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Kowa: new kid on the (𝛍43) block ?

mediumcool

Active member
You start thinking seriously about focal length only when using fixed-focal length lenses; in fact you are forced to! :D

Many photographers (snappers?) I have seen tend to stand in one place, zoom to complete the composition they want, shoot, then move on. The possibility of influencing perspective by moving closer or further away from the subject is often nascent, or utterly absent.

0.02
 

mediumcool

Active member
You know, I never heard of the expression "nifty fifty" until the Internet happened. The 50mm lens was simply the conventional normal lens for most 35mm cameras once SLRs had become the norm by the late 1960s.
The Leica of 1923–24 sported a 50mm Elmar designed by Max Berek; I understand that focal length was chosen as it was twice the 35mm film ciné lens ‘standard’ focal length of 25mm for an 18 x 24mm format which ran between the sprockets, and still does.

I still love the 50mm lens. A Nokton 50/1.5 was my most used lens on the M9, a 25mm lens on my FourThirds and Micro-FourThirds cameras. It just works for me.
I preferred a combination of 35mm f/2 and 85mm f/1.8 (wow fast!) in my long-ago Nikon days, with 24mm as ‘wide-angle’ (I considered the 35 to be a ‘wide normal’) and going all the way to 200mm for the beginnings of decent visual compression. 28 and 135? Nah.

It's all good. :)
Indeed. ;)
 
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mazor

New member
Talking 35mm, my favorite lens currently is the Olympus OM 35mm f2.0. Just acquired it in mint condition with box etc for a good price. The shop also had the Nikkor 35mm f2.0, which was also in excellent condition, but upon testing, the nikkor's corner performance was no match for the Olympus OM. I did feel though the nikkor's soft corners gave better defocus pop, and seems to have better resolution in the center, but I prefered the overall sharpness over the frame from the Olympus OM ;)
 

mediumcool

Active member
The Kowa lens is now available …
The IQ seems to be top, but I do already have the Pana 25mm F1.4 with which I'm very happy. So no need to get that one, even uv the IQ seems great second this test.
A crowded marketplace indeed. Perhaps best for video, as Photozone.de suggests. I do wish there was a fast lens around 30–35mm—it would suit me well. My 30mm Sigma is decent, but at f/2.8 is not great at differentiating planes of focus; I will have to keep plugging away with my 20/1.7 (pity about the bokeh).
 
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