On Tuesday there was a light cloud cover, with the sun just barely casting shadows. Perfect weather for what I had in mind:   Sony alpha 7, modified for infrared by LifePixel with a “super color” filter. Nikon 28mm f/1.4 Nikkor-D lens. Hand held. Stitched with AutoPano Giga.

We looked at the overall image and the upper right corner here. Now, let’s take a look at some crops from near the center of the two sets of images. The Summilux is clearly resolving better. The MTF charts told us that it would. The diffuse flare of the Nikkor softens the image. The color… [Read More]

Both the 2007 Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH and the 1952 Nikon 50mm f/2 Nikkor-H, when used on the Sony alpha & Mark II (a7II), suffer from corner smear. Since corner smear not only reduces resolution, but imparts its own — IMHO, really ugly — look to the image, I’m foregoing test charts and MTF calculations… [Read More]

I tested the on-center resolution of the subject of yesterday’s post, 2007 Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux and the 1952 Nikon 50mm f/2 Nikkor-H on the Sony alpha & Mark II (a7II). Here’s the protocol: Camera, lenses, RRS  generic plate Landscape orientation Arca Swiss C1 head RRS TVC-44 legs. Imatest SFRPlus target  Focused using live view at… [Read More]