My Lenses

[magkelly]

Been playing a bit with my various lenses and here's a run down...

Takumar 50/55/105MMM

(They're freakin near-prefect Takumars! What else really needs to be said? )

Yashica 50MM DSB vs 50MM ML

The DSB's are actually not too bad for a kit lens. Better than they are generally given credit for being actually. I have two of them and I'd say they're actually pretty decent, but the ML I just got is definitely a step up and looks almost as good as my 50/55MM Takumars. Seems nice and sharp.

28MM Soligor vs 28MM Tamron

The Soligor is nice, nothing to complain about there actually, but the Tamron is just slightly better. It's very close. It was a hard pick actually between them. The Tamron has a slight edge but I'd say they were pretty comparable mostly. I thought at first that my Tamron was an Adaptall, and therefor usable with my Pentax, but now I'm not so sure.

I can't see anything that looks like it releases a mount from the back, but then again I can't find anything else but the Adaptall version in C/Y so maybe it's just that I'm pretty clueless yet as to how they work. I'll take another look tomorrow, look up the Adaptall site again and see. Maybe I'm just missing something that's right under my nose?

Yashica ML 135MM

Not quite as crisp as my 105MM Takumar I don't think, but it is quite a bit more crisp than my M42 Rikenon 135MM. I'm told this is the first, non-compact version. No "C" to be found, and it's a bit hefty so that pretty much confirms that it's version #1 I think.

I read a lot of mixed opinions on this one. Some people really liked it. Some said that it was only so-so. Looking through the lens I'd have to say it looks like it's a pretty good lens to me. I don't think I wasted my money going after it. It's definitely better than the YUS I looked at and almost bought locally.

Sigma Zoom Master 35-70

You know this little zoom lens really surprised me. I'd read it was fairly decent, but I really think that's really underrating this one. I was sitting there with it on the FRI looking at text and it was doing more than okay. I was initially going to sell this one, didn't think I really needed it, but I think I'm keeping it after all. It would make a great travel lens set with the Kiron which is probably why the original owner bought it with.

Kiron 80-200mm

Definitely better than my Kotaishi 80-200MM, which isn't actually too bad. The Vivitar 75-300 still holds up respectably too though it's not quite as good. I'm waffling a bit here. I do like the extra reach with the Vivitar, but the Kiron is sweet, about the sharpest lens I've ever owned yet zoom-wise.

I've got a decent tele-converter that came with this set, supposedly it's a good one. I'm going to take them both and shoot and see what happens. I know I'm definitely selling the Kotaishi but I'm still half inclined towards keeping both the Tamron and the Vivitar though that would be more than a bit of an indulgence, two long zooms with the same mount particularly since I also have the T-mount Vivitar (75-260MM) which is only 40MM shorter than the 75-300MM.

I haven't had a chance to shoot with that T-mount much yet, but I'm thinking the optics are probably pretty similar, no? Maybe really should just sell the 75-300MM and get another T-mount adapter instead at some point. My wallet could use the rebate and I'm thinking maybe I need to trim down a bit on the zoom lens side of things. I mean, birds or no birds, how many long zooms does a girl NEED, right?

Yeah, I know probably 20 according to most of you, lol, but I'm talking need not just want. I don't actually have the largess to indulge in LBA on any real scale. Me having so many zoom lenses isn't really all that practical even if they do look awfully nice tucked away all neat and tidy in my lens storage bag. I could be selling a few and making some $$$ out of the deal.

I need to get some $$$ back. I'm running out of room and definitely $$$$ here. I've also got about a dozen filters I really need to pop off. I have way too many polarizers, UV's etc, a few more colored ones. Most of them are the better brands. They can run $20-35 a pop new so I imagine if I put them up they'll go fine. I do want one good set but I don't really need about 3/4 of them. I don't tend to use them much or keep those lenses on every lens I own just for the sake of convenience. I think keeping lenses clean is what lens caps are for. I don't really mind putting one on when I change lenses otherwise. A basic set and my Cokins will do me fine. I'd like to keep the filters thing simple anyway. If I can use the same filters on all my cameras, digital/non that's perfectly fine by me.

I'm not really a huge polarizer fan anyway. Every once in a while I use one, but I don't keep one on the lens and hardly never remove it when I head outside. I know some people swear by doing that, but I just don't like what it makes my pics look like sometimes. There are situations where a polarizer can be a great help, but generally I don't like too much between the lens and my subject. It messes a bit with my sense of where the light actually is. I'm stupidly funny that way. I'll take ages adjusting my position to cut out as much glare as possible rather than add a UV lens or polarizer. I will use the built in lens hoods when the lenses have them, but I really don't like the UV/Polarizer lens thing much and I absolutely do not like those huge square hoods some people use. The tulip ones aren't too bad, but the other ones are just all kinds of ugly and they tend to annoy me just looking at them.

