[Leica] 200mm test

[kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney)]

On 5/16/2010 12:16 AM, Vince Passaro wrote:
> Dr. Ted I know you're out there -- a savage hound on the dark moor -- but I
> want to ask all you others, do you remember a discussion thread about a
> month or so back on the Nikon 200 f/4 prime? As I recollect Jim Laird (?)
> was constructing a shoulder brace for use with this lens. Doug advised him.
> Several others kibbutzed, including me, to the effect that the lens is 
> quite
> light.  Well today it was so lovely I was testing my 200mm lenses out the
> front window. We live up the hill from a park with a big pond in it and the
> living room overlooks it. Tested Nikkor AF 70-210 1:4-5.6 D;  Nikkor 80-200
> 1:4.5 AI-S ; and the Nikkor 200 1:4 AI-S as previously mentioned.  All at
> F8.  RAW. ISO 400 because I was too dumb to remember to change it and since
> I used to shoot Tri-X almost exclusively I tend to leave it at 400 most of
> the time and not think about it. Roughly 1/500th of a second though this
> varied a little because the metering on the D40x is a little too bright so
> with the AF-D lens -- the only one with which the D40 can provide metering
> and aperture priority -- one keeps the EV adjusted to -.7.
>
> I swear to God Dr. Ted I was thinking about Leicas the whole time. I was
> thinking about selling the new kid -- he was right there with me and damn
> cute -- so I could put a down payment on an M9.
>
> Anyway the 200/4 knocked my socks off.  Here are three images from one 
> shot:
> The first just a JPEG straight up from the RAW file. The second cropped and
> enlarged almost to 100 percent and slightly adjusted in PS Camera Raw. The
> third cropped the same but with more work fixing the highlights, working 
> out
> a bit of fringing, color adjustment, sharpening, etc.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/toast+eatin_+bog+man/nikon+200mm+f4/
>
> Opinions, criticisms and advice most welcome. Particularly welcome is 
> advice
> on the processing. Everything I know how to do is in camera raw. I have
> hardly tried PS itself yet.
>
> Vince
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>    
Vince,

The images look out of focus to me, or for some other reason a lack of 
detail.  Were you using a tripod?  I have a Canon 2.8L 70-200 that I can 
use hand-held, but it has this science-fiction image stabilization gear 
in it.

Ken Carney
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma