30mm f/5.6 lens

[Ted Striker]

How many people here have the 30mm f/5.6 lens for their Hassy/Fuji panorama camera? Do you find this too wide to use often or is it your main, go-to lens? I don't have it and I find myself wanting it really bad. The problem is of course, the amazing cost.

 

[ellisson]

I had this lens and rarely used it. You need the external viewfinder and special center-ND filter, often included with the lens, as they were in the original lens kit. The viewfinder leveling bubble is usually dried out due to age.

For me, the lens seemed 'redundant' on a panoramic camera that already provides a wide view. And the cost to get one in good condition, plus the loss taken at re-sale....be prepared if you do not find yourself using it much. I eventually sold mine after 4 months of re-listing on eBay at a bargain price.

Will be interesting to hear from others on their use of this lens.

 

[Ted Striker]

I had this lens and rarely used it. You need the external viewfinder and special center-ND filter, often included with the lens, as they were in the original lens kit. The viewfinder leveling bubble is usually dried out due to age.

For me, the lens seemed 'redundant' on a panoramic camera that already provides a wide view. And the cost to get one in good condition, plus the loss taken at re-sale....be prepared if you do not find yourself using it much. I eventually sold mine after 4 months of re-listing on eBay at a bargain price.

Will be interesting to hear from others on their use of this lens.

You'd have to be a pretty poor salesman to take a loss on this lens. The sold prices for it are astronomical. Ebay shows that some have paid almost $3,000 for this lens. If I do buy it, it will be THE most expensive lens I have ever purchased. I have a Canon 85L and Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens to sell to gather funds for it and even that won't be enough. Amazing.

 

[valdas]

Ebay shows that some have paid almost $3,000 for this lens.

For that price you can buy a couple of mint Widluxes with 25mm lens... I know, it’s a different type of camera, but I checked flickr for what xpan with 30mm lens can do... and I would go for Widelux instead...

 

[someonenameddavid]

would it not be possible to adapt a 28mm PC Nkkor to the Hasselblad /Fuji

 

[sepiareverb]

Image quality is really quite something. I’ve printed negs 24” wide on fiber paper that are crisp everywhere, and with the center filter illumination is quite even.

I like wide angles generally, and this was the most used lens when I had the XPAN.

 

[ellisson]

You'd have to be a pretty poor salesman to take a loss on this lens. The sold prices for it are astronomical. Ebay shows that some have paid almost $3,000 for this lens. If I do buy it, it will be THE most expensive lens I have ever purchased. I have a Canon 85L and Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens to sell to gather funds for it and even that won't be enough. Amazing.

Thanks for the insult. Regret I even replied to this post.

 

[a.noctilux]

would it not be possible to adapt a 28mm PC Nkkor to the Hasselblad /Fuji

That was I have done before buying the 30mm Xpan.

Nikkor 28mm PC is big and vignetting at corners limited it's use.
Tried also Super-Angulon-R PC 2.8/28mm, even bigger and vignetting too.
Framing with the 28mm, I used 15mm Finder with a sort of adapted with black tape strips.
This is not precise framing.

Xpan 30mm is very special lens and not easy to use and find subjects to match it's field.

With the 30mm viewfinder, I use the "level" which is usable only for horizontal.
When in use Xpan 30mm excluded for many months my other 45mm/90mm.
Must be used with speedy film, with the filter it's an equivalent f/9 wide open: to be closed a bit for best IQ, so f/11 or 16 is the norm.
Results are great.

Comment on the price...
I don't understand the high price asked for this lens, maybe because it's good (people tend to keep it), and rarity .

As side note, old Noctilux lenses are even worse in high price, mainly 1.2/50 asph. variety, less with 1.0 which remain very expensive.
Sometime, the price asked for 1.0/50 is higher than the last 0.95/50 asph.

 

[didjiman]

One of the great lens. If you know how to see wide, there's nothing like it. I have the native viewfinder, but I actually prefer the Zeiss 15mm VF with home marking

 

[snaefell]

How many people here have the 30mm f/5.6 lens for their Hassy/Fuji panorama camera? Do you find this too wide to use often or is it your main, go-to lens? I don't have it and I find myself wanting it really bad. The problem is of course, the amazing cost.