I'm thinking hard about it, trying to decide what to keep and what not to, but I do think it's time to pare down a bit. I'm pretty much there with the kit, and I've got what I need to do my internship and to take a class or two this Fall and Winter if I can manage to afford them and squeeze them in. It's been a lot of hard work and looking but I'm finally there other than getting the FRI's light seals redone.

It's time to concentrate on getting the DSLR in gear too. No sense in having all of these pretty lenses if I'm not going to grab me one eventually. I like shooting film, for me, but it's not too practical in terms of long term professional work. The only labs I have here really do suck, and I just don't have the space, means, or the time to develop or to send away film all the time. I'll make do for a while but eventually I've got to replace that FRI with a canon rebel I guess.

That's my goal for 2011. A decent Canon Rebel by Summer. A Pentax K-DSLR and more Takumars sometime in 2012. Lights and studio stuff to be purchased in between...

No more lenses till 2012 though. I just cannot afford to buy any more. I do need to be able to eat something besides rice, beans, noodles, minimal veggies, and scant amounts of low end meats once in a while. It surely won't do me much good to have all this fancy gear if I'm too anemic to stand up to use it, now will it?

Pics tomorrow. I've got everything organized now and ready to go. I'll post both. A list of what I'm keeping with pics and a list of what's going with pics. You all can tell me what you think then. I'd appreciate any suggestions there as to what to say and list at. I really have no idea of what I am doing when it comes to selling lenses and such. I look at Ebay and what's on the other boards and ultimately it's just confusing the huge variances in prices that people are asking for what seems like the same basic quality of lens to me.

[Scheimpflug]

[magkelly]

I actually have both kinds of tripods and release cables. I'm pretty well set there. At this point it's mostly about a hand held meter, some nicer reflectors, real lights, good backdrops, and regular place to use them. I've actually got some nice props and some cool furniture put away. I've been thinking about how I was going to do this and planning for a very long time.

I meant it about the no more lens buying though. My budget is just shot for right now unless I can make some more money selling other stuff and I don't really need much more anyhow that way. With the exception of my 500MM which was cheap and a totally frivolous gratification of a whim thing most of my lens buying has been pretty practical and fairly well thought out before hand. It's the other stuff I really need, not more lenses at this point. Getting the Canon DSLR to mount these, that's got to be the next big thing.

I do really like the FRI and I can see me using that a lot, for me, but I don't want to do too much in the way of pro shooting with it, even if it can go there for a while. Film and development will just eat too much of a percentage out of anything I might be making shooting. Plus, you know the clients will expect me to be all digital now and bitch (if only to themselves) if they can't just look over my shoulder every five minutes to see what I am doing.

Not that I will let them anyhow, uncontrolled, but it does help sometimes to be able to show them something on the computer when we're done. People are so used to instant access they tend to get antsy these days when it's not right in front of their faces on a computer screen.

The couple of times I've shot film recently just to get some non-digital shots for my portfolio you'd have thought I was trying to load glass plates a la Ansel Adams or something by the way the "model" acted. I was shooting for practically nothing, but the one girl, she much pouted like 5 year old because she had to wait while I had a lab develop the film. She was clearly expecting me to be able to show her some of the uncorrected versions of all the shots I'd done directly right after the shoot. When I told her she'd have to wait a few days for me to get the photo CD and negatives back she was NOT happy.

I'd call her a little Diva and leave it at that, except the two other people I've also done almost for free recently also had a semi-dismayed reaction to being told I was using film. They couldn't say anything since I was basically working for slave wages and a model release but the looks they gave me spoke volumes as to the level of their impatience. People apparently don't like to wait much at all now that we're in a digital age.

I'll do what I have to do, and if the client doesn't like it, me still using film that much then they can just find someone else until I can accommodate them but if I want to get my business off the ground next year I'm definitely going to need a decent DSLR. It will only cost me $$$ till I do.

I wish I could just charge it and be done with it. But I'm on a diet financially and I just cannot afford to go there. I did that the last time I was going to school and it put me thousands of dollars in the hole. I'm still living under a mountain of student debt and a pile of other bills besides. I'm working my arse off grabbing whatever work I can as it is and I really don't have room in the budget for interest fees.

If I can't just save up for it and buy it? It's just not getting bought any other way. Bad thing with doing that of course is that it can take forever to actually get what I need, but the good part is I don't owe my arse and I will own it outright when I am done. I want to own my pro gear more than anything. I don't want to owe the bank first.

[Big Dawg]

Is the 75-300 a 77XXXX serial number or is it a 28XXXX serial number? Either one are a touch better than the 75-260 in Lens IQ.

The decision would be easy for me....I'd keep them all.

I hope the diet gets better soon but not buying a lens till 2012?? Surely you jest!

[aoleg]

[magkelly]

It's a 77. I'd like to keep them all, but I'm not sure I should. It's a lot of doubling up really for my budget.