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Holy Depth of Field, Batman (aka, what's your fastest lens?)

SpookTheHamster

SpookTheHamster

macrumors 65816
Original poster
I got a shiny new (old) lens in the post today; an old Nikkor 50mm 1.4. I've been playing around with it taking pictures of random crap I have on my desk and this thing is FAST! I'm digging the super shallow DOF, too.

What's your fastest lens? I know quite a few people convert f0.7 lenses from x-ray machines for use on 35mm cameras.

edit: Look at background to the left, my lovely 12" 1GHz PB (just to keep this Mac related 😉 )
 

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I have a f2.8 zoom lens - but I'm planning on getting the Sigma 50mm prime 1.4 really soon. The 2.8 is great for 28-75mm, but there are times when having a 1.4 would be even better...

D
 
Sweetness!

I was thinkint of getting a very fast 50mm prime soon (I'm debating between Aperture, a new monitor, and the lens).

I might get the lens first, and then save up, and get aperture 2 if its out, or the monitor if not.
 
Josh said:
I might get the lens first, and then save up, and get aperture 2 if its out, or the monitor if not.
Click to expand...

That's probably best, a lot of people have reservations with Aperture. My next buy will probably be a tele lens, software always takes lower priority with me.
 
Your old/new fastest lens is also my fastest lens, sitting unused somewhere. I also have a 35 mm f/2 wide angle which was quite nice in its time, and a 135 f/2.8.

I think these old F series lenses won't fit properly onto the newer bodies with all the AF and AE stuff that's been added, at least without modification if that's possible. Anyone know?
 
I have the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.4. I also have an oldish Tokina 90mm f/2.5 which is a macro lens. Most of my other lenses are f/2.8, with the exception of the 12-24mm, which is f/4 and the 18-200mm, which is f/3.5-5.6. Oh, and the so-called "kit lens" which came with my D70, which is I think also f/3.5-5.6. I rarely use that lens.

I much prefer fast glass and as I've been developing my lens collection I strive to get not only lenses which will meet certain photographic aims (ie, macro, wide-angle, whatever) but which are also the fastest that I can get. With a faster lens you have much more flexibility when it comes to setting up the shot in various lighting conditions.
 
Yes. The old Nikon lens do fit the new cameras

JDar said:
I think these old F series lenses won't fit properly onto the newer bodies with all the AF and AE stuff that's been added, at least without modification if that's possible. Anyone know?
Click to expand...

The answer is "yes and no".

Yes you can mount your old 35mm f/2.0 lens to a new D50 DSRL body and it will make a nice image. but No, the lens wil not do auto focus and no you can't use the D50's light meter. It only works in fully manual mode.

Yes, if you mount the same 35mm f/2.0 lens on the new D200 DSLR body you Can use the D200's meter and some of the auto modes but of course you still have to rotate the len's focus ring by hand

Both digital bodys offer an "electronic range finder" basically arrows that tell you which way to turn the focus ring and when perfect forcus is achieved. This works well if you have developed poor eyesight.

What exactly works in complicated and depends on the body/lens combination. The worst case is the fist combo above with the D50. But even with no functining meter it's not so bad. Take one exposure with a guessed seting and then look at the histogram display on the LCD and you will know how far off your guess was and the second shot can be dead on.

And one more thing... The Nikon CCD sensor is smaller than a 35mm frame. This has the effect of making the lenses act like they are 1.5 times "longer". So on a Dxx body a 50mm is a moderate telephoto lens. People refer to this as the "1.5X crop factor"

My fasted lens is the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AF It's the best lens for doing pictures of people and relatively inexpensive as Nikon glass goes.

Nikon offers a 50mm f/1.8 AF Lens that sells for just under $100. Less than 1/2 the price of the f/1.4 version
 
my fastest lens is a 55mm f/1.7. great portrait lens, especially with the 1.5x crop factor. it may be old, but I love manual focus and Pentax fully supports metering with old lenses so I'm good to go
 
JDar said:
Your old/new fastest lens is also my fastest lens, sitting unused somewhere. I also have a 35 mm f/2 wide angle which was quite nice in its time, and a 135 f/2.8.

I think these old F series lenses won't fit properly onto the newer bodies with all the AF and AE stuff that's been added, at least without modification if that's possible. Anyone know?
Click to expand...

I stated in the original post that I took that picture on my D70, so yes you can use it on a new camera. You lose out on the meter, but if you're halfway decent at working out exposures it's not a problem, or you could get an external meter. The 50mm will act as a 75mm lens because of the smaller sensor, though.
 
I'm getting rid of my Nikkor 50/1.4 AF-D on eBay as I type this. Didn't like it much (cheaply made and too much distorsion).

Have a 85/1.8, a 180/2.8 and a 300/2.8. These are all outstanding lenses, nothing short of perfect. The trade-off is weight and fixed focal lengths - I guess you can't win. 😉

Now if I were a smart-arse, I'd say my fastest lense would be the one I might drop. 😛 😛
 
woah... seems like everyone here is using Nikkor lenses.

