Chinese manufacturer SainSonic, which also makes an 8mm F3.0 fisheye prime lens as well as various floating music orbs and tabletop tube headphone amplifiers, has announced a new manual focus lens for APS-C cameras. It's called the Kamlan 50mm F1.1 (!) lens and it's currently offered in Sony E-Mount and Canon EOS M mounts, with a Fujifilm mount version coming soon.
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The lens has a claimed 11 circular aperture blades (claimed, because if you were to count the blades in the above mockup, you'd wind up with 9), and a fairly pedestrian five elements in five groups, though there's talk of high quality element coatings.
For more images and details regarding the lens, head on over to SainSonic. For some samples from the lens and comparative tests, check out Christopher Frost's video review on YouTube:
Some sample footage on GH5. Need to adjust focus back slightly when at infinity to get focus. Really this lenses is ideal for close up style shot wide open but remember its equal to 100mm length soyou have to get back from subjects... very usefull arty bokeh beast for inexpensive price and screws straight on to camera (no adapter). Crazy bright in low light so ND filter is a must have to open the lens up.
Yes, you would need to use crop mode with this lens. Nevertheless, it is not really designed to get optimum results on the full-frame bodies. Of course there are numerous other e-mount lenses which are especially designed for FF sensors, and some of these Sony-made lenses are called FE.
Again I see lots of sour grapes political comments (jobs, IP & child labour?! I guess yes, probably some well-educated smart 16yo Chinese kids designed it) . Despite all the prejudice and criticism in the past 50 years, China has moved on and is well on its way to become a bigger giant in design and manufacturing. To Sum up, this lens is well-priced, interesting and it will be well-made (for the asking price). For those who swear they don't buy anything from China, please make a speedy retreat into the woods from globalisation and competition, or China may keep making offers they can't reject.
Do-gooder "we know best" libs would rather the Chinese kids back working in the rice paddies for 10x less than they'd make in factories. Or worse, they just can't understand why these kids would have to work and not just live of their parent's dime until they are 30, like they do.
If Sainsonic can make a lens with this specification, why haven't Sony, Canon and Fujifilm already made one? Is it because there's no market for it, or because it's simply not possible to make one to Sony/Canon/Fujifilm quality standards at a realistic price?
The specification of this lens may be good, but the glass isn't. So the cheapness of the glass is reflected in the low, low price. If Sony, Canon and Fujifilm made one up to their level of quality, what would it cost?
I have seen the video few days ago buy if I remember it correctly, he says that he would like to have the focusing ring to be more precise/fine. I think that if you shoot this lens wide open with close subject in order to achieve shallowest depth of filed , you just need to focus into the desired 'zone' as accurately as the ring allows and then fine tune with moving/leaning backward or forward to pint-point you desired focus point. This is a good technique for closer shots/close-ups with big aperture manual focus lenses. Even with AF lenses, if one has good OVF/EVF and good eye sight, using AF to pre-focus into the 'zone' and then fine tune with forward/backward movements. This is obviously harder to achieve on tripod but if you shoot on tripod I guess you have the time to pinpoint the focus with ring only.
Focus peaking is allowing for manual focus lenses like this one to work. I bet it is driving the camera companies crazy, but it's good for the consumers.
I would say that hi-res EVF and magnification is more important than peaking in case of shooting with shallow depth of field. If you shoot close subject like head-shot wide opened, you want to absolutely pinpoint the focus point and peaking can be actually a distraction here. I dare to say that peaking is more useful in video and mid range shots where any slight or even bigger focusing error will be hidden by greater depth of field. So many times with manual lenses, in combination with good big hi-res evf and good eye-sight, you don't even need to use any tool like peaking and magnification, just like you would not with good big and bright OVF. And then there is a hard stop at infinity and if the lens is calibrated precisely at that hard stop the land/city and other 'scapes ' photography is a breeze. I have calibrated my FD primes to focus to infinity accurately on hard-stop and it is a pleasure to shoot them adapted on Sony A7 :-)
Too bad it isn't made in Thailand or Taiwan. If it was, I'd probably buy one.
