[Oktyabr]

Catch in focus is fun! Love my Helios 44/2 for heavily saturated bokeh too. I paid $40 with full CLA

[jcdoss]

The guy with the Nikon expressed that my aluminum tripod, undersized head, and inadequately-supported 1980's vintage zoom were not up to the challenge,

If you can stand some anthropomorphizing, like your photographer friend in the field, my 70's and 80's manual focus lenses frequently look me over regardless of what I am trying to do just to tell me I don't look up to the challenge.

[ChristianRock]

I'd like to say that you all inspire me, these have been some of the best posts I've read anywhere

One of the big benefits of shooting old glass is you're free... free from self-important online reviews, free from some mathematics-based ideal of perfection, free from nerd-raging AF battles where the loser is cast down into the ninth circle of Hell... you're free to accept and embrace imperfection in your gear and in yourself, and focus on the subject and the moment.

Yes... and the interesting thing is, none of the ultra-fast AF guys make fun of the other guys with a Leica or with a Zeiss Otus... just because it's expensive doesn't mean the owner is a better photographer.

Modern lenses don't really offer anything I want or need in this point of my hobby. I like the challenge of doing it all manually. I know who to blame, if I don't get results I want. Back then when I was shooting full auto jpeg's with modern zoom I only shot when I had something interesting to shoot. Since I moved to old manual primes I have started to enjoy photography a lot more and also realized I need to practise to learn to use my gear properly. And I have learned so much. Lately I have kept on shooting daily just for the joy of using my gear.

Somewhere along I turned to be a control freak. I don't want to let go of M mode anymore even when I shoot the little AF gear I have. I know what kind of exposure I want for PP and easiest way to get it is to set it all manually. And for manual focus manual lenses are much more enjoyable.

I don't even have the best available vintage lenses. I have the cheapest and yet they are good enough to provide beautiful pictures.

I've been following your pictures for quite a while and I'm always amazed at what you come up with. But let me quote this one thing again:

Lately I have kept on shooting daily just for the joy of using my gear.

And that makes all the difference in the world, and I think it shows in the quality of your pictures as well.

There isn't any wrong or right, and we're each free to do things in the way that gives us the most personal enjoyment.

And indeed there is absolutely no joy in the game of "my lens MTF charts are better than your lens MTF charts" or "my camera specs are superior to your camera specs" that gets implied in so many conversations elsewhere.
If it brings one joy in taking pictures, then why not persist

I was just about ready to ask Pepperberry if I could come sit at his feet and learn. But then it hit me, he's been doing this way longer than I have. The jpeg revelation helped me because I shoot in jpeg (it's good enough for now while I'm still learning) so it's nice to know raw isn't 100% necessary. But then I see his pics and think why [swearing] can't I do that?!

Now I'm not at Dave (Pepperberry)'s level, even if I do now own the camera he learned a lot of his trade with But I have to say that the Pentax JPEG engine isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Especially from the K-3 on, I find it quite good (the K-S1 having a similar JPEG engine to the K-3, so I'm very familiar with that - and I see it got even better in the K-1/K-70/KP generation). Things I've learned:
. The Natural setting can take PP well and you can take the picture in different directions
. I like the Portrait setting a lot because there's frequently people in my pictures. It's a bit more "alive" than the Natural setting and skin tones are well represented, usually.
. The Reversal Film inspires me.
. The Monochrome is excellent. Maybe here's an area where Pentax benefited from Ricoh, Ricoh being of course the street photography legend and street photography is still very focused on black and white.
. The Muted Colors setting is surprisingly good, especially at night. I recommend it to everyone to try this setting for night photography.

You just have to remember that with JPEG photography, like with slide film, you have to remember to expose well, even if it means that you might pass on some shots because the dynamic range is just too large. NAH-don't pass on it! With the exposure button (+/-), you can immediately save the RAW file and use it up later

Lonve live manual lenses. Long live the OVF. Long live Pentax. (I should put that as my new signature...)

[ChristianRock]

And here's some straight out of camera JPEGs, from oldest to newest Pentax camera, using manual lenses of course

K10D and Vivitar 24 2.8 (to really bring the point across that there hasn't been anything wrong with the Pentax JPEG engine in a long time )


K20D with SMC 55mm f2 (K series)


K-50 with Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 (ok this is an AF lens but it's a legacy film lens, and there was an earlier manual focus version...)


K-S1 with SMC-A 70-210mm f/4

[Astro-Baby]

Personally I find nothing hard in full manual film cameras. Perhaps its just because thats what I am used to having learnt photography when there was nothing else available. I find it weird though when I read posts from the digital users about histograms and whatnot. It all seems overly technical rather like someone doing watercolours and wanting a pantone match. I trust my eyeballs and my instincts. Like the previous poster I find with a digital I am having to fight the camera. The endless menus and options make choice a curse.
The early digitals didnt help with menu based systems, I could never see how messing about with a menu was easier than just turning a dial.

At the end of the day all you have to work with is shutter speed and aperture, I am not sure why a choice of two things which are inter dependent requires the use of squillions of buttons and menus.

I grant you for fast moving events like sports it makes sense to have AF. I mostly work with people and landscapes and my most fidgety sitter is easily stopped with 125th and landscapes dont tend to move about too much.