I agree with Clix Pix about having a faster lens for flexibility. I am new to photography, and I was shocked to see how my 50mm f/1.4 performs under less than ideal lighting conditions. I also have a 85mm f/1.8. Both also focus incredibly fast. I think my roommate uses only f/1.0 lenses.
 
1.8 on my 60mm MicroNikkor

And you wanna talk narrow DoF. I get about 3-4mm depth wide open and close up. Wish I could take a pic for example right now - but my PB is at home running a securty camera right now.
 
Well, I HAD a 50/1.2 and a 28/2.0 quite a while back on my Pentax LX. Now I'm getting back into the photography thing but with a digital Nikon Coolpix 5000. Progress? I'm not so sure.
 
Well all my lenses are the same speed at the moment. f2.8 including my bitchin 150mm macro. Which will produce sufficiently small DOF if I want. But for really really small DOF nothing beats my reverse mount. Reverse mount at 18mm or 24mm makes things so big with so little DOF I bet its not more than a mm or so.

EDIT: And I guess with my 24-70 that would be f2.8 reversed too (though for macro like that its a sudo f stop)
 
I've heard of that reverse-mounting trick, but I've never actually attempted it or seen anyone's work who has done it. You have to have some special adapter to connect the two lenses together, right? That certainly would be an interesting approach to doing macro photography!

One of these days I'd love to have the F/1.2 Nikkor in my kit bag..... That would be a fun lens to use for natural light images. For me, the faster lenses really can help fulfill one's creative vision.
 
my fastest lens is my 50mm f/1.8D
im gettin a reversing ring either tomorrow or this weekend. may have to post some samples wide open 😀
 
Clix Pix said:
I've heard of that reverse-mounting trick, but I've never actually attempted it or seen anyone's work who has done it. You have to have some special adapter to connect the two lenses together, right? That certainly would be an interesting approach to doing macro photography!

One of these days I'd love to have the F/1.2 Nikkor in my kit bag..... That would be a fun lens to use for natural light images. For me, the faster lenses really can help fulfill one's creative vision.
Click to expand...
a reversing ring is basically a 52mm thread to f-mount adapter (example being a 52mm nikon one)
they're quite cheap--$30 new at b&h, $10 used at KEH. im hoping someone sells them locally as well...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=details&Q=&sku=37171&is=REG
 
homerjward said:
a reversing ring is basically a 52mm thread to f-mount adapter (example being a 52mm nikon one)
they're quite cheap--$30 new at b&h, $10 used at KEH. im hoping someone sells them locally as well...
Click to expand...

Thanks, Homer! So you take the reversing ring and connect, for example, two 50mm lenses together, one being in reversed position so that the lens which is mounted properly on the camera is then looking through the other lens at the subject. ?? That could be a very fun project with intriguing results! Please do show us some of your images when you've had the chance to experiment with this.
 
Clix Pix said:
Thanks, Homer! So you take the reversing ring and connect, for example, two 50mm lenses together, one being in reversed position so that the lens which is mounted properly on the camera is then looking through the other lens at the subject. ?? That could be a very fun project with intriguing results! Please do show us some of your images when you've had the chance to experiment with this.
Click to expand...
afaik you just mount say a 50mm backwards on the camera. ill find out eventually i guess 😛
i suppose a disadvantage is having the rear element exposed...
edit: i was searching the dpreview forums for reversing ring, and stumbled across this post
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=17139232
that's some tiny depth of field 😱
 
homerjward said:
afaik you just mount say a 50mm backwards on the camera. ill find out eventually i guess 😛
i suppose a disadvantage is having the rear element exposed...
edit: i was searching the dpreview forums for reversing ring, and stumbled across this post
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=17139232
the lincoln memorial is in focus, and the rest of the penny is out of focus 😱
Click to expand...

This is true... for most mounts
https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-120781.html
http://sailbyair.com/photography/macro.html
Mine, as you can see, is a littleeee more complex than that. And I can use aperture control. I'll be updating that page soon to include my newer Sigma 24-70mm EX DG Macro in the reverse mount. I hope I don't have to rewire it, I didn't design it for such a massive lens (I already got the step down rings from 82mm filter threads to 58mm)

EDIT: Nobody cared back when I posted it, except one guy who emailed me and asked me if I could use my images to teach about DOF.
 
Clix Pix said:
\
One of these days I'd love to have the F/1.2 Nikkor in my kit bag..... That would be a fun lens to use for natural light images. For me, the faster lenses really can help fulfill one's creative vision.
Click to expand...
Only slightly fun, everything I've read about f1.2 and f1.0 lenses (barring the Canon 85mm f1.2) has said that they are not very sharp or useable, and that the money should be saved and just buy a 1.4.
 
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