That 70's Lens: I cannot help but notice the intense interest in "fast" (f/1.4 or 1.2) 58mm lenses in all mounts. They are being scooped up at $100+ each and put on digital mirrorless...

radiojohn

I cannot help but notice the intense interest in "fast" (f/1.4 or 1.2) 58mm lenses in all mounts. They are being scooped up at $100+ each and put on digital mirrorless via adapter. Manual focus, manual aperture of course.

But raves about bokeh.

Also certain 28mm lenses and some 100mm-105mm as well. Some old German ones, even east German.

Thoughts?

Bob Locher Loc: Southwest Oregon

Personally I am a believer that photographers should always strive for the sharpest image they can get. The reality is that the best fast lens of yesteryear at full aperture simply are not close to today's standards.
The legacy lenses can be quite good at f/8, but then where is the allure?
I do see them for soft focus portraiture. But little else. What good is bokeh when even the in focus portion of a shot is not terribly sharp?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Bob Locher wrote:

Personally I am a believer that photographers should always strive for the sharpest image they can get. The reality is that the best fast lens of yesteryear at full aperture simply are not close to today's standards.
The legacy lenses can be quite good at f/8, but then where is the allure?
I do see them for soft focus portraiture. But little else. What good is bokeh when even the in focus portion of a shot is not terribly sharp?

Mostly, I agree. Today's aesthetic is extremely sharply focused images with exquisite details. That sharp focus of a subject isolated from a dreamy background is an aesthetic that remains across the ages. I don't think you need to step down to f/8 for a lens to show its best. My three f/1.2 lenses (two of three manual focus from the 1980s) are all as sharp as anything today in their f/2 to f/5.6 range, where these apertures can still deliver a blurred background at longer focal lengths.

One benefit of these legacy manual focus lenses on mirrorless is the digital EVF, where can you manually focus as sharp as your eyes can see the details in a 10x zoom display. Possibly, these older lenses seem a bit sharper wideopen simply from being in better focus than the typical photographer could achieve without the 10x zoom display of the details.

pendennis

The draw for the f/1.2-f/1.4-classes of lenses was always their use in low-light conditions, especially favored by photojournalists and available light photographers. ISO standards in those days was very limited in color, ISO 400 was the exception, and it took 2, or so, stops pushed to be really effective. Tri-X pushed to 1200, and even 1600 gave grainy results.

Stopped down a couple of stops, sharpness really improved, but shooting at f/4-f/8 defeated the purpose of shooting wide open.

Today, it's not uncommon to shoot at a minimum of ISO 800 and get stellar results. I've put a 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor AF-D on my Nikon D750, and I can push the ISO to 1600 with excellent results. And my experience mirrors that of hundreds of other photographers. I use M-F lenses on it, and get great results, but I still prefer AF for its convenience.

I still use my Canon, Olympus, and Pentax f/1.4's, and love the results on film. Of course, scanning and editing tend to overcome some of films limitations.

Bob Locher Loc: Southwest Oregon

I pretty much have to agree with your points. Indeed, I think it is more a matter of personal philosophy. You want sharpness - better do your due diligence before buying. Some lens of the 70's were very good indeed especially for the day. Others were pure crap. Just because a lens has an attractive focal length, aperture and price, those features insure nothing. But that is true of today's lenses as well...

therwol Loc: USA

radiojohn wrote:

I cannot help but notice the intense interest in "fast" (f/1.4 or 1.2) 58mm lenses in all mounts. They are being scooped up at $100+ each and put on digital mirrorless via adapter. Manual focus, manual aperture of course.

But raves about bokeh.

Also certain 28mm lenses and some 100mm-105mm as well. Some old German ones, even east German.

Thoughts?

