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What have you guys done to me ??
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Home   Manual Focus Lenses
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fully agree.

For 12K, and that size. NO way.

Some how, manual lenses are heavy too especially the long focal tele zooms but still I can live with that Smile


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I too generally don't mind heavy lenses. I've owned my share. It has long been my conviction that a heavy lens/camera/motordrive combination actually reduces camera shake-induced blur because all that mass is less likely to experience "shake." Especially if one is panning during the photo -- shooting with a heavy setup tends to smooth out the pan.

I can think of only one lens offhand that was just too heavy to use handheld reliably: Nikon's MF 200-400 f/4 ED. But what a lens! It was probably the sharpest zoom I've ever owned. From what I've read, the latest AF version is even sharper. Hard to imagine, but apparently true.


Image snagged from mir.com:


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
How do you define sharp after shooting from a lens ? How to test it out ?
Maybe I shud start a new thread. Before you reply shall I do it ?


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I suspect each of us has his or her own definition of "sharp." Me, I have one subject that I photograph with all my telephotos and long zooms to determine resolution. I also have test charts, but they're something of a PITA to set up and use. For shorter teles and wide angles, I do as I suspect most others do when shooting with a DSLR -- use Live View to insure focusing accuuracy and then zoom in to 100% magnification of the image and see how well the small detail holds up.

Often I've found that LV alone can be a good indicator of lens sharpness. With some lenses, I've found that there is essentially no difference in image detail between 5x and 10x magnification. Lenses like these are invariably on the soft side.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks...


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Gotta love my wife,,,, I have a 400mm that is fogged & fog keeps returning, she did say to just throw it away and get another one,,,,YEAH !!


PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nesster wrote:
I've found a way out of the dilemma: 1) as long as there are no gargantuan items, one bit looks more or less like any other to the wife... 2) QVC, HSN: these home shopping channels have a lot of nice-to-ugly fake jewlery which, once hooked, seems to occupy a wife's imagination to almost the same degree that lenses and cameras do us. Wink


ROFL!! Yup! She notices nothing of the old lenses. They all look the same--but I have yet to pull out the Tokina 150-500/5.6 AT-X when she's around. Something about it being a foot long and weighing in at over 4 pounds--I think she'd notice.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:52 pm    Post subject: Re: What have you guys done to me ?? Reply with quote
pappastratos wrote:
What have you guys done to me ?? I was a old-school part-time pro photographer raised on a waist level finder, dektol for blood. Jumped on the digital bus, sold my film stuff. Now I am hooked on using manual focus lenses on my digital camera. Wife does not know this, but 2 more are on the way to the house,,,

Haha!
Take a look at my signature.
When I discovered the forum, less than 2 years ago, I only had one Zeiss lens.


PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Simple solution to wife complaining, get your doctor to say you have to lose 150 pounds(then hope she can't find her way home) worked for me,my lens/camera count went up to over 200 lenses and about 50 odd cameras.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Arninetyes wrote:
Nesster wrote:
I've found a way out of the dilemma: 1) as long as there are no gargantuan items, one bit looks more or less like any other to the wife... 2) QVC, HSN: these home shopping channels have a lot of nice-to-ugly fake jewlery which, once hooked, seems to occupy a wife's imagination to almost the same degree that lenses and cameras do us. Wink


ROFL!! Yup! She notices nothing of the old lenses. They all look the same--but I have yet to pull out the Tokina 150-500/5.6 AT-X when she's around. Something about it being a foot long and weighing in at over 4 pounds--I think she'd notice.


What, only a foot long? Somehow I was thinking it would be longer than that. I've wondered about that lens for some time, and how it would compare to the old Tamron SP 200-500 f/5.6. Have you posted any photos you've taken with that lens here?

When I bought my Canon FD 400mm f/4.5, I actually managed to talk my wife into loaning me the money to buy it. I was so afraid that it would be sold before I could come up with the funds. So, I kinda begged, emphasizing how underpriced it was and how I could make money off of it on eBay if I wanted. But I don't want. Cool


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
What, only a foot long? Somehow I was thinking it would be longer than that. I've wondered about that lens for some time, and how it would compare to the old Tamron SP 200-500 f/5.6. Have you posted any photos you've taken with that lens here?

