28mm or 35mm?

[pb908]

Hi all,
just want to ask between those two focal length (if you have), which one do you use most on RD1.

here is my story..
I have 35VC1.4 MC, which I like to use it on film (35mm is my ideal FL), on rd1 it is not wide enough. The contrast is high, sometimes it make harsh bokeh.
in order to get close to 35mm FOV in RD1, I bought VC21mm (on dslr,pentax,I like DA21mm a lot).
But after a week trying my new VC21, I get some issue:
- it underexposure a lot, I need to add around +1 in some cases to correct exposure, which sometimes make highlight blowout if I forget to turn it off. Is this correct?
- it vignette almost in all aperture (as far as I remember)
- it's hard (still hard for me) to imagine the FOV in VF. Don't have external finder which match 1.5x crop for it.

so the idea is to get as wide as I can using internal VF, which is to get 28mm=42 (I can live with it). With my limited money, I can only get 28mm (ultron,f1.9) and must sell 35mmVC and/or 21VC. If I do that,will I miss 35mm? Please share your opinion regarding 28mm vs 35mm, if you have one (or ever been in the same position as me)

 

[LCT]

Matter of tastes of course but if i were you i would sell both your 21 and 35 and buy the 28/1.9 and a 50mm lens. I cover more than 80% of my needs with that combo personally. But again it is a matter of tastes.

 

[back alley]

after playing with many lenses and different focal lengths i seem to be settling on the 28/35/50 combination as my kit.

28 and 50 is a great 2 lens combo and i like using the 35 if i head out with only one lens.

of course this info can't help you much as i have no idea what you like to shoot.
the 28 is good for street style shooting, the 50 is great for portraits, the 35 can do either, but do it differently.

if you're like me then you will need to try out different kits and see what you prefer in the end.

 

[pb908]

Thanks for the feedback,
in my past film day, I mostly use 35 for street photograhy. 35mm is just "perfect" for it, wide dof, wide FOV, but not too much as well

in RD1 day, firstly I grab 35VC, but then i found small gem of Jupiter-8. so portrait has been a great fun for me.
if I can choose, i'd like to get ekuivalent of 35fov and maybe 85mm fov in my film day. Just 2 lens is enough..

28mm ultron and 50mm (sonnar) i hope is enough.


back alley, if you need to live with 28 ultron only(and no 35mm) , will you miss it?

 

[gilpen123]

Going in between a 35 and a 50 in 35mm equivalent, and you mentioned you're a 35 kind of guy, then the 28 may be what you will need IMO. I bought a 28 2.8 just for that very reason but I still use 35 and 50 specially when I travel. The 28 doesn''t need external VF though the 25 can be used using the whole VF as your frame. For me 28 is just enough as I am also using 1.33 megaperls.

 

[yanidel]

The 28mm Ultron is absolutely great on the R-D1. The first version 1.9, is actually better than the newer one, though a bit bigger and with a big hood. It allows to use the 28mm frame which is the best on in the R-D1 finder. Match it with your 50mm J-8 and here you are set.

 

[pgmj]

Maybe you should swap that 21/4 for a 25mm.

Personally I liked 28mm on my R-D1, but if you are more of a 35mm-shooter (in "full frame" focal), you might be better off with a 25mm lens. I would suspect the 25/4 VC to vignette almost as bad as the 21/4, so look at the Zeiss ZM 25/2.8 if you can afford it.

 

[Expatinprogress]

I first started with CV 35mm but I got tyred soon. Since then I use more often my CV 15mm with 21mm viewfinder and thus 35mm has become almost useless.
I agree wity you guys, the combo 28mm and 50 shoud be perfect. In my case I'm going to sell my 75mm and buy the 50. Then, 15 and 50 como hit will be ready.

 

[umcelinho]

if you sell the 35 and the 21, if you add in some extra money (i understand the budget is tight, but who knows) you could get either the 21/4.5 or the 21/2.8 from zeiss. the latter should go for about $1000, not sure if it can be found for less though.

it will give you a very wide view (~32mm) and f2.8 allows you to shoot at night at acceptable speeds for the focal length. the lens is somewhat the same size of the 28/1.9. i have been liking a lot the results of it being used with the rd1, it does not vignette and it's really nice to have a wide lens that you can actually frame using the viewfinder. how so? pick the 50mm lines, imagine it being the center rectangle of 9 identical rectangles. frame with both eyes open and it works amazingly well!! i don't miss having an external viewfinder (i have a film rangefinder too, so i also prefer not to fiddle with 2 viewfinders for the same lens). and it focus down to .5m (but only coupled down to .7m)

if you really are into 35mm FL I think it could be a good option. you might look for some feedback on the 25mm from voigtlander as well, should give a tighter fov (37.5) and it's much cheaper and smaller, but i'm not sure if it will vignette like the cv 21 you've got. i'd look for feedback on this lens as well.

 

[pb908]

Thanks guys for all information & opinion, i've just asked few rff on classified, looks like i"m going to try 28mm first, then decide which one to sell later on. i just don't have guts to let 35mm go before I try 28mm.