Big Aperture lenses viewfinders

Mr Bump

Mr Bump

From under the bridge
Suspended / Banned
Messages
10,944
Name
Sophia aka Paul
Edit My Images
Yes
doesn't it make a cracking difference the difference between F1.8 and Even F2.8 with the brightness through the viewfinder and focus screen :D
 
It does, much better for focusing both in terms of brightness and the shallower DoF (esp with older manual focus bodies, newer ones often don't show the additional DoF).

Should try f1.4 or f1.2....!
 
Well whats the biggest apature i can get for my old nikon then about 50mm?
 
Mr Bump said:
Well whats the biggest apature i can get for my old nikon then about 50mm?
Click to expand...

There's a 50 or 55mm f1.2 in Nikon F mount.
 
At 50mm I'm tempted to say that a f/1.8 works fine & is economical to buy - with wider apertures there's more likelihood of a lens suffering barrel distortion. There are other independent but important arbiters too, like flare resistance and the quality of the bokeh ...
 
Wonder if Asha has an F1.4 to bring with him for testing purposes when he pops over in a few weeks
 
Mr Bump said:
Wonder if Asha has an F1.4 to bring with him for testing purposes when he pops over in a few weeks
Click to expand...

You mean something like this:

Uploaded with ImageShack.com

Factory converted Nipon Kogaku Nikkor-S Auto 1.4 50mm
 
Ooooooh

"rubs legs "
 
I have both the 1.4 and 1.8 Nikon 50mm lenses, and to be honest couldn't tell the difference between the results if placed side by side.

I don't think I've ever needed that half (?) stop difference for light, and the shallow dof on the 1.8 is more than enough for anything I have ever wanted.
 
Mr Bump said:
Ooooooh

"rubs legs "
Click to expand...

Steve said:
I have both the 1.4 and 1.8 Nikon 50mm lenses, and to be honest couldn't tell the difference between the results if placed side by side.

I don't think I've ever needed that half (?) stop difference for light, and the shallow dof on the 1.8 is more than enough for anything I have ever wanted.
Click to expand...

Likewise, I have the 1.8 and doubt I could really tell the difference tbh if i bothered to test them out side by side.

However i like to play with different glass in the same way as playing with different bodies/cameras hence I intend to hang on to them both much as Mr Bump may wish to permanenly borrow one of 'em going by his reaction :D :D
 
I was more thinking not so much shooting at F1.4 but the difference of light through the viewfinder when lining up the shot prior to the camera stopping down, the F1.8 compared to F2.8 is quite a diff and I would be interested what framing up on the F1.4 looks like.

I can borrow it? did you say !
 
Last edited:
Mr Bump said:
I was more thinking not so much shooting at F1.4 but the difference of light through the viewfinder when lining up the shot prior to the camera stopping down, the F1.8 compared to F2.8 is quite a diff and I would be interested what framing up on the F1.4 looks like.

I can borrow it? did you say !
Click to expand...

Mmmm I'll think about it :D

What else would you like me to bring??......
 
Asha said:
Mmmm I'll think about it :D

What else would you like me to bring??......
Click to expand...

still having a think about it, honest truth is I was thinking of using the opportunity of improving my technique as much as anything, sounds like a good opportunity to get some good advice and stuff, oh and beer.
 
Mr Bump said:
honest truth is I was thinking of using the opportunity of improving my technique as much as anything,
Click to expand...

Dammit, I planned on learning skills from you! :D :D
 
I've got a few fast manual focus Nikon lenses and they are very nice to use, especially in terms of the view through them, but also for the creative options they present.

Of mine, possibly my fave is the 35mm f1.4. 35mm is a very versatile focal length, and still has a more usable amount of depth of field at wide apertures than a 50mm or 85mm. Really amazing for low-light situations too - can easily take hand-held shots at 1/30 sec and sometimes even 1/15, which with a fast film and a wide aperture opens up opportunities for available light pics that many other lenses don't give you (my 28mm f2 is another that's great for this). It is a bit of a weird lens though. Like most superspeed lenses the results can be a bit 'dreamy' wide open due to internal flare, though this in itself can be used to good effect. Another characteristic is that it also suffers from a bit of field curvature - ie a flat subject like a wall might be in focus in the middle but not at the edges. Can also get some distortion. At the end of the day, all lens designs are compromises - you can't have everything, but these are things you are likely to encounter with f1.4 or f1.2 lenses.

