International Portrait Lens Shootout

[acnomad]

My son wanted a new headshot for his Instagram profile, so I seized the opportunity to do a quick comparison between two vintage lenses I recently acquired and the tried-and-true AF-S Nikkor 85/1.8G. I matched up the exposures in post, but the images are otherwise unedited.

I'd love to hear what you think of the results...

1. Modern Nikkor lens

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2. Vintage Russian lens

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3. Vintage German lens

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[kilofoxtrott]

The Nikon lens is very good, but the old lenses still rock...

Kind regards
Klaus

 

[acnomad]

The Nikon lens is very good, but the old lenses still rock...

Kind regards
Klaus

Yes, the Nikon is tough to beat. It's surgically sharp, but there is something about the vintage glass that I really like.

 

[olshroom]

The photos look good. Might be just me but the color seems a wee bit off.

 

[acnomad]

The photos look good. Might be just me but the color seems a wee bit off.

I shot them with the WB on "shadow" setting on the Z6 and adjusted only the exposure in post in hopes of making a fair comparison between the color rendition of the three lenses. Of the three, I think the Nikkor renders skin tones most accurately, but it does look a bit sterile. The Helios colors are the least saturated, and the Meyer-Optik is probably the nicest balance between warmth and color accuracy, at least for my taste. @olshroom, I'd love to hear your opinions whether they concur or differ...

 

[Mike Buckley]

I think the Nikkor renders skin tones most accurately,

My take exactly. However, in this digital world it would be easy to render better skin tones in the other two versions if you prefer their other characteristics.

 

[Pa]

I would choose one of the three lenses and shoot while adjusting the Kelvin temperature until the colors match most closely to what my eye sees. Then try the other two lenses with the same setting.

 

[acnomad]

My take exactly. However, in this digital world it would be easy to render better skin tones in the other two versions if you prefer their other characteristics.

Agree 100% regarding the color rendering. The second part, regarding other characteristics, is the bigger question for me.

 

[acnomad]

I would choose one of the three lenses and shoot while adjusting the Kelvin temperature until the colors match most closely to what my eye sees. Then try the other two lenses with the same setting.

That is a very good suggestion.