Old lenses and modern senstivities

pinholecam · 11-15-2017, 06:33 PM - **2 Likes**

I do indeed agree that the modern lenses have become spec based monsters to appeal to a 'playing cards' form of one upmanship where one kid (er... photographer) matches his MTF score against the other and distortion % of XXX lens wins that of X lens by 0.1%.

Unfortunately, Pentax did things their own way for a long time with DA limiteds, smallish lenses and really got battered in the market for this. (ie. being seen as inferior by the consumers since all reviews will have show them up as lower spec'ed)

That said, I do believe that often, its the flaws and design trade-offs that give old lenses their character and its up to the photographer to make use of them.
Lower prices wrt modern ones is a bonus too.

Takumar 58/2.4

Takumar 100/2

CZJ Biotar 75/1.5

cyberjunkie · 11-15-2017, 11:56 PM - **1 Like**

@pinholecam
Hats off!
First because of the pictures, which show what can be done with a very old single coated glass, roughly contemporary to the CZJ Tessars shown in the previous post.
Second, because of your words. I fully concur with your statements.
In this new era of easy access to a wealth of global informations, we are drowned by a rising tide of "numbers", bits and pieces of informations, but we often miss the sense, we lack understanding.
We have informations but we don't really "know".
Cause often all those bits and pieces are not made really relevant by the integration with our own real life experience.

Cheers

Paolo

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11-15-2017, 06:33 PM - 2 Likes	#16
pinholecam Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: North Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,706	I do indeed agree that the modern lenses have become spec based monsters to appeal to a 'playing cards' form of one upmanship where one kid (er... photographer) matches his MTF score against the other and distortion % of XXX lens wins that of X lens by 0.1%. Unfortunately, Pentax did things their own way for a long time with DA limiteds, smallish lenses and really got battered in the market for this. (ie. being seen as inferior by the consumers since all reviews will have show them up as lower spec'ed) That said, I do believe that often, its the flaws and design trade-offs that give old lenses their character and its up to the photographer to make use of them. Lower prices wrt modern ones is a bonus too. Takumar 58/2.4 Takumar 100/2 CZJ Biotar 75/1.5

11-15-2017, 11:56 PM - 1 Like	#17
cyberjunkie Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Chiang Mai, Bologna, Amsterdam Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,198	@pinholecam Hats off! First because of the pictures, which show what can be done with a very old single coated glass, roughly contemporary to the CZJ Tessars shown in the previous post. Second, because of your words. I fully concur with your statements. In this new era of easy access to a wealth of global informations, we are drowned by a rising tide of "numbers", bits and pieces of informations, but we often miss the sense, we lack understanding. We have informations but we don't really "know". Cause often all those bits and pieces are not made really relevant by the integration with our own real life experience. Cheers Paolo