xpan 90mm f/4

[tribal.snake]

hi

about to plunge into a buy for this lens.
about 500usd for it, too high?

apart from what i have read from the forum,
most user feedback mention that they seldom use it.
and also not being too usable in low light.
any other opinions?

thks

 

[sjw617]

Currently on eBay there are 2 90mm lenses --> $900 and $1,025. If you can get one for $500, buy it (if even to sell at a profit).

Steve

 

[PlantedTao]

I don't recall paying that much, but I did get mine from KEH and they are selling excellent condition 90mm lenses for $725 (KEH's excellent rating would be most peoples mint condition).
Sounds like a good deal.
I dont use mine much, but just did some shooting with it this weekend and it is great for the occasional use (close and tight pano photos) and unique portraits that it can produce. You will use the 45mm 90% of the time. I dont own the 30mm.

The xpan is not made for low light photography if that is what you are in to taking.

CHeers.
Jason

 

[Ben Blacket]

Try to find a 90mm that was produced with the TX-1. They're silver colour & maybe sell cheaper cos they don't match a black body - less desirable?
$500 is about what it cost before it was disscontinued i think, or maybe a bit more.
I'm putting my TX-2 kit w 45 & 90 up for sale here very soon.

Regarding the use of the 90mm, I didn't use it much, but it's definately handy to have.
Someone who does street/documentry/portrait stuff, might use it alot more than I did. For my style of work - landscapes/cityscapes, I tended to use the 45 & focus using the distance scale on the lens.
If you're shooting landscapes, you want to stop the 90 down to at least f8 for better sharpness & depth of field - not so important for candid stuff.
The 90 is much easier to rangefinder focus than the 45.
Also, you don't use a centre filter on the 90, so you actually gain a stop.

 

[tribal.snake]

hi all, thanks for the inputs.
am not looking so much to a profit, but more for usage purposes.
i do find the tx-1 quite a joy to use, to the point where i am making this investment to see what else i can gain from it. and ya, also the portraits i can hopefully shoot when i am travelling.

as for low light, hence tat's where the hexar comes in.

thanks again and welcome to other inputs.

 

[PlantedTao]

Try to find a 90mm that was produced with the TX-1. They're silver colour & maybe sell cheaper cos they don't match a black body - less desirable?
....

that is why I had gotten the 90mm for cheaper... I have the xpan and use the 90mm tx-1 lens, doesnt match the body, but for the savings I could care less.

 

[ljsegil]

I like the 90mm and find I use it quite a bit, although the 30mm (and the 45mm) of course does a better job of capturing the more conventional panoramic intention of the X-Pan, but a tighter panoramic aspect shot is sometimes just right for the subject matter. I paid about $750 for mine, so the KEH prices as usual sound very reasonable. No center filter is a nice plus as well.
My local lab (Helix in Chicago) will print 4x10 straight off the developed negs for $1.50 and does a very good job. This enables me to shoot Portra 400NC handheld most of the time for a more mobile and spontaneous use of the camera, whereas previously I had been pretty much tripod bound with Velvia or other reversal emulsions. The Portra negatives scan very nicely if you want to do further work or larger printing (wish my inkjet printer had roll paper capabilities as there are of course no pre-cut papers to fit the X-Pan format, so you waste a lot of paper, though you do get dramatic borders top and bottom).
Anyway, I think a 90mm is worth having with the camera, please pardon the digressions.
LJS