Paul,A friend is converting my Canon FD 24mm 2.8 and 135mm 2.5 to EF mount + chip, the lenses are at least 10 years not used. More in view of an A7R II purchase + the EF to FE adapter than on the Canon 5D II that is my current camera. I already have an FD 55mm 1.2 with an EF mount. There are some EF lenses that I would use too and then I can go with one adapter for all. Wishful thinking probably but the chipped mount may even inform the camera which lens is mounted and maybe the IS gets the right focal length set that way. Depends on the adapter firmware upgrades whether that will ever happen.Curious about the de-centering remedy.Uncompressed RAW is announced for the Sony models.Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
Dinkla Grafische Techniek
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www.pigment-print.comMet vriendelijke groet, Ernst
Dinkla Grafische Techniek
Quad, piëzografie, giclée
www.pigment-print.comOn Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 7:48 PM, roark.paul@gmail.com [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:My workflow to make a good B&W print starts with a good digital RGB image. In a Lula B&W thread someone asked about the best camera for B&W that was reasonably priced. My recommendation was to buy a used Sony a7r (36 mp full frame). I thought I'd put a similar follow-up message here since the topic involves limited resources (out of production equipment) that I'd rather see this group be able to take advantage of.
So, assuming a good digital body like the Sony a7r, the next step toward getting a very high quality image is obviously a very good lens.
I have the very good Sony-Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8. It's the lens I use more than any other. This modern optic, with multiple aspherical elements, costs $800 at B&H. As good as the "Zony" 35 is, I like manual focus for landscape shooting. Among other things, it's easier and faster to do a dual-focus image capture when there is a focus stop.
My current MF solution is the 30 year old Canon FD 35mm. The Zony is certainly better from f/2.8 to 5.6, but at f/8 I'll let you decide which is better, the $800 or $80 lens.
See the comparison of the center and worst corner of the series at
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Canon-v-Sony-35mm.jpg
(This was with the new Sony, but the old one is virtually equal for these purposes.)
The lens itself is just part of the story, of course. (I made a custom lens profile for the Canon and also was able to offset most of the focus errors due to slight de-centering on the Canon -- topics I'll probably document in a PDF at some point.) However, the point is, there are some old classics out there that are amazing bargains.
FWIW
Paul
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Re: [Digital BW] OT - Old optics on modern digital cameras (for example, Canon FD on Sony a7)
2015-09-30 by Paul Roark
Ernst, the de-centering "cure" was a small shim (a small piece of tape -- had to try several to get the right amount) between the FD lens and the adapter. The FD mount may be unique in that is it a "breech lock" and not a normal bayonet. As such, the interface between the lens and adapter does not move. This makes it easy to be sure the small tape stays where it is needed.
Note that I test at "infinity" focus,using an uninterrupted view across a valley from my back yard that makes this easy.
Contrary to the Imatest results here for the Canon --
and here for the Zony -- http://erphotoreview.com/wordpress/?p=4125 --
the CA for the Canon was a weakness. The Zony is near perfect.
So, another part of this effort was to see how the Adobe Lens Creator
worked. I'm happy to report that it does a better job than is possible with the manual tools in the Adobe Raw Converter. The problem with the manual system is that it assumes axial symmetry around the center of the lens. Sadly, it's not that simple. The formula that works best on the left side is not the formula that works best on the right side, not to mention top, bottom and all the points between. The Adobe Lens Profile Creator uses lots of little black squares on a target to do a much higher sampling of the problems. It's still not what a manufacturer can do, but then the manufacturer makes one size to fit all, not taking into account the assembly defects of your particular lens. Sound familiar? It's canned v. custom lens profile.
I also made one profile at the f-stop I use (f/8), again, not compromising to try and cover all apertures.
Of course, I'm sure (I should say, "I would hope") a Zeiss Otus would do better, but light weight, as well as traditional manual focus and aperture controls are things I prize.
Paul, regarding the EF Canon mount, I have a fairly full Canon system. I started with the FD in the 1960's and switched to AF when we had kids. I was not fast enough with MF to focus on the moving targets the kids presented. The EF Adapter I have (Metabones III) gets some Exif info to the camera, but AF does not work with my lenses. The newer model and firmware upgrade helps. Some lenses now reportedly will AF fine. At some point I'll probably get the upgrade of new firmware, but mating the electronics of different systems is more complex than the MF, preset aperture mode of the FD optics. Also, the de-centering gimmick probably would not work with a moving bayonet mount, though I have not explored that.
I took a shot this last week with my 90mm Canon Tilt Shift, which I always considered an excellent lens. I mated it to the Sony via the Metabones adapter. In addition to the tilt, I took a number of frames and used Helicon to stack them. Aside from the expected Helicon issues with even minor wind, I was disappointed with the edge sharpness of the Canon lens. What I used to not notice becomes an annoying defect with the high MP Sony digital "film" I am now using.
Paul
On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 12:48 PM, Ernst Dinkla ernst.dinkla@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