Just kidding. I buy Chinese products all the time, though I do try to find alternatives that are made in other countries, because I want to try to help other countries develop too.
Well, it sounds reasonable to me that a Chinese company could achieve that. That's what China's for. To make companies from developed countries---that have been the ones spending more in development and quality of production, in safety, in labor costs, etc---look like greedy companies in the eyes of folks that don't mind where a product is produced, the story behind it or behind who makes it, and all the effort to make the wellbeing of each employee a very high priority. Chinese companies are the antithesis of all that. I don't buy Chinese products (unless I have no choice, of course) and Trump is right when he tries to review trade agreements.
America has used its trade agreements over the years to press for improvements in worker conditions, environmental practices and IP concerns. Trump has actually retreated from agreements that advance these protections. As for China, he is ignorant of the role they have played. He is only interested in his personal economic advantage as evidenced by his schizophrenic comments on the topic. So don't think that blowhard pronouncements made on the campaign trail to people who have no understanding of what trade policies are, how their jobs were affected by AMERICAN corporate action, or simple economics are going to have any meaningful benefit to Americans when, if implemented, would actually accelerate the damage to American workers. I would note that in the last week other nations have been signing significant trade deals that effectively disadvantage the US precisely BECAUSE of Trump's reckless pronouncements.
Photomonkey We have to ask ourselves why do the Chinese produce cheap products. Is it because those are poor quality products or because of the child labor abuse, or maybe because we cannot name ONE US lens manufacturer. Do you believe that children are producing those lenses??
Oh yeah, the iphone lens, designed in the US made in China... LOL! And last year I'm buying souvenirs from Kennedy Space Center, guess what, keyholders and stuff - all made in China! And I'm thinking, a sacred institution, the US pride and joy - NASA buys the keyholders branded "NASA" from China. Not happy.
@martindpr, Countries like China can build manufactured products more cheaply because of the huge advantage they have due to Globalization treaties, signed by Obummer and others. Trump initially refused to sign more of these treaties and vowed to roll back the old ones. What will really happen is debarable because it looks like the Deep State has wrested control away from him.
Iam sorry but so called "trade agreements" are not trade agreements at all. They are investor rights agreements. They are there to circumvent laws, to bypass environmental laws that are too strict according ot multinationals in some countries and they are certainly not meant to protect any workers. they tend to be highly protectionistic too. If people would actually be aware of what current proposed trade agreements mean there would be a huge protest. Which is why they are kept secret, in order not to create opposition to them.
I think that Trump's concern with the deal agreements is legitimate and many people have the same concern. I hope he does a good thing. Once it has gone a long way like that, I don't think everything can be changed, but to some degree, yes. China's job conditions are mostly very different from, to have only one example, the US. This is very known. The country is not as open and democratic as the US are. Most abuses are not reported.
It is simply IMPOSSIBLE for a country to do what China does, make and sell products with great features and acceptable quality for such a low price, or with equivalent quality, but still cheaper, or the same price, but superior quality, and also make extremely close copy of products of all sorts, like even cars (like the Range Rover Evoque I saw another day) and get away with it, without playing by rules that goes totally on the contrary to the of the US.
China is a not a fair player, and it shocks me how the US have let them take advantage of that.
In relation to American companies making products in China, that's the only way they have to compete in the US market itself. The quality standards when it comes to production is, I believe, the same to those of a factory in the US. But, when it come to the workers, the company has to play by the country's laws, which is good for the company, but still plays against the US since the jobs are overseas.
Folks are not realizing how big the problem is. Once China overcomes the US economically and militarily, don't think they will shake hands with Americans and top on the shoulder and be friends and stuff. China will make the US bow down and make Americans' (and other nationalities') lives hard. China's culture is different. Quite different.
Maybe I'm exaggerating, but well, if Trump gets to at least diminsh China's unfair play, he will have done a good thing already.
