Comments on: Canon’s 20mm f/2.8 lens http://pindelski.org/Photography/2007/06/07/canons-20mm-f28-lens/ This journal discusses photography in all its guises with an emphasis on the art of making photographs. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:15:18 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Thomas Pindelski http://pindelski.org/Photography/2007/06/07/canons-20mm-f28-lens/comment-page-1/#comment-17630 Thomas Pindelski Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:46:04 +0000 http://pindelski.org/Photography/2007/06/07/canons-20mm-f28-lens/#comment-17630 Giovanni - the 20mm f/2.8 goes back in design, floating elements and all, to the old film, full frame Canon FD for the F1, which is some 40 years. It was state of the art back then, as Geoffrey Crawley of the British Journal of Photography reported, but has been surpassed since. To my knowledge, except for autofocus and more use of synthetics (no bad thing) the lens has been optically unchanged that long, meaning it's made for the full frame sensor. It's just not that great wide open and there's probably too little demand for Canon to invest in upgrading it. No problem - f/5.6 + grainless ISO 800 on the 5D works fine. I just got back with some more pix from this optic and we will see. I need to make some big prints. As for the Mamiya 645, some early thoughts on medium format digital appear <a href=http://pindelski.org/Photography/index.php?s=mamiya+645 target=_blank rel="nofollow">here</a>. I think the 'cheap' Hasselblad CFV back ($9k) with an inexpensive body + lens would work better for me than Mamiya's traditionally second rate execution - but it's impossible to tell as I have yet to use it. My Mamiya 6 had great lenses (albeit a very limited range) but was poorly made. Giovanni – the 20mm f/2.8 goes back in design, floating elements and all, to the old film, full frame Canon FD for the F1, which is some 40 years. It was state of the art back then, as Geoffrey Crawley of the British Journal of Photography reported, but has been surpassed since. To my knowledge, except for autofocus and more use of synthetics (no bad thing) the lens has been optically unchanged that long, meaning it’s made for the full frame sensor. It’s just not that great wide open and there’s probably too little demand for Canon to invest in upgrading it. No problem – f/5.6 + grainless ISO 800 on the 5D works fine. I just got back with some more pix from this optic and we will see. I need to make some big prints.

As for the Mamiya 645, some early thoughts on medium format digital appear here. I think the ‘cheap’ Hasselblad CFV back ($9k) with an inexpensive body + lens would work better for me than Mamiya’s traditionally second rate execution – but it’s impossible to tell as I have yet to use it. My Mamiya 6 had great lenses (albeit a very limited range) but was poorly made.

]]> By: GiovanniM http://pindelski.org/Photography/2007/06/07/canons-20mm-f28-lens/comment-page-1/#comment-17628 GiovanniM Fri, 08 Jun 2007 16:31:45 +0000 http://pindelski.org/Photography/2007/06/07/canons-20mm-f28-lens/#comment-17628 Thomas, is it perchance that the 20mm is really designed for APS-sized (Rebel) sensors? I bet corner sharpness at f/2.8 is not a big issue at that size. That's the problem with multiple sensor sizes: a lens cannot be all things to everybody! But at least, kudos to Canon for offering primes a-go-go. Nikon is lagging hard behind. Let alone not offering a full-size sensor... Comments on the new Mamiya 645? Thomas,
is it perchance that the 20mm is really designed for APS-sized (Rebel) sensors? I bet corner sharpness at f/2.8 is not a big issue at that size. That’s the problem with multiple sensor sizes: a lens cannot be all things to everybody!
But at least, kudos to Canon for offering primes a-go-go. Nikon is lagging hard behind. Let alone not offering a full-size sensor… Comments on the new Mamiya 645?

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