Introduction

Ease of Use

The Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S is one of Nikon’s larger lenses in the Z series, with its size and weight being unsurprising considering the very wide maximum aperture of f/1.2.

It’s significantly larger than the much more compact 85mm f/1.8 S lens – and probably not one you’d want to consider as an “everyday” or “walk around” lens, but more for specific shooting requirements or events, such as portraits, weddings and so on.

At 1160g / 2 lb 9oz, it’s even heavier than the 50mm f/1.2 and much, much heavier than the f/1.8 version which tips the scales at a more manageable 470g.

Measuring 102.5mm x 141.5mm / 4.1in. x 5.6in. (diameter / length), again its a lot bigger than the f/1/8 lens, as you’d expect, which measures 75mm x 99mm.

Having said all of that, though, it still balances fairly well with full-frame cameras in the Z series – we’ve been using it with the Zf, but it would also work even better with the Z8 and Z9.

Although it will fit on the Nikon Z APS-C models, the smaller size of those cameras would make it very front-heavy and generally unwieldy to use.

Similarly to the other lenses in this line-up, build construction is very high quality, with a metal lens mount.

To attach the lens to your camera, you first need to line up the white dot around the base of the lens to the white dot on the lens mount.

Once you’ve done that, twist it to lock into place. When you want to release the lens, you need to push down the button at the side of the lens mount and twist in the opposite direction.

Like most Z mount lenses, the outward construction is fairly simple and straightforward. Towards the base you have the focal length and aperture written (85 / 1.2 S), while just next to it is a switch for moving between autofocus and manual focus. When working in autofocus, you can still manually override the focus if necessary.

A thin, ridged ring sits towards the base of the lens. This is a control ring which can be set to a few different functions via the main menu.

It will have a default option, for example adjusting aperture in aperture priority, but you can also assign it to exposure compensation or ISO sensitivity if you prefer.

You can even set it to have function whatsoever, which might be helpful if you were worried about accidentally knocking it and changing a setting.

At the centre of the lens, you have one more control that is only found on Nikon’s more expensive, premium-end Z series lenses, namely a customisable L-Fn button.

Unlike the control dial, the L-Fn button can be assigned to a far greater range of controls, including metering, switching on raw, zooming into the scene (to check for focus), playback and much more. Again, you can also have it set to “none” if you prefer.

Strangely, there’s no OLED display window on this lens, as found on the comparable 50mm f1.2 where it displays either the aperture or focusing distance.

A large ring in the centre of the lens is used for adjusting manual focus. This is ridged and has just enough give to make slight adjustments easy to do.

However, it doesn’t have hard stops at either end to help you ascertain when you’ve reached the maximum/minimum focusing limit.

If you are using manual focusing, there are some settings you can activate to make it easier. From the camera’s main menu, switching on focus peaking will help you ensure easier focus, while zooming into the scene can also ensure focusing is on point – which is especially important if you want to focus manually at very wide apertures such as f/1.2.

Focusing, if you choose to stick with autofocusing, is very quick, and very quiet, which makes it ideal for use in a wide range of situations where quiet focusing is advantageous – for example while shooting video, or in quiet places such as churches.

A very large lens hood is supplied in the box (HB-106), which you can attach to the front of the lens. To do this, you need to line up the white dot on the lens hood with the white dot at the front of the lens.

Simply then twist it to lock it into place – and do the reverse when you want to take it off. You can also turn the lens hood backwards for easier storage and transportation.

Focal Range

The Nikon Z 85mm f1.2 S lens has a single focal length. If using the lens on a full-frame camera with DX format activated, or with a DX-camera, the equivalent focal length is 127.5mm. The angle of view when shooting in FX format is 28°30’, and in the DX format, 18°50’.

Chromatic Aberrations

The Nikon Z 85mm f1.2 S lens has been designed to the highest optical standards, and as such we wouldn’t expect to find too much evidence of chromatic aberration. Usually typified as blue or purple fringing along high-contrast edges, it is often a problem with cheaper lenses.

We struggled to find any incidence of chromatic aberration appearing with this lens, even when examining images closely at 100%.

Vignetting

At the widest aperture of f1.2, there is some slight noticeable shading in the corners when photographing a white wall. This is not something which is overly noticeable with more usual subjects, and the effect lessens at f/2.0, before pretty much disappearing altogether at f/2.8.

Distortion

Pin-cushion distortion is well controlled in both the JPEG and RAW files.

Sunstars and Flare

The Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S is capable of creating quite nice sunstars when stopped-down to f/16, as shown below, and flare is also well controlled even when shooting directly into the sun.

Macro

The Nikon Z 85mm f1.2 S lens is not a designated close-up or macro lens, but thanks to its focal length, it’s still a good option to consider when shooting classic macro-type subjects, such as flowers. The minimum focusing distance is 0.85 m / 2.79 ft and the maximum magnification is 0.11x.

