Nikon 28mm -400mm Lens Review

 

Nikon have Just released the rather interesting 28mm-400mm zoom lens, which I can see as being pretty useful in a number of situations.

I had some doubts about firmare match with my Z7, but when I was reassured that everything would work well, I took the plunge and bought this lens. I wanted something with a bit more reach for detail shots and also travel. I tried my Sigma 100-400 on my three legged monopod to see if it was usable a 400 at long shutter speeds, but it did not work out, The VR in the Sigma is pretty lame. So it is out for Architectural details

I skived off this afternoon, to see what this lens can do. Nothing artistic. I had an hour to shoot some stuff in town with the 28-400. I like to test out new gear in real life situations. I have done some minor tweaking and some keystone correction. I did not find the aperture limiting in the old church. I just used a higher ISO. I did not find F8 limiting for this sort of photography.

Wow, from the first try-out pictures just to see how this lens handles. This lens like the 24-200 before it has already exceeded my expectations. The pictures are nice and crispy sharp and the IBIS/VR let me get some sharp shots at 400mm with a 1/30 shutter speed. Distortion is corrected in camera and is done well. 

I think this is going to be very practical for hiking in the mountains, as it is quite light, when combined with the 14-30.

On my big screen they look nice and sharp with lots of detail. I think optically it is better than the 24-200 even in the corners. Im sure if I made some 100% enlargements of the corners I might see something less than sharp. But like most modern lenses they look fine on a big screen at normal viewing sizes. Things like contrast can be tweaked in post.

For those interest in photography rather than pixel peeping, this is a great lens for when you do not want to carry a bag full of gear. 

Here are some examples.

Are Shift Lenses Still Useful?

 Some time ago I was becoming bored with the mostly scenic photography I was doing, mostly during hikes in the Apennines. Slowly my photography shifted towards architectural subjects, and initially like most photographers, I corrected the geometry of the buildings in post. 

I have always been fascinated by cameras with movements, which allow the manipulation of geometry. Indeed, I had an expensive to feed 5x4 camera back in the nineties. As my interest in Architectural photography deepened, I slowly put together a collection of  shift lenses. Here are a few thoughts about perspective control lenses.

The first myth to get out of the way is that these lenses are hyper expensive. The still valid Nikon 28mm and 35mm PC lenses can be found second hand in good condition for about €300. My early shift lens photography was done with a Nikon D700 and a Nikon 28PC, which cost me less than the cost of a good  lens bought new. I lost nothing when I sold the glorious D700.

The Ghiara Reggio Emilia

I picked up my Nikon 24 TS and 45mm TS for less than €1000 and the excellent Laowa 15mm Zero D shift, cost me a little over €1200. Sure these more modern lenses are not cheap, but compared to the long lenses used by  photographers photographing the natural world, shift lenses are about average or even cheaper than most specialised lenses.   

Secondly, there seems to be a very common belief, that with the powerful photo editing tools we have today, the shift lens has become redundant. I believe this quote from James Ewing from his textbook Follow the Sun. A book  aimed at professionals and students and considered a standard text destroys this myth.

Castel Arquato PC

"You might ask yourself "Do I really need an expensive tilt shift lens" Can't I just correct the perspective later in Photoshop?" The answer is yes you could correct it later, but the tilt shift lens allows you to see and feel the perspective of the images you are shooting. The final crop and ultimately the entire composition will be totally different in a shot that is corrected in post. If you cannot see the image while you are shooting you cannot control the composition and therefore you cannot effectively interpret the building. Correcting the perspective during post production causes a significant loss of sharpness and detail. The Tilt shift lens gives you accurate, sharp controlled images."

I think this says it all.

I can add from experience that it is almost impossible to judge how much extra framing space needs to be left, to take into account the area lost when correcting in post

Traditionally due to the fact that the camera needs to be absolutely level when using a shift lens, a tripod needs to be used when using them. The mirrorless camera has liberated the shift lens from the tripod. With the viewfinder level it is now possible to hand hold the camera whilst using these lenses. IBIS is lets me close down the lens too. This is brilliant for those places where tripods are not allowed, or when you do not want to carry one about. I often use my 24PC alongside my 24-200 for general travel photography.

San Francesco Bologna

But after getting the technical arguments out the way, the thing I most enjoy about using these lenses, how it slows me down to really look at what I am looking at, and what I am trying to convey with the picture I am making. I now tend to spend more time photographing fewer venues, when I visit a place, which I believe makes my photography a little deeper.

Dissecting the Ghiara

I was asked in a photo discussion to describe how I put together a series of shots of the Ghiara in Reggio Emilia. I thought it might be interesting to make a short Blog post about how I went about getting the final images.

These shots were made in dim difficult lighting conditions with a huge dynamic light range. I made a series of horizontal and vertical shots with a Nikon Z7 + Laowa 15mm Zero D shift, on a monopod with feet.  My tripod with a geared head would have been a better support, but tripods are often not allowed in these venues in Italy. The monopod often gets around this problem. 

The shooting rig

First, let us look how the image was exposed. Thee shots were made in short succession with a metered midway exposure and one shot overexposed by two stops, and one underexposed by two stops.

The final shot

Metered exposure 

Metered exposure +2 stops

Metered exposure -2 stops

The + 2 stops exposure takes care of retaining detail in the shadow areas. The more important -2 stops shot takes care of brightly lit windows and the lighting. 

The shots were made at F8 with shots at approximately 2 seconds, 8seconds. and 30seconds.

The shots were combined in Capture one and the default image was obtained. Using the masking tools, certain areas were lightened or darkened and other parameters like colour balance, saturation contrast and such were tweaked.

Capture One default HDR output.

I had shot this place before with my Nikon 24mm PC lens, but I thought this venue deserved something more dramatic.  

