Lenses advise 140mm sonnar 210mm sonnar

[Guest]

I'm imminently about to purchase a 645 kit, however am in deliberation as to what additional lenses to buy between the 140mm and the
210mm.

if i explain the type of photography i do then i hope any body with more experience and knowledge can advise me.

my main photography centers around stage concerts, musicians, performers etc., which involves a lot of in front of stage (low light,
restricted space etc.) and secondly back stage.

i've predominately been using 35mm up to now shooting with a 45mm and occasionally 90mm lenses. i feel that moving up to 645
format gives me wider scope and encourages me to pursue more studio shooting.

i feel the 80mm lenses for the 645 will give me a comfortable full body shot, and would like an additional lenses to for head/ head and
shoulders.
the 140mm at f2.8 seems at this point a good choice because the extra stop of light. and if i did want to go into the studio i could get the
1.4 mutar teleconverter to make this a 200 mm lenses for portrait work.

would anyone advise me against this and opt straight away for the 210mm lenses, would this give me good flexibility.

or would anyone suggest i wait for the 80- 180mm zoom.

one other thing i was wondering about are the 140mm and 210mm lenses apochromatic the same as the 120mm lenses?

thankyou for your advise in this instance.
metso

 

[Guest]

Adrian, I don't use the Contax 645 but I use Fuji 645 and 6x9 rangefinders. The biggest consideration when using medium format for your "low light, restricted space" photography is the reduced depth of field and farther minimum focusing distance of longer focal length lenses.

The 645 140mm and 210mm can only focus down to 1.3m and 1.4m respectively, whereas your 45mm and 90mm lenses can probably focus to less than one metre. So check how close you need to focus. If you regularly need to focus closer than one metre, then the 80mm lens will work better for you on the 645.

If 1.3m is acceptable as a minimum object distance, you'll still have a problem with very narrow depth of field at full aperture in low light. So be aware of these limitations, before you decide which lens to buy. The 210mm lens might be useless in the "low light, restricted space" scenario because the depth of field will be so small at wide apertures and close focus distance. If so, then the 140mm lens will have more depth of field than the 210mm, but it still has much less d.o.f. than your 35mm lenses. Be careful about that.

 

[Guest]

Adrian,

This message may be a little late, however, I use both the 140 and the 210. The 140 is hand holdable where as the 210 is not. I would think in your situation the 140 would be better. It is an excellent lens for portraits.

Ted