Bokeh

Bokeh is the word used to describe the out of focus area in an image. It is generally described in qualitative terms, such as creamy, smooth or pleasing.

With a very wide maximum aperture, 11 rounded diaphragm blades, and a mid-range focal length, we’d expect the bokeh from the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S lens to be nothing less than stellar, and it certainly does not disappoint.

Bokeh here is rounded and attractive, while also producing a natural drop-off effect from the main subject. Since feelings on bokeh can be quite subjective, we have included some examples below to help you make your own mind up.

Sharpness

In order to show you how sharp the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.

Nicola Morelli reimagines the photography process from the lens of children with the new Camera for Kids concept design. It aims to transform the idea of a digital camera into a more tactile experience that activates functions through physical controls.

It is designed with the notion that kids will be functioning the camera with a shutter button activated by a water gun trigger or a crank lever used to alter the brightness and focus of the camera. Another example is pulling on a ‘TNT’ string to take timed photographs as it will shorten down to taking the shot. Due to the natural toy-like performance of the camera, it encourages a playful experience more than an intimidating one.

Image Credit: Nicola Morelli

Photo by Keifer Russell

The exhibit is on display in the Haggerty Museum of Art until May.

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“Dynamic Range: Photographs by Bill Tennessen” a photography exhibit at the Haggerty Museum of Art explores a range of themes in photography from sports, politics, Juneteenth and more. The exhibit is on display at the Haggerty Museum of Art from Jan. 19. until May 12. 2024. 

This exhibit was curated by Lynne Shumow, Curator for Academic Engagement, in collaboration with Robert Smith, Professor of history and director of The Center for Urban Research Teaching and Outreach at Marquette and Milwaukee’s Black Holocaust Museum. This exhibition is a collection of photographs taken by Milwaukee photographer Bill Tennessen. Tennessen is a graduate of Marquette’s College of Business Administration class of 1956 and worked as a photographer for the Milwaukee Community Journal.

This exhibit can be found on the second floor of The Haggerty Museum of Art. The exhibit divides the photographs into five different sections. In the first room when walking in, viewers can see photographs separated into five categories: “Community,” “Juneteenth,” “Ernest Lacy,” “Storefronts and Churches” and “The Arts.” In the second room of the exhibit, viewers can see the sections: “Sports,” “Politics” and “Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.” 

The photographs are mostly from the 80s and 90s and display a range of political figures, famous athletes, Black youth at community events and the arts around the Milwaukee community. The exhibit especially highlights the tragic death of Ernest Lacy in 1981.

In the Ernest Lacy section of the exhibit there is a plaque explaining that 22-year-old Lacy, who was suspected of rape, was killed after an altercation with Milwaukee police officers. The plaque explains that after Lacy’s death he was ruled out as a suspect after identification from the victim.

“Hopefully some of the people that come in will see some familiar faces. You see a lot of joy in the black community. You see a lot of focus on family and community. There is one section that is very difficult about Ernest Lacey who was killed in police custody which is a very challenging aspect of the exhibition. It is very important though, and brings up ideas of history repeating itself,” Shumow said.

This section of the exhibit also contains photographs from the courtroom, photographs of marches that took place in Milwaukee on Wisconsin Avenue where Lacy was killed and a photo of Lacy’s parents at the day of his service.  

Shumow explained that this exhibit took about a year and a half to complete. She said that each photograph in the exhibit has an accompanying plaque to give context for the picture and what year it was taken. 

“There were a lot of photographs to look at, so I recruited my team to go with me to Mr. Tennesen’s house a few times. We brought hundreds and hundreds of photographs back here and we broke them down into categories. I had the ultimate discretion but it was a team effort to decide which photographs to include,” Shumow said. 

Shumow also explained the unique process of how this exhibition came to fruition. Bill Tennessen’s son Charlie Tennessen came into The Haggerty Museum of Art and asked to speak to a curator. Shumow said that normally the staff at The Haggerty come up with their own ideas for exhibitions. However, Charlie Tennessen explained that his father was a graduate of Marquette and Shumow agreed to sit down with him and began to look through the photographs.

Shumow said that at first this exhibit was meant to be in companion with another exhibit the museum was already working on, which was a photography exhibit using photographs from an artist from the south. 

“It was initially planned as a smaller exhibition in companion with the bigger photography exhibition. The exhibit would have a local and national component,” Shumow said. 

Shumow and her team of staff and interns later decided to dedicate a whole exhibit to Tennessen’s photographs. Shumow explains that each photograph within the exhibit are all photographs Tennessen took and printed. Choosing which photographs to include was a hard process given that Tennessen has thousands of negatives and a large archive of photograph Shumow said. 

