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lenses to switch from smartphone photography
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 3:18 pm    Post subject: lenses to switch from smartphone photography Reply with quote
Hi!

Got an Canon Eos M to get back into photography (and magic lantern).
For a couple of years I only took photos with my phone.

I already have the 18-55mm kit lens, a 7Artisans 35mm f1.2 and a soligor 80-200mm f4

I'm looking for fun lenses to go out have some fun and do something different from the kind of photos that's similar to the ones you'd get on smartphones.

I tend to go everywhere to take photos, cities, nature, indoors etc etc

Tips anyone?

(Only criteria is I don't particularly like swirly bokeh.)


PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
An 8mm fisheye will be good.

What you get from a lens is entirely up to you, the photographer. The small kit that you have is enough to cover all practical applications. Prime lenses are usually better.

Known bokeh lenses usually lose the swirl at smaller apertures


PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
There are "character" lenses out there that render quite nicely on full frame.

The rendering I like the best comes from what could be a boring lens- the 50mm f2 "H" nikkor.
It is not quite a technically perfect lens, but for it's time period, is wonderfully sharp.
There are a lot of newer, sharper primes out there that out-perform it in optical tests, but lack it's character.
It's faults are somewhat apparent wide-open, but clear up a single f-stop down.
I have actually found that I rarely shoot my primes wide open in real life use.
I think this is a lens worth investigating. It's likely it's coatings are what gives it the character I like.

There are more out there worth looking into.
My experience is nikon based due to being heavily involved in that system for most of my photographic life.
Late 60's to early 70's 105 to 135mm can be very interesting rendering as well.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 6:45 pm    Post subject: Re: lenses to switch from smartphone photography Reply with quote
How about trying out macro?


PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 8:18 pm    Post subject: Re: lenses to switch from smartphone photography Reply with quote
frejohg wrote:
I'm looking for fun lenses to go out have some fun and do something different from the kind of photos that's similar to the ones you'd get on smartphones.


Welcome to mflenses! Happy Dog

Smartphones cameras (& processing software) are getting pretty good these days (incl. macro, night photography etc.).

The real difference vs. "proper" Wink cameras is that the latter offer more extreme wide-angle, tele & macro/micro options, and perhaps most importantly give a much higher degree of freedom to play with depth-of-field.

Your set already provides all you really need to start apart from an extreme wide-angle or macro/micro photography.

My advice would be to start shooting first and work out for yourself where you want your options to expand, but my guess is that you will end up looking for a wider-angle lens.

Your main learning curve will likely be to use out-of-focus rendering to good effect, as you will soon find that unlike on a smartphone, lots of areas in the image will now be out of focus in addition to the in-focus subject. You already have a very fast standard lens that will give you a lot of playroom for experimenting there.

You will also find that the simulated shallow depth-of-field effect on smartphones ("Portrait option" usually) looks quite different from the real shallow depth-of-field effect you get with your new camera. On "proper" cameras the transition from sharp to out-of-focus areas is much more gradual than you get with the simulated effect on a smartphone, and it is also the foreground that will be rendered out of focus, not just the background. The out-of-focus rendering on camera lenses will also have much more "character" (both good and bad) compared to the simulated effect on smartphones.


PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 11:41 pm    Post subject: Re: lenses to switch from smartphone photography Reply with quote
frejohg wrote:
Hi!

Got an Canon Eos M to get back into photography (and magic lantern).
For a couple of years I only took photos with my phone.

I already have the 18-55mm kit lens, a 7Artisans 35mm f1.2 and a soligor 80-200mm f4

I'm looking for fun lenses to go out have some fun and do something different from the kind of photos that's similar to the ones you'd get on smartphones.

I tend to go everywhere to take photos, cities, nature, indoors etc etc

Tips anyone?

(Only criteria is I don't particularly like swirly bokeh.)


Hello, and welcome!
I suggest you to roam the forums, find images you like. That might give you an idea what lens you want to get. Check carefully before you buy: almost all manufacturers built their lenses over many years with the same name, but implemented small improvements that can have a significant impact on the character of a particular lens. Stay low with the spending in the early days, at least until you know it´s the chronical disease all others here suffer from.

Good hunting! Wink


PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2022 12:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yeah, welcome. I recommend you pay attention to Gerhard, when he sez to "stay low in the beginning," because there are lots of inexpensive lenses out there that do a quite decent job. If you ask, you'll get lots of recommendations here that will probably range wildly in price.

For a crop-body camera, for best results in the wide-angle range of things, you'll want to pick up lenses that are made for these new cameras. I've found that older designs don't offer good results with a crop body camera. I have two 17mm lenses that are very sharp when used with 35mm cameras, but they're unfortunately rather soft with my crop-body digitals. Now, wide lenses that get down to even 10mm that are designed for these new cameras work very well. So that's my recommendation for the wide end at least.

From 24mm and up, lenses designed for 35mm cameras work well with my two crop bodies (a Canon and a Sony NEX). And of course, with telephotos, you have the benefit of getting more effective focal length from a lens. E.g., with a 1.5x crop body like my NEX, a 300mm lens becomes a 450mm lens in effective magnification. I do quite a bit of telephoto work, so I see this as a real advantage with a good crop body camera.

But there's also no substitute for a full-frame, I think, in terms of using the vintage optics, but also because the full-frame cameras tend to have better viewfinder images than the smaller cameras do.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2022 6:31 pm    Post subject: Re: lenses to switch from smartphone photography Reply with quote
frejohg wrote:
Hi!

Got an Canon Eos M to get back into photography (and magic lantern).
...
I'm looking for fun lenses to go out have some fun and do something different from the kind of photos that's similar to the ones you'd get on smartphones.

