FX on CX

Time to put the 85mm f/1.8G on the V1. With the CX crop factor, this works out to a telephoto lens on a Nikon 1 series body.

It's not too heavy a combination, even with the FT-1. AF is limited to the center sensor, but it is snappy and accurate. There is chromatic aberration wide open, and it goes away by about f/3.5. This lens has very good contrast, with colors that are pretty vibrant. The included hood is a bit too shallow, especially on CX.

This is probably not a combination that I'll use often, but it's something to keep in mind if I need a tele with good low light capabilities.


Generic C-mount and the V1


One of the attractions of the V1 is the ability to use non-CX lenses, ranging from F-mount, C-mount, Canon, Minolta, Fujica, M42 and many more through the use of adapters. Other than with AF F-mount lenses, you will lose AF, all autoexposure modes, and won't record any EXIF information. There is no AF peaking, so focusing can be difficult as the AF confirmation dot isn't very accurate.



I got a generic C-mount adapter and a generic 35mm f/1.2 C-mount lens (branded 'Fotasy') on eBay. It's a challenging lens, with a non-uniform field plane of focus. OOF can get swirly (apparently common to C-mount lenses). But it is sharp when you nail the focus.



I used this lens a few times, but the results have been less than optimal. It hasn't found a regular place in my bag. I was considering other C-mount lenses, but that plan has been put on the backburner after buying the 18.5mm and the FT-1.





 More samples here


The cheap system that wasn't

Nearly a year has passed since my last post. I blame time for passing. What follows was sitting in the drafts folder for six months.

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It's been almost a year since I got the V1. Since then, I've added an SB-5 (since the camera has no flash), the FT-1 F-mount adapter (since I want to use my Nikon lenses with autoexposure and AF), the 18.5mm f/1.8 (since it's the cheaper lens with the largest aperture that I can afford), and the 10mm f/2.8 (since it was less for a refurb than for a craigslist  one). I also added a 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX because of a $100 discount from dpreview (thank you!).

Adding it all up, I've spent over $1k on what was supposed to be an under $400 replacement for a p&s. Yikes!

Welcome to my friend, feature creep. The SB-5 is needed as the V1 doesn't do too well at high ISO's, and I didn't have the 18.5mm f/1.8. The 18.5mm is needed so I can get some sort of subject isolation, and still use lower ISO's (see above on the SB-5). The FT-1 is needed because it was a good price, and I want to see how well this camera does with actual AF on the Sigma 500mm (MF doesn't work too well for surfing shots). The 10mm is needed so I can have a small kit for my upcoming trip. The 35mm is needed for portraits because the 32mm f/1.2 is just plain expensive.
 
What's next? The GP-N100 would remove the inconvenience of syncing GPX files from my phone. I have yet to upgrade the firmware for the FT-1 as I'm worried my Sigma lenses may not AF. I should send the Sigmas in to Sigma to have them upgraded. I haven't decided on whether I need a grip or not.

Decisions, decisions :-)

I've also been working through my backlog of photos. I didn't realize that I had some images from two years ago that I had yet to process (again, because life!). I'm now up to April of this year, which is quite a bit of progress. I should have some images up tonight, or in the next few days.