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Flare: 85/1.4G vs 85/1.8G
I mounted both the 85/1.4G and 85/1.8G on the Nikon D800E and scrutinized the flare behavior, placing the sun just outside the frame in the corners, along the edges, rotating the angle of the camera, etc.
I came to two general conclusions:
- The 85/1.4G has more veiling flare.
- The 85/1.4G has less ghosting flare (spot).
But provoking ghosting flare in the 85mm f/1.8G requires a precise placement of the sun outside the frame to generate it. - By comparison to the veiling flare with both lenses, the ghosting flare is immaterial from what I observed.
As a practical matter, it appeared to me that the 85/1.8G is the overall winner on flare, and that both lenses fare badly if a bright light source (outside the image) strafes the front lens element. Shading the lens offers a huge improvement in this regard. Since the lens hood is round, it might be possible to apply tape to square off the coverage of the hood for critical applications.
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Diglloyd DAP is DSLR-oriented, but also contains workflow and other topics. Much of the focus is on Canon and Nikon but also Pentax and Pentax medium format.
Special emphasis is placed on lens evaluation, focusing on Canon and Nikon and Sigma lenses, but with a few others like Rokinon/Samyang.
- Make better images by learning how to get the best results right away.
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- Workflow discusses image organization, raw conversion and post processing. Many examples show processing parameters for direct insight into how the image was converted.
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- Real world examples with insights found nowhere else. Make sharper images just by understanding lens behavior you won’t read about elsewhere.
- Aperture series from wide open through stopped down, showing the full range of lens performance and bokeh.
- Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.
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