big in japan

All metal, all manual and all precision made in Japan

I could probably have picked some rambling topic to kick off this new website blog about where I’ve been for the last 6 years when all enthusiasm for my photography ebbed away, but that is probably more fitting for some psychology chat pages somewhere. Life is not easy for so many reasons and passions come and go in those peaks and troughs. There, covered it.

So as the winter days of 2023 kicked in, so did my enthusiasm for the idea of picking up a camera again but with my precious Nikon D850, 720nm infrared D800 & Df combo long sold, with all lenses, I had nothing to turn to apart from the ideas on YouTube and the pages of various photography magazines. Genuinely, the whole mirrorless revolution of Nikon, Canon and Sony had passed me by completely so it was quite a shock to see how developed these new systems were - I basically might as well have taken a hiatus on the moon for all the information I had but in many ways quite fortunate to now come back in after all the kinks had been ironed out.

I was initially drawn to the idea of owning the D850 again on many levels, the robust familiarity of it appealed highly but in the end after a bit of trial and error, I’ve ended up with the mirrorless equivalent of my old setup; I now have a Z8 which replaces the awesomeness of the D850, I had a Z7II converted to 720nm infrared to replace my D800 and I even bought a Zf to replace my former Df to act as both a beautiful retro backup for my Z8 and as more of a take anywhere carry around. Some of it isn’t without it’s compromise but on the whole I am super happy with the new models and capability they bring.

From left to right: Zeiss 135mm f/2 ZF.2, Zeiss 100mm f/2 ZF.2, Voigtlander 75mm f/1.5 Z, Voigtlander 50mm f/1 Z, Nikon 45mm f/2.8 PC-e, Voigtlander 35mm f/2 Z, Zeiss 25mm f/2 ZF.2

More pronounced however are the differences in lens choice between what are quickly becoming the former heritage days of DSLR land and today’s trendy mirrorless times. Hmmmmmm. This is where some of us might have to agree to disagree as to what good looks like because the picture above just demonstrates what I’ve ended up doing in order to recover the feel of what in my view makes every photographer a purposeful artist - prime time, and hence the name of this blog which I rather like if I do say so myself.

Nikon, and no doubt others, with the advent of their respective new lens mounts have, on the whole, seemingly gone to town on creating a set of super sharp zooms and primes. So what? Surely that’s great news right? Well yes and no for me - in doing so Nikon seem to have abandoned classic aesthetics, touch and feel, and most of all what a lot of photographers seek out; character…

By example, here’s what I’m talking about - not included in the images on this page are the Z mount Nikon 85mm f/1.8 S lens I own. I bought it because it’s a focal length I like, it’s autofocus on the Z8 and Zf is super quick, and is perfect for moving subjects coupled with a nice wide aperture. But it falls apart for me on feel and handling - it’s a lens with a polycarbonate plastic body, it feels cheap as hell compared to my legacy all manual primes and in particular its terrible lens hood gives it away. There’s no aperture ring and basically I hate the way it feels. Yes, hate it. Now look at the DXOMark stats below:

DXOMark ranks the £600 Nikon 85mm f/1.8 S above the £3800 Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 Otus in whatever measurement you like.

It seems that this new world of Chinese made plastic fantastic lens manufacture is largely what many designs are now all about, and if you can beat the engineering and performance of an Otus at less than 1/6th of the price then I guess few should be complaining. Everyone probably eventually needs to get on board this train because it’s more or less the only one in town. But aesthetics and feel matter, and most of all so does the optical character. Photography is a journey which includes many emotions and connections and having lenses which slow you down and make you work cannot be a bad thing at all if you’re trying to make something genuinely artistic.

My one line review of the the 85mm f/1.8 S is that it provides almost perfect sharpness to my eye, but has a very cold clinical look which doesn’t really lend itself to the focal length. By comparison my Voigtlander 75mm f/1.5 Z delivers on the X factor in spades, with beautiful bokeh and rich colour depth making it my first choice between the two until the subject is rapidly moving.

For me it’s a shame that Nikon have largely abandoned their heritage in the modern mirrorless lens lineup and while Voigtlander are very successfully filling that gap almost on their own (another prime time post for another day), I’m very happy to have picked up all of these Japanese giants of metal and manual marvellousness which are set to outlast their modern replacements no doubt.