What is your most useless lens?
Mar 1, 2021 04:50:39 #
Last year i bought a Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro lens.
It was a curiosity purchase as it was on sale and therefore relatively cheap.
Played with it a bit and it was so purpose specific that it was pretty much useless for anything else.
Add to that the triangular iris and its parameters become even less as any points of light becomes an ugly triangular bokeh orb.
Here is a review of the same lens in youtube;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eQZ4DEcwM8
.
It was a curiosity purchase as it was on sale and therefore relatively cheap.
Played with it a bit and it was so purpose specific that it was pretty much useless for anything else.
Add to that the triangular iris and its parameters become even less as any points of light becomes an ugly triangular bokeh orb.
Here is a review of the same lens in youtube;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eQZ4DEcwM8
.
image of the lens grabbed from supplier ad
Mar 1, 2021 05:20:09 #
With the advent of digital photography and computer software I find I never use my PC Nikkor 28mm anymore. Did get some mileage out of it in "days of yore" with 35mm film cameras but not recently.
Mar 1, 2021 05:35:42 #
cameraf4 wrote:
With the advent of digital photography and computer software I find I never use my PC Nikkor 28mm anymore. Did get some mileage out of it in "days of yore" with 35mm film cameras but not recently.
Tilt & shift? Another specialized lens.
I understand that softwares can supplement other lenses to reach(almost) the same capability but if you need to play with the focal planes angles, the perspective correction lens should still provide a better image over other lenses.
Mar 1, 2021 05:46:27 #
Wallen wrote:
Tilt shift? I understand that softwares can supplement other lenses to reach(almost) the same capability but if you are still needing to shoot such angles, the perspective correction lens should still provide a better image.
It depends on how you interpret "useless". I would like to think of it as "less used" because I try not to through away $$$ on junk.
My least used lens is my 14-24mm F2.8 Nikkor, and when I shot with cropped sensor cameras it was my 10-20mm F4-5.6. They are (were) great lenses, producing crisp and sharp images. But often too wide and I did not care for the extension distortion and volume distortion. They were cool to use on some landscape images especially when doing forced perspectives, or deliberately using the distortions for creative effect. But based on my LR metadata specs, they were only used about 1%-3% of the time.
I tend to shoot mostly landscapes, wildlife and closeup/macro. My most used lenses are my 45mm F2.8 PC-E and my 85mm F2.8 PC-E - both are tilt shift, my 150-600 Sigma Sport, and my Sigma 150 F2.8 macro and Tamron 180mm F3.5 macro.
Mar 1, 2021 05:52:29 #
Wallen wrote:
Tilt shift? Another specialized lens.
I understand that softwares can supplement other lenses to reach(almost) the same capability but if you need to shoot such angles, the perspective correction lens should still provide a better image over other lenses.
I understand that softwares can supplement other lenses to reach(almost) the same capability but if you need to shoot such angles, the perspective correction lens should still provide a better image over other lenses.
Software cannot provide the same image results as shift lenses, though in a pinch the software approach can be used with fair results, or when the keystoning is slight to modest. The problem is that the software approach relies on interpolation and cropping, so you will lose pixels, and you still have to stretch the image to compensate for the vertical shortening. The best of the lot is DXO's Viewpoint software.
No software I am aware of can produce the depth of field possible when using front element tilt. However, with masking, applying blur using graduated filters it is possible to get that "miniaturized" look from a non-tilt lens that is possible when you use a tilt lens to severely shorten depth of field.
I wrote this piece back in 2012 on one method that can be used to do miniaturize. Newer software provides easier methods.
http://pixeldiarist.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-miniaturize-photo.html
Mar 1, 2021 05:59:07 #
Gene51 wrote:
It depends on how you interpret "useless"... (show quote)
Hmm, useless may be a pretty harsh word to use
"Used less" then it is!That is exactly my point with the other reply, The PC lens although specialized has a broader use in photography.
The Mitakon on the other hand is pretty much a microscope.
Perhaps it just boils down to one's preferred workflow. Sometime we just base our personal choices on what makes our shooting easier & more pleasurable.
Mar 1, 2021 06:41:49 #
My first camera was a Nikkormat FTn. It came with a 43-86 f 3.5 lens. I am reasonably sure that I haven't used it in at least a couple of decades. I have a handful of other "legacy" lenses, some of which I have added a CPU chip to. I do use these lenses frome time to time, but the 43-86, never.
Mar 1, 2021 06:44:41 #
PoppieJ
Loc: North Georgia
my least used lens is a Tamron 90mm macro. I so seldom use it that i really need to sale it
Mar 1, 2021 07:03:44 #
Mar 1, 2021 07:06:16 #
Mar 1, 2021 07:09:32 #
Mar 1, 2021 07:26:37 #
Mar 1, 2021 07:54:20 #
The lens I never ever use is the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and another one I seldom use is the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. I've used the Tamron at a couple children's birthday parties and it is a sharp lens. I have nothing against either one of these lenses. It's just that I don't need them for the type of shooting I do. Oh yes, I forgot that I also no longer use my Tamron 70-300mm lens since I bought the Tamron 150-600mm G2.
Mar 1, 2021 08:16:41 #
Mar 1, 2021 08:26:55 #
Wallen wrote:
Tilt & shift? Another specialized lens.
I understand that softwares can supplement other lenses to reach(almost) the same capability but if you need to play with the focal planes angles, the perspective correction lens should still provide a better image over other lenses.
I understand that softwares can supplement other lenses to reach(almost) the same capability but if you need to play with the focal planes angles, the perspective correction lens should still provide a better image over other lenses.
PC lenses tend to be pricey. Since I already have the equipment, my 4x5" View Cameras give more perspective, geometric, and depth of field controls with full swings, tilts, rising, shifting front and back. So I'd revert to film for that specialty.
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