a quickr pickr post
Showing posts with label fujian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fujian. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Review: Fuzhou Feihua F&H 50mm F/1.4 CCTV Lens FH5014MC
This lens is made by Fuzhou Feihua Optoelectronic Technology (F&H), the company
behind the Fujian branded 25mm F/1.4 and 35mm F/1.7 lenses. They make a large
selection of cctv lenses including two 50mm F/1.4 lenses that are of interest to
users of mirrorless cameras. One of the lenses is visually very similar to the
35mm and the other which I am reviewing here is of a different design and has
been likened to a flashlight or a trumpet thanks to it's very large front
element.
Build quality and finish:
It's pretty well put together considering the price, it's all metal which is a good start and while the finish isn't perfect there's only so much you can expect from such a cheap lens and it certainly feels more solid than some of the plastic kit lenses the big companies bundle with cameras these days! The lens will fit an C-mount to NEX adapter fine and gives moderate vignetting on an APS-C sensor. On micro four thirds the image circle covers the sensor but the rear of the lens is slightly too large to screw fully into an adapter and the lens will require modification. On some lenses the entire rear of the lens needs attention but with this lens it's just the focus ring which should simplify matters, I haven't attempted to modify the lens yet but the focus ring appears to be held in place with some small screws so it may even detach entirely in which case it could either be left off or certainly trimmed much more easily.
It's pretty well put together considering the price, it's all metal which is a good start and while the finish isn't perfect there's only so much you can expect from such a cheap lens and it certainly feels more solid than some of the plastic kit lenses the big companies bundle with cameras these days! The lens will fit an C-mount to NEX adapter fine and gives moderate vignetting on an APS-C sensor. On micro four thirds the image circle covers the sensor but the rear of the lens is slightly too large to screw fully into an adapter and the lens will require modification. On some lenses the entire rear of the lens needs attention but with this lens it's just the focus ring which should simplify matters, I haven't attempted to modify the lens yet but the focus ring appears to be held in place with some small screws so it may even detach entirely in which case it could either be left off or certainly trimmed much more easily.
Image Quality:
The lens is similar to the F&H 35mm in a lot of ways, it has the same small circle of focus in the central portion of the frame giving way to much swirliness around the edges. With the 35mm lens I found it was extreme field curvature causing this and that the lens could be focused with some degree of sharpness towards the edges but never at the same time as the centre. With this lens I find the edges are soft even if you attempt to focus specifically at the edge so you could say it was somewhat inferior in this aspect.
The lens has very nice bokeh and highlights are rendered in a more neutral fashion than with the 35mm which tended to have rings around circular highlights, a quality I found appealing but I can understand that some will prefer the smoother look this lens provides. The lens is very prone to flare and loss of contrast when the sun is in or near the frame so a hood might be something to consider if this bothers you. The colours from this lens are very vivid and well saturated but the contrast can be somewhat weak at times especially when flare rears it's head.
Overall the images this lens delivers are very imperfect but very fun, the more I use lenses like this the more I realise that they are tools that have much creative potential, you can achieve a look to images with theses lenses that you just cannot match with more expensive conventional optics so a direct comparison is not only unfair but also inappropriate, there are relatively mundane objects that you can make interesting with a lens like this, in fact I find that I look at everything differently when I use this lens and other similar lenses because I know that subjects that would often look plain if captured with a normal lens suddenly look interesting or have something to offer that they didn't before. You see the world differently through these kind of lenses and that is a good thing, don't look at them as a cheap alternative to conventional glass but as something different and fun but not necessarily less worthy of being on the front of your camera!
Conclusion?:
Compared to a conventional photographic lens this lens is very poor or even pathetic but that would be missing the point and this lens can do things no expensive conventional lens can do. The images it makes are different and fun and distinctive and that helps to fuel creativity and for that reason I think it's a great buy! Never approach these lenses as a rival to a conventional lens but instead see them as something entirely different that can live alongside your conventional glass and not compete with it!
The lens is similar to the F&H 35mm in a lot of ways, it has the same small circle of focus in the central portion of the frame giving way to much swirliness around the edges. With the 35mm lens I found it was extreme field curvature causing this and that the lens could be focused with some degree of sharpness towards the edges but never at the same time as the centre. With this lens I find the edges are soft even if you attempt to focus specifically at the edge so you could say it was somewhat inferior in this aspect.
The lens has very nice bokeh and highlights are rendered in a more neutral fashion than with the 35mm which tended to have rings around circular highlights, a quality I found appealing but I can understand that some will prefer the smoother look this lens provides. The lens is very prone to flare and loss of contrast when the sun is in or near the frame so a hood might be something to consider if this bothers you. The colours from this lens are very vivid and well saturated but the contrast can be somewhat weak at times especially when flare rears it's head.
Overall the images this lens delivers are very imperfect but very fun, the more I use lenses like this the more I realise that they are tools that have much creative potential, you can achieve a look to images with theses lenses that you just cannot match with more expensive conventional optics so a direct comparison is not only unfair but also inappropriate, there are relatively mundane objects that you can make interesting with a lens like this, in fact I find that I look at everything differently when I use this lens and other similar lenses because I know that subjects that would often look plain if captured with a normal lens suddenly look interesting or have something to offer that they didn't before. You see the world differently through these kind of lenses and that is a good thing, don't look at them as a cheap alternative to conventional glass but as something different and fun but not necessarily less worthy of being on the front of your camera!
Compared to a conventional photographic lens this lens is very poor or even pathetic but that would be missing the point and this lens can do things no expensive conventional lens can do. The images it makes are different and fun and distinctive and that helps to fuel creativity and for that reason I think it's a great buy! Never approach these lenses as a rival to a conventional lens but instead see them as something entirely different that can live alongside your conventional glass and not compete with it!