With Nikon's 50mm lenses, the f1.8 and f2 versions are usually regarded as the best behaved, possibly even the sharpest when stopped down a few stops, and definitely smaller and lighter. The faster ones are probably better down to around f2.8 but at smaller apertures there will be no discernible difference.

I always fancied the 85mm f1.4 but that's another serious chunk of money, and I managed to get an 85mm f1.8 (pre-AI but converted to AI) very cheaply a couple of years ago and it is great in its own regard, so I've given up on that fantasy. Both pretty difficult to use wide-open anyway, with razor thin DoF.

However, even though I own a few, these lenses are rarely worth the money, or the extra weight, over their slightly slower brethren, even if they are very nice to have and to use.
 
Used to love the 85mm 1.2L on the EOS3 - bit slow at Auto-focusing because of the weight of glass it was moving, but did some great stuff at gigs with that one... Just couldn't really keep a grand tied up in a lens that was for me a "one trick pony" and with the amount of shooting I do coming down to virtually nil now, it had to move on.
 
It's not just the aperture is it; sometimes these wider lenses are designed a bit better. I was amazed at the difference using my newish Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 rather than the much more common f/1.8. I don't think I was ever unhappy with the f/1.8, but the f/1.4 just seemed to have a bit more sparkle and pop. I'm not going to shell out for a f/1.2 though!
 
Steve said:
I don't think I've ever needed that half (?) stop difference for light, and the shallow dof on the 1.8 is more than enough for anything I have ever wanted.
Click to expand...

third :D
 
Mr Bump said:
Well whats the biggest apature i can get for my old nikon then about 50mm?
Click to expand...

Nikon's 50mm f1.4 was pretty much a standard back in the days when the F series were dominant, but there's not a lot of difference between it and the f1.8 version in practical terms. I've owned and used both

They also offered f1.2 in 50mm, 55mm and 58mm at various times IIRC. These are, sort of, affordable but it's debateable whether you really gain very much with them. The aspherical f1.2 58mm Noct-Nikkor was a specialist lens, and you can still find them, but prices run into several £K. Nikon have never made anything faster than these.
 
I've got a 55mm f1.2 and it's one of my favourite lenses. Yes it's big and heavy and a pig to focus at 1.2 but using it in low light it really comes into its own and if you like a shallow depth of field in your shots it's absolutely gorgeous.
If you can find one at a reasonable price, grab it. I'm told that the newer 50mm f1.2 with its 9 aperture blades. is even better.
Nikon are still making this lens so it's readily available so don't go paying over the odds on the well known auction site.
 
I think that generally the reason that especially the big aperture standard lenses were "a bit special" was down to a sort of "willy waving" contest from the manufacturers - a bit like the ludicrous megapixels and ISO's in the modern digital bodies...

Fortunately, at least it left us with some beautiful lenses, so I'm not complaining - I do miss the 85mm 1.2L - even though really it's primarily a specialised portrait shooting lens which is really, REALLY not my forte in the slightest. The 50mm 1.0L, I wasn't over enamoured with - it had a similar issue in AF speed, f1.0 is so razor thin in terms of DOF it's almost unusable, and the enormous mass of glass slowed it even working at more sensible f-stops.

For the chap who originally bought the 2 above lenses purposes they were perfect (ships photographer on Canberra) - allowing him to work in the low light of the dining rooms, (and with the 85mm especially) from a bit more discrete distance)
 
Asha will bring his F1.4 over.....

going to get him drunk and swap it for a set of vintage dominoes
 
Mr Bump said:
Asha will bring his F1.4 over.....

going to get him drunk and swap it for a set of vintage dominoes
Click to expand...

