Kickstarter: a compact 33mm f/2 for APS-C sensors

[Karim Ghantous]

<p>It's not anything like your typical lens:</p>

<p>https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/modulaoptical/cm33-compact-manual-focus-lens-for-mirrorless-with</p>

[dave_s]

<p>Pass.</p>

[keith_b1]

<p>I've got an idea: rehouse the Fuji 56/35/23/16/and 14mm lenses in manual focus housings that retain the electronic aperture control. </p>

[mark_amos]

<p>Maybe having other companies plan to introduce the lenses Fuji doesn't make will encourage them to do it themselves especially when they are very popular focal-speed-size combinations. The only Fuji lenses comparable to this 33 f2 is Fuji's very new 35 f2, and I bet the kickstarter was planned long in advance of that announcement. 18 f2, 23 1,4, 27 2.8, or 35 1.4 are poor substitutes for an extremely compact equivalent 50 f2. Wouldn't it be cool if some other company would dare to make the other lens glaringly absent from the line up? That is a very compact 23 or 24 f2. Actually, I've seen the circulating announcement about the Zonlai 23 f1.8 from a Vietnamese company. At just $129 I'm very reluctant to think it could possibly be of acceptable quality. There are some image samples, but I don't know enough info on them about aperture for example. I realize Fuji's 23 1.4 is close in spec to the 23 1.8, but the Fuji is huge, the Zonlai is very small: big difference. It just seems to me that f2 would be the perfect compromise. At least Leica felt that way enough to offer 35 f2 crons for full frame for more than the past 50 years. While a 24mm lens offers its own challenges for a full sensor, if made for a crop sensor APS-C, I would think that would ameliorate the challenges some.</p>

[Aoresteen]

<p>Fuji offers a number of these lenses:<br>

Fujifilm XF 35mm f/2 R WR Lens. <br>

Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 R WR Lens<br>

Fujifilm XF 27mm f/2.8 R WR Lens<br>

They are auto focus lenses that you can manually focus.<br>

Why bother with a manual focus only lens? </p>

<p>Nothing I would want to invest in.</p>

 

[Jochen_S]

<p>I#ll need a better MILC to start lusting after such lenses. - Anyhow their aperture opening lever / button is something I'd love to see on the next generation of SLR heritage lens adapters too.</p>

[david_smith110]

<p>I think this is a pretty interesting idea, and its one I will follow. Its great to see smaller entities be able to bring things to production in a market usually reserved for much bigger players. If endeavors such as this can bring any type of unique craftsmanship to the world of lenses then I'm all for it.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Why bother with a manual focus only lens?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Seriously? There are many people who enjoy shooting with manual focus lenses. And view cameras. And collodion wet plates. And any number of other types of archaic gear. Not everyone will share your needs or wants for their photography.</p>

[Aoresteen]

<blockquote>

<p>Seriously? There are many people who enjoy shooting with manual focus lenses. And view cameras. And collodion wet plates. And any number of other types of archaic gear. Not everyone will share your needs or wants for their photography.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You missed the point David. I am one of those persons who enjoy manual focus. I use mostly manual focus lenses - 6x9 view camera, Hasselblad, Mamiya M645, Leica, Olympus OM, Pentax M-42 etc. </p>

<p>They are building a lens to go on cameras that feature autofocus and are trying to compete with Fuji/Canon/Sony lenses that do autofocus AND manual focus. That's why I said why bother with manual focus. <br>

<br />For $400 I can get a Fuji 35mm f/2.</p>

<p>http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1191420-REG/fujifilm_xf_35mm_f_2_r.html</p>

<p>How are they going to compete against that? Look at the m43 3rd party manual focus lenses. They are primarily wide angle lenses for cine use that are very fast. They don't duplicate what the OEMs offer.</p>

<p>Building a normal f/2 lens is redundant. It's not going to sell very well.</p>

 

[david_smith110]

<p>Ah, that makes more sense then Anthony. But it still seems like a smart plan for a smaller startup to make one of the popular focal lengths in a relatively fast speed that wont push their capabilities to far. 33 is basically 35, but just odd enough to be different. Making a fast 50 would cost them more and anything wider then 33mm or something more telephoto/portrait type will limit their audience. Street shooters are probably the types always looking for something unique in this focal length to give them a leg up in differentiating their photos from the myriad of other street shooters.</p>

<p>I think a 33/2 was a good choice for these guys to kickstart and gives them the widest possible audience while not straining their technical capabilities with extra speed. If they make this a quality lens with good rendering and sharpness then the extra modularity function could give them quite the hit on their hands. Especially with the aforementioned street shooters.</p>

[Aoresteen]

<p>David, it will boil down to price. If they sell the lens for $99 it should do well. But I suspect the will have to be in the $500 range to cover costs & profit which is why I think it will not do well.</p>

<p>We will just have to wait & see how it goes for them.</p>

[steven_clark]

Their current plan is for a grand.

The FD or MC mount glass I could get

for a grand...

[eric_arnold]

<blockquote>

<p> I suspect the will have to be in the $500 range to cover costs & profit which is why I think it will not do well.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>looks like prices range from $800-$1000. if it was $500 with the mods, it might have a chance. if it had a switchable bayonet mount which would work with Fuji, Sony E, or Canon M, it would appeal to owners of multiple systems. as it stands now, it's a curio which would need to be optically better than everything else available in that focal length for APS-C, which is asking a lot. the Fuji 35/1.4 and f/2 are both pretty good, there's a Zeiss 32 for Fuji and Sony, and then you also have the Cosina/Voigtlander 40/2 in the manual-focus arena. All of those lenses are significantly less expensive. I dont see this really taking off, but i do like the idea of a add-on "bokeh" filter. Most Kickstarter campaigns tend to be front-loaded (majority of support comes in first few weeks). They have two months to raise almost 575k and initial support looks underwhelming. So it looks like this project is pretty much dead in the water already. Which kind of answers the question of its utility.</p>