Hi Guys,
I’m thinking of investing in another lens for my DSLR. I have a standard lens (modest wide angle to modest zoom) and a mid-range zoom, but I’m thinking about buying a lens that would give me more ability to shoot in lower light situations.
Clearly a lens that has the ability to open up the aperature to say an f3.5 stop will help, albeit it gets pretty pricey to get beyond that. I’ve been looking at lenses that have front elements with a filter size of 72mm or into the 85mm range to collect more light. I’m not so much interested in major zoom capability (i.e. 150mm zoom would be plenty). I’m really mostly focused on light gathering capability. I like working w/ existing light and sometimes that gets a little shady (pun fully intended) if you’re indoors (i.e. shop) or late /early in the day outdoors.
I hate the grain that comes with jacking up the ISO on my camera, so I really want a lens that is a light-sponge.
Does anyone have any suggestions on equipment they’ve used or with which they are familiar?
Thx in advance,
Stack
You need to tell us which DSLR you have.
Dave
Knowing a brand would help a little bit, but here are some general recommendations:
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Every major camera outfit offers a 50mm f1.4 lens (except Olympus 4/3 mount…but there is a new Leica 25mm f1.4 which has the field of view of a 50mm f1.4). These are usually very good lenses, and can be used wide open (though stopping down a bit will sharpen things up). Unless you’re shooting Canon Full Frame (1Ds, 1Ds Mk II or 5D), this lens will haver the same field of view as a 75mm - 80mm range. These lenses can usually be found under $300. By far and away, a great bargain. If you feel like spending money, Canon now offers a 50mm f1.2L. If you REALLY feel like spending money, you can either look for a Canon EF 50mm f1.0L or get a Leica M8 and a Noctilux 50mm f1.0 (the latter is a much better performer than the former, BTW…but will cost you close to $10K).
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Canon and Nikon both offer a 50mm f1.8. A half stop slower, but they can both be found dirt cheap. If I remember right, the Canon is about $75 new. Keep in mind, there will be a little sacrifice in build quality. Additionally, the Canon f1.8’s aperture only has 5 blades, so the bokeh (out-of-focus rendering) isn’t going to be as nice as the f1.4 (something to consider if you plan to do a lot of shooting wide open…there’s not going to be much DOF). I’m not sure how many blades the Nikon has, but I would guess it’s similar.
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If you really want a more traditional 50mm FOV on a DSLR, there are a couple of options. Canon offers a 35mm f1.4L (great lens, but some barrel distortion) and a 35mm f2 (an oldy but a goody. No USM, but great performer). Pentax (my current brand) offers both a 35mm f2, and the fantastic 31mm f1.8 Limited (tremendous lens). I think there is a Digital Dedicated 35mm f1.4 on the lens roadmap for the coming year. Speaking of dedicated digital lenses, Sigma offers a 30mm f1.4 in all major mounts. This lens is sharp as a tack in the center wide open, but performance detiorates as you get farther from the
That’s one reason I still use my trusty Olympus OM-4t with a 50mm f1.2 lens. Ican shoot moving objects after sunset without an O Winston Link flash set-up. I’ll switch to digital after I win the lottery[:)]
To add to what’s already been posted, bear in mind that fast lenses won’t necessarily have a large front element. Filter sizes are often chosen to fit in more with the other lenses in the line, and so much out of necessity because of the element size. I have a Canon FL mount 55mm 1.2 lens that only has a 58mm filter thread. The FD 50mm 1.2L only had a 52mm filter thread. The current Canon 50mm 1.2L has a 72mm filter thread out of necessity of the autofocus motor needed to focus that much weight with reasonable speed. The 1.4 and 1.8 versions of this same lens get away with a 52mm front filter thread.
When determining aperture, the size of the rear element is far more important that the size of the front element. Front elements are often sized as they are to preven vignetting than to allow them to gather more light.
And, as a side note on noise, the Canon 1D MKIII at ISO 6400 looks about like last year’s ISO 400 print film.
