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Author Topic: Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?  (Read 11512 times)

Lust4Life

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« on: March 06, 2007, 07:49:17 am »

For the last 35 years I've been shooting 4x5 and Hasselblad. Using the best lenses in both formats (I class in Hassie).

Just recently I bought a new Canon 1DS Mk II with the 16-35 L, 24 L TCE and the 70-200 L Canon lenses. All purchased brand new from Calumet and B&H.

This past weekend I finally had time to run tests on the 16-35 and the 24 lenses. I am very distressed with the resultant POOR quality of these lenses compared to what I've been used to. Canon should be ashamed of these lenses!

I took a real workd scene - waterfall, rock cliffs, trees - and set the 1Ds up on a tripod. Using the remote I shot one frame of every aperture. Came home, downloaded the images into Lightroom and began to study the results.

I was disgusted to find there is no aperture for either lens that is sharp in the corners or across the borders!! Identical for both lenses.

Forget sharpening filters - it just can't be corrected properly.

Now, I do find the fidelity of the array in the 1Ds decent and I'm wondering if the 50, 100 and 150 I class lenses I have on a Hasselblad 503CW would work on the Canon. Has anyone tried this with success?

PS: I am so disgusted that I plan to add a page to my web site with cuts of the test images so anyone contemplating these lenses can have a look to see what they will get for their money. Give me a couple of weeks to get to this addition.
http://www.shadowsdancing.com
« Last Edit: March 06, 2007, 09:40:50 am by Lust4Life »
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pgmj

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2007, 12:09:51 pm »

Many have found Canons wide-angle lenses lacking. There is a lot of valuable information available about using Zeiss/Leica/Oly/etc and MF lenses on Canon:

http://16-9.net/lens_tests/compatible.html

and on this forum:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/55
« Last Edit: March 06, 2007, 12:11:22 pm by pgmj »
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CatOne

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2007, 12:21:20 pm »

Ah, pixel peeping.  Where would we be without it!

There have been grumblings about the 16-35L for a while.  It's why I got a 17-40 instead; prevailing wisdom seemed to indicate "don't waste your money."

You may also not be aware that Canon has already announced a replacement for the 16-35L lens.  Some speculate that it may in fact be necessary because the resolution of some unannounced cameras would *really* show the limitations of the 16-35 on the wide end.
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David Anderson

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2007, 04:30:28 pm »

Ahh, 35mm Vs. Medium format...

I borrowed a V mount P25 for my Blad kit and went to the mountains to shoot some landscapes as a test, I was really surprised how soft the 40mm was in the corners and how good the 50 was, on film I was always happy with the 40, another surprise was that my 120 macro was not very good near the infinity end, not unuseable, but not impressive..

In some of the test shots I've seen with the P45 the Blad wide lens have soft corners as well..

Yes Canon need some better wides, but are we starting to expect too much from a 35 mm ?
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macgyver

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2007, 05:07:20 pm »

Quote
Yes Canon need some better wides, but are we starting to expect too much from a 35 mm ?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105073\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Of course we are.  I don't complain when my honda doesn't accelerate like a ferrari, no matter how big an engine they put in it.
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SeanFS

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2007, 09:52:32 pm »

That sounds really strange. I have the 16-35 and its not amazing but can deliver decent results stopped down around f8 -11 and in the 20 -35 zoom range compared to all the canon and nikon primes I have. It might be your camera body needs to be recalibrated or the AF is badly adjusted as its unlikely three lenses would be so awful. It did take me two versions of the 16-35 before I was satisfied I had a good one . I hear this isn't an uncommon experience.
I also run an older Hasselblad with a 22mp back and find the Canon files with  a good lens and careful sharpening almost comparable in resolution terms.

Quote
For the last 35 years I've been shooting 4x5 and Hasselblad. Using the best lenses in both formats (I class in Hassie).

Just recently I bought a new Canon 1DS Mk II with the 16-35 L, 24 L TCE and the 70-200 L Canon lenses. All purchased brand new from Calumet and B&H.

This past weekend I finally had time to run tests on the 16-35 and the 24 lenses. I am very distressed with the resultant POOR quality of these lenses compared to what I've been used to. Canon should be ashamed of these lenses!