And nothing quite like a little bit of blatant bigotry to start the morning. And sadly the moderators see fit to leave this sort of racist rant on the forum. Can you imagine the outrage if the boot were on the other foot.
Nonsense! Trump campaigned on getting out of the Globalist treaties, which have moved millions of manufacturing jobs out of the USA into "third world" countries, where they can employ cheap, often slave, labour.. The end result is the impoverishment of countless American workers who no longer have jobs.
@Paul JM Intolerance? Racism? Haha! I had already had one comment removed when I criticized the fact that a DPR author posted one picture containing a stupid text (in my opinion) about blacks and gays and stuff. Although I think I did nothing wrong and the removal was just because the moderator hates Trump, I learned my lesson. This is his "house," and I'm a guest. That said, I wouldn't write anything truly racist and intolerant. Sometimes what one believe to be facts can simple be confused. Just that. Perhaps because of crybabies' mindset like yours. Ask for clarification before wishing me getting stoned.
If they ever do it again though, it still represents the kind of freedom private companies are supposed to have, which is to decide who to serve or not, and I would support it even that happening to me. Grow up, man.
@captura, The jobs that were moved overseas was a simple business decision. China represented a cheap source of manufactured goods, shareholders demand bigger profits every year, close the factory here and open shop in China. Voilá! Instant profits. More ridiculous was the agreement by US firms to hand over their IP and trade secrets as a condition of doing business in China. So you see it is basic American corporate greed (what some call free enterprise) that has driven jobs overseas, driven wages down and created the sort of social tension that has been exploited by other self serving individuals and groups for their benefit. Again, always at the expense of the American worker. Yes, a lot of the trade deals are self interested deals for companies. But at the same time they keep us in the game at some level as opposed to being completely screwed by being hosed by protected industries (1970's Detroit anyone?) or losing entire industries completely (steel, beef, wheat, and lumber)
Spot on Vanitas Photo. And the only people more bored are the rest of we fools who have to wade through it to read about what appears to be an interesting lens
What's racism? Is it criticizing breaches and abuses? Is it tolerating malevolent and intrusive foreign interference? Or child labor exploitation, non existent environmental control, corruption in 3rd world countries, etc. Well, if that's racism then damn be the world! HAving said this, the richest countries should do more in terms of control and improve the legislation of the poorer countries (China), by increased NGO presence, missions of some sorts etc... But then again, how much would this lens cost then and would it be as affordable as now?
You'll have to cut Paul a break...people have been programmed to cry "Racism!" any time they hear something they do not like or that makes them feel uncomfortable. It is a programmed response, and he probably did not even realize he did it.
And for those of you wondering WTH happened, it is well known that any criticism of Obama is racist since he is half-Kenyan.
People had a lot to say about this subject back during the Korean war when photojournalists started putting Japanese lenses on their German cameras. The last mainstream US professional camera I can think of is the Speed Graphic.
US trade policies probably have little impact on where cameras are made. But my understanding is that the main argument is: do US consumers benefit enough from being able to buy cheaper goods to justify any loss of jobs? Consider how many mom and pop stores were closed by Walmart... devastating small towns.
Long term don't workers have to compete over higher skilled jobs due to the increased role of automation? Balancing all of these competing interests is difficult as there are winners and losers from each decision.
This discussion is so stupid... The jobs shipped to China are the blame of greedy business owners in the USA amd the rest of the world, who want bigger margins of profit, where do you think Ivanka's product are made?
Globalization benefits international big companies and consumers. It reduced the cost of moving goods from one country to another. Most if not all high tech products use different parts manufactured all over the world. "Made in China" is actually assembled in China.
Indeed we don't really know for sure, until somebody tries it. I have an excellent little 7.5 mm f3.5 lens for M43, very sharp. And I read this thing by someone who adapted this lens to his Sony e- APSC body and it worked just fine. No vignetting. He only needed to cut the petals back on the fixed lens hood.
I have to say that in the link you posted, the aperture sure does look nice and symmetrical - indeed much better in this respect than some *very* expensive lenses from certain highly regarded manufacturers.
