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04/21/2006 03:07:29 PM · #1 |
Ok now here is the odd question in the barrel.
After my recent success with my 80-200 reversed with my S2 IS (and shooting for around half an hour with the 85mm f/1.8 doing portrait type pictures), I have walked down the short road to convince myself to hurry up and get the 50mm f/1.8.
Now this does promise to be a fantastic lens, but I was thinking about something curious.
Medium format lenses are physically larger and wider than EF lenses.
The biggest worry I have with shooting a reversed 50mm is the vignetting which forces me to use a longer focal length. This can sometimes lead to a reduced level of control.
I was considering the possibility that there might be a dusty old MF 50mm lens kicking around in a 2nd hand store somewhere that might be considered moderate in optical quality by the MF shooting crowd, but still very good by all other standards.
Questions
a: Does anyone know of such a lens right off the bat?
b: I noticed that a number of MF lenses were smaller aperture lenses. I am wondering though if perhaps the actual aperture size was still going to be larger than a 50mm 1.8. Examples, 50mm f/3.5, 50mm f/4.5.
I did not see any 50mm f/1.8 for a medium format camera.
Does anyone feel like setting me straight?
Sorry, it's a bit late in the day for me to do the math... I'm not even sure I'd do it right... |
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04/21/2006 03:38:13 PM · #2 |
You're not really going to find a 50mm lens in MF, the 50mm in MF would be a 75mm (55mm would be a wide angle). Can't help with moderate quality Medium Format lens- not sure one would exist. The Manual Focus Pentax lenses have come crashing down in price over the past year, the optics are fantasic.
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04/21/2006 04:02:29 PM · #3 |
You can find good old 50mm manual-focus lenses for 35mm and reverse one of those... The old Asahi Optical Super Takumar 50/1.4 is a good one, can be had for about $50 or so on ebay, and you don't care what mount. It's physically tiny, compared to dither of the Canon 50mm lenses. I have one, but have not tried it in reverse.
All in all, you're not going to save much over just buying a 50/1.8 and having a good 50mm and a lens to reverse. I use the Canon 50/1.4 in reverse on my 100/2.8 Macro and there is no vignetting, BTW.
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04/21/2006 08:31:00 PM · #4 |
Thanks for the info. I think you are right as to the findability of 50mm MF lenses. I find them quite rare as well. I think I will be going to do some lens shopping (with NO BUDGET - bye bye rent money :) later today. I will come home with a 50mm f/1.8 (my other option for a dedicated macro lens would be the Minolta f/1.7), but this other information will serve me quite well...
Kirbic, I didn't know that the 50mm provided no vignetting at 100mm. Sounds like I need to give it a whirl. Whee!
I was considering the possibility that a MF 50mm f/4.5 might provide me with a deeper DOF, and might even have an aperture ring. On the other hand, that might just be sillyness.
WIth reversed lenses, Can DOF be controlled by the forward lens at all? My brain says no. |
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04/21/2006 08:44:16 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by eschelar:
...WIth reversed lenses, Can DOF be controlled by the forward lens at all? My brain says no. |
Your brain is correct. Stopping down the reversed lens will just cause vignetting. The DoF can only be controlled by the main lens aperture and the magnification.
BTW, I should qualify my earlier remark; the 50/1.4 reversed on the the 100 macro does not vignette on an APS-C sized sensor; I have not tested with FF... yet. :-)
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04/21/2006 08:50:23 PM · #6 |
Fair enough as I also use APS-C.
I do my best to visualize light paths through the lens when considering such issues.
When I'm making threads at 2:30 am and trying to visualize concepts that are still new to me, the mental imagery gets a bit blurry.
I guess shooting at an effective 160mm helps a bit.
I enjoyed shooting with my 80-200 because it gave me some flexibility in controlling the effective magnification. I don't always want everything on full throttle all the time. |
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