Lens Insight

[Guy Mancuso]

Was not really sure what to call this thread but its interesting years ago i shot Canon but all my glass was Zeiss or Leica. Today I am packing for a small road trip with my wife to get away and also get a poster image shot for her company. So I opened my camera safe this morning and pulled out all the glass and damn if I am not doing the same thing with Nikon and have different brands but this time it is far worse. I have 5 count them 5 brands of lenses. Be interesting to see what others have come up with after spending some good shooting time with the D800 and D800E.

Now i have switched things up a couple times and nice thing about Nikon, Canon and Sony etc is the lenses are not 5k per copy. In reality its a lot easier to buy one try it, keep it, sell it or just hand it down to your kid. Speaking of that awhile back i bought my son for Christmas a Nikon 3200 and he wanted a canon when dad is sitting on a pile of Nikon mounts. Straightened him out quickly. LOL

Anyway back to this dilemma if you call it but today I sit with a Samyang 14mm Manual focus lens which seriously maybe the best wide angle deal around. Than moving up the Zeiss 25mm F2 which i tried everything else out there and cant find anything better. Than i move to 35mm , yea i had the Nikon 1.4 and now just sold the Zeiss F2 and I'm literally sitting here waiting for USPS for the Sigma 35mm 1.4 that is getting killer reviews, no worries mates I am doing one too. LOL
Now funny thing is I had (3) 50mm 1.8 lenses, yea Im freaking nuts sold them to buy other things but i ordered one from calumet in DECEMBER and still have yet to get it. Moral of that story screw calumet go somewhere else. So the other day i bought a Nikon 60mm 2.8 macro. Love it sharp as hell so forget the 50mm focal length, I hate it anyway. LOL
Next I have the Nikon 85 1.4 and have yet to find anything better in that focal length so thats a keeper. Than i recently got the Nikon 70-200 F4 and still trying to find a reason which i cant come up with of buying the 2.8 version since this thing is pretty dang good. Now for PR work I have my 5th brand a Tamron 24-70 2.8 which i like quite a bit and cant find a reason to buy the more expensive Nikon version.

Now I never had 5 different brands of lenses in one stinking kit. Not sure if i am crazy or not here. Than again each one does a really good job and finding it hard to replace any of them. I do want to add to the collection or else I will get thrown out of the glass whore club out on my butt but I'm after the new Zeiss 135mm F2 next.

So all this begs the real question of the day are we jumping around brands to solve certain issues in each focal length or just being way over picky on lens quality. I know i lean to the best imaging machine i can get my hands on and not all Nikon glass is perfect either. I find myself kind of laughing at myself for having 5 different brands of glass. Obviously I'm not brand bias here. LOL

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Oh and I'm only taking 3 brands with me or else I will really feel like a name dropper. ROTFLMAO

 

[D&A]

Guy Wrote>>>"Speaking of that awhile back i bought my son for Christmas a Nikon 3200 and he wanted a canon when dad is sitting on a pile of Nikon mounts. Straightened him out quickly. LOL"<<<

How you'd manage that? By making the "illusionary" promise that once he reaching adulthood, he's welcome to open your "lens vault" and help himself to using any of Dad's treasures to his heart's content? LOL! Where have I heard that one before (LOL...probably in my own household growing up and I'm sure others have too!).

Guy, what's wrong with you. Some would say it's a sickness to have so many brands. I say nonsense...the only thing lacking is a "sixth" brand. So what's wrong....where are those Leica "R" lenses converted for Nikon use? :ROTFL:

Have to give your entire post some serious thought today prior to responding with my own thoughts...but in the meantime it will be interesting to read the responses you get from others. Let me just say the reason one has different brands in the same mount is simply that there are so many excellent choices of lenses to shoot with these days and the camera brand manufacturers no longer have a monopoly on the top tier of superb performing lenses or they are no longer price competitive in today's economically challenged marketplace.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Over promise and under deliver. At least to the kids. LOL

Leica I want the Leica R 19mm second version already filed down and with the Leitax mount. Now that is a great lens.

Kicker is i had one years ago.

 

[D&A]

Over promise and under deliver. At least to the kids. LOL

Leica I want the Leica R 19mm second version already filed down and with the Leitax mount. Now that is a great lens.

Kicker is i had one years ago.

Great philosophy...Aa parent after my own heart! LOL!
That Leica 19mm is supposed to be superb. A fellow GEtdpi member sent me some images taken with the one he had, and I was truly impressed with it optically.

Wow, if you re-obtain the Leica 19mm...it will be up to "six" brands....now were talking! LOL!

Guy, enjoy your upcoming excursion (road trip) with your wife...lord knows you both deserve it!

Dave (D&A)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Thanks Dave, I need a really long break. Wish I could get the Leica for bargain pricing. LOL

 

[D&A]

Oh, I neglected to mention another reason why the Sammy 14mm and other lower price lenses are now acceptable to many. It is partly due to the ability to alter certain image characteristics in post prcessing. In the analogue film only era, the excessive distortion characteristics of that Sammy 14mm would be unacceptable to most photographers expecting and/or needing a ultra wide angle with low distortion.

