unscientific @f2 Canon f1.8, Nokton f1.5

[alexnotalex]

Here's a shot of my back garden in the rain, focus on the 3nd bar from the right on the basket. There's probably a stop difference in exposure, and (1) has a UV filter.

resolution and swirly bokeh (1) vs highter highlights and shadow detail (2).

vs

The differences are interesting, which do I prefer?
Hey I'm Scottish, the cheaper lens wins.

🙂alex

 

[umcelinho]

must say I prefer shot number 1. I have both lenses and like them very much, but have been picking up the canon much more often. the nokton was my 1st rf lens, it's a great lens too.

i feel the canon delivers images in a way that pleases me more, even though i see the nokton as sharper wide open, more resistant to flare, more neutral bokeh and i like its ergonomics a lot.

 

[nzeeman]

second one has better sharpness and bokeh... but somehow i like atmosphere in first one better...

 

[Brian Legge]

I'm with nzeeman. I don't know if it is color rendition or overall brightness, but I prefer the look of the first photo with the exception of the bokeh which I find somewhat distracting.

 

[alexnotalex]

Thanks for the comments gents.

Going with the heart, rather than the head, I traded the modern, capable, super flare resistant one along with a big pile of modern, capable etc. kit for an M3, now I'm shooting happily with the f1.8 Canon and a Nikkor HC of the same vintage... mostly at f2 or f2.8, so the bokeh stays reasonably un-seasick.

I spend far too much time looking for signifiant differences between the two at f2.8, and sometimes I even see some!

best,
Alex

 

[umcelinho]

I think the Nokton doesn't have a soul, it's too... perfect 🙂

 

[JayM]

Is the second image purple fringing on the highlight on the basket?

I like lower contrast images so I'd go with the second one.

edit: First image's bokeh looks Zeiss like. Does it share a similar formula?

 

[alexnotalex]

Not sure about the fringing Jay, went from basic film to lab scan to flickr so that might explain some of it.

The Canon f1.8 is a planar design as far as I know, and there's a long list of lenses which make the backgrounds swirl like that, including many from the Leica stable, I don't think it's down to Zeiss. At first I found it exciting, now very distracting. Maybe I'm mistaken though, since the modern Zeiss Planar 50 does not seem to swirl the bokeh. Hmmm.

Maybe someday I'll own one then do more test shots of my boring back garden 🙂