I took a real workd scene - waterfall, rock cliffs, trees - and set the 1Ds up on a tripod. Using the remote I shot one frame of every aperture. Came home, downloaded the images into Lightroom and began to study the results.

I was disgusted to find there is no aperture for either lens that is sharp in the corners or across the borders!! Identical for both lenses.

Forget sharpening filters - it just can't be corrected properly.

Now, I do find the fidelity of the array in the 1Ds decent and I'm wondering if the 50, 100 and 150 I class lenses I have on a Hasselblad 503CW would work on the Canon. Has anyone tried this with success?

PS: I am so disgusted that I plan to add a page to my web site with cuts of the test images so anyone contemplating these lenses can have a look to see what they will get for their money. Give me a couple of weeks to get to this addition.
http://www.shadowsdancing.com
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=104981\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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Graham Mitchell

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2007, 10:35:36 pm »

Canon's QC is pretty poor. As a result, some people have lenses they swear by, and other people receive rubbish. I used to be a Canon fan but they lost me after too many bad experiences.
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vgogolak

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2007, 02:48:53 am »

Quote
Ahh, 35mm Vs. Medium format...


In some of the test shots I've seen with the P45 the Blad wide lens have soft corners as well..

Yes Canon need some better wides, but are we starting to expect too much from a 35 mm ?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105073\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I think latest 40mm Hasselblad is a BIG step up (the IF lens) but expensive (and as the Zeiss designer points out, the distortion is way overstated.)

Also need to ask if wide open . Except for Leica, very few lens sharp in cornerns except stopped down 2+ stops.

I use hasselclad on my Contax amd even on My Leica R9/DMR and work great

the 30mm fisheye is good too.

regards
Victor
« Last Edit: March 07, 2007, 02:51:54 am by vgogolak »
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AHAB

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2007, 08:39:30 pm »

Perhaps you should try the lenses that are known to be excellent in the Canon line up.
85 1.2
135 2.0
200 1.8
If you try these lenses and still have misgivings, then so be it.

The two systems are not meant to compete against each other so perhaps your expectations are not realistic.
They are not even in the same price catagory, so I do not think most people would be surprised by your reaction to the cheaper setup. You are use to some of the best available equipment on the planet, what can compete with that?
AHAB
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Mark D Segal

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2007, 08:53:54 pm »

Quote
Canon's QC is pretty poor. As a result, some people have lenses they swear by, and other people receive rubbish. I used to be a Canon fan but they lost me after too many bad experiences.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105139\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I know where you are coming from, but it isn't clear whether the QC is poor or whether the standards are too elastic. This is not symantics, but a real issue. For zoom lenses, the culprit is most probably alignment. I had to go into this with Canon for my 17~40mm L that I thought could have been better. Canon has formally defined ranges for the accuracy of alignment. There are visible differences in outcomes within the range that Canon would consider acceptable for an L lens. I strongly suspect the same applies to most lenses from most manufacturers. It would cost an absolute fortune in rejects and remakes to make everything as perfect as they can achieve. As usual, quality at a price.....................
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Graham Mitchell

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2007, 10:44:17 pm »

Btw, using Hasselblad lenses on a Canon is a bad idea for many reasons:

- they are not so cheap
- they are large and heavy
- you must use stop down mode (if you can adjust the aperture at all! Been too long since I sold my Blad)
- they are not as sharp as some lenses designed for 35mm sensors

I honestly think you are much better off using Zeiss and Leica lenses on a Canon. Been there, done that.

The one exception is if you plan to use a shift adapter for the Blad lens which will allow you to take advantage of the larger image circle.
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Kika Livno

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2007, 11:44:04 pm »

Quote
For the last 35 years I've been shooting 4x5 and Hasselblad. Using the best lenses in both formats (I class in Hassie).

Just recently I bought a new Canon 1DS Mk II with the 16-35 L, 24 L TCE and the 70-200 L Canon lenses. All purchased brand new from Calumet and B&H.

This past weekend I finally had time to run tests on the 16-35 and the 24 lenses. I am very distressed with the resultant POOR quality of these lenses compared to what I've been used to. Canon should be ashamed of these lenses!

