A Fast Standard Lens

This photograph shows a Canon EOS 40D camera fitted via an adapter with a Tomioka-manufactured, Chinon badged, 55mm f/1.4 lens made around 1975 to a Planar design by Johannes Berger.

The photograph was taken with a Nikon D700 fitted with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D lens. That camera-lens combination is very capable and unquestionably superior to the kit in the picture, yet the old Chinon lens is nevertheless a pleasure to use, if a bit challenging to focus sometimes. Because the Canon EOS 40D is a crop-sensor camera, the field-of-view is 55mm x 1.6, that is equivalent to 88mm, and thus more of a short telephoto.

These old lenses, with little or no coating, and no computer technology involved in their design, seem to imbue your photographs with particular colour characteristics which are a bit different to modern day lenses. On researching this particular lens, I was glad to discover it is generally well-regarded. One reviewer was especially enthusiastic:

The following are highlights from a review of this lens at erphotoreview.com/wordpress/?p=1264


'The lens has very strong center performance wide open for an f/1.4 lens, especially considering its age. Contrast drops off quickly towards the corners, but the lens still has decent resolution. Even at f/2 the resolution is exceptional in the center, and the corners are very good resolution by f/2.8...Flare resistance is terrible...Distortion is a fairly minor barrel distortion. Fairly easy to correct, and likely not an issue for most situations. This lens really surprised me. I was expecting junk and it ended up being the biggest surprise of the lenses I tested. In terms of sharpness, the only place this lens is lacking is wide open at the corners, otherwise it is comparable to the best of the best.'


To the reviewer's remarks I would add that 'sharpness' is a general term to describe the clarity of detail in a photograph. Fundamentally, only two factors contribute to the perceived sharpness of an image: resolution and acutance, the latter being the contrast. Resolution relates to closely-spaced details in a picture, whereas acutance is a question of whether edges are well-defined or blurred. When we apply 'sharpening' to a photograph in post-production, it is only the acutance which is altered; the resolution is determined at the instant the photograph is taken.