I look forward to seeing some samples from this lens!
I hope they make a version with an APD (Apodization Filter) like the Sony 100mm STF or the Fuji 56mm 1.2 APD. This is Manual Focus anyways. Even if you loose a couple of stops of light that would be still ok since its a f1.1 lens. If they could improve the Bokeh with that APD Filter, that would be awesome.
The apodization infatuation seems ripe for being upended with a screw on filter. I get that the filter being near the aperture would work better but the filter would get you 80-90% of the way for less money and the advantage of a lens that is actually fast with the filter removed.
The further an apodization filter is from the aperture, the more it will affect vignetting rather than bokeh. The effect of such a screw on filter, while perhaps artistically pleasing, will not be "80-90%" of one properly placed. The only manufacturer I know of with such a filter for sale is Reynard and they are not cheap.
The problem with screw-on apodization filters is that they won't be universal. Each lens requires its own design, due to the way the filter interacts with the optical formula.
years ago i bought off ebay a hexanon 58mm 1.2 to mount on my ep1.... i still use it with my pen f and fuji cameras
i love the look of it .. it is a crisp lens with solid oof rendering . but my fuji 56 1,2 is clinically sharper but somehow lacks the charm and the radioactive yellowed lens elements and of course the incredibly good build solidity and helicoid precision for manual focus ... important in super fast prime s
if i didnt have those lenses i would seriously consider this bargain ... cause sharp in the center is enough sometimes ... and the price is amazing
Wow! That sounds a lot faster than f1.2! Think of what you'll be able to do with that... because I can't think of any purpose. Seheesh, today's newsbag reads like an old Spiratone ad.
I think it will be useful in low light situations where subjects are distant enough to provide reasonable depth of field. For the price, it could be a fun lens for outdoor parties in the evenings.
These type of lenses are great. They are not as sharp as an Otus but for their price, it's a fantastic deal. The pixel peepers will harp on about vignetting, poor corner sharpness, etc. But who cares for portraiture.
Or course you can read Thai, there is something called Google Translate. It does read like a Japanese brochure of the 1950's. But that doesn't mean it isn't a great lens.
During this two year period Feel the product of the rotating lens of the dragon is flourishing. New products. Launched almost every month. And many lenses. That is enough to see the lens. It makes me cry often. Because the lens from China. Often, the lenses are a must-have for the public.
Thanks to the brothers from the dragon before. Hard work Construct a lens at a friendship price. Out to the public, the rotary used it.
And thanks to the dealers in Thailand. Image Trading (Thailand) Co., Ltd. lends the kamlan 50mm f1.1 lens to this experiment.
brian wig ...i just copy pasted google translate .. but i see you've already delighted us with Thai "chinglish" kinda ... During this two year period Feel the product of the rotating lens of the dragon is flourishing. New products. Launched almost every month. And many lenses. That is enough to see the lens. It makes you cry often because the lens from China. Often, the lenses are a must-have for the public.
Thanks to the brothers from the dragon before. Hard work Construct a lens at a friendship price. Cranking out to the public to use it
and appreciate dealer in Thailand corporate image Trading (Thailand) Co., Ltd. to borrow lenses 50mm f1.
The image closest to the image that comes out of the camera, most of it is auto contrast Low taken with the A mode. If the body is sony, set the profile: Landscape Sat 0 SHp 0 Con if the body is olympus I use. 1 i-enhance mode Other settings It can be viewed from the exif in the picture.
Actually, Google Translate was the first thing I did... partly to make sure it was actually written in Thai.
But frankly, I suspect a *lot* gets lost in translation (especially automated "machine" translation), so I stand by my original post, which at the end of the day was simply intended to share what are apparently photos imaged with this lens.
Bokeh is rather busy, not "creamy" at all even at 1.1. Not attractive. I am not a Canon/Sony shooter, all I know is that many Nikon MF lenses would do better than this lens for the same price. I would assume the same would be true, at least for Canon. But maybe there are less options for Sony/Canon because of newer mounts.
