Normal Lens Reccomendations?

[Randall_Goldone]

I have a 10D and would like input on the best normal lens> sharpness is critical, as I am copying book pages, primarily for text. Currently I have a A 50/1.8. Any other suggestions on sharp lenses?

[Jim_Larson]

What do you mean by "normal", and what apertures are you talking about?

In general, ALL the cheap primes (85/1.8, 50/1.4, 50/1.8, 35/2, 28/2.8, 24/2.8) are outstanding lenses.

[Phil_Taylor]

Look at a 50mm Macro lens. Designed to work at close distances, many will go down to to life size and will give superb results out to infinity.

100/105 Macro lenses are also incredibly sharp, but perhaps a bit on the long side. You would need a huge copy stand column.

Remember that a decent solid copy stand or tripod and a remote release will make more difference than the difference between brands of lens.

If you are into looking at figures http://www.photodo.com/nav/prodindex.html has a list of lenses with MTF test results

Sigma's 50mm f2.8 EX lens comes out with a score of 4.2 and Canon's 50mm f2.5 gets a score of 4.4.

My Sigma 105 Macro has been an excellent lens giving performance that has looked great in high quality glossy A4 food features. Both the Canon and the Sigma are likely to outperform the resolution of any digital SLR.

[Gary_Voth]

Your 50 1.8 will be plenty sharp if you stop down sufficiently. However, it may not focus closely enough without added extension, and it will probably exhibit some field curvature--which you may or may not see in your shots.

A macro lens like the 50 2.5 is designed not only for close focus, but also to have excellent flatness of field and very low distortion, meaning that the plane of focus is flat and straight lines will look straight in the final image.

All Canon's 50mm lenses are very sharp when stopped down to appropriate apertures. Perhaps you should try your 50 and see if you like the results.

[TrevorLehoczky]

I'm just curious of why you are using a camera to digitize text.
I would recommend a flatbed scanner using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program.
It will take your text and turn it into a *.rtf file which can then be batch converted to *.doc format using Word.

Just a thought, unless you were heading some other direction.

[Randall_Goldone]

Thanks Trevor but the text is handwritten and in large books with fragile spines. We are using the camera so as not to damage the book. An excellent point though.

The 50 mm I am currently using is brand new (as is the camera)and seems soft, it may not be the lens. I have considered problems with the focal plane, stopping down as far as possible, keeping the lens paralell with the book, etc. Still soft, other suggestions, things to try?

[Andy_Brown]

Hi,

Have you tried setting the in-camera sharpness to it's maximum ?

Just a thought.....

Cheers,

Andy