I took a real workd scene - waterfall, rock cliffs, trees - and set the 1Ds up on a tripod. Using the remote I shot one frame of every aperture. Came home, downloaded the images into Lightroom and began to study the results.

I was disgusted to find there is no aperture for either lens that is sharp in the corners or across the borders!! Identical for both lenses.

Forget sharpening filters - it just can't be corrected properly.

Now, I do find the fidelity of the array in the 1Ds decent and I'm wondering if the 50, 100 and 150 I class lenses I have on a Hasselblad 503CW would work on the Canon. Has anyone tried this with success?

PS: I am so disgusted that I plan to add a page to my web site with cuts of the test images so anyone contemplating these lenses can have a look to see what they will get for their money. Give me a couple of weeks to get to this addition.
http://www.shadowsdancing.com
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I posted a similar question here is the link [a href=\"http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15181]http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=15181[/url]
but I have to say I am not surprised or disgusted by Canon they are just good lenses not certainly the best, but just good. If you get a chance to use Hasselblad on Canon I will appreciate your response.

I was advised on Leica R lenses, many seem to agree but to me Hasselblad Lenses are cheaper, what do you think?

Best regards
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Mark D Segal

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2007, 11:59:35 pm »

Quote
I honestly think you are much better off using Zeiss and Leica lenses on a Canon. Been there, done that.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105399\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Do I preserve all the functionality of the Canon lenses - electronics etc. or if I put a Leica lens on a 1Ds I am then confined to using the camera as a manual device? How does one fit Leica lenses to a Canon 1Ds?
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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ErikKaffehr

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2007, 01:31:21 am »

Hi!

Not having Canon and just looking at MTF-curves...

My personal experience has been with Minolta 20 1:2.8 and Pentax 67 and 45 1:4.5 (?) lenses. Both these lenses were quite unsharp in the corners at apertures larger than 1/11.

I have looked at MTF curves for quite a few wide angle lenses and zooms and I would say that a very sharp drop of MTF at the corners is essentially the rule with wide angles for SLRs. I think that this is mostly due to the need of retrofocus design.

Wide angles for rangefinders (like Leica) don't have this behaviour. There are a lot of discussions about using oddball lenses like "Olympus 18 mm" and Zeiss-Jena Flektogon on Canon and that may work, but that would mean manual operation.

A lens which has a good reputation when used on Canon is the Sigma 12-24 full frame zoom, but quality seems to be uneven.

One recommendation that I would have is that you compare the four corners. If some corners are sharp and some are not it would indicate a decentered lens.

If you are looking at "actual pixels" the view would correspond to something like an 1.5 m enlargement. Can you see the unsharp corners in print?

Here is the MTF for Canon 16-35/2.8 II
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controll...8&modelid=14907

and here is the one for the 24 TS
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controll...56&modelid=7328

Sean Reid has a good site on this issues:
http://www.reidreviews.com/reidreviews/

It is a pay site, but I think it's worth the few dollars he asks...

Best regards
Erik

Quote
For the last 35 years I've been shooting 4x5 and Hasselblad. Using the best lenses in both formats (I class in Hassie).

Just recently I bought a new Canon 1DS Mk II with the 16-35 L, 24 L TCE and the 70-200 L Canon lenses. All purchased brand new from Calumet and B&H.

This past weekend I finally had time to run tests on the 16-35 and the 24 lenses. I am very distressed with the resultant POOR quality of these lenses compared to what I've been used to. Canon should be ashamed of these lenses!

I took a real workd scene - waterfall, rock cliffs, trees - and set the 1Ds up on a tripod. Using the remote I shot one frame of every aperture. Came home, downloaded the images into Lightroom and began to study the results.

I was disgusted to find there is no aperture for either lens that is sharp in the corners or across the borders!! Identical for both lenses.

Forget sharpening filters - it just can't be corrected properly.

Now, I do find the fidelity of the array in the 1Ds decent and I'm wondering if the 50, 100 and 150 I class lenses I have on a Hasselblad 503CW would work on the Canon. Has anyone tried this with success?