Thanks for the link. Technical data on a page doesn't say the real story that the simple selling point of a few images to view can convey. My first instinct was 'this is a sure thing, for the money'. Now I'm not so certain. I would like something to use in the dark of night on video mostly, and stills just because the lens would be handy. That very shallow DOF with fall off of focus halfway across the focal plane at wide open gives me second thoughts.
@jonathan, I wonder if there is any special significance to the the lens being mounted on a NEX-3, in the first image? Are they trying to say that this lens enhances the old 14 mp sensor?
The heck with the lens, I am sure f 1.1 is just horrible.
Now that floating bluetooth music orb is amazing!
You get enough of those placed around your office, you will never need to work again! Your boss or some angry customer will show up irate about your slacking, but then they see several floating music orbs and then forget what they were mad about or why they were even there.
"Hold on there Janet, I know you need to take your emergency anti-seisure medication, but have you seen Bob's floating music orbs?"
this is nothing new really. Kamlan is the actual manufacturer. http://www.kamlan.com.cn/ These lenses were also already announced several years ago under the Kodak/Sakar moniker, as some searching will tell you. Sain Sonic seems to be primarily an electronics shop, I guess they are distributing the lenses now in the US. In Asia you can get these lenses already, here are some samples on a Thai forum: https://pantip.com/topic/35416488
Sounds like a winner to me. Good start, but there are too many players in the 50mm lens market, although not in the f/1.1. I hope they come up with good zooms soon, like 16-35mm, and 24-105mm, and keep their prices sane (or "Sain" :-) ... ).
@DPR, Article says this lens is for APS-C cameras. But the supported systems are Sony E-mount, Canon EOS-M and Fujifilm mounts, which are mirrorless systems. Does it mean this lens is not compatible with APS-C DSLR because of their longer mount-to-sensor distance ?
"To be fair, they said "for APS-C cameras", which in no way implies "for *all* APS-C cameras" I do not share your logic. When no restriction is specified, it is implicitly "for all", to me... And I am ready to bet that many people have the same logic than me... ;-) The same logic applies to freedom : I think we should live in a world where freedom is implicit for everyone and restrictions explicitly stated.
@Sacher Khoudari, " no one complains that they support all FF DSLRs except Pentax." You are wrong... May I suggest you to be more attentive when reading DPR readers' comments ? ;-)
You get what you pay for, although not always. The Canon EF 50mm 1.8 STM is around the same price (or cheaper) than the Sainsonic... and it also outperforms the far more expensive Canon 50mm EF 1.4 USM (compare the two on DxO mark). Conclusion: the Sainsonic is pointless.
if you had a choice between a cheap manual-everything gimmick that's crap until stopped down to f/1.8 or beyond, or a much better quality fast-focusing, auto-aperture, manufacturer's own lens that's far better than its price suggests, which would you really choose? Be honest now.
There's nothing I've seen about this lens that indicates its IQ is any worse than the 50 STM down to 1.8. Canon's 50 1.8s are just not very good down below ~2.3-3.5; too much CA and a bit soft. It's the same optical design from 30+ years ago.
Honestly, I'd get one of those Chinese ones (Camlens? I cannot pronounce it right though). Print it or view it full screen and I betcha it's gonna come out great.
an f 1.1 lens is the same speed for mf full frame apsc m43 nikon 1 pentax q
lens equivalence is about the relative look of oof rendering and subject isolation that changes for a given focal length on larger or smaller sensors at a given lens speed
but light delivered to the sensors, for exposure ,at least ...is the same
EF 50mm 1.8 STM doesn't have the greatest bokeh. It only has 7 aperture blades. This Sainsonic appears to have much smoother bokeh. The specs say that it has 11 aperture blades. But even if it just had 9 aperture blades, that would still be an improvement over the 50 STM's 7 blades. Plus, to use the Canon 50/1.8 EF (or any Canon EF/EF-S lens, for that matter) on a mirrorless body, you'd need an adapter.
