Canon 35mm f/1.4L II breathing???

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi all. . .

I'm curious if anyone has tried the Canon 35mm f/1.4L II lens and can comment on its breathing characteristics. I own the Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4 but find its breathing makes it essentially unusable.

Thanks much!

Stephen

 

[Alex Zeder]

https://vimeo.com/785385440/d3496bec7a

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

I can't wait to see this. Is that the right link, though? It's telling me there's an error.

Thanks.

Stephen

 

[Zack Birlew]

Have you tried looking into a rangefinder unit? I know there's some from Rapido that look interesting but a little expensive and SLR Magic has a nice one that's not too pricey if you want to see if it can cut down on the breathing.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Have you tried looking into a rangefinder unit? I know there's some from Rapido that look interesting but a little expensive and SLR Magic has a nice one that's not too pricey if you want to see if it can cut down on the breathing.

How would a rangefinder unit reduce breathing? Do they control both focus and zoom simultaneously? (I've never used one.)

Thanks. And Happy New Year!

Stephen

 

[Phil Holland]

How would a rangefinder unit reduce breathing?

Also happy new year.

Rapido makes a Variable Diopter, which is mainly used to help with homebrew anamorphic solutions to assist with focusing. The pros there is it allows for convenience focus pulls without a "dual focus setup" on adapted projector anamorphic lenses.

The downside is you are adding optics as well as aberrations that come with it. Added with the potential chaos of coverage issues on the wide side of things for that 35mm.

I'd aim elsewhere towards a more telecentric prime if you want minimal breathing. Even entry level cinema glass like Irix, DZO, and Meike breathes less.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

I'd aim elsewhere towards a more telecentric prime if you want minimal breathing. Even entry level cinema glass like Irix, DZO, and Meike breathes less.

Thanks for chiming in, Mr. Holland!

I'm afraid I really want/need electronic stills lenses for a variety of reasons, so non-electronic lenses won't work for me.

A really fast and non-breathing electronic 35mm may not exist (thus my search may be in vain), but there is almost no breathing in most of our Canon/Sigma lenses. The Sigma f/1.8 18-35 shows almost no breathing (much less than what I typically see in Hollywood films shot using the best lenses), and our Canon 50mm f/1.2 and Canon 85mm f/1.2 are just as good in that respect.

I bought the Sigma 35 f/1.4 to use with the Canon focal reducer to increase its speed to about f/1.0 (the 18-35 being APS-C unfortunately) and give me a 24mm effective focal length, and it does. . . but at the cost of breathing like a COPD patient! I was hoping that the Canon 35 might be better, but it appears to be just as bad in that respect.

Thanks!

Stephen

 

[Zack Birlew]

Phil does make a point, the slight increase in aberrations could be an issue and coverage is a consideration as well depending on which brand you use. I do wish more manufacturers would make rangefinder adapters, it just seems like a great and simple idea that needs just another generation or two to be really great, particularly with optical refinements. For now though, they’re just in a category where they may come in handy for certain situations or not.