new 55mm and 58mm lenses

Nikon's new 58mm lens is making me a bit jealous. I would love a fast 50mm but I'm not sold on any of their current offerings based purely on online reviews.

I wonder if Zeiss' new 55 and Nikon's new 58 are signs of things to come (from a focal length perspective).

SunTsu wrote in post #16377423
...I wonder if Zeiss' new 55 and Nikon's new 58 are signs of things to come (from a focal length perspective).

Longer focal lenghts with the same aperture gives more blur than normal 50mm lenses.
So much talk about "better bokeh" here

For the double Guass based Nikon it is easier to get better quality with longer focal lenses, because of more relaxed lens design for SLR cameras.

Anyone else remember the Zuiko 55/1.2 for the OM system?

xarqi wrote in post #16377448
Anyone else remember the Zuiko 55/1.2 for the OM system?

Yes. I don´t have one. But I have a Rokkor 58mm/1.2, Konica Hexanon 57mm/1.2 and other 58 and 55mm lenses.

ZoneV wrote in post #16377462
Yes. I don´t have one. But I have a Rokkor 58mm/1.2, Konica Hexanon 57mm/1.2 and other 58 and 55mm lenses.

Hay ZoneV, looking at your Gearlist I would say you collect Lenses.. LOL Hervorragende leistung junge mann!!

I'm lucky enough to own a Zuiko 55/1.2 and a Rokkor PG 58/1.2. The Rokkor can be converted back and forth to EOS mount, the Zuiko just rides on a simple adapter. I find that using the 55/1.2 through my OM-2 camera produces almost perfect 1:1 image scale and I can keep both eyes open without confusing my brain cell.

In terms of image quality, these are very different lenses. Wide open, the Zuiko is soft and dreamy while the Rokkor is quite sharp. On the other hand, the Zuiko has considerably smoother bokeh than the Rokkor. Both are very sharp from about f/2.8.

I've played with both on film cameras but there is a significant issue when you use them on a 5D Mk II - it can't detect light coming from a steep ray angle so the pixels effectively truncate the lens' aperture to f/1.6 or maybe f/1.7. This effect happens with every ultra-fast lens (including the 50L) that is not telecentric and according to a DXO Labs report, applies to most Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras. In other words, there's little optical reason for purchasing an ultra-fast lens for use on a digital SLR.

Having played with the same lenses on my Fuji X-E1, I can report that the fast Zuiko and Rokkor lenses work as they should on this camera. The X-E1 pixel pitch is 4.75µm compared with the 5D2's 6.4µm, suggesting that the stop-down effect is caused by either the AA filter, the microlens design or the internal structure of the DSLR sensors.

Since the OP posted on the 55/1.4 Distagon, I should also comment that this lens is largely telecentric. (The Distagon design is basically a telephoto lens used backwards.) The effect is that the 55/1.4 Distagon should collect about a third of a stop more light than the 50L. This will hardly matter since there's no visible noise difference at the level of 1/3 stop.

Will Canon make a fast 55-ish lens? Honestly, I really don't expect they will.... it's a focal length from 40 years back and went out of fashion a while ago.

Nick_Reading.UK wrote in post #16377474
Hay ZoneV, looking at your Gearlist I would say you collect Lenses.. LOL Hervorragende leistung junge mann!!

No! I am not a collector! I pile up some lenses, sometimes I use some for destructive tinkering. I am an image engineer and like to work with lenses.

I have to admit: This list is only a part of my lenses.

noisejammer wrote in post #16377567
...
I've played with both on film cameras but there is a significant issue when you use them on a 5D Mk II - it can't detect light coming from a steep ray angle so the pixels effectively truncate the lens' aperture to f/1.6 or maybe f/1.7. This effect happens with every ultra-fast lens (including the 50L) that is not telecentric and according to a DXO Labs report, applies to most Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras. In other words, there's little optical reason for purchasing an ultra-fast lens for use on a digital SLR.
...
Since the OP posted on the 55/1.4 Distagon, I should also comment that this lens is largely telecentric. (The Distagon design is basically a telephoto lens used backwards.) The effect is that the 55/1.4 Distagon should collect about a third of a stop more light than the 50L. This will hardly matter since there's no visible noise difference at the level of 1/3 stop.
...

The microlens efficency with faster lenses is a big problem for me - this is a reason why I like my old EOS 5D that much!
See more about this here:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com …amera_manufactu​rers.shtml

I dont think the telecentric design is helpfull there - image side telecentric lenses help against darker borders due to the microlens shading. But probably the pupil ratio or pupil magnification help the Distagon to bring the light down into the sensor.

Ultra fast lenses are even with the microlens problem faster than normal fast lenses as far as I understand. And they still have a smaller DOF than the slower ones.