 

A shot made with the 24mm PC

If we look at this hand held test shot made with the 24mm PC, the representation of the geometry looks quite credible, apart from the cupola base curves at the very top of the frame. The lens was at full shift vertically.

Shot made with the 15mm shift.

With the 15mm at full shift, we see that the expanded area with the whole base of the cupola is now visible. It is apparently distorted, stretched, to appear as being elliptical. (Note that the viewing distance of the image has an impact on the apparent distortion.)  

Incidentally, cropping the 15mm PC image down to the same image area of the 24mm PC shows that the perspective effects are now the same as the 24mm image above.

Vertical shots with shift lenses are more prone to giving results that look unnatural, with the stretching evident at the top (or bottom) of the frame with vertical shift. Horizontal shots, even with the 15mm at full vertical shift, still mostly look natural, unless some object is jutting out into the picture, I think, it is because we see the "stretching" on three sides. 

The horizonal version of the first picture. 

But the perspective becomes dramatic and theatrical, and unnatural, with the 15mm, when I shot across the nave at 45°. I explored the perspective effects of different wide angle lenses, in a previous post.

15mm lens

Shift Lens Notes

 

This is a collection of posts I made on the DPR Forum concerning shift lenses and Architecture. Just some slight editing to make them make sense out of context.

To do architectural photography at a certain lever, shift lenses are a must. They will allow you to compose precisely in camera without the hit and miss framing that you get when you do it in post. I only "do it in post " when I cannot use one of my shift lenses.

I quote from James Ewing from his textbook Follow the Sun. A book  aimed at professionals and students and considered a standard text.

"You might ask yourself "Do I really need an expensive tilt shift lens" Can't I just correct the perspective later in Photoshop?" The answer is yes you could correct it later, but the tilt shift lens allows you to see and feel the perspective of the images you are shooting. The final crop and ultimately the entire composition will be totally different in a shot that is corrected in post. If you cannot see the image while you are shooting you cannot control the composition and therefore you cannot effectively interpret the building. Correcting the perspective during post production causes a significant loss of sharpness and detail. The Tilt shift lens gives you accurate, sharp controlled images."

I think this says it all.

The old Nikon 28 mm and 35mm shift lenses are a cheap way to get started.  I picked up my Nikon 24 TS and 45mm TS for less than €1000

I find the angle I am shooting from, can give distorted results. I use diagonal shift a lot to sort these sorts of problems. Shots taken from the same position:

Vertical shift

Diagonal shift

My pictures below show what happens when you use a zoom with barrel distortion and correct in post. A wonky building looks more wonky. Don't ask me why!

Here is a church that is 800 years old. It has survived at least  a couple of strong earthquakes and the land in the mountains moves.  My TS lens shows the bell tower leaning.  But a test shot taken with a zoom shot and then corrected in post exaggerates the "Tower of Pisa" problems that this bell tower has. The wall on the left has problems too.

Shift with the camera level

Test shot corrected in post

Here I have overlaid the two images. The front is a almost perfect match with the hit and mis matching I did. The tower is very different. Both where shot with 24mm lenses

I think a whole lot of things added up. I have under corrected the front in this versione.

Closer this time but the tower seems wider and squatter, stretched in the correction.

I need to do this test in more controlled conditions, but this overlay raises some interesting questions.

When do I reach for M43 and when do I reach for something else?

This is a Thread I made on the DPR Forum in 2019. My opinions have changed as the Nikon Z system removed my need to run two systems, as the Z7 + 24-200 is a very powerful and lightweight travel solution, and I can also use it for my more static photogrphy with shift lenses, via the FTZ. But it was a nice thread, that unfortunately got a lot of hostile comments at the time. But M43 remains in my opinion, a really valid travel camera system.

When do I reach for M43 and of course when do I reach for something else?

Well the EM5 came along when I was doing a lot of hiking in the high Apennines. A nice three lens kit that covers 7mm-100mm is easy to carry on a long day hike. I sometimes throw the nice 60mm macro in the rucksack too.

Italy is very hot and often humid. For this trip to Bergamo in summer I was out and about all day and my three-lens set up gave me versatility and low weight and less sweat.

View: original size

Bologna, I had my compact kit in my briefcase and after a work appointment I had time to explore the city.

View: original size

It was easier persuading the custodian to let me take some pictures with my little “unprofessional” looking camera. Photography was not allowed here.

View: original size

A two hour walk to get to this place where I new I wanted the longest lens possible. The 100-300 is a sweet little lens that gets the job done without killing myself with a heavy lens.

The 100-300 on a tripod was transportable whilst taking a series of shots around this railway station by Calatrava. M43 is great with long lenses.

My EM5 fits in my briefcase. It was the obvious choice when I wanted to record a steel structure my studio designed for my web site.

View: original size

A crowded club where the notoriously grumpy Carl Palmer was playing. My EM5 with the little 35-100 was discrete, silent and face detect work a treat. Same for the other concert shot. The quality is more than fine.

View: original size

View: original size

Then there are occasions when I reach for something else.

I needed to pull a lot of detail out of the shadows on this shot taken on a medieval road in the Apennines. My D700/ 810 lets me work a lot on the files before unacceptable noise sets in.

View: original size

I am doing a lot more architectural photography. A Nikon PC lens, plus an old D700 cost me less than a good lens. The results are more natural and more controllable than key stoning in post.

View: original size

When I need subtle colour or tone transitions the D810 is my best choice.

Or when I do not have or want to carry a "proper camera" there is the iPhone.

Or my little LX100, my street camera.

I think my photographic interests are common to many here, travel, landscape, events and such. Nothing very specialist or extreme

I hope this thread usefully puts the eternal format diatribe into some little perspective.