[Leica] f/1.4 and be there...at ISO 25K!

[hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter)]

See, I wanted to treat the D700 to a dose of raw SPEED, but despaired  
of ever seeing the new Nikkor 50/1.4 G-series prime lens actually  
becoming available. So I started to read about that Sigma 50/1.4 that  
I've been seeing advertised for a while, and the more I read the more  
I was intrigued. So I sprang for it the other day and have been  
playing around with it. Thought I'd post a few photos taken with lens  
and camera at the extremes of their capabilities. Naturally one cannot  
resist the twin temptations of 1.4 on the aperture ring and 25600 on  
the ISO knob forever, so eventually they came into conjunction, as you  
will see.

First, let me tell you that the reviews are right. This is one  
bodacious hunka glass and metal! Filter size the same as on the Nikkor  
28-70/2.8 (77 mm) though thankfully only half the length and weight.  
But when one carries the D700 into battle, one has already given up  
hope of tripping the fantastic lightly. On the other hand, despite its  
bulk and avoirdupois, this is the smallest and lightest lens that this  
camera has ever borne.

We had a mostly-clear night recently and so I went prowling the  
countryside. All outdoor shots in this gallery link are at f/1.4, ISO  
6400, 12800, or 25600, handheld, at exposures of 1/5 to 1/20 sec?you  
can see some smearing due to hand-holding if you look closely. Nothing  
unusual about these night shots...except that they were made with  
exposures short enough to allow hand holding. As you might expect, the  
biggest problem shooting with this lens at full aperture and virtually  
in the dark is getting good focus. Neither my eye nor the AF is to be  
trusted, and the light was too low even to read the focusing scale on  
the lens (as with most modern AF lenses, the Sigma 50/1.4 focuses past  
infinity, so you can't just rotate the focus ring until it hits the  
stop and be assured of infinity focus). In most cases, I cranked off a  
dozen shots while advancing the focus ring just a tad between shots.  
While hand-holding.

See: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/f1point4+and+be+there/

Although the photos from the countryside look like they were taken  
during the day or at twilight, they were actually taken around 2300  
local time; it was really rather dark, and the only illumination of  
any consequence was from the gibbous Moon in a hazy sky. Visually, I  
could barely make out the blades of the wind turbines even though I  
was close enough to hear their "whoosh...whoosh". The exception is the  
one of the rocks and evergreens at the edge of the lake, where a glow  
from the town is seen in the background. Even in this one, the  
moonlight dominates, as shown by the shadow on the snow below center.  
This is the one shot where the screen appearance approximates the  
visual experience. For all the others, the pictures are much brighter  
than the live scene. Looking at the LCD after a shot and then back to  
the barely visible scene itself reminded me of looking at a night  
scene, alternately live and then through a third-gen image intensifier? 
bright, detailed image/dim murky scene. It's like this thing  
manufactures photons out of thin air! Did I mention this was  
accomplished with the camera hand-held? And that it was too dark to  
read the focusing scale? Look at the stars in the sky in a couple of  
shots!

One other thing worth noting is the huge increase in noise in going  
from ISO 6400 to the HI settings. ISO 6400 images taken under, say,  
indoor lighting conditions are remarkably pleasing and useable?I'd say  
comparable to the M8 at ISO 640?while the higher ISOs produce images  
for record only. Full disclosure: I did apply Noise Ninja. Also posted  
for your edification is a photo of my three implementations of the  
50mm f/1.4 full-frame prime lens and their respective wearers. Sublime  
to necessary to ridiculous.


--howard