Manual focus WA lens recommendations

I am getting back into astro-landscape photography after several decades out of the hobby. (My last foray was with an AE-1 back in the 80s) I have a older EOS Rebel T3 that I have been practicing with. My main problem is with manually focusing the 18-55mm kit lens. The small focusing ring and its position at the end of the lens makes focusing difficult and it is easily moved out of focus by the slightest touch. Because of the crop factor on the EOS, I would like a lens in the 24mm to 35mm range that would "feel" more like a true manual focus lenses that I was used to on my AE-1. I have no brand preferences as long as the lens can be adapted to the EOS and still focus to infinity. Since my pocket book is limited, I probably will be looking for something used. I look forward to see your recommendations.

You don't mention why you need manual focus, but here's one with a nice focus ring, great image quality and a reasonable price:

 

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS

 

It's got wide enough focal length that it'll be useful with your crop-sensor. Yes, buying used is an option with this widely used, workhorse lens.

 

Ideally, doing night-astro, you'd want an f/2.8, but getting good quality and that fast gets expensive quick. Some, but not all, Sigma and Tamron are excellent. Maybe someone will recommend a specific lens.

 

This is a workhorse focal range, so I wouldn't recommend getting a MF-only lens, because it's usefulness in everyday shooting will be diminished substantially. Also, IS is important, particularly at the long end of the focal range, particularly when shooting street or travel. When thinking of your limited budget, don't buy a lens that's only good for one thing.

The Samyang- and Rokinon-branded 14mm f/2.8 manual focus lenses offer surprisingly good quality for very little money. AFAIK, it doesn't matter which of these brands you select, it's the same lens. If you want one of these, buy it from a store with a good refund policy, and test it.

For that task, you really, really, want a lens as fast as possible. ie. an f2.8 zoom. The 14/2.8 Samyang is great for the price, but is going to really limit your focal range... while you can always crop, that sacrifices pixels, which are really necessary for a quality output - substantially better to use a zoom than a prime unless you are using most if not all of the image.

 

Since you want to work in the 24-35mm range, and are cropped, I'd advise looking at a Tamron 17-50/2.8. It is faster (necessary), and for you has a proper focus ring, also, the front element does NOT rotate when focusing, making fine manual adjustments VASTLY improved. They have much better IQ than the 18-55 you are using. Best of all, you can find them very inexpensively used (as in under $200).

 

That said, when doing this shooting you'll want to damp the FL ring (easy with a fat rubber band, or gaffers tape), and to a lesser degree, damp the focal ring (with just a fat rubber band carefully placed). No modern cheap lense is going to be well damped for precise MF duties, but, it's fairly easy to DIY for static shooting. You could probably improve the results out of your 18-55 by doing so, but since it's front element does rotate (and is, in effect, the focus ring), it'll be much more difficult than with a better lens.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Marcus Ian

I'm sorry. I misread the original post. I agree with Marcus that the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is an excellent lens.

I appreciate the feedback. I know that the Rokinon 35mm is an excellent choice, but did not know about their other lenses. I will check out that Tamron 17-50 too, seems like a great idea. BTW, what does Marcus mean by damp the focus ring?

I mean that in MF, most inexpensive lenses have very little resistance in the focus ring. Often there is a bit of 'slop' (wiggle before the lenses start to move consistently). The same applies to focal length (zoom) ring. Minimizing the effect of this is necessary because BOTH can easily throw off the focus. Even mirror slap can do it in a lens like the 18-55 EF-s. This also has a disproportionate effect when working right before/at/past infinity- especially WO.

 

Well 'damped' lenses have consistent friction, little to no slop, and are easy and smooth to operate by hand. This was vastly more important when lenses were all MF, and most quality modern manual lenses are exceptionally well damped. Most high quality NON-manual lenses (like Canon Ls, Sigma Arts, etc.) are a step down in mechanical performance, but still vastly better than inexpensive lenses. ...USM/HSM w/ Full Time Manual focus are also good, though typically a step further down... lenses like the 18-55 are about the bottom of the barrel in regards to MF and consistent mechanical behavior.

 

By using a fat rubber band put on the FL ring and focus ring, w/ about half on the ring, and half on the stationary lens body (or, in the case of lenses whose FL and focus rings are next to each other putting one across the two - not Ideal, but sometimes necessary, you substantially increase the effort to move the FL and focus rings. By adjusting the placement of the rubber band, you can make spinning the rings easier/harder. For static, tripod shooting, with an inexpensive lens doing so is an absolute must for image consistency.

I've also done it with those silicon wrist bands, and they are more consistent than regular old rubber bands, but they are usually too large for smaller diameter lenses.

One other way to go is to get older manual lenses in mounts that can be adapted to EOS EF mounts (e.g., M42 or Nikon F mount) and shoot them as aperture preferred on a Canon EOS body.

 

Note, however, that some Nikon-mount wide angles may need some parts removed to fit on some EOS bodies because of interference from the mirror, especially on "full-frame" EOS bodies.