1/12/2024 0 Comments Helios 44m 58mm f2Beyond portraits, I love telephoto landscape photography, and down the years I've regularly used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens when out and about. However, I can say with confidence that this lens will produce spectacular results paired with the Z8, and with any future Nikon cameras that exceed that resolution – for example, if Nikon was to ever produce a 61MP camera that matches the Sony A7R V.Ī lens is what you make of it, too. I’ve only tested the Plena with the 24MP Nikon Z6 II, which doesn’t realize the full potential of the Plena in the way that the 45.7MP Nikon Z8 can. Put simply, the Plena is also the sharpest Z-mount lens available, bar none.Īfter taking many portraits across the aperture range, I can say that you need to stop down to f/2.8 to get the utmost sharpest detail, but f/1.8 is still exceptionally sharp. However, on paper the MTF charts (which measure lens sharpness at any given aperture) back up the superlatives – the Plena has the highest overall rendering power of any Z-mount lens to date. Nikon calls the Plena lens "perfect", which is a bold statement. Combining the 135mm focal length and f/1.8 aperture for head-and-shoulders portraits delivers smooth and huge bokeh – and I mean, really huge. Below I’ve included a GIF of the same portrait taken at f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8 and f/4 for you to see the difference in bokeh quality. Stop the aperture down and you’ll see those aperture blades close in on each other. Nonetheless, at f/1.8 you’ll struggle to find better optical quality. I personally don’t mind cat’s eye bokeh it’s all down to taste really. In most other lenses you might see that circular bokeh turning into 'cat’s eye' bokeh towards the corners of the image. ![]() With such a huge front element and wide aperture, it’s no wonder that the Plena achieves buttery smooth and perfectly circular bokeh wide-open, across the entire image area, with much less vignetting than normal. The front filter thread is 82mm, and looking into the lens you can see the 11 aperture blades, which when fully open to f/1.8 disappear and form a perfectly circular aperture. Using the Z6 II’s Flexi Spot AF mode proved consistently quicker. It might not be the case for all Nikon cameras, but in my experience there were times when autofocus simply refused to initiate despite there being a clear human face in view. I paired the Plena with a Nikon Z6 II and found autofocus reasonably quick and accurate, in line with the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S Pro. Paired with Nikon’s wide area subject detection and eye AF, you'll hit pin-sharp focus on the eyes the majority of the time. This is also an autofocus lens, whereas the Noct is manual-focus only. Still, if you’ve got the cash to splash and want to make a statement, the Plena will do that for you. Still, at $2,600 / £2,700 / AU$4,600 you’d hardly call the Plena cheap, especially when Sigma has its own 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art that costs less than half the price, which is compatible with Z-mount cameras via an adaptor. For one, it's less than a third of the price, much more in line with Nikon’s Z 85mm f/1.2 S. ![]() The Plena is a more tantalizing prospect than the Noct for a number of reasons.
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