Fuji Anyone ever compare the Fuji 35/1.4 to the CV Nokton 25/.095 on m43?

[wt21]

Anyone ever compare the Fuji 35/1.4 to the CV Nokton 25/.095 on m43?

Curious if anyone ever compared these two.

 

[jloden]

Well, I own both, but I don't do "comparison" shootouts or anything if that's what you mean. Is there something specific you want to know?

The main points are pretty much what you'd expect; the Nokton is glowy and noticeably softer wide open compared to the Fujinon which is not, and it's manual focus only compared to AF. The focus by wire on the 35mm isn't the best, reminds of something a little like the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 or some of the other less fluid implementations.

I haven't compared like shots directly as I said, but my instinct is to say the Nokton is *probably* sharper stopped down. However, if you're looking at it for the shallow DoF then you'd have to compare wide open; there I'd say the Fuji wins out unless you specifically are looking for that soft/glowing look for portraits or something like that.

 

[jloden]

I was feeling enterprising today, so I went outside and snapped a few shots, and borrowed my wife for a quick portrait test with both lenses. Both lenses were manual focused except for the portrait, the focus by wire was not cooperating there so I gave up and used AF. These are really quick and dirty tests, I used AWB for everything, handheld, and exposure settings vary etc. so take it for whatever it's worth

CV 25mm @ f/0.95

CV 25 f/0.95 by jloden, on Flickr


XF 35mm @ f/1.4

XF 35 f/1.4 by jloden, on Flickr


CV 25mm @ f/4.0

CV 25 f/4.0 by jloden, on Flickr


XF 35mm @f/4.0

XF 35 f/4.0 by jloden, on Flickr


CV 25mm @ f/5.6

CV 25 f/5.6 by jloden, on Flickr


XF 35mm @ f/5.6

XF 35 f/5.6 by jloden, on Flickr

 

[wt21]

Thanks so much Jay. Just what I was looking for! Enlarging the on flickr, the sharpness of the 35 stands out.

The color tonality differences of the Fuji and OMD are apparent in the portrait shots. May I ask which shot more closely approximates your wife's skin tone??

p.s. -- please tell your wife "thank you" for me.

 

[jloden]

Thanks so much Jay. Just what I was looking for! Enlarging the on flickr, the sharpness of the 35 stands out.

The color tonality differences of the Fuji and OMD are apparent in the portrait shots. May I ask which shot more closely approximates your wife's skin tone??

p.s. -- please tell your wife "thank you" for me.

Sure thing. FWIW looking at 100% views here I think what I said earlier holds up; the CV 25 is marginally sharper stopped down (and I mean marginal), but wide open the Fuji is much clearer and crisper.

And yes, the tonal differences an AWB differences are very apparent here. I did play with them in post by manually setting WB to the same value, but the GH3 (I shot the GH3 for these, not an OM-D) has an obvious red and orange preference. As far as which is more accurate, I'd say the Fuji is closer to reality [closer, but probably still not accurate if I had to guess]. Especially if you look at the shadows and OOF area in the background, it's definitely too red in the GH3. Besides that, the Fuji looks more visually pleasing to me OOC.

Having said that, normally I'd have post-processed these differently and applied various corrections anyway in LightRoom including removing orangey skin tones etc. so it's not a huge deal to me.

 

[jloden]

In case it helps, here's the same two photos after applying actual post-processing instead of closer to straight OOC as they were before.

CV 25 f/0.95 - Corrected by jloden, on Flickr

XF 35 f/1.4 - Corrected by jloden, on Flickr

I matched the GH3 WB to the Fuji shot since it looked closer to correct/pleasing to my eyes. In fairness, I left the Fuji shot mostly alone whereas I did a bit more work on the GH3 shot to even things out. The point is for what I do at least, color issues just aren't that big a concern because you have so much latitude in post. If I were more concerned about accuracy, I'd pick up a ColorChecker Passport and use it to calibrate my cameras. And of course, this is all talking stills photos rather than video where color response is a lot harder to adjust for after the fact.

 

[Luke]

with a smile like that, it doesn't matter what lens you use.....the shot is going to be great.

 

[jloden]

with a smile like that, it doesn't matter what lens you use.....the shot is going to be great.

Thanks Luke - I'll tell her you said that

 

[Tdp]

If I drop the 35 I will need to replace the lens. If I drop the 25 I will need to replace whatever it landed on.

Seriously though, the 25 is one of my most favorite lenses ever. The 35 is a fantastic lens that gives great results, then you look at the price and wow it is cheap. The 25 just has real character both in use and results.