50mm vs. 50mm

RezaLoghme · 2025-11-21T14:29:55-0500

but still...they are, aren't they? I have yet to find a Hasselblad V Series 1.0 prime.

GregY · 2025-11-21T14:36:05-0500

RezaLoghme said:
but still...they are, aren't they? I have yet to find a Hasselblad V Series 1.0 prime.

of course they are but your question is a complete non sequitur..... has nothing to do with anything under discussion

MattKing · 2025-11-21T14:37:13-0500

But if you want, you can find an 80mm f/1.9 lens for a Mamiya 645.
I've never seen the need for one. Back in the day, if I has a need for one, I would have rented one, because otherwise that extra spped would spend most of its time being wasted, sitting unused.
All fast lenses involve compromises - size, cost, complexity, resolution, distortion, focus throw.
Choosing any lens is a question of weighing the compromises against each other.
If speed is your most important criteria, choose based on that.

chuckroast · 2025-11-21T15:08:40-0500

RezaLoghme said:
Arent they mutually exclusive?!

That's not been my experience.

A Hasselblad negative done properly is razor sharp with a rich tonality. My point was that TMX moves 35mm in that direction, and at 8x10, you almost cannot tell that the print was made from a 35mm negative.

cliveh · 2025-11-21T15:24:05-0500

I think the key word in the original post is character. Different lenses do exhibit different characteristics, but to try and compare two Lieca classic lenses in terms of quality values is a bit meaningless.

GregY · 2025-11-21T17:45:29-0500

chuckroast said:
That's not been my experience.

A Hasselblad negative done properly is razor sharp with a rich tonality. My point was that TMX moves 35mm in that direction, and at 8x10, you almost cannot tell that the print was made from a 35mm negative.

Yes TMX is an incredible film..the detail it holds and the resulting prints from 35mm (let alone from 120 or 4x5) are quite something.

Craig · 2025-11-21T20:48:52-0500

Back to the original question, I think the answer is "it depends". Generally speaking, lenses are at their best 2-3 stops down from maximum aperture. It's also true that lenses of a large aperture are more difficult to correct all the aberrations than lenses of more modest aperture.

Short of actual testing of a particular example, I think it would be very difficult to say if a 1.4 lens closed down 1 stop is better or worse than a 2.0 lens wide open. It think it woudl come down to the build quality of the individual lenses and how they ave been treated since they were manufactured.

GregY · 2025-11-21T21:58:30-0500

Craig said:
Back to the original question, I think the answer is "it depends". Generally speaking, lenses are at their best 2-3 stops down from maximum aperture. It's also true that lenses of a large aperture are more difficult to correct all the aberrations than lenses of more modest aperture.

Short of actual testing of a particular example, I think it would be very difficult to say if a 1.4 lens closed down 1 stop is better or worse than a 2.0 lens wide open. It think it woudl come down to the build quality of the individual lenses and how they ave been treated since they were manufactured.

Agreed, i don't think there is a meaningful difference.

50mm vs. 50mm

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