Nikon 28-70 f2.8 Breathing test

[J. Bernard Vallon]

This was shot yesterday as soon as doug put the mount on.

ISO 640, out of redcine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XJ5Zsw22NI

I crushed the blacks cuz they're pretty noisy, but in the foreground is the 17-35 f2.8

Ill post some full res images as soon as i can.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

Very nice but 720p or 1080p H.264 would be much better to see.

Of course if it is possible.

 

[Ivan G]

Wow, that was impressive. Very little breathing!

 

[Charles Angus]

Looks good.

 

[Finner]

John how well does that lens keep focus from the tight to the wide end?

 

[J. Bernard Vallon]

not very well from my first impression. Good lens otherwise, just dont zoom and shoot.

 

[Finner]

So then you would never be able to put hard marks on the focus because it will always be different depending on where you sit in mm on the lens. Is this correct?

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

not very well from my first impression. Good lens otherwise, just dont zoom and shoot.

So that confirms it - it's an excellent Vari Prime.

 

[Finner]

So that confirms it - it's an excellent Vari Prime.

A lens not holding focus through the zoom is not what determines if it is a vari prime. Arri makes a great set of vari primes and they hold focus throughout the entire zoom range. What determines if a lens is a vari prime is if it is not actually long enough of a zoom range to effectively use use it for zooming.

A lens that does not hold focus through the zoom is NOT a vari prime. I would be more inclined to call it an ENG lens as it is useless to a focus puller.

 

[Mike Prevette]

it is possible that the mount is not collimated properly as well. That would also cause a focus shift in a zoom.
It could have got bumped since Doug set it.

Although my hunch is that it's the lens.

 

[J. Bernard Vallon]

wasn't bumped, this was maybe 30 seconds after collimation. I think the issue is the lens. I suspected this while it was still on a nikon.

 

[Nils J. Nesse]

I'm not that worried about breathing, but this is excellent. Hope the 17-35mm and 80-200mm AF-S are as good.

 

[Tico Llaurador]

From my experience with the 28-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor, it breathes quite heavily between 28 and about 40mm. Beyond that, I remember it showed little or no breathing at all. Now, in answer to Finner's question and again, if I recall correctly, there was some focus shift present when zooming from 28 to 70mm. I don't know how it'd perform when zooming through shorter ranges (ie. 28 - 50mm, etc.).

It was a casual test, done using my HVX/Brevis rig, so I didn't take notes, or keep the test clips.

This truly is an excellent piece of equipment and still is one of my all-time favorite still photo lenses. I use it a whole lot.

Nils, I also have the 80-200mm (the older heavy AF-S) and it's a brilliant piece of glass. The 17-35mm is also very, very good, albeit not my favorite among these. Wish I could recall its breathing, or focus shift characteristics, though.

When I get my RED One and Nikon mount, I will re-test all of these, including my venerable old 300mm f/2.8 (AF-I), which just came back from Nikon Service in stellar, near-new condition.

My 2¢ worth...