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There were a lot of amazing advancements from 1950 to 1980. After 1990 and autofocus the build quality of lenses started going downhill. The plastic focusing me

by dheera 2y ago

There were a lot of amazing advancements from 1950 to 1980. After 1990 and autofocus the build quality of lenses started going downhill. The plastic focusing mechanisms negated a lot of the otherwise good optics. The affordable category of lenses today also don't gave good optics. While there are good modern optics used in higher-end lenses, it's easier to get better used old optics that outperforms shitty modern optics at the same price point. There are some nice lenses made today but they are extremely costly. A Sony GM 300/2.8 costs $6000. I got my late 70s Canon SSC Fluorite 300/2.8 for $400 and it's tack sharp corner to corner, and considering I paid only $400 for it, I'm not too worried about taking it everyhwere. A Sony GM 50/1.2 costs $1900. I paid $300 for my Nikkor early 80's 50/1.2. For f/1.2 portraits sharpness isn't the thing you're usually after, and mine gives absolutely spectacular results. Back in the 50s-80s almost every lens was built like a tank and they are now available used at a fraction of the price of modern equivalents. If you don't give a crap about autofocus (studio portrait, macro, landscape, product photographers all don't need autofocus), it's a very good deal. Plastic started to show up in the 90s and killed everything. (If you're shooting sports and wildlife, yeah, prioritize autofocus, but that's not what I do.)

bborud 2y ago
You said it better than me. As for lack of autofocus, I’ve actually done action shots with a Petzval and various vintage manual focus lenses. Yes, it is tricky and you will miss a lot, but when you nail focus the result is glorious.
omnimus 2y ago
So counter opinion. Current lenses just seem to be a way batter optically than in the past. Sony are super expensive lenses but even if you go Sigma, Laowa, Samyang… it is not cool but some of the lenses are just better and you wont pay that much more. I used to have Canon DSLR woth some of the better lenses for that system. Recently i got Sony and to my surprise there is pretty noticeable difference. Like i have some manual focus LAOWA and it just destroys comparable (much more expensive) canon lens from 15 years ago in terms of image quality and sharpness.
- dheera 2y ago
  Yeah Laowa makes some good stuff. 7Artisans and TTArtisans is very hit or miss, good build quality but mediocre optics. Samyang I've found to be mostly on par with top of the line Nikkor manual lenses. Voigtlander has some /really/ good optics for modern lenses, especially their Apochromatic lenses and the Aspheric Noktons. They are also a couple hundred years old so they know a thing or two about making quality lenses. Zeiss has always had a lot of good stuff and a lot of it inherits from their history of manual lenses, but they seem to be quitting the industry. OEM modern lenses almost all suck. Either shitty build quality OR too expensive.
  - bborud 2y ago
    Do you know of any manufacturers that still make (or have) interesting lenses for F-mount?
    - dheera 2y ago
      No. But Nikon made so many good Ai-S lenses that you can find lots of them on eBay and other secondary markets. Note that for old lenses, price and lens quality don't correlate well. There are lots of fantastic old lenses that are cheap because they were produced in large numbers, and there are also a lot of optically shitty lenses that are expensive because they were rare or produced in smaller numbers and have collector value.
      - bborud 2y ago
        I have been following the advice of others more knowledgeable than me when buying AI-S lenses off of eBay, and I have to say that even on the D850, all of them have performed surprisingly well. However, I'd really like more "arty" lenses with AF. MF causes me to lose a lot of shots I wish I'd nailed.
        dheera 2y ago
        There are some products that turn MF lenses into AF, primarily targeted for video shooters. I haven't tried them though. https://www.pdmovie.com/products/liveair3smart https://www.pdmovie.com/products/liveair3smart

by dheera 2y ago

bborud 2y ago

You said it better than me. As for lack of autofocus, I’ve actually done action shots with a Petzval and various vintage manual focus lenses. Yes, it is tricky and you will miss a lot, but when you nail focus the result is glorious.

omnimus 2y ago

So counter opinion. Current lenses just seem to be a way batter optically than in the past. Sony are super expensive lenses but even if you go Sigma, Laowa, Samyang… it is not cool but some of the lenses are just better and you wont pay that much more. I used to have Canon DSLR woth some of the better lenses for that system. Recently i got Sony and to my surprise there is pretty noticeable difference. Like i have some manual focus LAOWA and it just destroys comparable (much more expensive) canon lens from 15 years ago in terms of image quality and sharpness.

dheera 2y ago
Yeah Laowa makes some good stuff. 7Artisans and TTArtisans is very hit or miss, good build quality but mediocre optics. Samyang I've found to be mostly on par with top of the line Nikkor manual lenses. Voigtlander has some /really/ good optics for modern lenses, especially their Apochromatic lenses and the Aspheric Noktons. They are also a couple hundred years old so they know a thing or two about making quality lenses. Zeiss has always had a lot of good stuff and a lot of it inherits from their history of manual lenses, but they seem to be quitting the industry. OEM modern lenses almost all suck. Either shitty build quality OR too expensive.
- bborud 2y ago
  Do you know of any manufacturers that still make (or have) interesting lenses for F-mount?
  - dheera 2y ago
    No. But Nikon made so many good Ai-S lenses that you can find lots of them on eBay and other secondary markets. Note that for old lenses, price and lens quality don't correlate well. There are lots of fantastic old lenses that are cheap because they were produced in large numbers, and there are also a lot of optically shitty lenses that are expensive because they were rare or produced in smaller numbers and have collector value.
    - bborud 2y ago
      I have been following the advice of others more knowledgeable than me when buying AI-S lenses off of eBay, and I have to say that even on the D850, all of them have performed surprisingly well. However, I'd really like more "arty" lenses with AF. MF causes me to lose a lot of shots I wish I'd nailed.
      - dheera 2y ago
        There are some products that turn MF lenses into AF, primarily targeted for video shooters. I haven't tried them though. https://www.pdmovie.com/products/liveair3smart https://www.pdmovie.com/products/liveair3smart