What is the widest MF/LF lens?

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Yakim Peled
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p.1 #1 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

Requirements:
Excellent IQ (including very good flare resistance).
Rectilinear design.
Should be able to mount on M645 (adapters are O.K.).
Manual focus and manual aperture are a must.
Reasonable price (bar is not established yet).

Backround:
I have a Mirex TS adapter for M645 lens to EOS. I am considering the M645 35/3.5 which is ~21mm in FF terms. I know it is the widest M645 lens but I know nothing about other lenses e.g. Hasselblad. Therefore, before buying it I wish to make sure that it is the right choice for me.

TIA.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Jul 12, 2009 at 12:14 PM

jcolwell
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p.1 #2 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

Hi Yakim,

AFAIK, the widest rectilinear (i.e. not fisheye), manual focus, medium format lenses are the 35mm f/3.5 645 lenses from Mamiya and Pentax, and then the 40mm f/4 6x6 lenses from Hasselblad (Distagon) and Schneider-Kreuznach (Curtagon). There is a relatively new autofocus Mamiya 645 28mm f/4.5 lens, but it lists at $5700 US, and so it's not on most people's Mirex list.

I highly recommend the Mamiya M645 C 35mm f/3.5 N. Mark Husband's tests suggest that the Pentax-FA 645 35mm f/3.5 is the best in class. Regardless, the Mamiya C 35/3.5N is a damn fine piece of glass.

Jim

Jul 12, 2009 at 12:27 PM

Yakim Peled
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p.1 #3 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

1. Can the Pentax 35/3.5 be mounted on my Mirex adapter via another adapter?
2. Are there any Pentax 35/3.5 variations?
3. In which cases am I suppose to see IQ difference between the Pentax and M645? Please note that flare resistance is extremely important to me.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Jul 12, 2009 at 12:46 PM

AhamB
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p.1 #4 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

I think hubsand's test pointed out that there's a difference in corner sharpness, to the advantage of the Pentax.

Jul 12, 2009 at 02:53 PM

rhameed
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p.1 #5 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

Yakim Peled wrote:
I am considering the M645 35/3.5 which is ~21mm in FF terms.

I hope you realize that the FF equivalence has no meaning in this case and this would behave like a 35mm lens even on your FF camera.

Jul 12, 2009 at 03:52 PM

JohnJ
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p.1 #6 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

I've seen some large B+W prints from a 38mm Biogon Hasselblad shot on Kodak Tech Pan film. I don't think I've ever seen their equal in terms of sharpness, resolution and tonal gradation. There's a reason Hasselblad made dedicated wide angle bodies such as the 903SCW and that they still command the astronomical prices that they do! Of course their relevance to this digital world may be questionable but if sheer image quality is the key criteria then they still have a place.

JJ

Edited on Jul 12, 2009 at 04:07 PM · View previous versions

Jul 12, 2009 at 04:00 PM

ovredal73
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p.1 #7 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

rhameed wrote:
Yakim Peled wrote:
I am considering the M645 35/3.5 which is ~21mm in FF terms.

I hope you realize that the FF equivalence has no meaning in this case and this would behave like a 35mm lens even on your FF camera.

??
I guess he means that the field of view will be equivalent to 21mm on FF/35mm... I am pretty confident Yakim knows how all this works...

Jul 12, 2009 at 04:03 PM

rhameed
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p.1 #8 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

ovredal73 wrote:
??
I guess he means that the field of view will be equivalent to 21mm on FF/35mm... I am pretty confident Yakim knows how all this works...

Sure sure, I am sure he would know all this - just wanted to make sure - he seems to be planning to use it on an EOS body through an adapter so mentioning the MF FOV made me suspicious

Jul 12, 2009 at 04:10 PM

SoundHound
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p.1 #9 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

The 43mm F4.0 mounted on the Mamiya 7 (6x7cm) is at least as wide as the 38mm on the SWC and has a fine reputation.

Jul 12, 2009 at 04:40 PM

davenfl
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p.1 #10 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

I know this has not been mentioned but I got a bunch of adapters to mount the surprisingly excellent lenses I had for my old Kiev 645 on my EOS cameras. There is a MIR 20mm F3.5 (non fisheye) available with an EOS adapter. I also use the ARSAT 30mm f3.5 fisheye which really is out of this world. They are available a lot of places but here is a Canadian company that has been a very good source.

http://www.kremlinoptics.com/catalog/canon_eos_lenses.html

Dave

Jul 12, 2009 at 05:00 PM

Yakim Peled
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p.1 #11 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

ovredal73 wrote:
rhameed wrote:
Yakim Peled wrote:
I am considering the M645 35/3.5 which is ~21mm in FF terms.

I hope you realize that the FF equivalence has no meaning in this case and this would behave like a 35mm lens even on your FF camera.

??
I guess he means that the field of view will be equivalent to 21mm on FF/35mm... I am pretty confident Yakim knows how all this works...

Poor phrasing on my part. Sorry.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Jul 13, 2009 at 06:59 AM

plastic_lens
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p.1 #12 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

Kowa also made a very fine 35mm f4.5 rectilinear lens for their Kowa 6 series. I still have a Kowa 6MM with the 85 and 150. They are excellent. The 35 is very rare, and goes for a lot when it comes up for auction.

R.J.

Jul 13, 2009 at 03:00 PM

Yakim Peled
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p.1 #13 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

plastic_lens wrote:
Kowa also made a very fine 35mm f4.5 rectilinear lens for their Kowa 6 series. I still have a Kowa 6MM with the 85 and 150. They are excellent. The 35 is very rare, and goes for a lot when it comes up for auction.

R.J.

What? A 6mm lens? Details, man, details.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Jul 16, 2009 at 06:35 AM

Yakim Peled
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p.1 #14 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

Google search indicates that Kowa 6mm is a camera, not a lens. Am I right?

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Jul 20, 2009 at 09:22 AM

Jos Tesseract
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p.1 #15 · What is the widest MF/LF lens?

yeah, the 6MM is a funky Kowa 6 with MLU and the ability to take mulitple exposure shots.

Jul 21, 2009 at 01:19 AM


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