I was unsure about this in the beginning, too. What I did was to adapt the PC-Nikkor 2,8/35 (you get this adapters for around 25$ on Ebay) to the XPan. The complete viewfinder shows pretty exactly what will be on the film, so no extra viewfinders needed. This can also be done for the 28mm shift lenses. The downside of this lens is that it doesn't really cover 65mm, it is more like 61-62mm. So you loose some width and you end up with some heavy vignetting. This gets better, when you stop down the lens at least to 11, but it will not completely disappear.

I shot a few rolls and liked the much wider angle - so I finally ended up with a very reasonably priced 30mm (you can't speak of cheap here). I love this lens and will certainly not sell it again. So, if you are somebody who likes very wide lenses and can handle them (which takes some practicing, as I learned from using 14mm lenses on my normal camera), I think you will be happy with it.

 

[Ted Striker]

I was unsure about this in the beginning, too. What I did was to adapt the PC-Nikkor 2,8/35 (you get this adapters for around 25$ on Ebay) to the XPan. The complete viewfinder shows pretty exactly what will be on the film, so no extra viewfinders needed. This can also be done for the 28mm shift lenses. The downside of this lens is that it doesn't really cover 65mm, it is more like 61-62mm. So you loose some width and you end up with some heavy vignetting. This gets better, when you stop down the lens at least to 11, but it will not completely disappear.

I shot a few rolls and liked the much wider angle - so I finally ended up with a very reasonably priced 30mm (you can't speak of cheap here). I love this lens and will certainly not sell it again. So, if you are somebody who likes very wide lenses and can handle them (which takes some practicing, as I learned from using 14mm lenses on my normal camera), I think you will be happy with it.

Thanks for the ideas.

What is a reasonable price for the 30mm f/5.6 lens with finder AND ND filter? My research shows $2500 would be an absolute steal with $3000 or $3200 looking more likely.

 

[kbg32]

I love this lens. It really is the X-Pan's go to lens for panoramas.

 

[snaefell]

Thanks for the ideas.

What is a reasonable price for the 30mm f/5.6 lens with finder AND ND filter? My research shows $2500 would be an absolute steal with $3000 or $3200 looking more likely.

I think you won't get much below $2500 these days. Depends on your funds and how long you want to wait.

 

[sepiareverb]

Patience will pay off.and the Fuji versions are often less, plus have a nicer VF.

 

[Huss]

For that price you can buy a couple of mint Widluxes with 25mm lens... I know, it’s a different type of camera, but I checked flickr for what xpan with 30mm lens can do... and I would go for Widelux instead...

Having owned mint condition F7 and F8 Wideluxes, their lens does not come close to the sharpness, rendering and flare resistance of any of the Fuji/Hasselblad lenses. Those Fuji lenses are spectacular.

I sold the Wideluxes, kept the Noblex 135 (better lens than the Widelux but still can be gimmicky with that swing lens camera distortion) and mainly use the Xpan2.

 

[Ted Striker]

I think you won't get much below $2500 these days. Depends on your funds and how long you want to wait.

I think you're right. I'm wondering how well one can skip the ND filter and just fix that in post after scanning. That is one amazingly expensive ND filter.

 

[sepiareverb]

I didn’t always use the filter, sometimes used a yellow instead. But by the end of my time with it I would stack them. Never tried scanning the negs, I only wet print, and it was not always easy to correct there.

 

[Ted Striker]

I think you won't get much below $2500 these days. Depends on your funds and how long you want to wait.

Today's my lucky day! I bought the 30mm f/5.6 lens!!! I got the lens (mint) with the finder, ND filter, box, and documentation for $2400.

By far the most expensive lens I've ever bought!

I can't wait for it to get here.

 

[sepiareverb]

Congrats! It is a gem.

Shoot well!

 

[snaefell]

Today's my lucky day! I bought the 30mm f/5.6 lens!!! I got the lens (mint) with the finder, ND filter, box, and documentation for $2400.

By far the most expensive lens I've ever bought!

I can't wait for it to get here.

Congratulations - have a lot of fun with it.
And if it'S not yours: You will be able to sell it without a loss. 🙂