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What is your favorite lens to focus on?
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:32 am    Post subject: What is your favorite lens to focus on? Reply with quote
I don't know if this is a weird question or not, but do you guys judge how much you like a lens by the focusing?


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, I do -- in the sense that I hate wobbly, short focus ring travels.

Examples:
Canon 50mm/1.8 II is horrible.
Industar-61L/Z is superb.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
my super takumar 50 1.4 has the smoothest focus ring out of any of my lenses


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
All my Taks are a joy to focus: long throw, perfectly damped, great feel.
Also, i really like my Tair 3 Phs for its knob, which i find extremely comfortable and accurate.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Any lens with long focus throw, but also smooth, even, precise and damped.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
hoanpham wrote:
Any lens with long focus throw, but also smooth, even, precise and damped.


+1 Wink


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Then shouldn't pentacon 135mm be the best? man is the focus throw for that lens long.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
hoanpham wrote:
Any lens with long focus throw, but also smooth, even, precise and damped.

Using that criteria my choice would be my Nikon 105/4 micro. A great example of precise engineering.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a few lenses that have 360deg focus throws, I find them to be a bit long, I prefer 180-200 deg.
I like my Tak's, and my MC Rokkor's the most, I love the metal focus rings, pure heaven.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
nikkor 50mm 1.8 ais and Super tak 50mm 1.4 , are pure focus joy for me !!!! Smile


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like the Tair-3s knob too. Micro-Nikkor 3.5/55 i really like the focus action of, Topcor RE Autos I have also have beautifully smooth and damped focus.

The worst has to be any AF lens in MF mode.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
To me, any Macro manual focus lens is a joy to focus...


iangreenhalgh1 wrote:

The worst has to be any AF lens in MF mode.

+1000


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:

The worst has to be any AF lens in MF mode.


Why do you think I start using MF lenses?


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Aanything wrote:
All my Taks are a joy to focus: long throw, perfectly damped, great feel.


much agreed, but really I like focusing my Pentax K lenses just as much!

iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
The worst has to be any AF lens in MF mode.


manually focusing my AF Pentax FA43 ltd., which makes a very subtle sound as if well lubricated gear wheels were turning, is wonderful, a pure pleasure! Wink


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Leitz lenses Smile
I generally prefer a short way to focus


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ForenSeil wrote:
I generally prefer a short way to focus

But wouldn't that give you less precision?


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I really like lenses that don`t have to be turned several times to jump from minimum focus distance to infinity. I find them to be fast, easy to use.

The Tair-3PSH is one of the most comfortable telelenses that I have used. The knob makes it all worth while Smile


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My SMC Takumar 55/2 is very pleasant to work with.
I must admit that more my Japanese lenses have smoother focussing than German or Russian ones.

When the focussing of a lens is not ideal, I find myself reluctant to use them and often clean and relube them.
My Jupiter 9 has a bit tough focussing, even after I relubed it, so I kind of neglected it, while it's the most expensive lens of my modest collection. I'm thinking of giving it another service soon.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wide open sharpness is the most critical factor for accurate focusing, regardless of the focus throw or it's feel. If the image you are focusing on is slightly unsharp then it becomes difficult to pinpoint exact focus. Admitedly any play in the focus is a show stopper for me and that's the only reason I avoid most Nikkors, having had many in the past that have had such slop I just avoid them altogether these days.

Last edited by jjphoto on Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:32 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jjphoto wrote:


Everyone should have one!


Not everyone are rich


PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Re Auto Topcor 58mm f/1.8. Just perfect. It's slowly becoming my favorite lens.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nordentro wrote:
hoanpham wrote:
Any lens with long focus throw, but also smooth, even, precise and damped.


+1 Wink


+1


PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jjphoto wrote:
Wide open sharpness is the most critical factor for accurate focusing, regardless of the focus throw or it's feel.


Could not agree more. I find that the only lenses I am able to trust the focus accuracy on are apochromats. Longitudinal CA makes focusing very ambiguous, and results in either poor sharpness or odd color presentations. Ironically, the net effect is that sharp apochromats are actually quite difficult to focus since they have literally one plane where they are in critical focus. Less sharp lenses are easier to focus since they maintain a level of semi-focus over a wider depth of field. Their aberrations tend to obscure the range of critical focus in a similar way as if they were stopped-down.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ForenSeil wrote:
I generally prefer a short way to focus


Me too. There is a tradeoff between focusing accuracy and speed, but some lenses have too long focus throw. One lens that comes to mind is a famous Kiron macro, it just goes on forever. However, Kiron is a heavy macro, probably mostly used on tripod, so that's understandable. Pentacon 135mm is not a macro and has almost 360 degrees focus throw, that's way too long and not really needed, I prefer something between 1/2 and 3/4 turn on 135mm lens.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ray Parkhurst wrote:
... Less sharp lenses are easier to focus since they maintain a level of semi-focus over a wider depth of field. Their aberrations tend to obscure the range of critical focus in a similar way as if they were stopped-down.


What that's really saying is that unsharp lenses don't benefit from being focused accurately, which may be true, but I don't think that makes them easier to focus. If anything I think that makes them harder to focus (accurately), but it probably makes less difference if they aren't properly focused. However a lens is only ever accurately focused at one point and it is either accurately focused or it isn't (IMHO), even if it isn't very sharp in the first place.
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