Modern or New Manual Lenses.

woof woof

woof woof

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Alan
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Hi all.

I thought I'd start a thread for users of modern/new manual lenses to share thought and pictures.

Years ago I started buying film era lenses and using them on my digital cameras and I've enjoyed using them via dumb adapters but of course there are new manual lenses too. In these digital days Voitglander and others too including Zeiss have brought out native lenses for various mounts and I bought a Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 for MFT and thought it was a very good lens. Later I bought a Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 for my Sony FF camera and later added a 35mm f1.4 and a 50mm f2 apo.

More recently some relatively cheap lenses have caught my eye and I bought a very compact TTArtisan 50mm f2 in Sony mount for £80 and later added a Syoptic 50mm f1.1 and a compact Peargear 35mm f1.4. The TTArtisan and Pergear lenses are cheap and tiny, just the size of film era lenses really.

Anyone got any mini review, thought or pictures to share?
 
I liked the Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 and I used in on my Panasonic G1. I was impressed with its sharpness across the frame and the wide aperture gave options previously not available to me. It focused quite close too so was useful for flower shots.

A wide aperture shot.

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Not that the performance across the frame can be seen here, but I'm impressed.

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I remember taking this picture. The sharpness and performance across the frame was something I hadn't seen from my MFT camera (Panasonic G1) before.

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I've been thinking about these too, although I have a bunch of great lenses already, I've just ordered an Astrhori 50mm f1.4 tilt/sift lens in M43 mount for my Olly outfit. It was £185 but I'm expecting to get stung for VAT and Duty when it arrives from China. It'll be interesting to play with.
 
The second modern Voigtlander I bought was the 40mm f1.2 Sony mount.

It's sharp enough all over the frame except for the extreme corners which IMO are never great. I've used this quite a bit.

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The Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 has been a favourite of mine since I got it. The extreme corners are never good and the bokeh can be nervous at close range and with a complex scene but if the scene is not so cluttered even f1.4 can IMO look good and when stopped down I really like the look this lens gives. It's probably my most used lens on changeable lens cameras.

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I sometimes use this with a No.4 close up lens which IMO improves its close up performance.
 
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My most recently bought Voigtlander is the 50mm f2 apo and I think it's a great lens.

All of these Voigtlanders are IMO beautifully made. Later lenses including the 50mm f2 give rounded aperture blades at some settings and angled ones at others.

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The walk to the shops.

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The TTArtisan 50mm f2 was my first cheap manual Chinese lens. It is very compact. The corners aren't great and look very nervous at wide apertures and there's a lot of vignetting when shooting at wide apertures and focusing further away.

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Syoptic 50mm f1.1. This lens looks like my Voigtonader 50mm f2 with only small differences such as the markings mostly not being engraved. Focusing at f1.1 isn't always easy and it is a bit soft but still IMO useable and it does sharpen up on stopping down. I do like this lens and one nice thing is that the hard stop is at infinity and it's easy to use this lens for hyperfocal shooting.

The first three are wide open.

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I think I've only got the one modern manual lens, and that's the TT Artisan 17mm. I don't use it a great deal, but I find it very good on the occasions I do.
 
My last buy was a cheap Pergear 35mm f1.4. The performance of this lens at f1.4 at infinity is IMO very good and wide open the bokeh isn't too wild. A review I read highlighted filed curvature but that's not something I'm worried about.

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At f1.4.

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These cheap manual focus Sony mount lenses wont replace my Sony AF lenses and they wont replace my film era lenses either but they are nice lenses and have their own charms and they can give an interesting look.
 
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Plain Nev said:
I think I've only got the one modern manual lens, and that's the TT Artisan 17mm. I don't use it a great deal, but I find it very good on the occasions I do.
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I've seen that one on line but it's APS-C so it doesn't really appeal to me for the Sony A7. I do like the look of it though, it looks to be an interesting lens.
 
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@woof woof - I am a little shocked just how much I like the way you have taken the pictures of the lady. You know when you suddenly see something or understand something? I want to go take some pictures like that right now. Sadly it is dark.
 
