Old Glass versus New Glass: Discuss!

Ron Evers · Mar 18, 2011

Derek, I will give you your argument out in the open but I think I will best your auto lens shooting wildlife on the move with limbs/brush in front & behind the subject. Manually I can isolate the subject while the auto will focus on something else.

cliffy13 · Mar 20, 2011

I use old MF lenses and a 30 year old canon 70-210 EF the results are fine and i would only move to the new stuff if I was financially able to replace it with L glass

enzodm · Mar 20, 2011

Mmm... dangerous thread

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Some of mine:

DerekSalem · Mar 20, 2011

Ron Evers said:
Derek, I will give you your argument out in the open but I think I will best your auto lens shooting wildlife on the move with limbs/brush in front & behind the subject. Manually I can isolate the subject while the auto will focus on something else.

I was remiss to not mention the biggest exception, wildlife photographers. Sorry about that Ron, I thought about it immediately after seeing your first reply.

There absolutely are times when Manual focus will be better, but for a vast majority the higher-end USM lenses can usually do a faster and incredibly accurate job. The first time I threw a USM lens on my camera I couldn't believe it was focusing that quickly.

altitude604 · Mar 20, 2011

I love my old MF glass... the Tele-Takumar 300mm some nice snappy pictures and the Mir-1v is a really nice prime too. I find I almost enjoy shooting more with them as it's more involved and makes me slow down and think through everything.

grandad66 · Mar 20, 2011

I mainly use cameras over 50 years old and the glass has not improved that much obviously a cheap lens is not quite as good as a expensive lens. consistent quality is the main thing today. I am just as happy using my Rolleiflex with a Planar lens or my Contax with with the Planar or Sonnar lens, or a folder with a 3 element lens. Do'nt get bogged down with having the latest kit its just a waste of money.

djacobox372 · Mar 21, 2011

Prime lenses have been fantastic for nearly 100 years... new pro-quality primes don't perform any better then ones made 50 years ago.

Zooms are a different story, modern zoom lenses are a lot better then those made 20 years ago, zoom lenses didn't really get good until around 10 years ago, and they are still improving with each new version.

But to put things in perspective the sharpest and fastest glass nikon ever made is still the 58mm f1.2 noct-nikkor released in 1977.

PASM · Mar 21, 2011

Edit: It isn't a sonnar formula lens..it's 5 in 4 (possbily made by Chinon)

Jap Pentacon 2.8/135 MC. Just found it in a charity shop. Mint.

Handheld, SOOC (resize, raw, no sharp)

f8

f8

f2.8