"1.1 in APS-C isn't equivalent to 1.1 at FF." Absolutely incorrect. The f-number is a measure of the amount of light per square unit of sensor area that an optical system allows in. f/1.1 is f/1.1 regardless of whether it's projecting onto a medium format sensor or a Pentax Q sensor. Mangling f-number by crop factor is a myth that needs to die. Crop factor is exactly (and ONLY) what it says: the amount of the image (expressed as a reciprocal square root that can be used to calculate relative field of view and depth of field for otherwise identical exposure settings) that is cropped out relative to a full-frame sensor. A 50mm focal length is still 50mm on APS-C but due to the sensor crop it has the same field of view as 85mm on full-frame. The f-number and focal length don't change.
If you mean that depth of field is reduced because you have to step back further to get the same framing on a cropped sensor then you're correct...but that's not what you actually said.
Jody Bruchon so in other words they are not equivalent lol. Put the same lens at the same aperture on a different format and you will get a different photograph. Crop out a piece of a photo and magnify it to the same viewing size and you will get a different photograph. Not a difficult concept
The f-number system is relative to the optical system, so yes, for identical settings and distance they are 100% equivalent, one is just a crop of the other. Because of the crop, you have to re-frame to capture the subject with the same proportions inside the frame. That doesn't mean the f-number isn't equivalent everywhere, it means that when you're shooting cropped you have to re-frame for the subject to remain inside the cropped frame. The properties of light have not changed; the person taking the photo changed the parameters. Step back two feet with your full-frame camera and the exact same thing will happen. Compose differently and you get a different photo? Oh wow, what a revelation, you're so much smarter than the rest of us!
Good move to introduce a manual focus large aperture lens on mirrorless. Because of focus peaking. Also good they left Fuji for last cuz there's already the 56mm 1.2.
Focus peaking on f1.2 is not accurate enough. Trust me, I have a canon fd 85mm f1.2L. Wide open on nex7 and a7r I need to magnify to be sure it is in focus.(whilst pixel peeping). Actually, a 50mm f1.4 has the same issue.
Which is 1000 dollars: in case people who want a large aperture lens have already purchased the Fuji one. No similar lens made by Sony for E mount or Canon for eos M to my knowledge.
Agreed. With focus peaking, I can get very sharp shots from my Rokkor 58/1.2. I can even get my subject sharp at the edges or corners if I want to compose for that.
It may have a non-flat focal plane, particularly at f/1.1. I have a number of older wide aperture lenses with curved focal planes. Normal tests of flat charts result in "poor corners" but that is often due to the focal plane and not the corner performance itself (or both, of course). I am finding that with focus peaking I can often get excellent results with my subjects at edges and corners.
@paul613, this link shows the lens mounted on micro 4/3 cameras so it is available somewhere. https://pantip.com/topic/35416488 The photos they show at the link are very busy.
@georgia hiker, the Olympus pictured was using an adapter. Here's the Google translation from the Thai: "The lenders he lends. I borrowed a Micro 4/3 mount. Because it can be attached to the adapter with sony. Will try the body olympus with sony body. If anyone wants to mount sony or Fuji do not have to convert the end. He has made out mana. Put on the olympus camera and it's a good camera too."
Had one for my a6300 - not a bad lens, especially considering the price (I got mine new for $135 on the bay). The copy I had was reasonably sharp in the center at f1.1, but never really got really sharp, even after stopping down. I was definitely surprised at how small it was - easily 20-30% smaller than the Rokinon 50mm f1.2. For the price, I think it's a great value, but decided to stick with the Rokinon for its sharpness and color.
Just because DPReview hasn't announced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. However, if you want evidence of my time-travelling abilities, you can see that I previously posted the lens for sale (before it was released!!!) on the Sales Forum - including a link to pictures of the actual lens.
