This diary entry covers our fourth day of the trip. For details on previous days, see the ‘Further Reading’ section at the end of the article.
See the video of An Arctic Trip; Day Four on YouTube
Sample images in high resolution here.
On the fourth day of our trip, the weather was clear and at sunrise a beautiful light fell on the snow, so I went out alone to take pictures.
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70/4 S | f/8
The Nikon AF-S 28mm 1.8G was the most affordable f/1.8 wide angle prime in Nikon’s AF-S era. It always flew a bit under the radar, probably because many people already had a zoom lens covering 28mm at f/2.8 or because they preferred a 24mm or 35mm. Good fast 28mm lenses are rare birds though, so let’s have a closer look at this one.
The Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a short telephoto lens that delivers excellent background blur thanks to its large aperture. While it’s ideal for portrait photography, it can also be effectively used for landscape and street photography, thanks to its relatively wide field of view for a telephoto lens. This professional-grade lens is designed for both professionals and enthusiasts. From 2019 to 2023, it was Nikon’s only 85mm option for professional use on Z cameras, until the introduction of the 85mm f/1.2 S. Let’s take a closer look!
I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf and Nikon Zfc)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
When camera manufacturers introduce a new mount, they usually also announce some fancy new lenses, which were simply not possible to design for the previous one. Canon for example did that by introducing the Canon EF 50mm 1.0L USM when they made the switch from FD to EF mount in 1989. And when Nikon made the switch from F to Z mount in 2019, it led to the release of this Nikon Z 58mm 0.95 S Noct-Nikkor, to showcase the possibilities of the much wider Z-mount. This is not only a rare, expensive and quite unpractical lens, it is also the best f/0.95 lens ever made. In the manual Nikon even goes as far as calling it the “Ultimate Lens”. Is there any truth to that? Let’s have a closer look!
Continue reading Review: Nikon 58mm 0.95 Noct-Nikkor – The Ultimate Lens?
In the SLR era it wasn’t easy to find ultra wide angle lenses and it was even more difficult to find decent, affordable ones. The Tokina 17mm 3.5 SL RMC was one of these few options. Back in the day I used it on my D700, looking for a wide angle lens for my analogue FM2 now, I thought it was a good idea to revisit this compact vintage lens.
