Modern or New Manual Lenses.

Stephen L said:
On m4/3 ATM. I'll have a look at the cost of the Voigtlander - I have a LM to m4/3 adapter knocking around. Thanks for the suggestion. The Samyang might suit if they do it in m4/3. And it's cheap!
Click to expand...

I know the Samyang is for mirrorless rather than DSLR but I'm not sure on M4/3rds tbh
 
I've just had a look and the Samyang is available in MFT mount, although it doesn't look like there are many about.

EDIT: too late, you've already found one. Of course you need it! ;)
 
Last edited:
skullfunkerry said:
I've just had a look and the Samyang is available in MFT mount, although it doesn't look like there are many about.

EDIT: too late, you've already found one. Of course you need it! ;)
Click to expand...
Still thinking. Need to cut down my expenditure…….
 
Just to keep the thread ticking...

More Pergear 35mm f1.4 pictures. Those who've seen these in other threads should look away... Now.

DSC02795.jpeg

DSC02804.jpeg

DSC02868.jpeg

This one is wide open but it seems to have lost a little sharpness here, actually I think they all have.

DSC02870.jpg

DSC02872.jpeg

Just out of interest.

I opened these in Bridge in PS2023 and batch processed them to 1000 pixels wide and to me they all look a little soft here. Hmmm. I'll have to have a look at this and see if I can see anything amiss in how these are made smaller in Bridge as I've only just started doing this, I have been downsizing files one at a time in PS2023.
 
Last edited:
I posted these shots in the Fuji owners thread but thought I would put them here too. All taken with the TTartisan 25mm f2 manual lens. An absolute steal at £69, really fun to use and produces very film like results. It's nice and sharp in the middle even at f2. The corners are mushy, there's a heavy vignette at wide apertures and noticeable distortion but that's all part of the fun.


View attachment 399725

View attachment 399726

View attachment 399727

View attachment 399728

View attachment 399729
 
SFTPhotography said:
It's an £80 lens, horses for courses.

You could spend £600 on a Sigma ART and have perfection, and manual focus as they have nice focus rings, but then you'd also have spent £520 more.
Click to expand...

As I'm comfortable and have no children I can afford any lens I want but the bulk and weight of some modern kit does put me off. I do also have manual Voigtlander lenses costing much more than these cheap lenses and I do like using them too. With these cheap manual focus lenses I'm not aiming at competing with modern lenses for image quality. I like using them because they're tactile and involving and also because of the small form factor. These lenses are sometimes the size of film era primes but have the added advantage of being in modern camera mounts so the added bulk of an adapter to recreate the slr mount distance isn't needed. That TTA 50mm is tiny.
 
RichardC27 said:
I posted these shots in the Fuji owners thread but thought I would put them here too. All taken with the TTartisan 25mm f2 manual lens. An absolute steal at £69, really fun to use and produces very film like results. It's nice and sharp in the middle even at f2. The corners are mushy, there's a heavy vignette at wide apertures and noticeable distortion but that's all part of the fun.


View attachment 399725

View attachment 399726

View attachment 399727

View attachment 399728

View attachment 399729
Click to expand...

I saw that 25mm on the Pergear website and it looks physically quite like the 50mm f2 I have.
 
woof woof said:
As I'm comfortable and have no children I can afford any lens I want but the bulk and weight of some modern kit does put me off. I do also have manual Voigtlander lenses costing much more than these cheap lenses and I do like using them too. With these cheap manual focus lenses I'm not aiming at competing with modern lenses for image quality. I like using them because they're tactile and involving and also because of the small form factor. These lenses are sometimes the size of film era primes but have the added advantage of being in modern camera mounts so the added bulk of an adapter to recreate the slr mount distance isn't needed. That TTA 50mm is tiny.
Click to expand...
Yes, the latest greatest very fast sharp big hitters aren't tiny.

I've got the Sigma 40mm ART. It's stupendously sharp, which is why I wanted it - but it's about as large and heavy as a 24-70 2.8 zoom - it's front heavy on my D850. I am a perfectionist though. The size/weight doesn't put me off, but it might in 40 years time when I am pushing 80. Who knows.

Manual focus I think is great, its tactile, and often more accurate. Modern zooms don't really have this, the primes seem better for it.