Tulipone said:
@woof woof - I am a little shocked just how much I like the way you have taken the pictures of the lady. You know when you suddenly see something or understand something? I want to go take some pictures like that right now. Sadly it is dark.
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She often says "Take my picture" but she'll very rarely strike a pose :D She sends pictures back to her friends and family to show I'm looking after her ok :D

As for the dark, there's always tomorrow :D
 
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Tulipone said:
It looks like you hold just above waist height?
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Ah, I see what you mean. I suppose it depends on what I'm going for, sometimes eye level but often kneeling or crouching for the height and perspective. With AF lenses I can shoot from lower down and use the back screen possibly with face detect but with these manual lenses I like to do one of two things, either focus on the subject with the evf to my eye as I can't really judge how accurate I'm being with the back screen held lower down or go zone or hyperfocal and in that case I can hold the camera anywhere at any height. I suppose I'm influenced by Vivian Maier but only as a day out hobbyist :D
 
woof woof said:
I've seen that one on line but it's APS-C so it doesn't really appeal to me for the Sony A7. I do like the look of it though, it looks to be an interesting lens.
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I think that's a good way to describe it. It doesn't jump out at you. But it does have a look of its own. The colour is something I haven't seen on another lens.
 
Plain Nev said:
I think that's a good way to describe it. It doesn't jump out at you. But it does have a look of its own. The colour is something I haven't seen on another lens.
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Don't tempt me... I've looked at it a few times since you mentioned it :D
 
Just to mention new Laowa lenses. I currently have 2 for my OM5 - the 7.5mm and 10mm C-Dreamers. Both manual focus but with electrical contacts so aperture is controlled by the camera, and full exif is exchanged. Optical quality is top-notch, but they don’t have the character of some film-era lenses.
 
These are tempting me...

phillipreeve.net

Review: Laowa 35mm 0.95 - The world's fastest 35mm lens - phillipreeve.net

The Laowa 35mm 0.95 FF is the world's fastest 35mm fullframe lenses and also the widest f/0.95 lens, but does it only
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

phillipreeve.net

Review: Laowa 28mm 1.2 FFII Argus - The world's fastest 28mm lens - phillipreeve.net

The Laowa 28mm 1.2 FFII Argus is the world's fastest 28mm lens and surprisingly compact. But what about bokeh and sharpness, is it actually
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

One of the reasons I bought the Syoptic 50mm f1.1 was it's a much cheaper wide aperture lens and I thought it might stop me reading about those fast 28 and 35mm lenses.
 
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More votes for laowa here. My favourite lens is their 12mm f2.8. I’ve used it for everything from Astro to panorama to transport and 12mm on full frame is insane as long as you know how to use it

Here are 2 I’ve taken with it in may

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woof woof said:
Syoptic 50mm f1.1. This lens looks like my Voigtonader 50mm f2 with only small differences such as the markings mostly not being engraved. Focusing at f1.1 isn't always easy and it is a bit soft but still IMO useable and it does sharpen up on stopping down. I do like this lens and one nice thing is that the hard stop is at infinity and it's easy to use this lens for hyperfocal shooting.

The first three are wide open.





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woof woof said:
Some recent pictures.

Syoptic 50mm f1.1.

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TTArtisan 50mm f2.



Pergear 35mm f1.4.
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The images are great (y)
 
I have 4 Nippon Kogaku lenses and Nikon AIS from 24 to 85mm plus a couple of E Series lenses. They're all nice but are film era lenses :D
 
NCV said:
I have the 28mm PC and 35mm PC. They both still do a good job, and render nicely. I also have my old 180 2.8 "dance" lens, which I must try sometime.
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What's this?
 
I keep meaning to go out with my Yashica film kit & just the A7 with adapter so I can do some mix & matching but never seem to get around to it!
 
