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Archive 2005 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass

  
 
Marco
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p.2 #1 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Guy Mancuso wrote:
The 50mm is better than that to be honest , not at home but i will shoot something that will show some great bokeh and actually it is better on the DMR because it is a longer lens. The longer the better with bokeh in general.


mmm... actually it is the opposite Guy, a 50mm on a FF camera will always show less dof-better bokeh, because with a "cropped" sensor you have to step back to frame the same subject, hence less dof.
Indeed the 50mm on the DMR isn't a longer lens, you only crop the outer zones from the 50mm.

It is the same old rule between 35mm, MF and LF, bigger format = less the dof, better bokeh(depending on the lens' characteristic), better '3d effect'.

Cheers



Oct 19, 2005 at 03:28 AM
DADDYWORX
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p.2 #2 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


marco,

this sounds very logical and is the opposite of what many crop fans talk about here at the board. i read many threads about this theme and i must say, that i think the same like you.

with FF i can go nearer to the object and still have the same frame filling, and the nearer you are to the object, the more the background blurs (which is what you mean with less DOF).

it is not only the aperture but also the distance that influences DOF, as you surely know.



Oct 19, 2005 at 05:40 AM
DADDYWORX
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p.2 #3 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


guy,

respect to your efforts. at a first glance i dont see how all this expensive lenses and modifications deliver a way better image quality, but i respect, when others are so much into something and love what they do and are convinced about their methods and their gear.

me personally, i could not spend all this time and money to then only find marginal improvements compared to other good PRIME lenses, that are cheaper.

the 50 mm shot in fact did not convince me at all. 15 mm at f8 is okay.

a question to the modifying technique, please tell me, why you had this HARSH cutting procedure inside the body!!!!!

if i would try this at home, i would make it outside, order for example a second mirror, modify it and then replace it.



Oct 19, 2005 at 05:44 AM
gdeliz2
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p.2 #4 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Just a thought about finishing the jagged edges of the mirror. Instead of polishing with a dremel tool, how about using a few brief passes with a micro torch such as on of these
[url=http://www.microtorches.com] to smooth the glass edges.

Of course, it's not my camera.

George Deliz



Oct 19, 2005 at 08:34 AM
Planetwide
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p.2 #5 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Marco wrote:
Thanks for your advice Guy.

I already have the Distagon 21 (indeed I was one of the first mad souls to mount it on a Canon, over two years ago) but day after day I'm using the 24-105L IS more because I found that at 24mm slightly stopped down it is not far from the CZ 21, strange as it seems.

Maybe I have a very good copy, but it is in a completely different league than all the copies of the 16-35L and 17-40L I previously owned, also better than the 24-70L I had a while ago.

I'm using less the
...Show more

Marco,

How well is the Chromatic Aberration controlled on the 24-105? Also are you one stop of wide or two?

Guy,

Did you happen to test the 21-35 wide open, and if so, how was the smearing?

Thanks

Andy



Oct 19, 2005 at 08:35 AM
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p.2 #6 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


DADDYWORX wrote:
me personally, i could not spend all this time and money to then only find marginal improvements compared to other good PRIME lenses, that are cheaper.



While the differences may be minor, they are present and real. It is comparable to buying cars, motorcycles or stereo gear. You can get a boom-box for $250, a decent sound system for $1250 and a very good system for say $2500. However if you are an audiophile and want the best sound available, that $2500 system only gets you about 80% of the way to excellent and you can hear the defects in it. If you want the best, you will have to put up with assembling separate components, usually from selected and different manufacturers, know how to hook them all together, then turn on three different devices and throw four different switches just to listen to a CD! You may even pay an extra $2500 for a turntable so you can listed to old records! And for all this added effort, you get to pay maybe 10 times as much -- $25,000 -- to gain that last extra bit of performance.

But this path is what separates "very good" from "excellent".

So obviously, undertaking this particular photographic journey is not ideal for everybody, but for those willing AND able to put up with the tradeoffs, it is the path to obtaining the best performance possible from their systems.

Cheers,



Oct 19, 2005 at 09:48 AM
Planetwide
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p.2 #7 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Guy,

I really want to buy this lens, but it has to be sharp into the corners by F5.6 - just wondering if you use this aperture much?

Thanks

Andy



Oct 19, 2005 at 10:10 AM
Pondria
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p.2 #8 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Jack Flesher wrote:
While the differences may be minor, they are present and real. It is comparable to buying cars, motorcycles or stereo gear. You can get a boom-box for $250, a decent sound system for $1250 and a very good system for say $2500. However if you are an audiophile and want the best sound available, that $2500 system only gets you about 80% of the way to excellent and you can hear the defects in it. If you want the best, you will have to put up with assembling separate components, usually from selected and different manufacturers, know how to
...Show more

The analogy makes sense and I understand your point. But it is a little off.
Cameras are analogue to the recording equipments.
CDs are to Photos.
And the Audio gear is analogues to your display monitor or printer.

Their performance has different leverage on the final experience.



Oct 19, 2005 at 10:32 AM
Cinstance
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p.2 #9 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Pondria wrote:
The analogy makes sense and I understand your point. But it is a little off.
Cameras are analogue to the recording equipments.
CDs are to Photos.
And the Audio gear is analogues to your display monitor or printer.

Their performance has different leverage on the final experience.


But I think the part about what separates "very good" from "excellent" is right on.



Oct 19, 2005 at 10:39 AM
charlesk
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p.2 #10 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Another way that the audiophile analogy applies is that in many cases it is at least as much about impressing people with the expense and "exoticness" of one's equipment as it is about the actual results. --c


Oct 19, 2005 at 10:48 AM
stevenD
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p.2 #11 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


charlesk wrote:
Another way that the audiophile analogy applies is that in many cases it is at least as much about impressing people with the expense and "exoticness" of one's equipment as it is about the actual results. --c


lol, did you ever see the Turtable that floats on water to further isolate it from motor noise/rumble?