Every time I see one of these I get one step closer to trying to adapt my Rokkor-X F1.4 50mm lens to EOS, but then I remember I want a 32-35mm lens... *sigh*
Looks perfectly reasonable. So, let's hope this helps bring prices on classic old f/1.2 50-58mm lenses back down to earth.... For example, the Minolta Rokkor 58mm f/1.2 is a truly outstanding lens, but it's often at $500 or more, while I think it's real value is more like $300-$350 (which I paid for mine).
A CCTV lens of that spec would be unlikely to cover APS-C so well.
There's plenty of Chinese lenses around that are made specifically for photography these days. SLRMagic sell a 50mm 1.1 which is probably the same design as this and definitely not a glorified CCTV lens like they used to sell.
The bokeh looks good - like a pricier 50mm f/1.4 lens
If anyone is looking for 50mm, I'd suggest konica hexanon f1.4 for $90. dramatic and melty non-circular bokeh (like impressionist fine art), sharp wide open.
This company producing under the brand "Kamlan" 3 lenses - this very small 50/1.1 for mirrorless cameras (street price in China is about 120 USD and as i see in online shop here he is very popular lens), and also 2 lenses for APS-C DSLRs (Canon, Nikon and Sony) - 85/1.4 and 55/1.2 - they cost about 380 USD. All lens are very high quality, last two of them made also very good.
Very good price for what it is, don't forget "Noktor" once tried to sell a F/0.95 CCTV lens for $700. At least this appears to be actually designed for photography!
If it has half decent central sharprness wide open it would be worth the price of entry.
A nice characterful lens without any pretentious use of a long defunct name and over inflated price tag.
"Makes MFing with focus peaking a snap." - focusing on what? A tree or a building - yes, perfectly fine. Manual focusing a f1.1 lens on a human being totally ruins all experience, 80% of the shots are OOF. If the lens is used closed to f4 and slower it`s ok, but why bother with f1.1 to shoot closed down?..
Exactly. Might as well pay the same money for a manufacturer's own 50mm f/1.8, and get auto focusing, auto-aperture, crisp quality. Would love to see DxOMark's analysis of this lens.
I've taken plenty of MF portrats at 1.2....how do you think people managed on full frame @1.2 before AF? And plus with digital you have room to take several shots to up your chances.
I`m not saying it`s impossible to shoot with manual focus wide open. It`s just much harder than with AF, and you`re gonna lose LOTS of precious moments shooting kids, family etc. Been there done that. Generally not worth it, except for landscapes. Focus peaking and MF is way overrated and overhyped here on forums.
Fine for anything static or anything that is predictable so you can prefocus. Also fine for street photography or any situation where you can use hyperfocal focusing.
There's an awful lot besides landscapes.
It's definitely going to be an exercise in disappointment for anything moving erratically but there's a lot of other uses.
"Also fine for street photography or any situation where you can use hyperfocal focusing." Hyperfocal distance for 50mm APS-C lens at f/1.1 is 120 meters (73m for f/1.8 which I`ve shot extensively in manual). Shooting at hyperfocal at 50 mm+large aperture is not very useful. Even static portraits are much better with AF, you can easily get multiple shots with different expressions quickly, not being slowed down by MF. Yes, I know MF can be useful sometimes. That`s why every AF lens can be focused manually.
It is overrated in my opinion, because it doesn`t suddenly make MF so great as it is stated numerous times on forums. It`s still required to zoom in and double-check the focus 95% of the time. You can MF a 50mm lens at f/4..8 no problem with or without peaking. On the other hand, MF at f/1.8 or wider - which is mostly used for shooting people - is very limiting and I wouldn`t recommend it to anyone, except when you sure know what you`re doing.
People who use f/1.1, f/1.2, f/1.4 manual focus lenses go after soft/romantic, more flat curve look. Sharpness is hardly an issue if you have some practice and experience with manual lenses.
I've had one for a few months now. Solid build. Not bad IQ at all. Nicely sharp in the middle, but takes a while for the sides to catch up. Bokeh is smooth till you go outside on a sunny day. Gets harsh on high detail backgrounds. On the bright side, the bokeh always appears round. Either way, totally worth the low price.
