Originally posted by vagabond79 I came across a thread on dpreview where one guy claimed the following regarding an image taken with the F*300mm f/4.5 lens:
"You can see a little bit of evidence that it's a film lens, but the sharpness is definitely there.
You can see lowered contrast around picture elements. Apparently digital sensors reflect light back onto the lens more than film does, and it's corrected on DA lenses by an added coating on the rear element - and elsewhere I suppose."
The image in question can be seen
here.
I've never heard this and was wondering if anybody else had any info on the subject.
Thanks.
I have found that the modern lenses are better than older film era lenses ....... for digital. But I haven't been into photography long enough to have had a good array of film era lenses and modern era lenses. So much so I'm planning to get rid of
some of them. Though I do have a Sigma 50mm 1.4 which is a "digital era" lens, and is not that special. I would really need to give it another chance, but if it sucks its gone.
My DA* 16-50mm 2.8 is sharper at 50mm compared to my FA 50mm 1.4. The 16-50 is a better lens, but the FA 50mm 1.4 has taken some very nice pictures and I enjoy using it for narrow dept of field photography.
Lens designs are changing due to the artistic needs of pro photographers. Today they want lenses that are sharp wide open etc. Over the years photographers wanted better and better performance.
Digital optimized means the lens is generally sharper, to cope with the higher resolution of the mega mega pixel crop bodies. The airy discs now have to suit the finer pixel pitch.
Should all film era lenses be put on the shelf to collect dust ....... I don't think so. Some of mine are really nice, but of course I would prefer if they were modern and optimized for digital.
I think opinions on this matter will vary, so what I would do is go on search for a lens on flickr, and see what people are producing out in the field. If you like what you see, then pick up a copy.
I've seen film era lenses which seem very interesting, and I might give them a try. But they have to do something real special.
But as a rule of thumb, the modern lenses are much better.