Shumow also said that with Black History Month coming up in February, this exhibit was intentional and the curation team at the Haggerty Museum of Art wanted to do something for Black History Month by highlighting a Black photographer in the Milwaukee community. 

Shumow said that she hopes that viewers of the exhibit will enjoy seeing pieces of Milwaukee history as well as joy in Milwaukee’s Black community. 

This story was written by Avery Darrow. She can be reached at a[email protected].

By Miles Templeton

I WAS recently contacted by John Vail, a very generous man. He had a hand-coloured photograph of a long-forgotten fighter, Gammy Smith of Cambridge, which he wished to go to a good home. Gammy was an old friend of John’s father and, when Gammy died in 1988, he did not leave a family behind to pass the photograph on to, and so John wished to give it to me.

I have long thought that there should be a national boxing museum around somewhere, as there is with football, and if there was such a place then it would prove the natural location for a lovely piece such as this to go to. When I get the time, it is my intention to see if something can be done along these lines.

Hand-coloured photographs were very popular at one time. Colour photography, at the time that Gammy was around in the1920s, was virtually non-existent and it wasn’t until the 1960s that the process became normal for personal photographs. This is why all the photographs of old greats like Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and even Rocky Marciano, are in black and white.   For a young boxer from Cambridge in 1927 to ask an artist to hand-colour his black and white photograph was quite unusual, but this is what Gammy did, and the resulting portrait is quite beautiful. While I knew of the name Gammy Smith and had researched his fight record, I knew little about him or the details of his ring career. I think it fitting now to adorn this colour image, so rare, with a brief look at his exploits.

Gammy was a middleweight and a big fellow for his time. In the 1920s most young lads were inches shorter than they are today, and stones lighter. Times were hard and the diet was not good, especially for working class lads. Most professionals in Britain in 1927, when Gammy’s photograph was taken, weighed no more than nine and a half stone and most of them boxed between flyweight and lightweight.

This made Gammy stand out, and he didn’t have to fight his way past a myriad of little lads to establish himself. He was part of what was known as the ‘Cambridge School’, a group of fighters from the city who all emerged at about the same time and who all trained together in a School of Boxing. Gammy, along with Archie Allen and brothers Ed and Gilbert Stubbings, formed the backbone of the ‘School’ and they filled the bills at the Corn Exchange in their native city throughout the 1920s. He had 20 professional contests, only eleven of which were reported in the pages of BN. 

There was so much boxing around back then and BN, whilst capturing most of it, still missed an enormous amount. This is why the careers of boxers from that period are so hard to research.   Early in his career, Gammy suffered two losses at Bedford, going down to Johnny Seamarks, a very good fighter, and to Harold Bass by knockout. He then boxed in Ipswich a couple of times, wining one and losing one, before re-establishing himself with a long series of wins back at the Corn Exchange.

His first 15-rounder took place there in 1928 against Londoner, Mick Harris.  This was a return, as Gammy had beaten him six months previously over 12 rounds. Harris was dissatisfied with the verdict in their first encounter and Gammy was only too happy to meet him again. The two fought in front of a packed house and the BN report states that Gammy won this contest clearly.  In his next contest, Gammy knocked out a Canadian in five rounds and then followed this with good wins over Bert Cannons and Bill Softley.

Gammy boxed at the Blackfriars Ring a few times before bowing out in 1930, with an 11-9 record. He is forgotten now, but this picture does him proud. Thanks, John!

• Sinclair had been shooting professionally for almost fifteen years 

By Richard Eden and Summer Goodkind

Published: 04:21 EST, 23 January 2024 | Updated: 04:30 EST, 23 January 2024

Celebrity photographer Joseph Sinclair has died suddenly aged 49.

Sinclair captured everyone from pop stars Dua Lipa and Nicole Scherzinger to Normal People actor Paul Mescal and, most recently, the young stars of royal drama The Crown.

‘Joseph sadly passed away last Friday,’ his agent, John Parkinson, confirmed. 

‘I spoke to him around 4pm on the phone, then later found out that he had died that evening. We are all very sad – he was a very talented man.’

Sinclair had been shooting professionally for almost fifteen years.

He was inspired by films and music while growing up in England in the 80’s and 90’s.

Specialising in Celebrity Portraiture, his work has appeared in publications such as GQ, Esquire, Vogue, Sunday Times and Vanity Fair. 

He also shot publicity campaigns for Netflix, Disney, Amazon & HBO.

‘I began taking photographs when I was around eight years old. Fascinated by capturing people on film’, he wrote on his website.

‘It’s the passion to create that drives me.’

‘The wonderful thing about having a camera is you never know where it will take you, who you will meet and what the next exciting project will be.’