Old Manuals vs. New Digitals

[pgavalis]

<p>Just looking for other opinions. I have been going through some of my old pics in my portfolio and have noticed an odd pattern. I seem to like many more of my images that were taken with the older Pentax manual lenses (even some of the cheapo third-party brands) on the digital body.<br>

I'm assuming I like some of the manual lens images better because I took way more time to compose and focus instead of just rapid fire and move on. Some seem to have much more pleasant bokeh and depth/richness in color. Maybe I haven't played enough with the two new lenses (Tammy 28-75 and Rokinon 8mm) and I almost always try to shoot everthing in M mode...am I missing something or is there just no fair way to compare the Manual vs. Digital lens, or even mimic the look of the images with the new lenses?<br>

Not to say I don't LOVE the versatility and speed of the newer lenses but does anyone else feel the same way about your own images? I am now regretting unloading my older manual lenses to help fund the newer ones and will slowly be picking up some oldies again.</p>

[Member69643]

<p>There are many great lenses out there, both manual and auto focusing. You may indeed have very good manual focus lens but you tipped your hand a bit. Something that takes little <strong>time</strong> to do is never worth a hoot, is it? When you look at an image that you shot fast with an autofocus lens, well, it can't be good can it? You hardly spent any time on it at all...</p>

[AJG]

<p>I have a 28 - 75 f/2.8 Tamron and own a lot of Pentax single focal length and zooms. I haven't noticed much difference on the various digital bodies I have used from the istD through the K 5, but I did sell off several lenses that had major flare problems with digital bodies that were fine with film, specifically the Pentax 35-105 f/3.5 A and the 135 Takumar f/2.5 (small k mount lenses from Taiwan). Older lenses are definitely different, and you may simply prefer what you're used to. My experience has generally been that newer is usually sharper and more contrasty, but that isn't always better. On the other hand, one of my oldest lenses (a Pentax 85 f/1.8) is also one of the sharpest that I own, despite being almost 35 years old and heavily used.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>I don't shoot Pentax, but I do have a similar experience with my Nikkors. The older (manual focus / early AF) lenses have a different rendering, slightly different colours. Much like Andrew notes - the new lenses more contrast and sharpness.<br>

It's, I think, not a case of "old MF" versus "Digital" lenses, but more a matter of advanced, modern coatings, plus how computer aided design makes it far more possible to optimise lenses for resolution (MTF), less distortation etc. In return, the older lenses have more character - more technical flaws, but sometimes those technical flaws are just too nice (the glow-in-the-dark look of my 35 f/1.4 and 50 f/1.2 wide open is just too charming to not abuse). But look at most forums here: people want ultimate sharpness, optical perfection and contrasty looking images. So that's what manufacterers are optimising for.</p>

<p>My main bag is a lot of MF primes. For me, it's really not about MF making me work harder or not, I have plenty AF lenses too. It's the look I get, and especially the better-looking B&W results I can get with the slightly lower contrast and more subtle and richer midtones of the older lenses.</p>

[laur1]

<p>I always focus manually, even when using autofocus lenses.</p>

<p>So I didn't see any difference between using old and new lenses. I actually disliked some K and M lenses because of their strong LoCA and I think the newer DA lenses are much better in this respect. I tolerate LoCA in the Takumars because they handle so nicely and were so inexpensive. Of old lenses, I really like Russian ones as well as Carl Zeiss Jena. But then again, all modern manual focus lenses that I tried were superb both optically and in terms of build quality. And I loved the few autofocus ones I purchased (Pentax, Sigma, Olympus). So no, I wouldn't say that there is anything that old lenses have over the new ones other than the nostalgia associated with their age. If anything, old lenses may exhibit issues on digital that they did not show on film, which would be an advantage for newer ones unless you turn the flaw into an artistic effect and start exploiting it that way.</p>

[richard_wong18]

<p>Pete,<br>

I think that you're bang on in that you're seeing those old manual lens shots and you might like them more. My belief is that just like fashion colours come and go and just like some newer products the quality may not be as good as the old fashioned products from 50 years ago.</p>

 

[pgavalis]

<p>Thanks for your opinions. Maybe it was the time I took on some of the older shots, or maybe I just see something in some of them I prefer...who knows. Not worth me worrying...just makes me want to shoot more and more with these newer lenses. Still lots to learn. Thanks, Pete.</p>