Hexar AF?

jmphotocraft

Anyone shoot this old film camera? I have a buddy on facebook who won't go to digital because he just loves his too much. The stuff he posts - even with facebook compression - makes me jealous. See below. Maybe I should just get a 35mm prime for my 5DII?

craig_d

Nice pictures. I think with an EF 35mm f/2 (if you're on a budget) or EF 35mm f/1.4L USM (if you can afford it), you'd have no trouble getting shots similar to these with a 5D2. I have the cheap f/2 and it's really a pretty nice little lens.

jmphotocraft

craig_d wrote:

Nice pictures. I think with an EF 35mm f/2 (if you're on a budget) or EF 35mm f/1.4L USM (if you can afford it), you'd have no trouble getting shots similar to these with a 5D2. I have the cheap f/2 and it's really a pretty nice little lens.

I'd have to start with the f/2. Can't fork out $1400 for a fl I already have covered. Maybe if I become an all-prime shooter or a full time pro I'll go for the 1.4.

So is the f/2 like the 50/1.8? That is, great glass, crappy everything else? I'd hope for 3x the cost of the 50, it would have somewhat better AF.

craig_d

jmphotocraft wrote:

So is the f/2 like the 50/1.8? That is, great glass, crappy everything else? I'd hope for 3x the cost of the 50, it would have somewhat better AF.

It's like the original 50mm f/1.8, not the all-plastic II version they sell now. It has a metal mount, a distance window, a usable manual focus ring, and an AFD auto-focus motor (a little less cheesy than the micromotor in the 50mm f/1.8 II, but it still makes a small buzzing noise when focusing). Like the 50mm f/1.8, it has only five aperture blades, so you get decent bokeh wide open but it turns pentagonal when you stop down.

jmphotocraft

thanks for the info. is the AF usable in low light? i found the 50/1.8 to be unacceptable in low light.

craig_d

jmphotocraft wrote:

thanks for the info. is the AF usable in low light? i found the 50/1.8 to be unacceptable in low light.

I've taken perfectly good pictures when the only light was provided by a few candles on a birthday cake, focusing on a face probably about three feet away from the cake. That's probably the darkest situation I've used it in.