I keep thinking of getting a Sigma ART 135mm. It's a focal length I use a lot, I'd get the use of it, but the price makes me bawk a bit
 
Last edited:
a useful thread and some nice shots , I have now sold all my M/F lenses classic and new due to lack of use .. I do have one Chinese lens that I'm hanging on to though the XIAOYI 42.5 F1.8 I features full A/Fand even has a built in macro switch ..tbh it doesn't get the use it deserves but for £50 delivered it was a bite your hand off buy .I'll see if I can find some shots with it ,ah there ya go
5 spot by jeff cohen, on Flickr

smelly lilies by jeff cohen, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
woof woof said:
I saw that 25mm on the Pergear website and it looks physically quite like the 50mm f2 I have.
Click to expand...
I think they are physically almost identical. I took the 25mm f2 and the Fuji 18-55 kit lens on holiday but the kit lens never made it onto the camera, I really enjoyed having to manually focus
 
RichardC27 said:
I posted these shots in the Fuji owners thread but thought I would put them here too. All taken with the TTartisan 25mm f2 manual lens. An absolute steal at £69, really fun to use and produces very film like results. It's nice and sharp in the middle even at f2. The corners are mushy, there's a heavy vignette at wide apertures and noticeable distortion but that's all part of the fun.


View attachment 399725

View attachment 399726

View attachment 399727

View attachment 399728

View attachment 399729
Click to expand...

They do have a very filmic look to them. That's what impressed me about them.
 
Plain Nev said:
They do have a very filmic look to them. That's what impressed me about them.
Click to expand...
Some of that is the film simulation recipe but a lot of it is the rendering of the lens I think. It's far from perfect, but I think that sets it apart from modern glass, which can look very clinical as everything is so sharp and perfect. The lens flares a lot if the light hits it at just the right angle but again that can be used to give a certain look. Probably the best photographic £69 I've ever spent to be honest.
 
L1000030.jpeg

L1000316.jpeg

Leica 50mm f0.95 Noctilux is a very difficult Lens to use but wide open it can generate some insanely good micro contrast and obviously wild bokeh.

The Lens has some field curvature and has an insane level of purple fringing wide open but it’s by far my most fun lens to use.

Could have saved a fortune by buying the TTartisan version but it’s pretty much useless wide open and has poor colour and bokeh rendition so I always knew I’d end up with the Leica.

Next Lens will either be a 35 summilux or 75 summilux, however the voitglander 35s have caught my eye so could be worth a punt for their price.
 
A trip to Whitby.

A7 and Syoptic 50mm f1.1.

Holiday cottages.

DSC03311.jpg

At the front at f1.1.

DSC03313.jpg

I'd never been here before.

DSC03318.jpg

Looking back towards land, f1.1 again.

DSC03330-2.jpg

Outward bound.

DSC03342.jpg

Of the three cheap Chinese lenses I've bought (Syoptic 50mm f1.1, TTArtisan 50mm f2 and Pergear 35mm f1.4) this Syoptic is possibly the best by quite a margin. It is IMO a lovely lens and well worth the money.
 
Last edited:
Posted already but I thought I'd post them here.

Pergear 35mm f1.4 again.

1-DSC03520.jpg

1-DSC03524.jpg

One at f1.4...

1-DSC03525.jpg

I really like this lens. It has issues if you care to look for them but as a (very?) cheap lens capable of f1.4 I think it's very hard and even maybe not possible to beat at the price.

The only FF lens which perhaps offers better value is maybe the TT Artisan 50mm f2, as it's even cheaper.
 
I seem to be the only one playing :D but here's some more Pergear pictures at f1.4.

Grubs up.

DSC03573.jpg

Peekaboo.

DSC03567.jpg
 
Last edited:
Some truly good shots on this forum. I’ve recently taken to purchasing new/modern manual focus lenses for my Fuji x-e2. The most expensive of which was a Mitakon Speedmaster 35mm f0.95. It’s super soft wide open and the chromatic aberration from it is soo bad that I’ll only use it for b&w images. But I do like using it. I do wonder if I should’ve saved some money though by getting a ttartisan lens instead. I’ve since bought a ttartisan 25mm f2 and 17mm f1.4. I’m yet to have a proper play with those 2 lenses though
 
