Inexpensive fast lenses

My friend posted this up on facebook. looks promising.

http://noktor.com/products.php

f/0.95 50mm for only $750!!!! That is a steal. I remember another friend telling me about a Canon f/1.2 50mm for $1200!!!!

Of course we will have to see how the lens quality is.

Anyone else know of fast lenses for cheap?

I was looking into the nikon f/1.8 50mm, its like $100. I wonder if it is any good.

Solscud007 said:

My friend posted this up on facebook. looks promising.

http://noktor.com/products.php

f/0.95 50mm for only $750!!!! That is a steal. I remember another friend telling me about a Canon f/1.2 50mm for $1200!!!!

Of course we will have to see how the lens quality is.

Anyone else know of fast lenses for cheap?

I was looking into the nikon f/1.8 50mm, its like $100. I wonder if it is any good.

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I own and use one and the Nikon 50mm 1.8D is a great lens, performance far exceeds it's $100 price point. With DX based digital cameras it's focal length effectively becomes a 75mm, makes a great outdoor or portrait lens but a bit long for indoor candids. I also use a similar lens, the 50mm 1.8 Ai-S Series E which i use on my FM3a whenever i shot B&W film. The 50mm is such a simple lens design that there aren't any compromises in it's construction, even at that low price point.
You can check out Ken Rockwell's impressions here:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/5018daf.htm

Fast alone isn't best for stills. if critical image is your thing, you'll want to see chart tests to judge corner sharpness, chromatic aberration etc. Such a lens would be awesome for video (DOF adapter) however, where critical sharpness is less critical than for stills.

The key issue with any savings opportunity is why is it cheaper. Materials, workmanship, condition, company, location, timing. The last one is the trickiest and probably doesn't apply here.

The best guide to lens quality is here:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

But they don't list this brand. Could be a bad sign or maybe its just to new. But either way, its a risk. So you have balance the savings against that risk.

I use the Canon 50mm f/1.8. It cost in the region of £70.

The image quality is excellent, and it's a great way to experiment with the possibilities that f/1.8 opens up without laying down too much money.

Build quality leaves a lot to be desired, but something has to account for the low price. I've heard about a few instances of them breaking into two. I've dropped a SureFire M6 about 5 feet from a tree onto mine and it didn't damage it, beyond a small dent. The focus ring is the worst part, though. Really horrible to use.

Still excellent value for money, nonetheless.

Regards,
Tempest

I agree that the canon 50 1.8 is a lot of lens for $100. The 50 1.4 is significantly better though, and the 50 1.2L is a dream to work with.

Probably my favorite piece of fast glass is the Canon 85mm f/1.2L. At nearly $2k, it's not cheap though.

Solscud007 said:

My friend posted this up on facebook. looks promising.

http://noktor.com/products.php

f/0.95 50mm for only $750!!!! That is a steal. I remember another friend telling me about a Canon f/1.2 50mm for $1200!!!!

Click to expand...

No, its not a steal.
Its a CCTV lens reworked to have a M43 flange.
If you are really generous you could describe the look of the lens as "dreamy".
If you are less flattering, you can note that:
- Its so blury you wont be able to if a person has shaved the last few days in a portrait shot
- Longitudinal chromatic abberation is so bad that nearly everything thats not dark has purple/blue borders
- Its bokeh is horrible. OOF highlights look like amateur shots of an alien invasion fleet.

Yeah...if you're going to be shooting wide open with that thing bokeh had better be nothing less than amazing.

I've shot for years with the Nikon 50mm 1.4 and Canon 50mm 1.4. Also spent years shooting with a nikon 135mm F2.

I can honestly say I never did much work wide open, and with current AF systems and cruddy APS viewfinders the fast lens isn't as important as it was on MF film SLRs. Focusing on a single eyeball works a few times, but gets old.

I mean, shallow DOF (lots of Bokeh) is really key in many video shots that call for pull focus & follow focus. But even there, the process of making the shot is tricky. shallow DOF can be a huge problem for available light shooting with fast lenses, since it call for a less forgiving focus 'range'.
I'm a bit stupid, having only recently fallen in love with shallow DOF. Too much of my work is 'f64 club'. 1"-infinity in focus.

I have recently switched to using the Nikon 50mm F/1.8 D as my primary walkaround lens, and I have to say, paintballdad is right on the money. Put on a good UV filter, and you have a fantastic general purpose lens (although, as noted, the focal length is a touch too long for most indoor candids).

Additionally, I find that the fixed focal length has helped my composition immensely. Plus, with the fewer number of lens elements, the lens will produce sharper images than, say, a standard 18-55mm kit lens.

I have the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D and the Series E 50mm f/1.8, both are wonderful lenses, but for my D300 and D60 my new favourite is the DX 35mm f/1.8.

As for that Noktor....I would love to play...but not at that price

I have picked up a few used Nikon lenses from ebay. Know what the the lens is worth before you bid lots of money. I picked up a great 60mm 2.8f micro lens that had a dented front thread , (where a filter screws on ) it was a real easy fix with a small block of wood and a pair of pliers to straighten it out. I will admit, buying a used, dented lens has a certain amount of risk. After I straightened out the front, I put on a UV filter and the all is well.

The Nikkor 50mm 1.8 is excellent for the money...

If indoor shots are your thing, you might prefer the 35mm 1.8 on a DX camera...

Solscud007 said:

f/0.95 50mm for only $750!!!! That is a steal. I remember another friend telling me about a Canon f/1.2 50mm for $1200!!!!

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Doesn't mean anything...

First of all the link above showing Noktor lens is only to be used by Micro four third camera, in which the standard is currently owned by Olympus, Panasonic and Leica only, where the image circle is smaller than APS-C camera that you have to multiply 2 instead of 1.5 (Nikon) or 1.6 (Canon) to get its effective focal length.

Secondly the lens 50 f:/1.8 is only as good as when you want something that can be used to capture moments at low light without further consideration of its sharpness and bokeh quality. Believe me when the moment that you got is so good, people don't really care what lens you're using.

Thirdly, for people who wants to get their hands on ultra lowlight lens such as canon 50 f:/1.2 or 85 f:/1.2 or even the legendary 50 f:/1.0 canon which is already discontinued long time ago, usually they'll be awed first by its ability to capture picture at extreme conditions such as lit only by the light from the notebook / desktop monitor while pushing the limit up to ISO 3200 f:/1.2 with speed of 1/60. But later on you started cursing for its slow speed (esp 85 f:1.2 mk1 or 2) that you have to switch to manual focus. From my past experience as wedding photographer, my wife and I prefer to use the 85 f:/1.8 because of its much better speed in focus while still retaining all the sharpness needed. While for 50 f:/1.4 which I prefer over f:/1.8 because of its bokeh quality and for baby portrait it's quite important since it's only the subject and the bokeh which fills pretty much everything in the frame.

So in the end the decision is still yours to be made depending on your needs.

fabienne said:

Secondly the lens 50 f:/1.8 is only as good as when you want something that can be used to capture moments at low light without further consideration of its sharpness and bokeh quality. Believe me when the moment that you got is so good, people don't really care what lens you're using.

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Actually this isn't true at all, depending on what specific brand of lens you are talking about. Nikon's $125 50mm 1.8 is one of the sharpest lenses around, and just as sharp as my $500 50mm 1.4G.

It does however have some ghosting issues when shooting isolations on solid white, but that isn't an issue for most people...

Tempest UK said:

Build quality leaves a lot to be desired, but something has to account for the low price. I've heard about a few instances of them breaking into two.

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Indeed, I've seen/had a few fall apart.