Ultimate Guide for Adapted lenses (Updated 01/02/18)

[ferrantejohn]

I am using my CF 250 lens on my X1D via a Kipon adapter. It works fine. Not nearly as convenient as an XCD lens, but when the longer focal lengths are not even available for the X1D, the older Zeiss lenses represent the only real option in town. I'm sure you'll enjoy yours.

Glad to hear it! I think we all like seeing our old Zeiss glass being put to good use again. 

[Hausen]

I have been using a Pentax P67 200mm on my X1D with Kipon adapter. Neither the adapter or the lens comes with a tripod mount and the combo needs support if I am to use it for my Long exposure work. Super sharp as a walk around lens though. I really like it.

[rent]

Since this is the ultimate guide, I'm going to add my findings on some Canon lenses adapted with the Kipon EF-XCD adapter. Note the aperture can be changed with this adapter, IS does not work.

Canon EF 135mm f/2L - Excellent, with minimal vignetting that can be easily corrected.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS - Excellent, with minimal vignetting that can be easily corrected. 1:1 macro!
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II - Significant vignetting, only square crop is usable.
Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L - The built-in lens shade ruins it for the 11-14mm range. Starting from 15mm the image is very usable, with minimal vignetting that can be easily corrected.

Alex

[alex_tseli]

Since this is the ultimate guide, I'm going to add my findings on some Canon lenses adapted with the Kipon EF-XCD adapter. Note the aperture can be changed with this adapter, IS does not work.

Canon EF 135mm f/2L - Excellent, with minimal vignetting that can be easily corrected.
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS - Excellent, with minimal vignetting that can be easily corrected. 1:1 macro!
Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II - Significant vignetting, only square crop is usable.
Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L - The built-in lens shade ruins it for the 11-14mm range. Starting from 15mm the image is very usable, with minimal vignetting that can be easily corrected.

Alex

After I saw this post last week I've ordered a Kipon adapter on eBay to test it with my Canon 85mm f 1.2 II as it needs electronic connection even to do manual focus as well as simplify my workflow of setting the aperture on other Canon lenses. I received the adapter in less than 4 days, it works perfectly well and it powers up 85mm to allow focusing!

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 II L - Excellent, with some vignetting on f1.2 that can be easily corrected. Vignetting becomes negligible @f2.0.

[rent]

Hey Alex, thanks for the report. Oh wow, I kind of regretting selling off my 1.2/85 II now. :-) But now I'm determined to get an Otus 85. Talking about GAS!

In addition:

Zeiss APO Sonnar T* (and Milvus) 2/135 - Excellent, with very minimal vignetting (less than the Canon 2/135). Super sharp.

Alex

[alex_tseli]

Hey Alex, thanks for the report. Oh wow, I kind of regretting selling off my 1.2/85 II now. :-) But now I'm determined to get an Otus 85. Talking about GAS!

In addition:

Zeiss APO Sonnar T* (and Milvus) 2/135 - Excellent, with very minimal vignetting (less than the Canon 2/135). Super sharp.

Alex

Thanks Alex! I am a bit hesitant about the price tag $4.5k - this is really close to Hasselblad-level and I would wait for XCD 80mm But if you get it earlier, let us know

Do you have any wider-angle Zeiss lenses to test? I am more into landscape business and am very curious - so far Canon 16-35 f4 worked well on 20mm for me as well as Canon TS 24mm II - no vignetting and quite sharp.

Cheers, Alex

[rent]

I don't have any Zeiss wide angles unfortunately.

Ming had reported some findings here that may be of some interest.

[alex_tseli]

I don't have any Zeiss wide angles unfortunately.

Ming had reported some findings here that may be of some interest.

Thanks! The widest he went for in Zeiss seems to be 28mm, which was not good, but Sigma 20/1.4 is good, so I wonder if some of the extreme WA lenses are any good

Converging my report from this http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/index.php?topic=5401.0 thread with samples I add some lenses here too:

Canon 50mm 1.4 => slight vignetting (improves at f3.5), that is acceptable for portraits, perfect colors and sharpness, almost as sharp as XCD 45mm @ f3.5; Very interesting options for portraits
Canon 24mm TS => very little vignetting @3.5, didn't test it at smaller apertures as I didn't have a Canon body to set it (disadvantage of Fotodiox vs Cambo, but Cambo is 1000$+ and Fotodiox is just 160$). I'd use XCD 30mm if tilt/shift functions are not needed UPD: With Kipon adapter - recommended!
Canon 135mm f2 => didn't test it  for long, but acts more like Canon 50mm 1.4 except for less vignetting, recommended!
Helios 40 85mm 1.5 (old Soviet lens) => Portrait miracle - slight vignetting, not very sharp, but does what it needs to do - with a great dynamic range and iconic bokeh.
Canon 85mm 1.2 => no manual focusing available, so just did a couple of shots - looks great, but not really usable . UPD: With Kipon adapter one can set the aperture AND focus! Very light vignetting @1.2, otherwise flawless!
Canon 16-35 f4 => Severe vignetting from 16mm to 19mm, sweet spot at 19mm-24mm, then vignetting again. I used it for some landscapes and it it really good!
Sigma 12-24 4.5-5.6 I => surprisingly good after 18mm, very nice colors, almost as XCD 30mm, need more time to evaluate

[alex_tseli]

First autofocus adapter for Canon lenses for Fuji GFX, I wonder if H is going to get one anytime soon..

http://techartpro.com/product/techart-canon-ef-lens-to-fujifilm-gfx-autofocus-adapter/

[rent]

I'm curious about how the image circle looks like with the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS. Does anyone have one to test?