DA052AF6-587E-402F-9FE9-EA2AC34F5B6F.jpegDA052AF6-587E-402F-9FE9-EA2AC34F5B6F.jpegOne lens I used to own for mft was a cctv lens used to take this photo. I’ve had to screenshot it from my Instagram page on my phone as I don’t have the original anymore. This lens is dirt cheap. They go for around £20 on eBay, but I managed to score mine used for less than a fiver. It was the Fujian 35mm f1.6. I think I’ve remembered that correctly. But it was one of my favourite “poor quality” lenses that I bought for a bit of fun. Kind of reminds me of Lensbaby, but with a much cheaper price tag. It was really good for family portraits too. I took one of my favourite photos of my dad with this lens, but I don’t feel comfortable sharing family photos online. For some reason my copy stopped focusing after a while. I’m not entirely sure what happened, perhaps I knocked it and damaged it internally somehow. Although, considering how cheap they are, I may have to pick up another.
 
Cobra said:
It looks like you and Mrs WW have cornered the market maybe no one wants to spoil your fun (y)
Click to expand...

Some people like cameras but to be honest I don't think I'm that bothered about them. I'm also not really bothered about ultimate image quality, sharpness into the furthest pixel in the corner or super smooth bokeh at f1.

Gear wise I'm much more interested in an old Minolta Rokkor than a state of the art 50mm f1.2 so that leads me into film era lenses and these new mostly Chinese lenses also appeal to me because just like those old lenses they're small, light, lovely to use and image wise and again just like the old lenses they give you plenty to look at and analyse and learn.
 
Last edited:
Petey said:
Some truly good shots on this forum. I’ve recently taken to purchasing new/modern manual focus lenses for my Fuji x-e2. The most expensive of which was a Mitakon Speedmaster 35mm f0.95. It’s super soft wide open and the chromatic aberration from it is soo bad that I’ll only use it for b&w images. But I do like using it. I do wonder if I should’ve saved some money though by getting a ttartisan lens instead. I’ve since bought a ttartisan 25mm f2 and 17mm f1.4. I’m yet to have a proper play with those 2 lenses though
Click to expand...

As you may have spotted I went for the Syoptic 50mm f1.1 and honestly apart from being a bit soft (but still IMO good enough) at f1.1 and susceptibility to flare (which will probably only affect a smaller number of shots) I find it very difficult to fault it. In some areas I think it's actually very good.
 
Petey said:
Some truly good shots on this forum. I’ve recently taken to purchasing new/modern manual focus lenses for my Fuji x-e2. The most expensive of which was a Mitakon Speedmaster 35mm f0.95. It’s super soft wide open and the chromatic aberration from it is soo bad that I’ll only use it for b&w images. But I do like using it. I do wonder if I should’ve saved some money though by getting a ttartisan lens instead. I’ve since bought a ttartisan 25mm f2 and 17mm f1.4. I’m yet to have a proper play with those 2 lenses though
Click to expand...
I also have the TTArtisan 25mm f2 for my Fuji X-T4 and absolutely love it, despite all its flaws.
 
I actually bought my TTArtisan 50mm f2 because I thought it's optical performance might lend itself more towards more characterful pictures including B&W but it's performance has exceeded my expectations including for pictures which aren't necessarily characterful, if you know what I mean :D
 
woof woof said:
I actually bought my TTArtisan 50mm f2 because I thought it's optical performance might lend itself more towards more characterful pictures including B&W but it's performance has exceeded my expectations including for pictures which aren't necessarily characterful, if you know what I mean :D
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I was looking for with the 25mm, I wasn't looking for optical perfection but a bit of character. I like the flare and vignetting, it doesn't deliver clinical, modern looking images. I will pick up the 50mm as well at some point, for the price of the two lenses you can't go wrong.
 
RichardC27 said:
That's exactly what I was looking for with the 25mm, I wasn't looking for optical perfection but a bit of character. I like the flare and vignetting, it doesn't deliver clinical, modern looking images. I will pick up the 50mm as well at some point, for the price of the two lenses you can't go wrong.
Click to expand...

That's the same as me. I've sold my 25mm F/2 now; I found that when I nailed it I had great looking shots, but it was very very easy to miss focus. The 35mm F/0.95 is much easier to focus, and again it's much clearer than I expected when I bought it. I still want to get a Fuji 35mm F/1.4 at some point though, which will probably replace the 7Artisans lens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top