Nifty Fifty or FD1.4??
Discussion
I've got an exciting trip planned for next March, hopefully to see the Aurora Borealis, and I'm thinking I could probably do with a Lens which is better in low light than my 18-55 IS 'Kit' lens.
It looks like I could pick up a 50mm 1.8 EF (nifty fifty) for roughly 50 quid, but I'm also mindful I have a 50mm 1.4 FD lens sat doing nothing as part of my old 35mm gear.
Anybody care to advise if it's worth looking at a converter or should I just go for the EF lens as the easy option?
It looks like I could pick up a 50mm 1.8 EF (nifty fifty) for roughly 50 quid, but I'm also mindful I have a 50mm 1.4 FD lens sat doing nothing as part of my old 35mm gear.
Anybody care to advise if it's worth looking at a converter or should I just go for the EF lens as the easy option?
You would have to source a converter with an optical element to make the FD useful - otherwise you wont have infinity focus and that will kill any aurora shots!
IMO I would want something wider than 50mm for aurora. manual focus is OK and it needs to be fast (ish).
A samyang 14mmf2.8 or one of the 20-30ish fast primes..
IMO I would want something wider than 50mm for aurora. manual focus is OK and it needs to be fast (ish).
A samyang 14mmf2.8 or one of the 20-30ish fast primes..
velocemitch said:
I've got an exciting trip planned for next March, hopefully to see the Aurora Borealis, and I'm thinking I could probably do with a Lens which is better in low light than my 18-55 IS 'Kit' lens.
It looks like I could pick up a 50mm 1.8 EF (nifty fifty) for roughly 50 quid, but I'm also mindful I have a 50mm 1.4 FD lens sat doing nothing as part of my old 35mm gear.
Anybody care to advise if it's worth looking at a converter or should I just go for the EF lens as the easy option?
Forget the FD - unless you want something really blurred and well beyond what the Aurora will offer by itself.It looks like I could pick up a 50mm 1.8 EF (nifty fifty) for roughly 50 quid, but I'm also mindful I have a 50mm 1.4 FD lens sat doing nothing as part of my old 35mm gear.
Anybody care to advise if it's worth looking at a converter or should I just go for the EF lens as the easy option?
Samyang 14mm f2.8 (about 22mm equivalent on a crop body) would likely work well. Fully manual and no AF - not needed - so good for battery life in a cold environment and able to produce some excellent results with just a little knowledge of how to get the best out of it.
Other, similar, options are available for fastish lens speed.
velocemitch said:
Ideal though they might be I'm not sure my budget will run to one of those Samyung's.
Keep an eye on eBay. I have seen a few appear to be sold at well below the used asking price. You could also consider a Nikon version with a Nikon to Canon adapter - but you would have the cost of the adapter too.
I'm not sure why a fast lens is going to help things here. What's your thinking? Is it that you want to shorten shutter speed and have no plans to tripod it? Or something else? I'm not suggesting 30 second exposures are the only way to do it, but looking around at the exif on google images the f'stops ranged from f5.6 to F22 on the few I looked at with run of the mill shutter speeds
I suppose on the price point, I'd seen the going rates for the 50mm 1.8 and mistakenly thought
I could pick up something similar but perhaps wider for similar money. Doesn't seem likely to be honest.
The attraction is obviously the lowlight capabilities of a large aperture. I'd clearly want to be using a tripod on a long exposure, but we are actually going to be at Sea a fair amount as it's cruise based trip, this would seriously compromise a long exposure !
I could pick up something similar but perhaps wider for similar money. Doesn't seem likely to be honest.
The attraction is obviously the lowlight capabilities of a large aperture. I'd clearly want to be using a tripod on a long exposure, but we are actually going to be at Sea a fair amount as it's cruise based trip, this would seriously compromise a long exposure !
What body- is FD some sort of Canon technology?
Have you considered rental from www.LensesForHire.co.uk or similar?
Have you considered rental from www.LensesForHire.co.uk or similar?
RobDickinson said:
velocemitch said:
FD was Canon's lens fitting during the 70's and 80's, no autofocus or image stabilising gizmo's in those days, damned good glass though.
Some FD lenses did have autofocus but it was screw/body driven I think.http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/can...
Mostly FD to EOS adapters, and certainly the official Canon adapters that were made in very limited numbers when the EOS system was in its infancy, were only intended for the large (and expensive) prime lenses of 200mm and upwards. The additional glass in the adaptor, removable on some of them them, was to allow focus to infinity.
Removing the extra lens would, potentially, improve the image quality but limit the ability to focus over medium to long distances. Fitted to non-telephoto lenses things get very strange on the focus front even with the extra lens in place.
"Ed Mika" (Canadian on eBay) makes some nice brass adapters which have no additional lens in the way. The original designs for the Telephoto lenses typically required some mods to the lenses to provide full focus to infinity where required (although some individual lenses would just about work to infinity without mods) but a more recent design more or less gets away from the modification requirement in most cases. He can also provide some very specific adapters for old FL mount (pre FD) 55mm f1.2 lenses which, apparently, are quite popular with video enthusiasts.
www.lensesforhire.co.uk
Although chances are you'll want to keep whatever you rent and ending up buying it a couple of months later
As for the 1.8 vs 1.4 50mm, I was never disappointed with the 1.8, but if money were no object, it would be the 1.4 every time. That f/stop makes quite a difference, and the build quality's excellent.
Although chances are you'll want to keep whatever you rent and ending up buying it a couple of months later
As for the 1.8 vs 1.4 50mm, I was never disappointed with the 1.8, but if money were no object, it would be the 1.4 every time. That f/stop makes quite a difference, and the build quality's excellent.
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