He'll never notice, he's easily distracted :thumbs:
 
Voigtlander make a f0.95 for four thirds cameras but I can't see the point of it. Surely the dof would be shallower than a tory (substitiute for whichever type is in the news at the moment) politician.
 
The Nikkor 50mm f1.2 has actually come down in price quite a bit lately. Brand new with UK warranty can be had for around £500-£550, which is a lot less than a couple of years ago (RRP is about £800). I bought mine second hand for £250 - has a bit of a ding on the filter ring but otherwise no problems. Normally they go for about £350 S/H, but when they're available brand new for £500 I wouldn't be surprised if that S/H price drops a bit now. MW Classic have two of them brand new (presumably without warranty) for £445.
 
What other lens's have you got for the nikon F mount

:lol:
 
Mr Bump said:
What other lens's have you got for the nikon F mount

:lol:
Click to expand...

Do you want wide and wider, long and longer or fast and faster....can even supply one with eeby geebys in the glassware if you want :D
 
I love my 85mm f1.2L mounted onto my eos5 film camera with a nice B&W film the results are awesome.

Canon also made an 50mm f1 in the eos mount an f0.9 in FD mount and a stupid f0.7 in a really old screw mount...lol But unless you got mega buck burning a hole in your pocket!!!
 
onform said:
I love my 85mm f1.2L mounted onto my eos5 film camera with a nice B&W film the results are awesome.

Canon also made an 50mm f1 in the eos mount an f0.9 in FD mount and a stupid f0.7 in a really old screw mount...lol But unless you got mega buck burning a hole in your pocket!!!
Click to expand...

The Canon lens your thinking of was a fixed aperture 65mm f0.75: the actual fastest lens thats ever been produced is a 50mm 0.7 by Zeiss for NASA (it might be heard that the fastest lens ever was a Zeiss 40mm f0.33... but that was actually just a mocked up lens to poke fun at their competitors and was not actually functional), which was famously used by Stanley Kubrick to film scenes in 'Barry Lyndon' using only 3 candles (and no other additional lighting!).

He also had two of them modified quite cunningly to become wider 35mm and 24mm versions (as 4 perf 35mm motion film has an effective crop factor of ~1.4x so the original 50mm was fairly long). Theres an interesting article on it here:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm
 
s162216 said:
The Canon lens your thinking of was a fixed aperture 65mm f0.75: the actual fastest lens thats ever been produced is a 50mm 0.7 by Zeiss for NASA (it might be heard that the fastest lens ever was a Zeiss 40mm f0.33... but that was actually just a mocked up lens to poke fun at their competitors and was not actually functional), which was famously used by Stanley Kubrick to film scenes in 'Barry Lyndon' using only 3 candles (and no other additional lighting!).

He also had two of them modified quite cunningly to become wider 35mm and 24mm versions (as 4 perf 35mm motion film has an effective crop factor of ~1.4x so the original 50mm was fairly long). Theres an interesting article on it here:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/ac/len/page1.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for that...fascinating stuff.

Theoretically, does anyone know what the largest aperture possible is...ignoring practical constraints of size and money. Is f0 possible?
 
Steve said:
Thanks for that...fascinating stuff.

Theoretically, does anyone know what the largest aperture possible is...ignoring practical constraints of size and money. Is f0 possible?
Click to expand...

f number is the ratio of the focal length of the lens to the effective aperture of the lens

So for f/1 a 50mm lens has a 50mm aperture diameter.
f/0 will never be reached as the aperture would have to be infinitely large but you can theoretically get very low f/ numbers.

*waits for Woodsy to school him*
 
robhooley167 said:
f number is the ratio of the focal length of the lens to the effective aperture of the lens

So for f/1 a 50mm lens has a 50mm aperture diameter.
f/0 will never be reached as the aperture would have to be infinitely large but you can theoretically get very low f/ numbers.

*waits for Woodsy to school him*
Click to expand...

or....... the focal length be equal to zero...... :nuts:

carry on... don't mind me... :exit: ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top