Early this year I was on a walking holiday, I chose to shoot mostly with my ancient Konica RF and what a joy to just have to choose subject and framing of the shot......it forces you to consider whats going to make a pic. The happy snappy digital came into its own for street photography because its so small and discrete and silent and its AF is handy for candids where the subject is likely to be front and centre but frankly theres no pics I couldnt have got with just the RF and manual focus. Oh for a Leica still cant afford one.

[RookieGuy]

Astro, I think a lot of it could be generational. Menu based touchscreen seems to be intuitive for youngsters born into the smartphone age whereas they'd have to learn dials and buttons. Dials and buttons are intuitive but menus are confusing for us.

That said, I've learned to embrace things like histogram and chimping. If I can use the tools to make better pictures, why wouldn't I?

[Wasp]

Another reason to stick with MF - when there is no alternative. If you want the bokeh goodness that only an 85mm f/1.4 can deliver, you can pay through the nose for a vintage FA* or go manual with a brand new Samyang/Rokinon at a fraction of the price. The world is still waiting for the new Pentax offering...

[lakeshore]

In my second post in this thread, I said that two of my M series lenses had developed “sticky aperture blades” and that I would attempt to clean them when I worked up the nerve to try. This problem has been bothering me for a long time. Well I did it! I was able to get both lenses working without complete disassembly.


Now that I have all my M series lenses working, especially the 20 mm f4, I have been experimenting with them and am enjoying them much more. Thanks for all the encouragement and helpful hints.

[Progbusters]

I have a few. They force you to concentrate on your skills going manual. Plus they produce great colors and image quality.

[timw4mail]

Cost, feel, and rendering.


There's something tactile about a good manual focus lens that no autofocus lens can really hope to match.

[ChristianRock]

So since my last post I bought a film camera that came with SEVEN all-manual lenses (2 K, 5 M, all SMC Pentax). Only one is beyond fixing (a K 24 2.8 that has severe balsam separation, which is common with that lens and is well documented on this site). Another has severe fungus but can (and will!) be cleaned at some point. The other 5 are keeping me very excited, all but a couple have a bit of fungus but it doesn't seem to affect the images. I just need to get me some 99.99% Isopropyl Alcohol and find some time to learn to clean them...

But my best reason to keep shooting manual lenses now is... an SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 lens I can only describe the experience of using it as wonderful.

[timw4mail]

So since my last post I bought a film camera that came with SEVEN all-manual lenses (2 K, 5 M, all SMC Pentax). Only one is beyond fixing (a K 24 2.8 that has severe balsam separation, which is common with that lens and is well documented on this site). Another has severe fungus but can (and will!) be cleaned at some point. The other 5 are keeping me very excited, all but a couple have a bit of fungus but it doesn't seem to affect the images. I just need to get me some 99.99% Isopropyl Alcohol and find some time to learn to clean them...

But my best reason to keep shooting manual lenses now is... an SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 lens I can only describe the experience of using it as wonderful.

A 50/1.2 is magical regardless of camera system...and I don't think there has been an autofocus 50/1.2 (Although Canon was nuts enough for a 50/1.0, if I recall).

[ChristianRock]

A 50/1.2 is magical regardless of camera system...and I don't think there has been an autofocus 50/1.2 (Although Canon was nuts enough for a 50/1.0, if I recall).

Canon did make f1.0 lenses but they were for a rangefinder system they had, and they were manual focus. There's some f/0.95 lenses out there, most notably from Voigtlander for M4/3 but also from some Chinese manufacturers, I forgot who now. All manual focus. There's also a made-for-mirrorless APS-C and M4/3 50 f1.1 lens by Kamlan, manual focus and is very cheap but I haven't looked into how good it is. Samyang still makes a manual focus full frame 50 1.2 lens for mirrorless systems that is supposed to be really good and retails for only 399.

Canon makes two autofocus 50 1.2 lenses, one for their older EF DSLR system, and one for their new R mirrorless system.

Fuji has a 56 1.2 autofocus lens that is very highly regarded.

And Sigma of course just released a 35 1.2 autofocus lens that seems to be amazing (but very big and heavy!). There might be more AF f1.2 lenses but those are what I recall now...

[timw4mail]

Canon did make f1.0 lenses but they were for a rangefinder system they had, and they were manual focus. There's some f/0.95 lenses out there, most notably from Voigtlander for M4/3 but also from some Chinese manufacturers, I forgot who now. All manual focus. There's also a made-for-mirrorless APS-C and M4/3 50 f1.1 lens by Kamlan, manual focus and is very cheap but I haven't looked into how good it is. Samyang still makes a manual focus full frame 50 1.2 lens for mirrorless systems that is supposed to be really good and retails for only 399.

Canon makes two autofocus 50 1.2 lenses, one for their older EF DSLR system, and one for their new R mirrorless system.

Fuji has a 56 1.2 autofocus lens that is very highly regarded.

And Sigma of course just released a 35 1.2 autofocus lens that seems to be amazing (but very big and heavy!). There might be more AF f1.2 lenses but those are what I recall now...

I concede defeat...for 1.2.

Canon did make an autofocus EF 50/1.0: Canon 50mm f/1.0 Review

[ChristianRock]

I concede defeat...for 1.2.

Canon did make an autofocus EF 50/1.0: Canon 50mm f/1.0 Review

You are right, I forgot that one.