By the way I'm in SoCal would be happy to meet up to try one. Coffee on me.

Thanks!
Alex

[rent]

Canon 16-35 f4 => Severe vignetting from 16mm to 19mm, sweet spot at 19mm-24mm, then vignetting again. I used it for some landscapes and it it really good!

Alex, could the severe vignetting from 16-19 be due to the lens hood? Was it of an irregular shape? I had a similar observation with the 11-24mm.

[alex_tseli]

Canon 16-35 f4 => Severe vignetting from 16mm to 19mm, sweet spot at 19mm-24mm, then vignetting again. I used it for some landscapes and it it really good!

Alex, could the severe vignetting from 16-19 be due to the lens hood? Was it of an irregular shape? I had a similar observation with the 11-24mm.

I lost my hood the next day I bought the lens after it was released

The vignetting happens as when you zoom from 16mm to 35mm the inner element first moves backwards and then at some point goes forward, the shape is regular, at the corners. It is not like it is completely unusable as it occurs in the corners, the rest of the area is good, but would require content-aware cloning in PS

[BostonBoy]

Just to add to the 'Adapter' discussion - I'm working with the Novoflex Nikon Mount Adapter on the X1D since the day it came out 2+ weeks ago. As usually from Novoflex, the Adapter itself is very sound. My focal point so far has been on some of the "older" Nikon Glass (non-'E') that allows me to use the manual aperture control. There are plenty of reports on the e.g. the stellar Otii's which I can confirm - they are stellar on the X1D, with the 85mm even better than the 55mm (less vignette), in 6x6 Mode. In the last few days I focused on the old 85mm F1.4 AF-S D and the 135mm F2 DC. Interestingly both lenses don't seem to be as sharp on the X1D as I remembered from my Nikon bodies - maybe the 39MPixel '6x6' Square is pushing them too far resolution-wise. The 135mm vignettes even more wide open, which I did not expect. It also shows more CA especially shooting against the light. Any backlight situation it really shows. I expected the 135mm to be worse on CA, but not by that much. For kicks I opted to mount the Nikon 105mm F1.4 'E' and the Sigma 135mm F1.8 (also electronic aperture control) which means they can only be used wide open. Even wide open they are sharper than my old Nikon glass I have to admit. This is of limited use though, since totally wide open lenses on a small MF sensor makes is very hard to focus with my aging eyes. Side note: I would wish for one of the future X1D firmware updates to combine focus magnification and focus peaking!! I've tried some other zoom glass well (Nikon 14-24mm F2.8, 24-70 etc.) with mediocre results. I think that the long scan time of the sensor (~300ms) makes any handheld shooting a hit-or-miss game, and even with a tripod your Sujet needs to be rather sitting still. But when it works, it does seem to offer nice results. Nikon 135mm F2 DC shot attached:

[alex_tseli]

Last weekend I went shopping for something, that is wider than XCD 30mm and tested out the full range of Zeiss Milvus and Otus-es as well as some Canon zooms. All Zeisses wider than 35mm, just as reported earlier (e.g. here https://blog.mingthein.com/2017/08/24/e-shutter-firmware-for-the-hasselblad-x1d/ or in this thread) have severe vignetting requiring a crop. After having tested my own Canon 16-35 f4 I was wondering how Canon 16-35 f2.8 III would work

Canon 16-35 f2.8 III => A miracle, highly recommended! Strong vignetting in 16mm-18mm, 19mm is acceptable if focused on infinity, 20mm-35mm very good, and almost no vignetting if stopped to f4. What is striking is lens sharpness. It is (in my opinion and based on several shots) visually sharper than XCD 30mm @30mm on the same settings. XCD gets on par at f8 though and is getting a bit sharper at f11.
New Petzval 58mm f1.9 Bokeh Control => Perfect lens for creative portraits. Does show substantial vignetting in the corners, but even on full frame the corners are very soft and require post-processing, so I didn't see this a a disadvantage. Sharp center and beautiful bokeh work very good on X1D

[Philipcasecohen]

To those who are using adapters for the Hasselblad V lenses, do you find that the adapter to the X1D body has any play/wiggle once it's connected to the body?  I just received the Fotodiox adapter which is very well made but as someone had previously mentioned, it focuses to infinity and well past (which is fine), but while focusing I also noted a bit of play on the mount.  If the Novoflex is free of this, I would prefer to go this route and have the tighter connection and a tripod plate. I also have the Kipon Canon EF adapter that does not have any play and appears to mount very well to the X1D so I am looking for another solution that would match this quality.

To anyone who has the Novoflex adapter, where did you purchase it? I tried to buy direct but it looks like shipping to the US is not currently an option. Thanks in advance.