| Latest Review Posted | SMC/S-M-C/Super-/Auto-/Takumar 55mm F1.8
I love this lens. It is probably my cheapest lens, yet it never fails to deliver satisfying images. I think it’s mostly the way this lens renders color, rich and punchy across the spectrum. It sees colors I didn’t even notice in the scene, like an artist drawing subliminal colors out of shadows and highlights.
I am pretty thrifty when it comes to lenses, I don’t really spend more than $100 on a lens, so I look pretty hard for the bargains. I browse through the lens reviews here, looking for good rating/price ratios. This one popped out right away as being a great bargain. Of course it’s the focal length, not very desirable I guess, or maybe there’s just too many of this length or similar. I can tell you that the feel of this lens is wonderful, nice throw on the focus, not touchy at all.
My approach with the focal length is to let the lens decide the relationship to the subject, and how it treats the visual context. To get a certain shot, you need the use the focal length that will get that shot, but you can also turn that around and explore what a specific lens will give you. Find what the lens does well and work with that.
This one is clearly good at getting close to the subject, but I like what it does with backgrounds and things around the subject. Some might not like the bokeh, I love it, I really like the splash of little hexagons, adding a kind of psychedelic quality at times. It’s great. I like the ability to turn off the auto-iris so you can see it’s effect o... |
