Wide angle lenses for the R-D1

[Phil_Hawkes]

Supose you want a lens for the R-D1 that has wider field of view than the standard wide (i.e wider than a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera).

The current offerings are 12mm, 15mm and 21mm lenses (those currently being manufactured) . There is a big gap between the 15mm and 21mm lenses.

Apparently, there is a 19mm/3.5 Canon lens (according to www.epsonrd1.co.uk/lenses/search.html)

Is the 19/3.5 common or rare?
Has anyone tried the 19/3.5 on the R-D1?


I would love to see one of the manufacturers produce a 17mm or 18mm or 19mm lens: f3.5 would be OK, f2.8 would be better. I was wondering
Do you agree that this would be a useful lens?
Do you think such a lens is likely to happen?

Phil

 

[Huck Finn]

Yes, I think that it would be a useful lens & yes, I think it is likely to happen. Stephen Gandy of Cameraquest, a Cosina Voigtlander distributor, posted a year ago that Cosina would be releasing an 18 mm lens last spring. It never happened. I think that there were 2 reasons:

1. Sales of the R-D1 were below expectations & the 18 was specifically in response to the need you've identified for such a camera.

2. Cosina's commitment to manufacturing the Zeiss Ikon became more time time consuming than they had anticipated. Something had to give & the 18 mm lens seems to be one of the casualties.

At this point, it would seem that the future of plans for this lens ride on the development of & success or failure of an R-D2. It appears that Leica will come out with a digital M next fall with a 1.3 crop factor. Such a crop factor won't create as big a demand for an 18 as the 1.5 of the R-D1, but it sould help sales somewhat with an 18 becoming a still useful 24 on the proposed Leica digital M.

 

[jlw]

Apparently, there is a 19mm/3.5 Canon lens (according to www.epsonrd1.co.uk/lenses/search.html)

Is the 19/3.5 common or rare?

The rangefinder-coupled one is rare. They also made a 19mm SLR lens that required mirror lockup; this one could be used on the RFs (via an adapter) as a scale-focusing lens, and is more common.

If you don't mind scale focusing, you also have the option of getting one of CameraQuest's SLR-to-RF lens adapters and using one of the many 17mm or 18mm SLR lenses available.

Do you agree that this would be a useful lens?

Honestly, I don't see a lot of desperate need for it. Consider: If you're shooting with a 21mm lens at a range of, say, 10 feet, and you find you need the wider coverage of an 18mm lens, all you have to do to get it is back up about 18 inches. At closer distances, the difference is even less. Longer distances would require more, but longer distances also presumably imply larger objects, where there's more room to move around. Yes, I can think of a few scenarios in which there isn't room to back up as required -- but in those cases, if an 18mm lens would be good, a 12 or 15 would be even better, and those already exist.

 

[Huck Finn]

Honestly, I don't see a lot of desperate need for it. Consider: If you're shooting with a 21mm lens at a range of, say, 10 feet, and you find you need the wider coverage of an 18mm lens, all you have to do to get it is back up about 18 inches. At closer distances, the difference is even less. Longer distances would require more, but longer distances also presumably imply larger objects, where there's more room to move around. Yes, I can think of a few scenarios in which there isn't room to back up as required -- but in those cases, if an 18mm lens would be good, a 12 or 15 would be even better, and those already exist.

I think that the need is for use on digital cameras like the R-D1. With the 1.5 crop factor, the 18 becomes the equivalent of a 27 & thereby the natural replacement for a 28. Without an 18, your choices are a 15 (22.5 equivalent) or a 21 (31.5 equivalent). As Phil said, that leaves a big hole.

With the 1.3 crop factor of the proposed digital M, the 21 becomes the replacement for a 28, so there's less of a demand for an 18, but the 18 becomes a still useful replacement for the 24.

If Cosina & Epson or whomever decide that there's a future for an R-D2, the decision about going forward with the proposed 18 will probably ride on the crop factor chosen for that camera.

Huck

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

On the R-D1, the Canon 19/3.5 vignettes very badly, due to its rear element being quite near the film plane. Not as bad as a 21 SA, but almost. It is unusable.

Ed

 

[Phil_Hawkes]

On the R-D1, the Canon 19/3.5 vignettes very badly, due to its rear element being quite near the film plane. Not as bad as a 21 SA, but almost. It is unusable.

Ed

Thanks for that info Ed!
Phil