Another Pergear 35mm f1.4 picture. I took this at f1.4 using peaking whilst she was walking up the steps, so it's bit of an action shot :D

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A nice piece here on Chinese FF lenses...

phillipreeve.net

The Best Fullframe Lenses from China - phillipreeve.net

Introduction In 2023 there are plenty of lens manufacturers originating from China speaking to various different target audiences. While some are the Primark of the lens industry – simply trying to offer cheaper alternatives to the reknown manufacturers of lower quality – others have become the...
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

As above, I have three. Syoptic 50mm f1.1, TTArtisan 50mm f2 and Pergear 35mm f1.4.
 
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I have a few manual lenses, and I really like all of them, in different ways.

TTArtisan 7.5mm F/2 Fisheye - obviously the fisheye thing is fun, but it's also really good at close focus:DSCF1973.jpg

7Artisans 25mm F/1.8 - this is my least favourite. When it works well it looks great, is pretty sharp, and has nice colour rendering and a slightly swirly bokeh that I like. I find it very hard to focus though, even with focus peaking on my X-T30 it's easy to miss shots sometimes. It suffers badly with lens flare, too. When I nail it though, it's a good feeling :) Here's one that I was pleased with:
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Samyang 12mm F/2 - I really like this lens; it's very easy to focus, feels nice to use, is built like a tank, and it's great for astro as well as landscapes. I keep meaning to try a walk around a town or city with it, but I've not had a chance to do that yet. Here's a shot from a couple of weekends ago that I really like:
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And finally, my favourite: 7Artisans 35mm F/0.95. This is a lot of fun; it's quite easy to focus (the guy on the jetty was amazed that I'd managed to get him in focus, he only stood still for a couple of seconds), the bokeh is monstrous, and the aperture and focus rings are *perfectly* damped, it's very nice to use:
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I've had to reduce the size and quality of these hugely in order to attach them; full-size versions on my Flickr though if you want a better look.
 
More Pergear 35mm f1.4 pictures, all at f1.4.

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I think I read that this is the cheapest new FF 35mm lens you can buy. It does have its issues and I'm sure it's a lens that many people wouldn't consider but I do know that I'd rather use this tiny lens rather than one of the large and expensive but very good cutting edge 35mm lenses that are available today. This is my most used cheap Chinese lens.
 
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A TTArtisan 50mm f2 picture taken at f2.

Mrs WW showing off her new top. It was a preset from a friend in Thailand so this picture will be zapped off to her.

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Again, this is a lens which many will not consider and it does have issues the most obvious one visible here is the swirly mushy corners at wide apertures. There's also a lot of vignetting especially at wider apertures when focusing further away. These issues are unlikely to spoil every shot and may be acceptable trade offs against the very low price and the tiny packaging.
 
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woof woof said:
More Pergear 35mm f1.4 pictures, all at f1.4.

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I think I read that this is the cheapest new FF 35mm lens you can buy. It does have its issues and I'm sure it's a lens that many people wouldn't consider but I do know that I'd rather use this tiny lens rather than one of the large and expensive but very good cutting edge 35mm lenses that are available today. This is my most used cheap Chinese lens.
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A lovely set of pictures Alan; we search for perfection too much with lenses rather than producing gorgeous pictures like these, well done
 
woof woof said:
A TTArtisan 50mm f2 picture taken at f2.

Mrs WW showing off her new top. It was a preset from a friend in Thailand so this picture will be zapped off to her.

View attachment 393706

Again, this is a lens which many will not consider and it does have issues the most obvious one visible here is the swirly mushy corners at wide apertures. There's also a lot of vignetting especially at wider apertures when focusing further away. These issues are unlikely to spoil every shot and may be acceptable trade offs against the very low price and the tiny packaging.
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You're right. Last time I saw corners like that was on a Helios. :D
 
Jammy Dodger said:
A lovely set of pictures Alan; we search for perfection too much with lenses rather than producing gorgeous pictures like these, well done
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Agreed. More often than not, we should concentrate on the spirit of the shot. Unless technical perfection is paramount, eg, scientific or architectural.
 
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