Best MF SLR to pair up with a 50mm f/1.2?

[jaredangle]

Long story short, I have a project that I will be working on through the summer months of 2011 that involves shooting one film, one lens, and one aperture. It's basically fine details of classic automobiles, shot on slow film, then scanned, and printed as a digital negative so each good shot can be made into a cyanotype, for a gallery showing. Each shot will be at f/1.2 exclusively (or perhaps f/1.4 or f/2 if I lose my resolve).

I've been using a Nikon F4 for this, equipped with the G3 focusing screen (due to the inability for the AF screens to accurately focus a lens with an aperture greater than f/2.5, and my clumsiness with the electronic rangefinder). I've been thinking though that it might be a good idea to shoot this instead on a manual focus Nikon like the F3 or FA, with a split prism focusing screen. Or is my F4 in its current state my best bet?

 

[stevebmd]

something with a great big huge finder and a crisp ground glass focussing screen...my leicaflex SL2 finder blows away my F3/FE2.....great for low light, and cheap too.

 

[dogberryjr]

I don't have an answer for you, but it sounds like a great project. We have a big carshow here and I love to break out the FD 55mm 1.2 for these kind of shots. Good luck!

 

[jaredangle]

JSU - Does the B screen show DOF all the way down to f/2.5? I'll probably use the K screen regardless. I've been looking into the F3 and at around $100 for a beater, it's reasonable to shoot for one project.

dogberryjr - You should do it! I had so much fun last summer when I shot just a roll of these.

 

[splitimageview]

How about use your F4 with a K or P screen?

 

[Keith]

Does it have to be Nikon?

An OM-1 with the Zuiko 50mm f1.2 would be the easiest SLR I've focused with ... problem being of course that the 50mm f1.2 Zuiko seems to one the premium Oly lenses and seldom comes cheap!

 

[philosomatographer]

Or is my F4 in its current state my best bet?

I know this doesn't really help you (I assume you wish to stick to the Nikon system) but an Olympus OM-3Ti (big $$$, but mechanical) or OM-4Ti (much cheaper) with their (proprietary, unique) Lumi-Micron Mate focusing screen offers a simply unmatched 35mm compositional and focusing experience, with the handy side-effect of offering the smallest SLR camera body - and smallest 50mm f/1.2 lens - you will find in SLR-land.

No Nikon or Canon of any era comes close whatsoever in terms of viewfinder. A Leica R9 comes close-ish. It's superior even to a Leica M3 finder (which I use almost every day) in every way - as big (~0.9x magnification), *much* brighter and clearer. You are "one" with the image like no other.

This is the finder that "tamed" my 21mm f/2.0 for wide-open shooting, something that is usually extremely difficult with such a fast wide on a SLR.

​

Try it, you'll throw your Nikons away. (it's that good. I did.)

P.S. I really like your project idea, and I like your attached image of the Mustang fastback - all the best with it! It's a shame you will be scanning instead of making analogue prints...

 

[ChrisN]

And since Keith has mentioned the Oly, I'll recommend the Pentax LX with it's 50/1.2 lens - the only outfit I've used with a brighter viewfinder than the OM2! 🙂

Sounds like a great project!

 

[mathomas]

Another non-Nikon recommendation: Contax RX. It is MF, but with a focus confirmation and DoF readout (though the DoF gauge won't mean much at f/1.2). Very useful for slow, careful, focusing work. On the other hand, finding a Contax/Zeiss f/1.2 lens that doesn't cost as much as a car might be difficult. But there's always the f/1.4 models (35mm, 50mm, 85mm).

 

[hans voralberg]

I think just slap a screen with split prism on your F4 and you're fine. Or F/F2 with stock screen, that's my rig at the moment.

 

[Ranchu]

Burn a roll of film testing the focus accuracy with grid drawn on a sheet of paper at a 45 degree angle like the digital people do. Plain ground glass will be as accurate as it gets, if your f4 is accurate after the test, no reason for another camera you'll have to test again. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

 

[jaredangle]

Another non-Nikon recommendation: Contax RX

I've been ogling at the Contax manual focus SLR system for quite some time, it's safe to say that if I find steady employment again, I will own one by the end of the year.

P.S. I really like your project idea, and I like your attached image of the Mustang fastback - all the best with it! It's a shame you will be scanning instead of making analogue prints...

