Being a perpetually skint student and after lusting over the new Zeiss ZE lenses I thought maybe I could pick up an decent old lens for not very much cash.
So i'm looking for a wide(ish) angle and was thinking of perhaps trying the Zuiko 24 2.8 with EOS adapter (going on a 1Dmkii) or perhaps a Zeiss Contax ?
I realise they'll be manual focus but could I still set the aperture on the camera or are there any other issues?
I agree with Ken - lots of "re-mounting" in this forum.
Nikon Ai-S lenses do well on Canon EF mount. They are plentiful in the US, I don't see why the UK would be very different.
Try to get an adapter with a "dandelion" chip included, thus your body should give you the green circle if focus is correct. MF on AF bodies without focussing aids is hard (for me). No microprism collar, nor split-image rangefinder and I quickly goof at large apertures. Coupled with lower-end EOS bodies using murky pentamirrors and tiny viewfinders...
Personal preference, bang for buck? Mamiya M645 mounted via adapter. But 35mm is about the widest you'll (economically) find.
The Zuiko 24/2.8 is a fine lens. You should try to get a multi-coated version if you go this route, see https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/834999/. OTOH, I prefer the Canon EF 24/2.8 over the Zuiko. My overall favourite wide lens is the Contax Carl Zeiss Distagon 28/2.8, so it partly depends on exactly what focal length you really want. (I say 'wide' in the full frame context).
The 1DII finder is bright and I have no problem with manual focus lenses on it, or on the 5D. You're slightly behind the 8-ball with the 1.3x crop factor of the 1DII, at least for wide angles, but the 1DII has many advantagess to offer. Both the Zuiko and Distagon will produce excellent images for you.
cogitech wrote:
...or a proper focusing screen, or learn how to focus by scale, or...
I agree, but I prefer to have the focus confirmation as a "backup" of sorts. Sometimes I need to focus fairly quickly (as the OP might, since he has a "sports" camera of sorts...the 1DII) and if I just rely on my eyes, it takes too long sometimes. It's true that with a wide angle such as the Zuiko 24, precise focus isn't as difficult due to the relatively wide depth of field, but on other more "normal" lenses (if he decides to go this direction) focus can be a little more tricky (at least for me), especially when trying to use scale focus at wider apertures. Aside from use on very wide angle lenses, I am not a fan of scale focus at all as I don't feel that it is practical in many situations.
And for a little extra cash, I prefer to have the confirmation adapter. Of course, this is my opinion only! YMMV!
Nov 20, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Steve Spencer Online • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
I have the Zuiko 24mm f/2.8 with an AF confirm adapter. I like the lens a lot. It is quite sharp and is a very good deal, IMO. I got my adapter from on ebay from Big_IS and it works well. I like the EXIF data, but I don't use the AF itself really at all. I have the Ef-S focussing screen for my 50D and for me I find it is faster to focus by eye than with the AF confirm. This adapter is supposed to have AF microadjust, but since I don't use the AF I have never tried it.
I hope this helps.
weezintrumpete wrote:
I agree, but I prefer to have the focus confirmation as a "backup" of sorts. Sometimes I need to focus fairly quickly (as the OP might, since he has a "sports" camera of sorts...the 1DII) and if I just rely on my eyes, it takes too long sometimes.
A focus-confirm chip would be worse than nothing for sports. They only get you "close." Also, like Steve wrote, there is also a small amount of time needed for you to see the LED and then fire. You are MUCH better off just focusing & firing.
What I find much more difficult, for both sports and wildlife, is not having auto-exposure.
Anyway, I think focus-confirm is useless for anything except low-light shooting.
Cableaddict wrote:
A focus-confirm chip would be worse than nothing for sports. They only get you "close." Also, like Steve wrote, there is also a small amount of time needed for you to see the LED and then fire. You are MUCH better off just focusing & firing.
What I find much more difficult, for both sports and wildlife, is not having auto-exposure.
Anyway, I think focus-confirm is useless for anything except low-light shooting.
In my experience, which comes from shooting models in tight time situations as well as casual shooting, I find the focus confirm to be VERY helpful. When I review my shots afterward, I'd say that in ~90% of them, the focus is exactly where I wanted it. Of course, all focus confirm chips behave differently, and I may have just had good luck with mine. I started out using non-confirm adapters and my results (at least in focus accuracy) improved greatly once I got the focus confirm ones.
I don't see the harm in spending the little extra dough, trying it out for yourself and deciding what you think to be the best. All I'm saying is that in my experience, the focus confirm adapters have greatly helped me.
Think i'll chance the Zuiko 24/2.8 with a chipped mount as see how it goes. Would really prefer Zeiss as i'm sold on the contrasty shots and the bokeh but I cant find one for my budget (£150).
It'll mainly be for static or slow moving shots. I got the 1D for the 8fps thats true enough but I'll only use that with a telephoto for surf shots
Patrick, do you have the Ee-S focus screen? I seem to remember you saying that you have the stock screen. With the stock screen I think AF-confirm is the only way to go with lenses faster than f/2.8 as focus just doesn't show up otherwise. When I had my old 20D and the stock screen AF-confirm was way better than trying to focus by eye, but now that I have the Ef-S screen on my 50D I can focus better and faster by eye than I can using the AF-confirm. I don't know if other people's experience mirrors mine, but for me focus by eye with high resolution screen is better than AF-confirm either with the stock screen or a high resolution screen, which is better than focus by eye with the stock screen.
Steve, I do have the stock screen on my 5D, mainly because it seems like a pain to switch them out (shimming, etc). I've been meaning to order an Ee-s screen, but haven't yet. I'm also a little concerned since some of the lenses I use are slower than f/2.8 (Nikkor 20/4, Zuiko 28/3.5, 70-200L f/4) and I've heard that the screen is definitely darker.
Yeah it's pretty dark w/ F4 lenses, but you'll probably be using those in good light anyway so it makes up for it to a degree... anyway it only takes about 10 seconds to swap the other back if you ever need to.
