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Dpedraza
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Registered: Jan 8, 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 46
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Review Date: Feb 3, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $400.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Bokeh price build quality optics
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Cons:
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like all zeiss lenses the cap
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I bought this as my second Zeiss lens even though it didn't get the best ratings. The bokeh is pretty decent but I usually use this lens stopped down. Stopped down it's insanely nice. This lens was actually on my camera 97% of the time the other 3% of the time it was my Zeiss 21mm.
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 Feb 3, 2013
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Lars Johnsson
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Registered: Jun 29, 2003
Location: Sweden
Posts: 32276
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Review Date: Jan 5, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Build quality, Bokeh & OOF Blur,
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Cons:
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Large apertures at close distance, Funky bokeh at close distance
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Jan 5, 2013
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Peter Kirk
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Registered: Sep 25, 2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 304
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Review Date: Sep 1, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Sep 1, 2011
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Sami Ruusunen
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Registered: Jul 30, 2010
Location: Finland
Posts: 500
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Review Date: Aug 3, 2011
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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build quality, smooth focusing, very sharp at f5.6 from medium distances to infinity
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Cons:
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very disapointing at close focusing distances, poor wide open perfomance, focus shift, crappy lens cap
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I would not recommend this lens to anyone who is not sure what he is doing, it is capable of superb results in longer distances stopped down but the anemic close and wide open perfomance can be a disapointment for many. Try before you buy.
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Aug 3, 2011
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tororo
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Registered: May 26, 2010
Location: Japan
Posts: 6
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Review Date: Apr 4, 2011
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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Build quality, light weight, size
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Cons:
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Really soft border/corner from 1.4-2.0. Even at 2.8, corners are very soft.
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I tried many 50mm from six different brands (including Leica's summilux and Canon's 50/1.2) and I expected really good results from this lens. However, as some other reviewers mentioned, the performance between 1.4 and 2.8 turned out to be pretty disappointing. I sold this lens and bought Makro-Plannar 50/2 which is very sharp from corner to corner even at wide open! Bokeh is much better as well.
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Apr 4, 2011
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defleppard
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Registered: Aug 21, 2010
Location: Indonesia
Posts: 13
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Review Date: Apr 3, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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color rendition, bokeh, build quality
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Cons:
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focus shift, this is actually F2.0 lens.
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I just owned for a week and yesterday I used it on a safari park trip, exclusively full day. I was aware that this lens is manual focus before I bought it, so I do not put manual focus as a cons here.
Good things:
- Very unique color rendition and bokeh. I own L prime lenses: 24LII, 85L, 100L, and this CZ lens deliver different color and bokeh. I think this is more about personal taste.
- This CZ lens is also tack sharp, but only after F2,0.
- Build quality is excellent, body and hood are made from metal. But since there is no rubber sealing in the mount, this lens can not be categorized as weather sealed.
- Focus ring is smooth and precise.
Bad things:
- F1.4-F2.0 are quite soft, but still useable (I am not pixelpeeper).
- Focus shift. It happens if one changes the aperture during focusing. Solution: set the aperture before focusing or use focus bracketing.
- Terrible flare control. Only 50L better in this regard.
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Apr 3, 2011
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fsiagian
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Buy and Sell: On
Registered: May 23, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1212
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Review Date: Mar 8, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $450.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Smooth focus, color, zeiss rendering, sharp
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Cons:
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None
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Just got this lens. Super. It has a very unique characteristics. Nice colors and unique backgrounds. I really like the pictures it produces, much more than the nikon version.
AF is smooth, high quality lens, very well built. If you don't need AF, this lens is highly recommended.
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Mar 8, 2011
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Schuit
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Registered: Mar 10, 2008
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 10
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Review Date: Oct 27, 2010
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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This lens has a wonderful color rendition. It's heavy and made of first class materials. The finish is awesome and the focusring feels solid as a rock. From F 2.0 the lens is able to produce sharp pictures, if you are lucky
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Cons:
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Soft at F 1.4 till F 2.0, expensive, lucky guy when you make a sharp photo
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It's soft from F 1.4 to F 2.0. Very sharp from F 4.0 to F 6.3. If you make about 10 shots I think 2 of them are really sharp. The rest is out of focus or soft. You can solve this problem by using Live View and a tripod but hey; walking around with a camera and tripod at a party or making a stroll thrue the streets of Venice isn't the way I'd like to make my photos. I switched from Sigma 50mm F 1.4 to this 'real thing' but I doubt I made a very good move.
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Oct 27, 2010
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edwardkaraa
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Registered: Sep 27, 2004
Location: Thailand
Posts: 5731
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Review Date: Oct 25, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $800.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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All the usual Zeiss goodies.
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Cons:
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Dreamy effect at f/1.4
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Oct 25, 2010
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alexnichol
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Registered: Aug 13, 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Aug 13, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Build quality, size, weight, sharpness, resolution, colour rendition, vintage bokeh
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Cons:
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purple fringing under certain conditions, manual focus (not necessarily a con, but not a pro either), no good as a close-up lens
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Razor sharp right through, with a level of detail I haven't seen yet (I've owned a few L lenses). Barely any colour correction required, compared to Canon lenses which always give me an unnaturally warm tone.
