single shoot.

Regarding lack of sharpness: you're right, at 100%, it's pretty obvious. I still haven't figured out my maximum depth of field at f/1.1 on the NEX-5: whether I have inches to work with, or fractions of an inch, or what. So far this hasn't bothered me, and when I print at 8"x10" I don't notice a problem, but I'm sure it'll be an issue with larger prints. My photos mainly find their audience among friends online, who never pixel-peep at the highest magnification, so I'm safe until they wise up. 🙂 In the meantime, I'll be practicing with the MF some more and seeing if I can figure out how much leeway I have in missing my focus. Still beats looking through my M6 finder at certain angles against the sun! 🙂

And regarding the chromatic aberration: This bothers me a fair amount. I don't know too much about CA beyond what I've learned from wikipedia, but as you can see from my earlier posts in this thread, I have noticed the purple fringing at white/black edges, etc. I'm not sure yet how (or even if) I can fix this in LR3. (I've never used Photoshop so maybe one day if I learn to use it then I'll be facile enough to fix the fringing like it's a silly afterthought, but I don't know for certain...) I really wish this lens didn't exhibit the color fringing wide open on the NEX-5 sensor, but alas, it does. Presumably, Leica's 50 Summilux and 50 Noctilux won't have the same effect -- I'd love to see others' results with those lenses. I'll try the NEX-5 soon with my 35 Summilux and look for CA with it. Again, as in the case with lack of sharpness, the CA isn't very noticeable on an 8"x10" print on glossy photo stock. And of course my non-photography friends don't know to check for it when they look at photos of themselves, so I'm gonna keep this thread a secret from them. 🙂