Just as a little bit of useless knowledge to add to what Ben mentioned:
This is precisely why Canon at one time had a 50mm f1.0 lens, and Nikon could only get to f1.2 (with a couple different lenses, including the highly regarded 58mm f1.2 Noct). If you look at the two mounts side by side, you’ll note the Canon EF lens mount is much larger than the Nikon. I’ve heard rumors that after Canon switched to the EF lens mount, they built the f1.0 lens just to go one up on Nikon (who couldn’t match the lens without abandoning the F mount).
I don’t know how much truth there is to that, but the 50mm f1.0L came out around the time when Canon was starting to parallel Nikon as a “Pro” brand. As such, I could easily see Canon building some low production oddities that were more about prestige than actual functionality. Don’t believe me? How about the 1200mm f5.6L? [:P]
P.S. It almost seems like history is repeating itself again, too. The only difference is that the new player is a third party lens manufacturer. When Sigma announced the 200-500mm f2.8 this year at PMA, all I could think of was Canon and lenses like the 50mm f1.0L and the 1200mm f5.6L. When price and weight factors are considered, I could easily see production of this lens being around the 500 unit mark (if that). I really think it has more to do with prestige. I’ll be interested to see just what that bugger is priced at (I’m guessing a minimum of $40,000.)
Thanks very much guys. I’m currently shooting w/ an Olympus E-volt 300, decent camera - 8MP, but I’m open to changing systems as well. Much to think about - thanks again for the advice.
The 4/3 mount hasn’t caught on quite like Olympus had intended it to, so you’ll be a little more limited in your low light options. As I mentioned, they do have a couple constant f2 zooms available. Additionally, you could look into the 50mm f2 Macro (100mm equivalent). From what I’ve read, this is simply a spectacular performing lens, and you should have no problems with it.
Also, now that Panasonic, Leica and Sigma have started contributing to the 4/3 mount, you’ll start to have some new options available. The Leica 25mm f1.4 should be a knock-out lens (though it probably won’t be for the faint of wallet). There are a few Sigma lenses already available (30mm f1.4, 105mm f2.8, 150mm f2.8 and 18-50mm f2.8) that may meet your needs. Additionally, I think Sigma will be offering more 4/3 lenses in the near future.
If you were to switch mounts, I think I would recommend Pentax to you, provided you don’t mind manually focusing. There are some great deals to be found on older manual focus Pentax glass. I use an old SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 (screw mount w/ a K-mount Adapter) as my fast-fifty. As an added bonus, everything (inlcuding that 40 year old 50mm) now benefits from the Shake Reduction that can be found on the K100D and K10D models. Some people claim that optical image stabilization is better, but I’ve found that the sensor-based stabilization works well enough for me (and on all my lenses!). I was shooting a 180mm lens handheld at 1/20th of a second yesterday at the Denver Auto Show. The images were tack-sharp. I can’t ask much more from a camera or lens.
Best of luck with whatever you decide.
Stack,
I just did a little investigating. If you don’t mind manually focusing, you might stick with Olympus, too. I see that they offer a OM adapter that will allow you to put OM lenses on your 4/3 camera. The adapter goes for $100 at B&H, but after that, you should be able to get some screaming deals.
Stopping by KEH I noticed that they have a 50mm f1.4 in Bargain condition (and from my experience, when KEH calls a lens a bargain, it really is!) for $45. The 50mm would have a FOV equivalent to 100mm on your E-300. A 100mm f1.4? I think that would be a fairly useful little low light lens.
Additionally, there is some other great OM-mount stuff available that might serve you. Might be worth checking out.
A couple of us dinosaurs who use Canon FD cameras have been tossing around the idea of adapting FD lenses to the 4/3 mount. It’s theoretically possible given the back focus distance of the 4/3 mount, but no one has actually done this yet.
Personally, I find the following very, very appealing
50mm 1.2L becomes a 100 1.2L
100mm f2 becomes a 200mm f2
135mm f2 becomes a 270mm f2
200mm 1.8L(if you can find one) becomes a 400mm 1.8
and you get the idea on from there.
FD 300mm 2.8Ls can be had for well under $1000, and on a 4/3 camera you get an 600mm 2.8 lens-I think that’s something bird photographers have only dreamed of. Add a 2x teleconverter and you get a 1200mm 5.6. Even better, take a 400mm 2.8L, add a 2x TC on the back of it, and you get a 1600mm 5.6.