Lens' - whats the big deal?

itsboyte · Jun 25, 2008

So I just bought my first digital SLR last week and I am truly trying to figure out the difference between lens'. I haven't found anything anywhere that proves that Cosina is awful and Canon Lens are the greatest, or vis versa.

Can anyone tell me why theres such a huge jump in prices from $39 for a Cosina to $300 for something 'better'? What's 'better' about it?

asfixiate · Jun 25, 2008

First of all I never heard of Cosina.

That's your answer.

Sigma, Tamron = Decent alternatives

sabbath999 · Jun 25, 2008

It's rather the same about asking what is the difference between a Kia and a Mercedes Benz.

They are both cars, they will both basically get you where you need to go... but there is a huge difference in the quality of the ride to get there.

Canon lenses are more expensive because they are better than Cosina lenses. Better materials, better build quality, better quality control, and better design.

Lens quality is of the highest importance in photography because EVERYTHING you do depends on it.

Are the Cosina lenses any good? Haven't a clue, they may be the greatest thing since hot butter... but... Canon lenses (in general, although there are a few exceptions) are outstanding.

prodigy2k7 · Jun 25, 2008

You will learn as I have, when it comes to lenses, you really do get what you pay for.

reg · Jun 25, 2008

Let's put it this way:

There's this place called Walmart. It has a lot of "store brands". These things are generally a lot cheaper than comprable things by a "real name brand".

The real name brand is of a better quality, but costs more.

If one isn't loaded, then Walmart can be a very good thing. Just don't expect much when it was made by a starving, 7 year-old Chinese boy.

Dao · Jun 25, 2008

I have not heard of the brand Cosina, but found an interesting article in wikipedia

Quoted from wikipedia:

"Cosina made again a jump into notoriety in the photography world by manufacturing for Zeiss their six new ZF lenses for Nikon mount. ZF is a new range of interchangeable lenses for Nikon SLR cameras, both analog and digital. ZF lenses bring the highly acclaimed Carl Zeiss image quality to the Nikon SLR camera system, which has been the preferred equipment of millions of professional and ambitious amateur photographers for decades."

reg · Jun 25, 2008

None of you have heard of Cosina?

Wow, not a lotta film shooters.
See also, Voigtlander.

Dao · Jun 25, 2008

Yes, I am just a beginner. so I never heard of that name. I did some search, someone said on the net it is the biggest lens maker. They make lens for other major brands such as tokina, Tamron, Vivitar, Voigtlander, Soligo ... And also make Nikon FM10 camera ... interesting.

D-50 · Jun 25, 2008

Unfortunatly you are going to realize rather quickly $300 doesn't get you a quality lens either (excluding a couple lenes)

Big Mike · Jun 25, 2008

It's rather the same about asking what is the difference between a Kia and a Mercedes Benz.

They are both cars, they will both basically get you where you need to go... but there is a huge difference in the quality of the ride to get there.

Unfortunatly you are going to realize rather quickly $300 doesn't get you a quality lens either (excluding a couple lenes)

:thumbsup:

sabbath999 · Jun 25, 2008

Dao said:
I have not heard of the brand Cosina, but found an interesting article in wikipedia

Quoted from wikipedia:

"Cosina made again a jump into notoriety in the photography world by manufacturing for Zeiss their six new ZF lenses for Nikon mount. ZF is a new range of interchangeable lenses for Nikon SLR cameras, both analog and digital. ZF lenses bring the highly acclaimed Carl Zeiss image quality to the Nikon SLR camera system, which has been the preferred equipment of millions of professional and ambitious amateur photographers for decades."

Cosina also manufactures the Nikon FM-10 film camera.

Moglex · Jun 25, 2008

Cosina can manufacture some top quality lenses.

But then I dare say Rolls Royce could manufacture a Trabant if you gave them the drawings. :lol:

Big Mike · Jun 25, 2008

Check out THIS site. It's the gallery of a guy who used to be an active member here. Most of his shots are great examples of what can be done with a top quality, expensive lens.

table1349 · Jun 25, 2008

Cosina is nothing more these days than, as they say in the manufacturing industry, a jobber. They manufacture, to others specifications, cameras and lenses under other peoples brand names. This neither makes them good or bad. It makes them a business.

They do also manufacture some items under their own name and sell them. This is nothing new at all. Kind of like Nikon. I hear several people talk about Nikons having Sony sensors. They don't have Sony sensors. They have Nikon sensors that are designed by their engineers. Sony is given the job of producing those sensors to Nikons specifications. Sony is prohibited from using any of Nikons proprietary technology in their own sensors unless licensed to them from Nikon and since Sony has entered into the digital market vicea versa.

To the OP, the difference between a $39.00 Cosina lens and a $300 Canon lens is materials, design and quality control in manufacturing. A $39.00 lens will not have a lens that costs $100.00 to grind to precise specification and polish it to near perfection. Nor will it have $30.00 worth of the finest coating materials or even $10.00 of the finest spun metal for lens bodies.

For $39.00 you get plastic bodies and mechanisims, cheaf AF motors and lenses that are mass ground and polished. They may even be optical plastic instead of the highest quiality optical glass. The coatings are thin soft and on one side of the glass. The difference will be in the viewing after the photos are taken.

When you are dealing with SLR's be they film or digital, Glass is all important. Any accomplished photographer can take a D40 or Rebel with top quality glass and produce images with outstanding resluts. No one, not even the famed and fabled such as Ansel Adams, Annie Lebowitz, etc, can take a D3 or 1Ds MIII with a lousy piece of glass and do the same thing. It is physically impossible to get more out of the lens than it is capable of.

djacobox372 · Jun 25, 2008

The most significant difference between a "cheapo" lens and a pricey one, is aperture. You'll find that more expensive lenses have wider apertures available which allows you to take photos in low light or at higher shutter speeds, this also allows for a tighter depth of field which can be desirable.

Beyond that you have build quality, which can affect:

1) sharpness throughout the zoom and aperture range, and at the photo edges.
3) Chromatic aberations (those nasty blue or purple fringes around backlit subjects)
4) durability
5) vignetting (being too dark or too bright at the photo edges)
7) Distortion, straight lines appearing curved or wavy

1st party lenses have excellent and consistent build quality, the top 3rd party brands (sigma and tamron) have excellent but less consistent build quality, and some other brands are consistently bad.