gphoto120
Newbie
Does anyone have first hand experience using this lens? I would be using almost exclusively for landscapes. Also is the add on view finder necessary for the lens?
Thanks for any opinions and background on this!
Gary P
Thanks for any opinions and background on this!
Gary P
john_s
Well-known
I haven't used one, but the major criticism I've read is that it's not rangefinder coupled. For landscape that probably doesn't matter. You could guess the framing using the camera's 150mm finder frame i suppose assuming it's 0.71 the size. If you could find a cheap adjustable external viewer for a 35mm camera you could use that (bearing in mind that the frame is a different shape to that of a 35mm camera.) The equivalent focal length would be somewhere around 110mm.
Oren Grad
Well-known
"Landscape" means different things for different people. Bear in mind that the close focus limit for the 210 is 7 meters / 23 feet.
FWIW, the Mamiya FV704 viewfinder is intended for both the 150 and 210 and offers manually-set parallax compensation as well as framing.
FWIW, the Mamiya FV704 viewfinder is intended for both the 150 and 210 and offers manually-set parallax compensation as well as framing.
Bisakok
Established
Hi Gary
I've owned this lens for probably a decade now. When it was first released it was widely criticised on the forums as being too slow (f8), not rangefinder coupled (guess the distance), with too long a minimum focus distance (23 feet) and too short a focal length when compared to the 150mm, the argument being one could just crop images from the 150mm.
On the other hand the lens is light and incredibly sharp. For distant landscapes, set to infinity or near that, the lens is great. For objects say 50 to 80 feet away, I normally stop down just in case. I have stood there wondering how far something is away getting very frustrated and I have also stood in five feet of water on the north coast of Bali taking silhouettes of fishing boats against the sunset loving every minute of it and the 6 feet wide prints afterwards. I would prefer if it was 250mm (or longer) and coupled, but it isn't. My advice, for what its worth, would be that if you see yourself shooting lots of landscapes, focused on infinity at f11-ish, then get it. Otherwise, crop from the 150mm.
The viewfinder is bright, has lines, as Oren Grad says, for both 150mm and 210mm and I think useful for the lens.
Simon
I've owned this lens for probably a decade now. When it was first released it was widely criticised on the forums as being too slow (f8), not rangefinder coupled (guess the distance), with too long a minimum focus distance (23 feet) and too short a focal length when compared to the 150mm, the argument being one could just crop images from the 150mm.
On the other hand the lens is light and incredibly sharp. For distant landscapes, set to infinity or near that, the lens is great. For objects say 50 to 80 feet away, I normally stop down just in case. I have stood there wondering how far something is away getting very frustrated and I have also stood in five feet of water on the north coast of Bali taking silhouettes of fishing boats against the sunset loving every minute of it and the 6 feet wide prints afterwards. I would prefer if it was 250mm (or longer) and coupled, but it isn't. My advice, for what its worth, would be that if you see yourself shooting lots of landscapes, focused on infinity at f11-ish, then get it. Otherwise, crop from the 150mm.
The viewfinder is bright, has lines, as Oren Grad says, for both 150mm and 210mm and I think useful for the lens.
Simon