I get purple fringing quite badly when shooting wide open in really high contrast conditions, but I'm convinced this is my lack of understanding of the lens, rather than a technical fault.
The thing that really does it for me is the aesthetic. It has a unique character to it that Canon and Sigma lenses can't reproduce, with the kind of bokeh you'd expect to see from a vintage european lens. It reminds me of my dad's old 1960's Helios 44-2 58mm.
Manual focussing can be tricky at times, especially when shooting candids, but it does force you to get to know your equipment in a way that auto-focus zooms do not.
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Aug 13, 2010
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mattrosc
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Registered: Feb 7, 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jul 23, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Good optical quality, good build quality. Typical Zeiss colour and contrast.
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Cons:
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Terrible focus shift.
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I had a love hate relationship with this lens. I had the ZE version on a Canon 5Dmk2. When used carefully it gave the same outstanding optical quality, colour and contrast we all have come to expect with Zeiss. However, I found focus shift to be a major hindrance to working with the lens. In fact the first time I used it (fortunately just a test series of shots) I got a lot of pictures with far distance out of focus. I learnied to live with this by using the manual stop down button on the Canon and then focusing. The quality of the lens is up with the best Zeiss lenses, but be aware of the focus shift issue. I have bought the 50mm Makro planar to replace it.
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Jul 23, 2010
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burningheart
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Registered: Mar 20, 2005
Location: Canada
Posts: 2106
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Review Date: Apr 13, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Contrast, colors, build, focusing, sharp
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Cons:
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Bokeh, darkened edges upto 2.8
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Great contrast and of all the Zeiss ZF's it naturally gives the 3d ish look more often without trying to deliberatly get it.
Of all the 50s I have compared this with (Canon 1.0L, 1.2L, 1.4, 1.8, 2.5 macro, Nikon E Series 1.8, zooms at 50 50-200L, 24-70L, ZF 50 F1.4 IR) this is by far my favorite 50mm landscape lens. The colors are more saturated than the others, it is sharper, and focuses more precise than the others. I will usally shoot at F11 but will go down to 4 for landscapes.
Don't like the Bokeh when shot wide open too harsh for my liking, so will often opt for a different 50 for flowers or landscapes when shooting F4 or less.
The corners have some darkeness upto F2.8 but this is very minor and not really an issue.
For IR users with RG715 it starts hotspotting at F8, with a B+W 093 it starts at F5.6.
I also have the IR ZF-IR version of this lens and it has no hotspots at all, but one time and one time only, I did get a hotspot at F8 with a B+W 093 but have never been able to duplicate it. The ZF-IR version has a slight reddish color when shot on a regular 5D,D700, S5 and is slightly softer than the non IR version.
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Apr 13, 2010
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Wilfredo
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Registered: Sep 13, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 808
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Review Date: Apr 12, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $649.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Solid build, excellent value. Extremely sharp with superior micro-contrast.
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Cons:
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FC can be slow at times.
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I live in the world of both Leica and Canon cameras. Leica glass has always been extremely expensive, and getting worse. The 50mm Zeiss is an exceptional value, and it will add to the DSLR experience of any photographer. I use it on my Canon 5D Mark II and simply thrilled with the handling, solid build, and the often mentioned 3D feel of the images it produces especially at twilight, on a beach. It produces magical imagery.
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Apr 12, 2010
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john_edwards
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Registered: Jun 30, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1837
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Review Date: Apr 8, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $660.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp enough to cut glass.
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Cons:
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None, now that I've re-learned how to manually focus.
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I bought this to be a walk around lens on the 1Ds2. It has taken me a while to get comfortable manually focusing again after years of autofocus but now its become second nature. This lens is probably going to be a gateway drug into Ziessland as there is such a thing as 3D, and this lens has it. It reminds me of when I moved from cheap glass to L glass, and now L glass to Ziess, there is a difference.
John
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Apr 8, 2010
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Liquidpics
Offline
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Registered: Jun 14, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 1107
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Review Date: Apr 8, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $725.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, color, contrast and dreamy bokeh
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Cons:
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AF would be nice when needed
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I can't believe it took me this long to actually try this lens. I was so used to or rather spoiled by AF. Realize, that all functions of an AF lens remain with this lens from full control of shutter and aperture control to focus confirmation in the camera. The only thing that the user has to do is manually focus which I find gives me more accurate focusing anyway. It's amazing. It shares the same bokeh as the Canon 50 and 85L's at f/1.2 and actually has better bokeh then the highly praised Canon 35L and just put's the 50L to shame in the focus dept., no more headaches. The vibrant color this lens produces combined with it's dreamy bokeh produces the "3D" images that are highly sought after. I am now as hooked to the Zeiss lenses as I am to Canons' L's.
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Apr 8, 2010
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prashant
Offline
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Registered: Apr 10, 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 436
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Review Date: Apr 6, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $570.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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great bookeh, fantastic handling, viewfinder of even a tiny 500D is a joy, craftsmanship
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Cons:
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expensive
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Apr 6, 2010
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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19
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25718
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Feb 3, 2013
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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84% of reviewers
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$614.25
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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9.95
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8.50
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8.7
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