When I bought my Canon FD 400mm f/4.5, I actually managed to talk my wife into loaning me the money to buy it. I was so afraid that it would be sold before I could come up with the funds. So, I kinda begged, emphasizing how underpriced it was and how I could make money off of it on eBay if I wanted. But I don't want. Cool


Never posted any, but I'll see if I have any worth posting. If I do, I'll set up a thread with a few examples. Last time I used it, I was up at Rainbow Basin out in the Mojave desert. I was comparing it directly to 1) 300/4.5 ED IR Ai-S, and 2) Micro 200/4 Ai-S with and without a Nikon TC-301 teleconverter. It's very very sharp at 200mm, almost as good as the Micro 200/4 and just as good at 300mm. It seems better than my 300/4.5. But I was really interested in its 400-500mm performance. Sadly, it gets softer beyond 400. I've never really played enough with it to figure out just how soft, but I need to so I can decided whether or not to keep it. I really need to get rid of about half my lenses.

My wife wants to take bird pics. So far, I can't afford a decent bird lens. I think, if I sell every lens I have, I might have enough for a down payment.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 4:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Arninetyes wrote:

My wife wants to take bird pics. So far, I can't afford a decent bird lens. I think, if I sell every lens I have, I might have enough for a down payment.


It might not be that bad. You shoot Nikon, right? What about their 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6? It isn't super expensive the way the super fast long telephotos are. I'm not familiar with the Nikon, but Canon's 100-400/4.5-5.6L, basically the equivalent, is a great lens and very popular, including amongst birders around here.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
My wife wants to take bird pics. So far, I can't afford a decent bird lens. I think, if I sell every lens I have, I might have enough for a down payment.


I would have to recommend the Tamron SP500/8 mirror 55B,It's light weight ,easy to use I think it still can be had for reasonable prices.When you have great light it works very, very well.Even when its rather dull light it still is ok.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
or nikkor ais 400/5.6 ED-IF.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the suggestions. The Tamron and 400/5.6 ED-IF are good suggestions. I have a Russian mirror (seen in my avatar), but haven't tried the Tamron yet. I also have considered a 400/5.6 ED-IF a couple times, though I would prefer the original 400/5.6 ED (non-IF), but it is quite rare and now much too expensive.

However, my wife doesn't share my appreciation of manual focus lenses. The Nikon 80-400 is one I've been looking at. Since she has a DX digital, the crop factor would give her the equivalent of a 600mm lens, and that should work fine. Plus, it has autofocus and VR. Those would make her happy.


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:20 pm    Post subject: Lensaholics non-anonymous Reply with quote
Nesster wrote:
Surprised That's 10 lenses per mount, right? Wink


After my third lens purchase of the year (totalling 7 lenses, and we're in the first month), I certainly agree with the thread title and the suggestion above!

Let's start "LA (Lensaholics non-anonymous)". My name is Bhargav and I'm a lensaholic!


PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My name is John and I'm an addict but I blame everyone here for posting some wonderful photos taken with these 'old' lenses, in less than a year I have gone from zero to, to many to count, my little display cabinet is full of M42, AR, MD, FD and OM mount lenses, there is also an overflow box in a cupboard lol and just this week another 4 MD have arrived Shocked I think I need some counseling, going to have to choose maybe 2 mounts and stick with those, probably the M42 and MD but don't really want to sell the others Rolling Eyes


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tervueren wrote:
My name is John and I'm an addict but I blame everyone here for posting some wonderful photos taken with these 'old' lenses, in less than a year I have gone from zero to, to many to count

My name is RioRico and I am an optics junkie. I don't suffer from LENS-BUYING ADRENALINE; I savor every moment of it! Awhile back was a poll here for members to count their lenses. The AVERAGE of all responders was over 100. My count of a bit over 200 isn't remarkable. At least one person reported over 1500 lenses. Maybe we should rerun or at least resurrect that poll. BTW, for you, how many is TOO MANY TO COUNT?


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Arninetyes wrote:

However, my wife doesn't share my appreciation of manual focus lenses. The Nikon 80-400 is one I've been looking at. Since she has a DX digital, the crop factor would give her the equivalent of a 600mm lens, and that should work fine. Plus, it has autofocus and VR. Those would make her happy.


I figured as much. Cool That's why I recommended it.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
My name is Jürgen, I've been away from here for a while but I suffer from GAS - as we called it when it was about synths and samplers. I still have a collection of old electronic-music gear and one reason I haven't been here for a while is a new girlfriend. Well, we'll clean up my mess and start rebuilding a studio (she's a piano player) and when we started to talk about photography she was interested - especially in manual focus and macro. So she just finds all those lenses interesting and wants to play with them, too.