I'm in my community college's darkroom techniques class (repeating as many times as i can until the college institutes their ban for taking a single class too many times) this semester, so I'll definitely be making a few enlargements from the best of these, probably a few 5x7's and a few 11x14's. But as for the cyanotypes (the end result of the project) I don't have a method of optically enlarging the original negatives. I discussed the possibility of putting some sort of UV bulb in one of my school's 4x5 enlargers, but my instructor for that particular class immediately rejected the idea. So for now, my only option is the school's 8x10 UV lightbox for contact prints.

And since Keith has mentioned the Oly, I'll recommend the Pentax LX with it's 50/1.2 lens - the only outfit I've used with a brighter viewfinder than the OM2!

I appreciate the recommendation, but finder brightness isn't that much of an issue for me, since this will be all wide-open in late afternoon/early evening sunlight. The lighting conditions will be sufficient until 9pm or so. But this is something I will still look into, since I want to do a night-time street project later in the year as well.

If I may mix this up a little more... when I shot the image in my original post, it was around 4pm or 5pm, very bright. I was shooting at f/1.2 on Neopan Acros rated at box speed, so even with my F4's top shutter speed of 1/8000, I was cutting it rather close when it came to running out of fast shutter speeds. I was thinking of stepping over to a slower film, like Pan F+ or Efke 25 (or I could use a neutral density filter, but I'm not that keen on introducing extra optics into the equation.) What do you think? I also might pick up some expired Kodak Gold 25 (or Ektar 100) to have a few of these in color for my portfolio, since people's tastes may differ when it comes to seeing too much black and white in a portfolio (as if you can ever have too much!)

Thanks for reading, I greatly appreciate everyone's input. Keep on shooting!

 

[Brian Legge]

I've found a split prism screen in an F4s to be great for manual focus in general.

I'd also suggest picking up a decent quality ND filter. A good brand multicoated filter probably won't hurt your optics quality much at all. Its much easier to add a filter/change filters than it is to be stuck with film that is too slow when the light changes, etc. 🙂

 

[Mister E]

FE2 or F2 is what I'd recommend.

 

[LKeithR]

And since Keith has mentioned the Oly, I'll recommend the Pentax LX with it's 50/1.2 lens - the only outfit I've used with a brighter viewfinder than the OM2!

As soon as I saw this thread I thought about my old LX. I've happily made the transition to digital but every so often a situation arises where I rue the day I sold it. 'Twas a lovely camera, indeed. I have a nice little Revuenon 55/1.2 MF lens that I would love to try on the LX...

 

[FrozenInTime]

It's probably irrelevant as the original poster came in for a new focusing screen, and not a new camera system;
But for the project in mind, I'm going to say the optimal camera for the task would be 6x6 or 6x7 medium format.
With a x4 magnification WLF and a split screen you would be able to blow any 35mm camera away when it comes to focusing accuracy.

Through the viewfinder, the basic 80mm f/2.8 on my old 501c is brighter and, a lot, easier to focus than the Zuiko 50mm f/1.2 on a OM1n.
The depth of field of the MF f/2.8 is comparable to a f/1.4 lens on a 35mm camera.
Pick up a 201F/202FA/203FE and 110mm f/2 and you have less depth of field than a Noctilux at a fraction of the cost.

On the other hand what camera/lens combination would give the best bokeh when photographing the detailing on classic cars ? 😉

 

[Sonnar Brian]

As you want to shoot at F1.2, even with slow film, the top shutter speed of 1/8000 on the F4 is a big advantage over the F2 and F3, and even better than the 1/4000th on the FE2.

Go with the F4. I would also suggest looking at the E-Screen, like the B screen but with gridlines. Might help with the composition of the car's lines. A P-Screen has the split image and horizontal/vertical lines.

 

[splitimageview]

On the other hand what camera/lens combination would give the best bokeh when photographing the detailing on classic cars ? 😉

My vote: Contax 645 with 80/2 Planar. Equivalent to about 45mm f/1.1. 🙂

 

[mfogiel]

You might also use a 100 mm f 2.0 makro lens, the dof should be comparable. This was probably shot around f 2.8

 

[Mister E]

My vote: Contax 645 with 80/2 Planar. Equivalent to about 45mm f/1.1. 🙂

( T_T)＼(^-^ )