The ultimate 14mm lens for full frame (24x36mm) DSLRs?

[Cem_Usakligil]

Cem,

I used f 5.6, which is reasonable, 2 stops from wide open.

Lots of arguments about COC, I agree. One consideration is how much magnification there would be.

The 24 mm TSE is also my favorite lens on the 5DII and yes, I admit to some failures, but with digital I cover that with more shots and then checking at 10X.

The 14 mm focal length is far more forgiving.

Asher

Fair enough Asher, the 14mm is indeed more forgiving. It would come down to the shooter's preferences in the end. I do not mind not having AF but there are times I wish I had it.

 

[Ivan Garcia]

Hi Asher.
I am afraid that autofocus is a must. When you are fighting with another 10-20 Photogs for the picture, you need all the help you can get. Manual focus in those situations is not practical. Besides, I have purchased the 17mm TS-E for the interiors.

Still, you are right, Canon should not be rewarded for mediocrity and , If I didn't have such a large investment in their gear, I would have switched to Nikon a long time ago (say about the time I went through five 1DMKIII's... Only for Canon to finally admit the product had "design issues" ).

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi Asher.
I am afraid that autofocus is a must. When you are fighting with another 10-20 Photogs for the picture, you need all the help you can get. Manual focus in those situations is not practical. Besides, I have purchased the 17mm TS-E for the interiors.

I agree that AF can make a difference under those circumstances. Ah, the 17mm it is then. Looking forward to your impressions. Make sure you do an AF microadjustment (AFMA) for both. Even for a manual focus TS-E you'll at least get a focus confirmation when only tilted/shifted with moderation that's correct. With the small magnification factors of these ultra-wide angle lenses, one can use a bit of confirmation when we don't have the time to use Live View. And, as noted by Cem, the DOF of (Ultra-)Wide angle lenses is still very limited when we need pixel perfect sharpness.

About rewarding for mediocrity, a single purchase made or returned won't send a signal to Canon. Good information about these lenses on sites like OPF on the other hand, may persuade or dissuade larger numbers of potential buyers. That might send a signal that will be noticed, especially when CPS members share their considerations with their CPS representative.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Ivan Garcia]

So far, I am happy with the 17mm but, I have not yet put the lens through its paces.

Bart; I've never been much of a Lens tester but, I have a few free days coming up next week and, Like I said to you in a PM, I am planning a little trip to the Netherlands. I'll be happy to meet up and bring both lenses of you fancy doing an in-depth analysis for OPF.

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

So far, I am happy with the 17mm but, I have not yet put the lens through its paces.

Bart; I've never been much of a Lens tester but, I have a few free days coming up next week and, Like I said to you in a PM, I am planning a little trip to the Netherlands. I'll be happy to meet up and bring both lenses of you fancy doing an in-depth analysis for OPF.

Hi Ivan,

I checked with Cem, and in principle either coming weekend or next would be an opportunity to meet in person. A really in-depth review would take more time than we can spare, but we could try and put the lens through it's paces by visiting Rotterdam (which offers all sorts of architecture). The 17mm (and the 14mm) would create some interesting shooting angle opportunities in a more closed setting of the cube-houses by architect Piet Blom.

I could imagine that you also want to visit Amsterdam on your first trip to the Netherlands, but that's not very practical for Cem due to driving distance. Let us know by PM what you want to visit yourself and when, and we'll try and meet along the way.

One simple test you can do yourself is to check for vignetting, by shooting a slightly out-of focus, uniformly lit, wall or an overcast sky at various wide apertures. Anything narrower than f/5.6 will probably not make much of a difference. That could suggest some decentering if present, although more elaborate tests are needed to quantify it. It would also provide you with some default LCC files if you use Capture One software as a Raw converter.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Jerome Marot]

I would like to remind people wanting to test lenses of my post at the bottom of page 4... A picture of the horizon going diagonal across the frame is quite informative and less subject to errors in an amateur setting than about anything else.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I would like to remind people wanting to test lenses of my post at the bottom of page 4... A picture of the horizon going diagonal across the frame is quite informative and less subject to errors in an amateur setting than about anything else.

Jerome,

I noticed it! Seems it's a very nice simple way of getting an overall impression and is something one can do, borrowing a lens to test in the parking lot of the camera store.

Asher

 

[Ivan Garcia]

At last! a Canon 14mm MKII that does not turn the corners to mashed potato. This copy I am half happy with (Considering I have tasted the Nikon 14-24, that's a compliment) and best of all, It only took 4 copies!.

Full frame

Top Left

Top right

Edit:
I have decided to remove the images. There where images of my private home which, with a little time to sober up ( I was a little tipsy when I posted) I don't think I want to share with the world. I shall take another image when I have the time to replace the empty spaces.

 

[Ivan Garcia]

Centre

Bottom Left

Bottom Right

Jerome, although nothing wrong with your testing method, I do like to test my lenses using the settings and scenes I am likely to use when taking shots with that particular lens.

Edit:
I have decided to remove the images. There where images of my private home which, with a little time to sober up ( I was a little tipsy when I posted) I don't think I want to share with the world. I shall take another image when I have the time to replace the empty spaces.

 

[Jerome Marot]

I noticed it! Seems it's a very nice simple way of getting an overall impression and is something one can do, borrowing a lens to test in the parking lot of the camera store.

Yes and no. Testing lenses is something that is surprisingly difficult if one wants results which can be compared between lenses, which is what we are looking for here. And it is especially difficult for wide angles.

Why? Because of geometry. The classical method of testing lenses, which is to photography a flat subject (a chart or a wall) implies that the subject is perfectly flat and perfectly perpendicular to the optical axis. The closest you are from the subject, the more important this is and with a wide-angle you need to be very close to the subject or to have a really, really big subject. This is the reason why you sometimes read on ultrawide lenses tests that:
-there are "pockets" of unsharpness (means the chart was not flat, the "pockets" are a bit closer or further away)
-one side is unsharp (means the angle is not perpendicular, one side is further away than the other).

There is a reason why the industry invests big money in optical test benches.

The other option is to test at the infinite. The infinite is always at the same distance. Testing at the infinite is done in astronomy (using punctual sources... which is the best test one can do) or by using the horizon.

If you "test" on more ordinary subjects, you will not be able to get consistent results and you absolutely need consistent results to be able to compare lenses.

What does the horizon test teach us?
It allows us to find out:
-at which aperture the center is reasonably sharp
-how corner sharpness evolves with aperture
-to judge mid-frame sharpness
-to compare corner sharpness between lenses (unsharpness and extension)
-to compare lateral chromatic aberration between lenses
-to compare vignetting between lenses
-to see if your lens is correctly centered.

All this with very little risk of errors. The downside is that you need a tall building and fair weather, which is not as common as one would believe. Haze in particular is a problem.

Also: one should realize that with a DSLR one has a very powerful and sensitive analysis tool. You will find that none of your lenses is perfectly centered. You will also find out that the difference of sharpness between focussing at 20 meters away and focussing at the infinite is visible, even for a wide angle (which should answer your question about circles of confusion). I had this particular problem while testing a 24mm lens...

 

[jake klein]

So will there be a 12-24mm f2.8 vs nikkor 24mm f1.4G anytime soon?

I'm still saving but these two are my top choices. No comparisons between these two great lens?

Sorry for posting this here, I forgot this is the ultimate 14mm lens for 35mm format.