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Review: Fujian 35mm F/1.7 C-Mount CCTV Lens
This now famous lens is a very cheap and basic CCTV lens that can be bought for very little on ebay and with an adapter can be fitted to Micro 4/3 and Sony NEX cameras among others. It's unusual for a CCTV lens in that it casts an image large to cover the APS-C sensor in the Sony NEX although originally it was intended to work with much smaller sensors hence the "interesting" rendering around the edge of the frame.
The obvious appeal of this lens is a combination of the cheap price, the fast maximum aperture and the fact that even in a world where adapting manual focus lenses has become popular it's still something a bit different!
A modified version of this design is sold by SLR Magic and I once wrote a blog entry criticizing SLR Magic because like many I assumed the lens was simply plucked off the mass production line and sold at a huge mark up however after speaking to Andrew at SLR Magic it was explained to me that some changes are made to the lens both cosmetically and optically so whilst this lens and the SLR Magic version share the same ancestry the SLR Magic version is, in theory, a superior lens so the results of this review do not apply to the SLR Magic lens.
How this lens compares to the SLR Magic version in terms of image quality I do not know and some people claim to see no tangible difference but if you want to avoid the risks of poor quality control it might be a better choice as a "luxury" version and of course it also has a native mount fitted from the factory so you won't have to endure the hassle and even potential risks of buying an adapter. If this sounds appealing to you then I would suggest you buy the SLR Magic version. If, on the other hand you get a kick out of doing things as cheaply as possible you may be interested in buying the basic Fujian version!
Build quality and finish:
Well it starts off well in as much as the lens is made from metal but it's not very well finished and the rubber grips for the focus and aperture rings are terrible. The focus ring is somewhat gritty and the aperture ring tends to stick if you turn it hard against the internal stop. If this was an expensive lens I would be disappointed but it's not an expensive lens by a long shot and when the price is put into consideration it's not that bad, the finish is poor but it's a fairly solid lump of metal so I'm not going to be too hard on it!
Well it starts off well in as much as the lens is made from metal but it's not very well finished and the rubber grips for the focus and aperture rings are terrible. The focus ring is somewhat gritty and the aperture ring tends to stick if you turn it hard against the internal stop. If this was an expensive lens I would be disappointed but it's not an expensive lens by a long shot and when the price is put into consideration it's not that bad, the finish is poor but it's a fairly solid lump of metal so I'm not going to be too hard on it!
Image Quality:
Interesting is the operative word with this lens, you are initially greeted with a tiny circle of sharpness in the centre of the frame that just refuses to grow no matter how much you close the aperture! The sharp part gets sharper on stopping down but does not increase across the frame! There's a very extreme case of field curvature going on which tricks some people into thinking the lens cannot be focused on objects towards the edges of the frame when it can, it's just that the field curvature is so bad that you simply cannot have the centre and edge of the frame in the same plane of focus no matter what! Even when taking a photo of a brick wall you cannot have uniform sharpness across the frame at any aperture, this is related to the fact that the lens was only designed to give a flat plane of focus on sensors much much smaller than those in digital cameras.
Does this mean it's a bad lens to use? Not at all! I have an absolute wail of a time using this lens, it's so fun and quirky and the images are full of character, the colours are very saturated, fringing is surprisingly low all things considered and the bokeh is actually quite smooth apart from highlights which can look busy but I like the look a lot, it works great with out of focus city lights etc. The lack of sharpness across the frame can often give the impression of a lens with an even faster aperture and make the depth of field look really paper thin! This is probably one of the cheapest lenses I own but might very well be the most fun to use! I thought I would get bored of the quirkiness eventually but I still enjoy taking the lens out for a spin, it just seems to get the creative juices flowing!
All the pros and cons apply equally to making video as they do taking still photos.
Conclusion?:
What this lens lacks in build quality and optical consistency it more than makes up for in terms of being fun and interesting to use, for the money it's an absolute blast and I can't help but recommend it! And if you want the same thing but with better quality then you know where you can get it!
Interesting is the operative word with this lens, you are initially greeted with a tiny circle of sharpness in the centre of the frame that just refuses to grow no matter how much you close the aperture! The sharp part gets sharper on stopping down but does not increase across the frame! There's a very extreme case of field curvature going on which tricks some people into thinking the lens cannot be focused on objects towards the edges of the frame when it can, it's just that the field curvature is so bad that you simply cannot have the centre and edge of the frame in the same plane of focus no matter what! Even when taking a photo of a brick wall you cannot have uniform sharpness across the frame at any aperture, this is related to the fact that the lens was only designed to give a flat plane of focus on sensors much much smaller than those in digital cameras.
Does this mean it's a bad lens to use? Not at all! I have an absolute wail of a time using this lens, it's so fun and quirky and the images are full of character, the colours are very saturated, fringing is surprisingly low all things considered and the bokeh is actually quite smooth apart from highlights which can look busy but I like the look a lot, it works great with out of focus city lights etc. The lack of sharpness across the frame can often give the impression of a lens with an even faster aperture and make the depth of field look really paper thin! This is probably one of the cheapest lenses I own but might very well be the most fun to use! I thought I would get bored of the quirkiness eventually but I still enjoy taking the lens out for a spin, it just seems to get the creative juices flowing!
All the pros and cons apply equally to making video as they do taking still photos.
What this lens lacks in build quality and optical consistency it more than makes up for in terms of being fun and interesting to use, for the money it's an absolute blast and I can't help but recommend it! And if you want the same thing but with better quality then you know where you can get it!
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