Canon LTM The Anti-APO (or Canon 50mm f0.95) first images

Canon M39 M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
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brusby

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Went to the French Quarter in the middle of the night tonight to do some quick, initial test shots with a Canon 50mm f0.95 on EOS-R. There wasn't much to photograph with it being extremely dark out and almost everything closed.

All wide open at f0.95, hand held and posted in the order taken.

First shot of the building was just to test sharpness at normal distances (focus just about a foot in front of the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen sign). Surprising sharp at the point of focus with plenty of coma and other aberrations in evidence in front and behind the extremely narrow plane of focus. The rest of the images were to check the lens' ability to capture atmospherics.


_OSR3421 by Brusby, on Flickr


_OSR3423 by Brusby, on Flickr by Brusby, on Flickr
 
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Funky! I find the color aberrations unpleasant, but with grainy black and white film, it should be nice. Sharp enough too, the thin plane of sharpness is probably much more of a limitation than the actual sharpness within it.
 
Dreamy, artistic effects in these color images.

Portraiture with this lens would be interesting to see wide open and stopped down a bit.
 
Abbazz said:
Nice work with an interesting lens!
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It's been really interesting and fun to see a drastically different world appear in the viewfinder than what is apparent to the naked eye. Thanks for your nice feedback!

retinax said:
Funky! I find the color aberrations unpleasant, but with grainy black and white film, it should be nice. Sharp enough too, the thin plane of sharpness is probably much more of a limitation than the actual sharpness within it.
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I see your point but prefer to think of the thin depth of field as an artistic opportunity.

ellisson said:
Dreamy, artistic effects in these color images.

Portraiture with this lens would be interesting to see wide open and stopped down a bit.
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Thanks ellisson! I'm hoping to do some portraiture with it soon. 'Will probably do a bit of testing on a dummy head first to get an idea of how it handles and I'll post those results. 'Appreciate your input!
 
Beautiful results here. I wonder, though how often you will be able to use this specialty lens.
 
Good results for f0.95. It has nothing to do with APO. But it kicks butt of knockofflux or whatever those Leica f1 or so 50mm lenses are called.
 
raid said:
Beautiful results here. I wonder, though how often you will be able to use this specialty lens.
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Thanks Raid. I'm not sure yet. It's a little on the big side, but that's only when comparing it to smaller Leica and Canon rangefinder lenses like the Summicron. Compared to DSLR lenses and the current crop of mirrorless lenses it's actually smaller and lighter than many.

Regarding image quality, I've got more testing to do, but my early guess is that I could probably use it as my main lens and be very happy. It gets quite sharp all across the frame when stopped down and most aberrations are drastically reduced if not effectively eliminated that way. Plus, I really appreciate lenses that change character as they are stopped down because it puts me in greater control of the final image -- I can set the mood of my photograph on the fly.

The main thing it couldn't do as well as some more modern designs is have essentially the same sharpness and lack of aberrations at all apertures. But I'm getting a little bored with the modern trend of shooting everything wide open and having most of the photo out of focus. That's nice to have sometimes but I see so much of it that I yearn for something different. Maybe growing up idolizing Ansel Adams photos had too powerful of an effect on my sensibilities.
 
brusby said:
All wide open at f0.95, hand held and posted in the order taken.

First shot of the building was just to test sharpness at normal distances (focus just about a foot in front of the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen sign). Surprising sharp at the point of focus with plenty of coma and other aberrations in evidence in front and behind the extremely narrow plane of focus. The rest of the images were to check the lens' ability to capture atmospherics.


url=https://flic.kr/p/2kMfd4S]
51051485616_7bacecc266_h.jpg
[/url]_OSR3423 by Brusby, on Flickr
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The World is Mine with the 0.95 ...
Love this shot ~
 
Ko.Fe. said:
Good results for f0.95. It has nothing to do with APO. But it kicks butt of knockofflux or whatever those Leica f1 or so 50mm lenses are called.
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I agree, it's definitely a bargain compared to Leica's offerings and does give unique results. Regarding APO, you're right that some aberrations are unrelated and independent of it being a non-APO design, but the halos around specular highlights wouldn't be there or wouldn't be as prominent if it were an APO lens. And the current trend in APO designs seems to be to correct other aberrations as well. So, while not related in a strictly technical sense, the absence of these nice (IMO) aberrations seems consistent with most current APO designs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, KoFe!

helenhill said:
The World is Mine with the 0.95 ...
Love this shot ~
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Love your artistic sensibilities, Helen, and 'really appreciate your input. Thanks!

Mackinaw said:
For me, this is my hands-down favorite portrait lens. Nothing like it anywhere. F0.95 on a Canon RP. Jim B.
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Nice portrait. Looking forward to trying mine. Thanks Jim!

raid said:
Is this lens in M mount a $2000 lens these days?
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I think that's the low end. I've seen 'em go from that ballpark to about double that, depending on condition.
 
raid said:
Is this lens in M mount a $2000 lens these days?
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Yes, they even can go higher than $2,000. I bought mine for $60. Had it modified to M-mount by Ken Ruth (now retired). A physically big lens, but nothing like it for that "unique" look.

Jim B.
 
Thanks, Jim.
As Robert often says here ..."I don't need a new lens" and then "I don't need a new lens" again :)
 
Now just to see how it handles close focusing at various apertures before doing a real session. This is a difficult test for many lenses that get very hazy looking up close if they don't have a floating element to correct for spherical aberration at those distances.

Note: feel free to click on the image to see the originals on Flickr. They are a bit sharper and with slightly better contrast due to the effects of the forum algorithm.

Focus on the near eye. Hand held. Lit only by a small lamp on the table.

Wide open at f0.95 -- sharp but a bit soft. Still useable if going for that look although I'd probably stop down a bit at these distances. Should be better just another foot or so from the camera. Will test that another day.
_OSR3449 by Brusby, on Flickr


f1.4 -- sharper with increased contrast and less hazy/dreamy look. Less vignetting is apparent. Starting to look more like a Summicron or Summilux but with more pleasing background. Note that this is quite a bit closer than either of those lenses focus natively and similar to the capability of a Summicron DR.
_OSR3447 by Brusby, on Flickr

f2 -- ditto f1.4
_OSR3448 by Brusby, on Flickr
 
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Another wide-open at F0.95. Canon RP. The couple I photographed really like these images. "How did you do that?" they asked. Trade secret, I said.

51053702601_54d2b2dc93_b.jpg


Jim B.
 
Finally got a chance to use the Canon 50mm f0.95 for a few people pics.

The light from these little LEDs had a strange greenish cast so I did some in b&w. Plus levels were so low I had to shoot at ISO 12,800 in order to hand hold these shots. So, I decided to try to use the grain for effect.

Vickie 7064 by Brusby, on Flickr
 
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