Samyang 50mm F1.2 costs more than double than this lens, but at least maintains good image quality wide open well outside the center. Bokeh gets busy if you shoot >5 meter away subjects and especially around f/2. Unfortunately I notice field curvature near infinity when stopped down.
Bokeh is not great on the EF 50/1.8. It only has 7 aperture blades. I find bokeh on the 50 STM to be a bit harsh and distracting. The bokeh on this SainSonic looks better, much smoother.
@Cosinaphile: I agree for Prime lenses such as this one. For Zooms it does make a difference because they close slightly wide open. Especially on constant aperture lenses. There is no other way to have a constant aperture throughout the zoom range without stopping down a bit wide open.
This could be great option, all being good, on a Fuji XT2. Slightly wider than the 56, slightly faster. I tend to manual focus anyway with the 56 in some portrait situations, though it has to be said: the shallow depth of field might just be too shallow for some situations, and that's at 1.2... 1.1 is pushing it a bit.
Yes, but a lens objective typically gets bigger not just with the focal ratio but also with the sensor size; the Canon 50/1.2 is designed for FF whereas this 50/1.1 is for APS-C.
50mm is 50mm. It doesn't matter what you put it on. The f-stop is the ratio of the entrance pupil size to the focal length, so in this case, that means the entrance pupil must be 50/1.1 = 45.5mm. The filter size is 52mm, so the space between the outer edge of the lens and the filter thread has to be (52-45.5)/2 = 3.3mm. If the space between the thread and the outside of the lens is more than 3.3 mm, then it is not an f/1.1 lens. This math works whether the lens was designed for full frame or APS-C.
The lens objective is not the entrance pupil; it is in front of the entrance pupil. Therefore, for a given focal length and focal ratio, the size of the lens objective needs to be bigger if the sensor is bigger (i.e., the field of view is wider).
The lens objective is irrelevant to determining f-stop. What counts is the size of the entrance pupil. Note that the entrance pupil is a virtual pupil. It is the image of the physical pupil as viewed through the objective. So the objective needs to be at least as big as the entrance pupil. But it is the entrance pupil size that determines the f-stop.
A lens designed for full frame for the same focal length needs to cover a wider field of view than does one designed for a crop sensor, so you're right, the objective is likely to be larger. However, the entrance pupil is the same size for the same f-stop. It just fills up a smaller portion of the objective on a lens designed for full frame than on one designed for APS-C. In both cases, a minimum bound for the size of the objective is the focal length times the f-stop, so in this case, 50mm * 1/1.1 or 45.5. It does not appear to be that large in the picture.
It's possible I'm mistaking the lens hood for the filter thread....
If the front element is just a little smaller than the aperture, it's still OK there will just be some vignetting. That would affect T-stop, but not F-stop.
Victor. Yes, of course. My comment was directed at explaining why the Canon 50/1.2 for FF requires a larger filter (and has a larger objective) than this 50/1.1 for at APS-C. Perhaps I misunderstood you. Why did you mention the filter size on the Canon 50/1.2?
I mentioned the filter size because it serves as a reticle to determine the size of the entrance pupil. Using the picture on this news item, I measure the diameter of what seems to be the filter thread. That is 52mm. I then take the measurement of the largest the entrance pupil could be. The ratio of these times 52mm is the diameter of the entrance pupil. The quotient of that and 50mm, is then the f-stop. It seems to be somewhere in the range 1/1.25 - 1/1.29 using this method.
It's just a comparison from a lens we're more familiar with - not really relevant. Feel free to disregard. I didn't mean to imply it wold have to be 72mm, and I think my numbers back that up.
And a ham sandwich is typically about 120 mm to a side. Just to mention something we're more familiar with. Feel free to disregard. I didn't mean to imply that this lens would taste like ham. ;-)
"Although I do admit it's a long sentence, 'manual focus' is mentioned in that very first sentence of the text." --- Oh sorry, i should have seen that.
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