So I don't think there'll be much hazzle here. But I slowed down buying new lenses anyways as I have not properly tested all the ones I already have. And I'm often surprised, how nice some of the cheap ones really are. I go to fleamarkets quite often - but nowadays I'm more interested in taking pictures than in buying stuff. But when something interesting shows up at a bargain price I just can't help myself.

The only thing I'm really after at the moment is the good old Meyer-Goerlitz Primoplan. But I can wait. Till there is one for a more than reasonable price. I got me a Trioplan 2.8/100 after the madness 1.5 years ago for less than 100€ and another one for about 50€ a year ago at ebay. So in fact my GAS has changed to something like: Get it really cheap. I have all I need. But I spend at least 10 hours a week on ebay to find some lenses overseen by others. Which I will find. Last thing I bought was an old Praktica with the 2.0/58mm Helios for 5€. Both like new. And a new computer for each of my girlfriend and me. We suffered sudden death of our machines in the same week. She now has a Dell d820 with 1920*1200 resolution and I got me another Thinkpad T60p with 1400*1050. Each was 200€. If you need something you can only for a good price. Not a bargain...


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
I figured as much. Cool That's why I recommended it.


Heh! Funny thing is, she actually very much appreciates the aesthetics of a good, manual focus lens. It has a feel of mechanical perfection that can't be matched by the plasticy manual focus on a modern AF lens. BUT--when taking photos, she wants zoom and autofocus. One day soon, I'm going to coerce her into doing a photo assignment with a nice, fast prime lens. Sadly, I only have one suitable: a Nikon AF-S 50/1.4G. With the crop factor of her DX, it'll act a bit like a short telephoto. We'll see how she handles that. My guess is, she'll like the speed and notice the low distortion, compared to the superzoom she loves to use.

PS--I do have a couple of other AF primes: a Nikon Micro 60/2.8 and a Tokina AT-X 100/2.8 Macro, but both are 2 stops slower than the 50/1.4, and neither will autofocus on a D40.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Arninetyes,

If your DX Nikon behaves similar to my crop body EOS, you might be giving your wife an exercise in frustration instead of an assignment she might enjoy. With my EOS, and other crop-sensor cameras, it isn't possible to focus accurately with an mf lens at apertures wider than f/4 or so. With my camera, I must use Live View for accurate focus whenever I'm using a fast mf lens at wider apertures. It has to do with the way these new focusing screens are designed. They're designed to be brighter when using dimmer lenses -- like f/4-5.6 -- but the side effect of this is this loss in manual focusing accuracy at faster apertures with mf lenses. They show a greater depth of field than what actually exists. Very frustrating. I'm pretty sure I can cure this by adapting a 5D focusing sreen to my camera, but I haven't tried it yet. So if your camera is afflicted with this problem, I'd recommend that you either check into a focusing screen that might cure this problem, which will likely result in a dimmer viewfinder image, or suggest she use an AF lens in manual mode and unfortunately rely on the focus confirmation signal or light. This matter has been discussed here before, but not all members are aware of it, which is why I bring it up, just in case you aren't.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Michael, There are even more problems than you mentioned. My wife's DX is a rather primitive D40, and it doesn't work with any lens unless it is equipped with a CPU. That means, she can only use AF lenses (and the two MF lenses that I chipped--a 75-150/3.5 and a 200/4). For the time being, she'll be using a fast AF lens, a Nikon AF-S 50/1.4G. I don't care if she uses it in manual or AF mode, I just want her to start figuring out that fast prime lenses have advantages over slow zooms. Right now, all she sees is the inconvenience: "you mean, it doesn't zoom? This is the only setting? Why?"

I have tried this lens on her camera, and it focuses fine for the most part. But, you're certainly right about the image in the viewfinder. It shows greater depth of field wide open than it really has. In fact, it looks like it probably equals about f/2.8.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Why don't you just buy a cheap focus screen for your wife? or better just upgrade hers and add a split screen?


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
hoanpham wrote:
Why don't you just buy a cheap focus screen for your wife? or better just upgrade hers and add a split screen?


Not a bad idea. I'll have to look into what's available. Still, right now, I just want to put a dent in her belief that a zoom is the be-all and end-all of lenses. They are very useful, but so are primes. My plan is to get her to appreciate primes, and then to infect her with MF lens bug! By then, I'll replace her old D40 with a D7000 (or whatever) which can use MF lenses with or without a CPU.
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