Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Pancolar 50mm f2 on NEX-6

Mirrorless cameras have been a godsend for manual focus lens lovers. For one thing, they can take pretty much any SLR lenses (except the Samsung NX, which has a much longer flange distance). The other advantage is that viewfinder does not go dim when you mount a very slow lens, or stopping it down, because the electronic viewfinder/LCD screen compensates the loss of light by brighten up. The only disadvantage I see, so far, is that there is no affordable full frame mirrorless cameras on the market today. Hopefully that will change in a couple of years.

The Sony NEX-6, in my opinion, has the best balance between price, performance, and usability. It's very comfortable to hold, has most of the controls accessible without going into the menu, an excellent viewfinder, and most important of all, exceptionally good image quality. While I struggled with the Pancolar 50mm f2 on the 5D Mark II, it is a breeze using it on the NEX-6. If there is a full frame equivalent of the NEX-6 at affordable price, the world (OK, at least me) will rejoice.

Downtown Buildings - Sony NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm f2 @ f8.

6 comments:

  1. I saw a Pancolar 50/1.4 (ver. 1) for under £200 earlier today, I was about to snaffle it, thinking it was the very rare, sought after 55/1.4 that often sells for over £1,000. I realised my mistake just in time.

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    1. I have never seen a Pancolar 50mm f1.4, but I would imagine it being very expensive, as it's quite rare. If it has the same characteristics as the f2 or f1.8 version, I would consider £200 as a good price, but at £1000? That's insane.

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  2. You are absolutely right about these mirrorless cameras equipped with a decent sensor being a godsend for those of us who like and won't part with our old manual focus lenses.

    I am still at the beginning of my discoveries and almost bought a Fuji XE-1, but when I looked into the viewfinder I realised I can't focus well with its EVF. To switch to a magnified view is a multistep process and there is no other focusing aid. You said the focus peak of the Sony NEX 6 works very well and for that reason it is now on the top of my wish list. However, don't you miss the touch screen of the NEX 5, which allowed one to easily and quickly place the focus point? How do you select the point of focus on the NEX 6 ? How close can that be to the edge of the frame?
    Thanks.


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    1. When I had my NEX-5, I had the touch screen switched off. To me, it's a nuisance, especially after I got my EVF. My focus point was (and is with the NEX-6) always in the center. If I need to focus near the edge, either I move the focus point or I do a focus and re-compose. In magnified mode, focus point can be moved with the wheel/pad at the back of the camera. The NEX-6 is by far the best combination of image quality, price and usability camera for me, so far.

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  3. I would like to know the right adapter for tokyo kogaku uv topcor 1:4 f=135mm lens to Canon EOS cameras, looking for advise to use this lens for eos cameras.
    vintoowin@gmail.com

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    1. Sorry I don't have a Topcor 135mm f4 lens so I can't test it for you. In general, the Topcor lens has the same mount as the Exakta mount, so I would say most Exakta to EOS adapters will work, but be sure it can achieve infinity focus.

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