I tend to go everywhere to take photos, cities, nature, indoors etc etc

Tips anyone?

(Only criteria is I don't particularly like swirly bokeh.)


1) A superwide: something in the 12-14mm range on APS-C (or around 20mm if someone prefers full frame)

2) A fast normal lens: Adding to your 35mm I would suggest a good 1.4/50mm or even slightly longer focal length of 55-58mm (such as the Konica AR 1.4/57mm, the Minolta MC 1.4/58mm or the Nikkor Ai 1.2/55mm). For full frame guys this would mean a 2/75mm or a 2/85mm lens.

3) A tele lens: I would recommend a good 2.8/135mm for APS-C which corresponds to a 4/200mm in full frame. Wide open, thats pretty useful for portraits since the proportions of the face will look quite "classic"

4) later on, you may also try a macro lens (on APS-C probably a classical 50mm / 55mm Macro) and/or a longer tele lens (say a good 200mm for APS-C or a good 300mm for full frame)

Everything else is "specialists gear" which ususally requires more patience, experience and also money.

S


PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2022 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I should have added that I'm not completely new to photography outside phone photography, just that I used to borrow dslrs.

However from shooting with my above mentioned gear i found my 80-200 tele lens shot at 80mm was particularly fun. And had the perfect reach and look for what I want to do. My kit lens at 55mm didn't have this, even if I know 50mm is very popular. So i started to look for an 85mm prime. However for some reason they are much more expensive than 50mm or 135mm! Unlucky right?

However I had a great buying experience in a local store. They listed a tamron sp 90mm 2.5 cheaply due to haze, and I decided to go for it and maybe take it as a learning experience to some day open up the lens for cleaning. But the technichian in the store quickly cleaned it for me, and it looked much less hazy. Yay.

Looking at pictures online I just liked this lens and the fact that its pretty good at macro is a bonus.

I couldn't wait for an adapter so I 3d printed one overnight before a trip.


PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2022 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
frejohg wrote:
... from shooting with my above mentioned gear i found my 80-200 tele lens shot at 80mm was particularly fun. And had the perfect reach and look for what I want to do.

85 mm lenses are known to be perfect "normal" lenses forcing you to omit everything unnecessary.

frejohg wrote:
My kit lens at 55mm didn't have this, even if I know 50mm is very popular. So i started to look for an 85mm prime. However for some reason they are much more expensive than 50mm or 135mm! Unlucky right?

The 50mm/55mm lenses were made in huge quantities, and the 135mm were the most popular "additional lenses" back then. 100mm and more so the fast 85mm lenses were much less popular (and usually more expensive). Josef Scheibel, a Minolta technical adviser and book author, writes in his 1970 book about the classical Minolta SR-T SLR that the combination of the fast Minolta 1.8/35mm and 1.7/85mm lenses was his "dream equipment". I have added the superfast 1.2/58mm as well:



frejohg wrote:
However I had a great buying experience in a local store. They listed a tamron sp 90mm 2.5 cheaply due to haze, and I decided to go for it and maybe take it as a learning experience to some day open up the lens for cleaning. But the technician in the store quickly cleaned it for me, and it looked much less hazy. Yay.

Looking at pictures online I just liked this lens and the fact that its pretty good at macro is a bonus.

That's probably the best vintage lens in that focal length (albeit not the fastest). The Minolta MD 2/85mm is nearly as good, and faster of course. Other vintage lenses such as the Konica AR 1.8/85mm have less contrast wide open (ideal for portraits). You can check a comparison I made last year:
http://forum.mflenses.com/eleven-fast-85-mm-lenses-compared-t82408.html

If the lens - after superficial cleaning - still is hazy, you may want to dismantle and clean it.

S


PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2022 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The lens at far right in photo above is a very impressive piece of glass.
I had one for a short period, along with an old chrome SRT-101.

-D.S.


PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2022 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:
The lens at far right in photo above is a very impressive piece of glass.
I had one for a short period, along with an old chrome SRT-101.

-D.S.


That 35mm/1.8 next to it is also a great optic, but it needs to be treaded with care; it is one of few Rokkor lenses with a cemented front-doublet directly exposed to the elements. A thick large-diameter crown with a relatively thin-edged flint cemented with balsam. A lot of these have minor edge separation at the very outer edge, usually still hidden underneath the lens retaining ring. Sharp temperature shocks are not advised...


PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 4:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
frejog, good call on that Tamron 90mm macro. I own one -- I've owned it for over 30 years -- and it is one of my two sharpest macros, thus one of my two sharpest lenses. A very impressive optic that can still be obtained on the used market for quite reasonable prices.


PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2022 10:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Interesting that some of you chimed in on this being a good lens.

So far I'm more than happy. This is very much what I looked for. A thing I really like is that the photos it produces needs very little editing.

https://flic.kr/p/2nmYYXz

https://flic.kr/p/2nmZ3Z4

Now I feel like I want a wide angle of the same quality/character.

stevemark wrote:

85 mm lenses are known to be perfect "normal" lenses forcing you to omit everything unnecessary.



Can you elaborate what makes it perfect?
I have an similar idea about this focal length


PostPosted: Sun May 22, 2022 2:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
...85 mm lenses are known to be perfect "normal" lenses forcing you to omit everything unnecessary...


Do you mean 85mm angle of view on 35mm camera is known for being perfect Portrait Lens?

As you know "normal" is lens category keyword used when angle of view preserves normal size/distance perspective -- when lens focal length equals length of sensor diagonal, i.e. for 24x36mm sensor, diagonal and normal lens focal length is 43mm.

Human Eye angles of view for calculating camera lens focal lengths to use:



PostPosted: Sun May 22, 2022 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
You actually don't see this image. The brain fills in a lot, it's like a smartphone :p
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