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Author Topic: Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon  (Read 4459 times)

thesystemera

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Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon
« on: July 09, 2014, 02:04:46 PM »
Has any one tried the fixed 50mm 'Plastic Fantastic' lense for the Canon brand of DSLR's.

Canon EF 50mm F1.8 Lens II http://www.photowarehouse.co.nz/canon-ef-50mm-f1-8-lens-ii/

It's really cheap and highly praized, I've got plenty of space so the fact that it is fixed is not much of a concern. Thoughts?

Thanks.
Simon Che de Boer @ http://www.realityvirtual.co/

Marcel

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Re: Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2014, 06:07:55 PM »
It's one of the cheapest but also one of the best lenses you can get for Canon, high recommendable. Image quality is very good, especially at the apertures used for Photoscan (F8 to F13).

The more expensive 50mm f1.4 has practically the same image quality, but better built quality and a faster auto focus motor (but none of these are essential for Photoscan).

David Cockey

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Re: Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2014, 11:41:21 PM »
I use the Canon EF 40mm f2.8 prime lens which has image quality very similar to the 50mm f1.8 with a wider field of view. It is a little more expensive, list price of $249 but typically available for $149 in the US. It has better build quality and quieter and probably faster autofocus than the 50mm f1.8 (which as Marcel points doesn't affect PhotoScan results).

Marcel

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Re: Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2014, 12:15:17 AM »
Is that the pancake lens?

If you have a good copy it can be a good lens,  but out of 3 copies I tested, 2 of them had some alignment issue (the lens being slightly softer in one corner). I think the 50mm f1.8 would be a safer bet. The slightly wider field of view of the 40mm is nice though.

David Cockey

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Re: Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2014, 05:00:26 AM »
Yes, its the pancake lens. All the reviews and tests of it I've seen have been excellent and I've gotten very good results.

Marcel

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Re: Plastic Fantastic Prme Lense for Canon
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2014, 11:01:14 AM »
Don't get me wrong, it's a very good lens (better than any zoom lens) and you will get excellent results. Maybe I was just unlucky with the two copies that were not centered well.