Fifty Standard Lenses Compared

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

The low light thing is very much out the window now. Take my OM-D E-M5 for instance, a 5 year old camera which produces acceptably clean output at ISO 6400 and has an IBIS system that gives you 3 stops, if you can't stop 50mm lens down to f4 where it will perform very well using ISO 6400 and gaining 3 stops due to IBIS, then where are you shooting - total darkness?

Boris_Akunin · Joined: 22 Aug 2013 Posts: 393 Location: Bremen, Germany

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Those charts do not tell the whole story and do not fit with the real world because when shooting in the dark, you don't need a massive tonal range or wide dynamic range because a large part of the scene is going to be very dark shadows.

Also, I often use in-camera bracketing in the dark so I can make HDRs and that overcomes any problems with tonal & dynamic range issues.

Teemō · Joined: 07 Apr 2016 Posts: 586 Location: Australia

Both of you make valid points, but this is exactly why I don't use vintage lenses on my m43. The native primes are basically at their best already by F2.8 but even wide open at F1.7/1.8 the successive performance gains at smaller apertures are not so stark, and particularly in dark environments, I don't care about corner performance or vignetting or CA. I prefer not to go above ISO 1600 on m43 - funny considering that my friend with his D7100 complains about ISO 800... Sometimes I went to 3200 or even 6400 if I didn't have a tripod but I don't think I've ever kept an image shot there.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I own quite a few digital cameras, going back as far as an EOS 350D and a Nikon D50, and the improvement in ISO performance is astounding. For instance, my 10 year old Sony a850 24mp FF camera is only really usable upto ISO 800, any higher and it's just too noisy. My NEX-3 14mp APS-C also is only good upto ISO 800, the OM-D E-M5 is usable upto ISO 6400, I am not sure about my Lumix G3, it has a similar 16mp M4/3 sensor to the OM-D, but I think it's only good upto ISO 1600, maybe less. I mostly use the G3 for video with manual lenses, the OM-D is a recent aquisition, only had it a month or so, and while it is very good with manual lenses, I intend to only use it with M4/3 native primes in future, but I shall have to buy some first, currently I only have the Olympus 3.5/35 macro, a four thirds lens and I use that with an adapter, it works fine, focus is not the fastest but it's accurate.

OM-D E-M5 with a CZJ Pancolar 1.8/50 MC Electric, I don't remember what aperture settings, probably closed one stop for the orange and f5.6 for the building: