Opinions about Lenses, Perceptions-The Positive and Negative

[AlanKlein]

A tripod will improve the performance of any lens. In fact, I'd say a tripod makes the worst lens better than the best lens hand held.

 

[mrca]

Alan, a tripod helps with camera shake but not other lens qualities like microcontrast, bokeh, color, 3D rendering. My cameras in studio live on a rolling stand with a quick release. At a decent shutter speed, it gives tack sharp images, ie, no motion blur that might not be noticed on a monitor but in a larger print, it will reveal motion blur you might not have seen otherwise.

 

[flyingPhoto]

proper technique it critical, however some things are not fact, only myths created by a persons experience.

Example, you have a person doing an article for a hunting magazine. cant sight a rifle in at 50 yards after using 80 rounds of ammunitionand call the rifle and the scope junk.
Then you have an actual shooter come along, install the scope properly, put the rifle on a rolled up blanket, use 10 rounds to sight in at 100, and then use standard military off hand sling positions and score hits on 10 inch gongs at 2-300 yards with it.
is the gun or scope junk

 

[mrca]

Flying, to extend your example, that works with most rifles at 100 or 200 yards, but when a sniper is trying for a center mass shot at 3/4 mile, that requires a weapon and ammunition with fine tolerances and someone behind the trigger with the skills to judge distance, wind, humidity and have breath and heartbeat control. It is the difference between being an ok shooter and one that produces the absolute best results. And thats shooting guns or cameras. There aren't any one mile kill shots with a rifle from Walmart or Costco or by someone with minimal skills. And like photography, if a less skilled shooter takes hundreds of shots, eventually he might hit the target.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

I have long ago reached the opinion at above a certain price point; cameras, guitars and other musical instruments, golf clubs, fly rods and such, are pretty much selected because of the nuances of the the different models.

By the time a person is ready to buy a high level camera, they know what they like in the feel, heft, ease of menu selection, lens selection for their type of photography, and a host of other personal preferences. Hence, good or best is judged by person priority.

I am of course bypassing those that are looking for pride of ownership or status.

However, there is a degree of comfort in knowing the high dollar camera, probably can do whatever may wish it to do at some future time.

 

[Lonnie1212]

@photoflyer hit the nail on the head, compared to what? Anyway, if you like the glass, that's what's important. I would love to have a 28-70 2.8 L lens but I have a 28-80 usm version 1 lens that is fantastic and I literally bought it for $20 at a pawn shop because it was there and the focal length is useful. It doesn't get hardly any reviews other than it flares bad, etc and people can't figure out what hood to put on it or use their hand.

My favorite Nikkor lens is the 25-50 f4 AIS. It's not all that sharp and most of the reviews are not favorable if one where researching it to possibly buy it. I bought it because of a document I read about historical Nikkor lens design. Man, what a lens! At least my copy. It has a very unique render quality on film. It is stuck on my F2. I probably would not use it on a modern digital as I'm 90% certain the sensor would smash the look, would have to use it on a D2x.

I have a Canon 35-350L push pull design that has similar rendering qualities to that Nikkor. Again, I read about it in a lens research article on push pull designed lenses. Got it for cheap considering more modern, well reviewed lenses with similar focal length. Now I have one lens that I can use for outdoor events like steam tractor shows where the environment plays hell on a camera body with all the soot and smoke. I don't have to go back to my truck and change the lens and my mirror and prism stay clean.

It is really interesting to hear your opinion. Thank you for sharing.

 

[ac12]

I loved my 43-86, mine was great as well. Showed a lot of pics on here using that lens. Unfortunately, I did a purge of gear and it was one of the lenses. I only have 3 lenses for my Nikon F2... 25-50 AIS, 35 1.4 AIS, and a 58 f1.4 voigtlander. I hardly ever use the last 2, probably going to sell them. The 35 1.4 is the hardest lens to use, I only keep it because I want to get good with it, when you nail it, it's super but I rarely nail anything with it...frustrating.

Primes can be hard to shoot well. Because you only have that one focal length.
And if you are a zoomie, like me, it can be hard to shift the brain into thinking prime lens.
I think you have to JUST use the prime, long enough for your brain to shift gear.

I had thought about doing just that.
Do a weekend with just ONE prime lens on the camera.
Just like my early days, when the only lens that I had was a 50. When that was all I had, I MADE it work.

The other thing is some of us just have a hard time using certain focal length lenses.

 

[mrca]

AC, exactly, if you use one prime for a while, you get to know it. Mine are manual focus and the focus ring on each has a different travel. I suggest a 35 to start with, and with one with an aperture ring, you get a dof scale. If you pre set that, there is minimal twisting of the focus ring. Also do the turn slightly past focus, turn back slightly before then about half way in between, it goes as as fast as 1, 2, 3 click. When an auto focus lens hunts, it can take way longer and those of us who shot for decades before digital, it worked just fine. The image quality of a low element count prime is stunning. If you shoot b&w, the micro contrast, think having the 64 box of crayons instead of the 16 to draw the tonal transitions. Yes, with a lens with lots of glass like a 22 element zoom, you will see a tonal transition, but a 6-9 element prime will have much more shades of gray in it. It is a matter of physics, glass soaks up light and the front surface reflects some. Run it through 22 pieces and low energy shadow light has been filtered out. Coating only helps with reflections. Canon and nikon stopped using leaded glass for environmental rules, zeiss and leica have not and leaded glass transmits more light.