Received it about a week ago. Really difficult to work with. The focus knob only goes 1/4 turn to go from 1M to infinity. And it's in a really awkward position; especially if you try to take a vertical. Which is why I've pretty much only taken horizontals with it.
Focusing with the Mk III's screen is about hopeless. I use Live View with my Zacuto finder and zoom in. This can be quite successful. The depth of field is very shallow. Surprisingly so, considering that I shoot my 85 f/1.2 wide open most of the time, so I know what to expect, normally.
The lens is very, very sharp dead center. Even at f/2.8. But you don't buy such a lens for sharpness. You buy it for its character, and it has character in spades. What's so interesting is how quickly the image starts to diffuse once you start to get away from the center. Look at the hands in some of the pictures.
I wish they'd built this lens more conventionally. Helical focusing and an AF-confirm chip would be such a huge boon. If they wanted more authenticity, I think it would have been neat if the lens elements were uncoated.
Anyway, I love the images. So I'll be using this lens a lot. It makes me slow down and compose, and I wind up shooting just a few images, generally. I realize this seems rather contradictory. This lens is definitely
not for everybody. It's slow to use and a bit frustrating at times. But the images...
Focusing with the Mk III's screen is about hopeless. I use Live View with my Zacuto finder and zoom in. This can be quite successful. The depth of field is very shallow. Surprisingly so, considering that I shoot my 85 f/1.2 wide open most of the time, so I know what to expect, normally.
The lens is very, very sharp dead center. Even at f/2.8. But you don't buy such a lens for sharpness. You buy it for its character, and it has character in spades. What's so interesting is how quickly the image starts to diffuse once you start to get away from the center. Look at the hands in some of the pictures.
I wish they'd built this lens more conventionally. Helical focusing and an AF-confirm chip would be such a huge boon. If they wanted more authenticity, I think it would have been neat if the lens elements were uncoated.
Anyway, I love the images. So I'll be using this lens a lot. It makes me slow down and compose, and I wind up shooting just a few images, generally. I realize this seems rather contradictory. This lens is definitely
not for everybody. It's slow to use and a bit frustrating at times. But the images...
