HC-50 Mk II

[Quentin_Bargate]

I have just taken delivery of the upgraded Mk II 50mm lens for my H4D-50. Apprently I have the first one available for sale in the UK, although there are a few just made available for rental.

I traded in my Mk 1 lens. The two lenses look identical, until you look at the lens elements, which look quite different,

I am hoping for improved edge sharpness, which was always a slight issue with the original 50mm.

Will check it out over the long weekend.

Quentin

 

[Dustbak]

PLEASE ! I am really looking forward to the first actual user reports. I am particularly interested in corner performance wide (or nearly wide) open at medium distances (appr. 10 mtrs).

I love the size and field of few of the 50. With the 2 zooms I have already covered that focal length twice but size wise the 50 is hard to beat.

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

No worries, i will try to post a few samples. Better be good

Quentin

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Yippee! the new lens is stellar, a huge improvement in terms of sharpness over the moderate quality original.

Here is a boring shot taken wide open in my garden at F/3.5 with two full rezz near edge crops included.

I am not a believer in shots of walls or in test shots taken in variable conditions revealing the full quality of a lens - you really need to test one for yourself. However, my personal view from just a few initial shots is that this new version is a worthy replacement.

Quentin

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

This full resolution 50mp shot may be more useful. Again shot wide open at F/3.5, focus is on the far tall trees. No sharpening other than the default in Phocus has been applied. Obviously the depth of field is shallow given the shot was taken at f.3.5 so the closer foliage is not in sharp focus.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9806585/29-04-2011%2019.jpg

The image is too large to embed, so click to view: Compreessed Jpeg of about 14.5mp

This new HC 50mm II lens seems to deliever fully on its promise of greater sharpness accross the frame. Remember this is wide open.

Quentin

 

[etrump]

Looks very good for a 50mm wide open. Is that sharpened in post or out of the camera?

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Ed,

No sharpening other than that applied by default by Phocus when converting from RAW (not much)

Quentin

 

[Dustbak]

This sounds promising (and expensive).

 

[erick.boileau]

any idea if there is a big difference with the HCD 35-90 at 50mm ?

thanks for sharing Quentin

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Hi Erick

Never used the zoom, sorry. I handled it but it was just too big for my taste. 90% of my non-studio stuff is shot on the 50mm (formerly the old version), most of the rest on the 28mm.

Quentin

 

[Professional]

Thanks for the review and the sample

 

[erick.boileau]

Quentin did you use the 28mm with HTS ?

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Quentin did you use the 28mm with HTS ?

Erick

I have tried it - it's big! I don't think it would be substitute for the HC 50 II due to the size and complexity. I like the HC 50II because it is a relatively compact and lighweight companion that suits the balance of the H4D and can be used handheld.

I will have another try with the HTS 1.5 at a Hasselblad event in Oxford at the end of June. As I have said in another thread on this forum (with some examples), I think that focus stacking may in many cases be a better solution to using the tilt function with the HTS 1.5 (and digital correction of converging verticals is similarly effective) so I am left wondering why I would need the HTS 1.5.

Cheers
Quentin

 

[fotografz]

Two completely different tools and applications don't you think?

50mm on the H4D is nice size, easy to carry about and shoot hand-held. I doubt anyone carries around the HTS for snap-shots.

Not sure I'd want to deal with focus stacking AND panoramic sweeps ... the variations boggle the mind. No thanks. :thumbdown:

I use the HTS/1.5 and 28mm for increased DOF without stopping down to the defraction point AND still do Pano sweeps which are then consistent shot-to-shot.

Also use the HTS/1.5 for controlled defocus areas ... lots of creative possibilities that would be next to impossible to do in PS ... and even if you could they would look faked.

Mostly use it in the studio to increase DOF ... if I had to focus stack every catalog product shot to achieve that, I'd kill myself. :loco:

-Marc