Oct 19, 2005 at 10:51 AM
charlesk
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p.2 #12 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Never saw that one, Steven.

One time my brother-in-law made me watch some show that featured Fabio showing some dufuses around his mansion. In his stereo room he had a system he claimed cost 2 or 3 MILLION dollars. Cause hey, who could stand the crappy sound quality of one of those cheap-o $500,000 stereo systems?

He showed one of his speaker cables, which cost $9,000. For a cable. --c



Oct 19, 2005 at 10:58 AM
discreet
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p.2 #13 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Here is a thought for you Mr Mancuso...

Why not take a step further and mod the 5D even more...

Call it the 5Dm (Leica mount)

Remove the Canon EF mount and permanently mount your Leica mount onto the 5D. Put on a Split Prism or whatever for MF-ing...

Basically you will end up with a the best of both world. Great ISO performance and the ease of mounting every Leica lens in your bag!!!

Charge 1000 bucks more with the modified mirror and you will have people lining up to buy your modded 5Dm (Leica Mount)

You could make a 5Dm (Zeiss Mount) too!!

Maybe a Kit setup could go like this

5Dm (Zeiss Mount) + 21 Distagon for 8000USD or something.... the ultimate wide angle with good corners solutions...

Hahaha!!

That will definetly get the attention of Canon and the lack of wide angles....



Oct 19, 2005 at 10:59 AM
Cinstance
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p.2 #14 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


You put a Leica to EOS adapter on the 5D and do not take it off, then it is the 5Dm you are talking about.


Oct 19, 2005 at 11:03 AM
1Lieutenant
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p.2 #15 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Perhaps I am reading this wrong, but why the sarcasm, discreet?

I use a 10D with only Canon lenses and I will NEVER go to the effort and cost to use Leica or Zeiss lenses, but I find this reading fascinating. (If I didn't, I would just skip the thread). The fact that information pertinant to some Canon DSLR owners is present makes it relevant for this forum.

Steve



Oct 19, 2005 at 11:43 AM
Marco
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p.2 #16 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Andrew Gough wrote:
Marco,

How well is the Chromatic Aberration controlled on the 24-105? Also are you one stop of wide or two?


At f/4 the Distagon is sharper in the corners, but from f/5.6 it's hard to tell them apart even pixel peeping at 100% although my 24-105 is somewhat less sharp in the right edge.

The CA is better controlled in the Distagon, but the 24-105 isn't bad at all. Much better than my 45 TSE for example.

Vignetting is visible in the 24-105L @ 24mm even at f/8, while on the Distagon it is almost completely gone at f/8 and even at f/5.6 it is visible only against a uniform background.

Distortion is again better corrected in the Distagon, though in the 24-105L is easier to correct (the CZ needs a complex setting in PanoTools to correct its slight 'gull wing' distortion).

Note though that while vignetting, distortion (if not complex) and some CA could be corrected in PS, none can be done to softness, so I'd take sharpness over the rest anyday.

Overall the Distagon is a better lens, no surprise here, but if you stop down a bit (even at f/5.6) the differences are so small you have to compare identical images side by side at 100% on monitor or closely inspect the edges of two 24 x 36" prints to barely see them.

Obviously I tolerate the need of having to stop down to f/5.6 (the Zeiss is excellent even at f/2.8) only because I never shoot at fast apertures with wides and if I have to it's because I want to blur background behind a near subject and typically I don't need a perfect edge-to-edge sharpness.
In tele-range I do need all the quality wide open, so the opposite is true.

Last note: the 24-105 has IS, which allows to stop down heavily while handholding, not a minor feature for a wideangle...




Oct 19, 2005 at 11:46 AM
Marco
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p.2 #17 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Wait wait... I just read the thread about the supposedly "stopped" 24-105L production.

I then tried to replicate the strange flare on the 24-105 and here's what I got

http://i.pbase.com/v3/98/10898/3/50981668.24105flare.jpg

I never found this problem on my outdoor images but I didn't shoot into the sun since I bought the lens.
However the problem is there, no question.

I hope they'll address the issue



Oct 19, 2005 at 12:22 PM
Marco
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p.2 #18 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


This is Zeiss 21.

http://i.pbase.com/v3/98/10898/3/50982222.21Zeissflare.jpg

Not perfect but definitely better.



Oct 19, 2005 at 12:32 PM
Marco
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p.2 #19 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Turn baby, turn..


Oct 19, 2005 at 12:32 PM
Bob Parsons
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p.2 #20 · Re: 5Dm=Modified Mirror/leica glass


Leica 15mm/f3.5 (Zeiss) update:

Further investigation showed that on an unmodified 5D the mirror just catches on the sleeve that retains the rear lens cell. The sleeve also has a lip to protect the lens if you place it down on a surface. Since replacement sleeves may be available and it would be easy to have it machined down I decided to see if the rear lens would clear the mirror with the sleeve removed.

I removed the sleeve (unscrewed) and used single piece of soft surgical tape about 2/1000" thickness to protect the glass. The mirror hit the tape in the lens center with both adapters I have, Cameraquest and cheaper ebay one. Cameraquest is so marginal it may work with the tape removed, but that's the adapter which I think doesn't quite give infinity focus with the lens on the 1Ds2.

Unfortunately not a good conclusion - I'm still without very wide angle for the 5D unless I de-fish the 15mm fisheye

Bob.



Oct 19, 2005 at 03:54 PM
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