PS: I am so disgusted that I plan to add a page to my web site with cuts of the test images so anyone contemplating these lenses can have a look to see what they will get for their money. Give me a couple of weeks to get to this addition.
http://www.shadowsdancing.com
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=104981\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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Graham Mitchell

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2007, 06:22:32 am »

Quote
Do I preserve all the functionality of the Canon lenses - electronics etc. or if I put a Leica lens on a 1Ds I am then confined to using the camera as a manual device? How does one fit Leica lenses to a Canon 1Ds?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105404\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Well you might not like my answer, but...

After seeing what people go through to get the best image quality out of their Canons, it makes me wonder why they stick with Canons at all. Using a Leica body like an R9+DMR with the Leica lenses is a much better experience and I personally prefer the results from the Leica to any other 35mm DSLR. The colours and shadows are good right out of the box. You always need to massage Canon files into shape.

The upcoming R10 should be very interesting indeed.

If you're a sports shooter, this won't apply. Canon is still great for rapid frame rate and high ISO performance.
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Mark D Segal

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #15 on: March 08, 2007, 08:29:04 am »

Quote
Well you might not like my answer, but...

After seeing what people go through to get the best image quality out of their Canons, it makes me wonder why they stick with Canons at all. Using a Leica body like an R9+DMR with the Leica lenses is a much better experience and I personally prefer the results from the Leica to any other 35mm DSLR. The colours and shadows are good right out of the box. You always need to massage Canon files into shape.

The upcoming R10 should be very interesting indeed.

If you're a sports shooter, this won't apply. Canon is still great for rapid frame rate and high ISO performance.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105440\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

OK, I see where you are coming from - just use Leica lenses on Leica bodies. That clarifies things - I was beginning to wonder whether you were suggesting to use Leica lenses on Canon bodies and how one does that with functionality.

No, I have no problems with your answer. Canon isn't the be-all and end-all for me; quite the contrary. It's a tool, not a marriage. I'm using Canon because at the time I went digital it was the best game in town, but if they've been eclipsed relative to my needs I'm prepared to sell it all off and buy what is better - but after a lot of homework!

Stiff competition is the best thing that can happen to Canon, because there are serious attitude problems in that company.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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David Anderson

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #16 on: March 08, 2007, 09:20:28 am »

Quote
After seeing what people go through to get the best image quality out of their Canons, it makes me wonder why they stick with Canons at all. Using a Leica body like an R9+DMR with the Leica lenses is a much better experience and I personally prefer the results from the Leica to any other 35mm DSLR. The colours and shadows are good right out of the box. You always need to massage Canon files into shape.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105440\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I spend nothing more then a few seconds in C1 with the images I send to my clients from 1DSII's and they seem happy enough to keep booking me, I would like a better wide angle and I hope the new 16-35 is just that, but I couldn't be happier with the overall quality of the system..

Like Mark, if some new system came out next week that did everything better than Canon I would consider changing over..
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Kika Livno

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #17 on: March 08, 2007, 10:48:17 am »

I don't think Canon quality is bad at all, it is just that it could be improved in certain areas. By then we can  mix and match until they produce better, otherwise if we are talking about telephoto applications they are the standard and the best by far. So I believe they know where their strength is and slowly they are coming with new products, good for all.
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Caracalla

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« Reply #18 on: March 08, 2007, 12:31:56 pm »

Quote
I don't think Canon quality is bad at all, it is just that it could be improved in certain areas. By then we can  mix and match until they produce better, otherwise if we are talking about telephoto applications they are the standard and the best by far. So I believe they know where their strength is and slowly they are coming with new products, good for all.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105473\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
DITTO
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Mark D Segal

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Canon Lenses Poor - Hasselblad lens adapter?
« Reply #19 on: March 10, 2007, 09:08:51 am »

Quote
Except 24L, I don't think you are fair with Canon. Forget about zoom. Try the best prime in the range of 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, try to step down to f4 o f5.6.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=105780\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You can't "forget about zoom" - they sell these lenses - the L ones in particular - for quite a bit of money. The sample you buy may be either great, good, fair or poor because as I said above Canon's tolerances for "acceptable" quality have a range within which there is noticeable difference from one end of the range to the other. The real problem is that as long as Canon tells you the lens is within the acceptable range, they won't exchange it and you are stuck with what you got, unless the dealer you bought it from has other copies and is willing to let you try and exchange. Canon's policies being what they are, the only protection you have is the deal you set-up with your retailer.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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