For what it's worth, my non-AI 55mm f/1.2 from 1968 seemed sharp enough at the time, and my own testing showed it to be sharper with more contrast than my 50mm f/1.4 up to about f/4. Coma was a known issue with that lens. I even found that it produced upside down, ghost images of bright things like illuminated crosswalk signs in night scenes in NYC. I still have the lens but never had the aperture ring modified, so I can't use it on a modern camera, but I suspect that it would not perform as well as a modern lens. Digital is unforgiving.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

therwol wrote:

For what it's worth, my non-AI 55mm f/1.2 from 196... (show quote)

With the appropriate adapter, you can use easily / seamlessly use this lens on the target mirrorless body. Set the aperture on the lens to the desired value and tell the mirrorless to release the shutter with no lens attached; the mirrorless body will meter based on the light reaching the sensor. The mirrorless body has no concern about the aperture of the lens. You even get the assist of image stabilization from the camera.

therwol Loc: USA

CHG_CANON wrote:

With the appropriate adapter, you can use easily / seamlessly use this lens on the target mirrorless body. Set the aperture on the lens to the desired value and tell the mirrorless to release the shutter with no lens attached; the mirrorless body will meter based on the light reaching the sensor. The mirrorless body has no concern about the aperture of the lens. You even get the assist of image stabilization from the camera.

Unfortunately (for the lens, not me) I have a D810, so the unmodified lens won't mount. Not a big loss. I have better and I don't lose any sleep over it. If I ever dust off my old FTn for a bit of nostalgia, I'm covered.

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

CHG_CANON wrote:

With the appropriate adapter, you can use easily / seamlessly use this lens on the target mirrorless body. Set the aperture on the lens to the desired value and tell the mirrorless to release the shutter with no lens attached; the mirrorless body will meter based on the light reaching the sensor. The mirrorless body has no concern about the aperture of the lens. You even get the assist of image stabilization from the camera.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

radiojohn wrote:

I cannot help but notice the intense interest in "fast" (f/1.4 or 1.2) 58mm lenses in all mounts. They are being scooped up at $100+ each and put on digital mirrorless via adapter. Manual focus, manual aperture of course.

But raves about bokeh.

Also certain 28mm lenses and some 100mm-105mm as well. Some old German ones, even east German.

Thoughts?

I have about 120 vintage lenses of all kinds, from industrial to scientific to military to ancient to projection to large format to 35mm system lenses. Many have a look or bokeh that is impossible to replicate with modern lenses. The vintage lens crowd grows day by day, as people discover looks that excite and satisfy their desire to create artistic images.

Many perform quite well stopped down, but truth be told, if I am simply looking to do normal photography, I always use modern lenses. The vintage glass is used wide open to create an atmosphere.

It should be noted that in the cinema world, top DOPs and cinematographers often choose old lenses like Bausch and Lomb Baltars or Cooke Panchros over the latest offerings from Zeiss and Leitz for many top budget films, simply because they find the newer lenses too cold and precise. Sharpness is not the only important characteristic of a lens.

machia Loc: NJ

My Rokkor 58mm f1.4 has a creamy bokeh that I love. I’ve created stunning shots with it since 1972. Sharpness?
It’s sharp enough. If I need tack sharp photos I break out my L lenses. My bag of 19 lenses gives me all the tools I need for every look that I’m hunting for.

Jim Bianco

radiojohn wrote:

I cannot help but notice the intense interest in "fast" (f/1.4 or 1.2) 58mm lenses in all mounts. They are being scooped up at $100+ each and put on digital mirrorless via adapter. Manual focus, manual aperture of course.

But raves about bokeh.

Also certain 28mm lenses and some 100mm-105mm as well. Some old German ones, even east German.

Thoughts?

Go to the angry photographer site on u tube he knows all about the old nikon lenses. I take his advice all the time and never went wrong with old lenses yet. A great site. Try it I think you will like it.

User ID

Bob Locher wrote:

Personally I am a believer that photographers should always strive for the sharpest image they can get. The reality is that the best fast lens of yesteryear at full aperture simply are not close to today's standards.
The legacy lenses can be quite good at f/8, but then where is the allure?
I do see them for soft focus portraiture. But little else. What good is bokeh when even the in focus portion of a shot is not terribly sharp?

Lens sharpness is quite overrated. I’m saying that as one who DOES require adequate visible sharpness at least SOMEWHERE in the image.

“Visible sharpness” is all about viewer perception, quite separate from pixel peeper evaluations of IQ.

Most of my zillions of lenses are rather old, yet I happen to have a few modern lenses as well. So, I experience the difference between old and new. There is a difference but there’s nothing distinctly inferior or superior comparing old to new.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Said by any True Photographer: lower your expectations to match your results.

radiojohn

I does appear to get the maximum effect from these 35mm era lenses, you need a so-called full frame camera. That leaves me out until I find a used one that is too "old" because it is "only" 12 MP.