Through the magic of digital, that lens for "somewhat" near stright-line rectilinear use, becomes quite acceptable, especially considering it's price point. That's another reason why many 3rd party lenses are becoming quite acceptable.....namely with regards to their attractive price point, the ability to work with and change some of their optical definciencies.

Dave (D&A)

 

[Alon]

Welcome to the club.

I use Nikkor - Leica R - ZeissZF2 - Coastal Opt - Meyer - CZJ and other vintage glass.
I am afraid no Sigma or Tamron or Samyang.....yet!

Gone are the days to stick with one brand.

My attitude is glass first, then match a body!

 

[Steen]

(...) I opened my camera safe this morning and pulled out all the glass and damn if I am not doing the same thing with Nikon and have different brands but this time it is far worse. I have 5 count them 5 brands of lenses. (...)

The good news is that this time your lenses are all F-mount despite whatever brand name, so no adapters adding new alignment problems

 

[GrahamWelland]

If you like the Samyang glass you can always get the same lens in multiple vendor versions. I'm partial to Rockinon myself but there's always the option of Bower.

On a related note, whilst the fast Nikon glass is better corrected for general use the Rockinon/Samyang/Bower wides are cleaner for shooting things like stars due to less coma. Horses for courses so they say ...

 

[gurtch]

I am an old timer, and non professional, but with my D800E I have Nikon 14-24mm, Zeiss 18mm ZF.2, Zeiss 35mm f2 ZF, Voigtlander 90mm f3.5 Apo Lanthar manual focus, Nikon 50mm f1.8 (what a bargain!!), and two Tamrons: 24-70 VC and 70-300mm VC. For the few occasions I need really long stuff I have a manual focus Nikon 400mm f5.6. I also have from my old days MF Nikkor AI 28mm f3.5, 50mm f2, 135mm f2.8, and 55mm f3.5 micro, and 500mm Mirror. All fit and work well with the newer DSLRs.
Dave in Nj

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The good news is that this time your lenses are all F-mount despite whatever brand name, so no adapters adding new alignment problems

Yes think Zeiss learned something from us old timers with our bolt on adapters.

 

[Antonio Chagin]

Guy, I'm glad that you bought the 60mm Macro 2.8
Excellent lens. So far the only lens that I own that is really up to the D800.
ACH

 

[Paratom]

Hi Guy,
I think you are used to such good IQ from all your MF-experience that you now are looking to constantly search the problem in the lenses and therefore replace one with another...
You should just buy a Phase body with some nice lenses or even better a Leica S with some S-lenses. I swear you would not doubt if you should replace any of those S-lenses with something different.
And the best thing - there is only a limited number of focal lenghts available. Once you have collected all of them you are all set and can spend your money for other things.

But seriously - in my case the 24-70II Canon lens I use on the 5diii is so good that I try to not buy any primes in this range- except the 50/1.2L - which is my low light and shallow DOF lens.
At the wide end I opted for a Zeis 21/2.8 because a) I like 21mm a lot, wide enough for me, and a good complement for the 24-70 and b) because the reviews were so good that I thought it just must be really good (and so far I really like it)
All other lenses I had are Canon (85/1.8, 135/2.0 and 70-200/4.0, TC1,.4III)
When I had Nikon I had much more lenses, but many of them I used very seldom. Today I feel to know much better which lenses I really want/need/use.

I wonder if you mix lenses from too many brands, even if all are good, if they do not produce different look/color etc.?

 

[ptomsu]

With all my experience (I think at least I have for myself and my working style and working areas) I come again and again to the conclusion, that I will only use original lenses for one specific brand and not mix with any other brand. This gets even more clear as longer as I shoot with the D800E.

Yes there are differences and some other brand may be better in certain respects as Nikon, but end of the day I bought this system to have a fast AF camera, which I can use for people, portraits and wildlife, where especially people and wildlife require reliable and fast AF. So actually my 1.4/35 ZF.2 stays most time in the bag, because I do not want to use it on a camera I bought for fast shooting.

Also I found especially the IQ differences between several 1.4/50 lenses pretty marginal, at least if it comes to real work for me, so the 1.4/50G will do great for me!

If I need another look or specific other exclusive features, well my M collection exactly fulfills that need.

And finally - I absolutely do not find it fun by any means to always need to look around for better glass, this widely distracts from taking real images.

Makes life much easier end of the day

 

[Guy Mancuso]

well I really have two separate lens kits in a way. A AF for the PR work type stuff and manual for me. I'm a old dog and still like primes and manual focusing and believe me i can focus better manually than AF can just that I'm a bit slower at it. My motto never give in to automation. ROTFLMAO

 

[ptomsu]

well I really have two separate lens kits in a way. A AF for the PR work type stuff and manual for me. I'm a old dog and still like primes and manual focusing and believe me i can focus better manually than AF can just that I'm a bit slower at it. My motto never give in to automation. ROTFLMAO

But you can also put every AF Nikkor into manual mode only ....

Plus I do agree, sometimes MF is really faster also for me. Just staying with the brand lenses makes all a bit easier and cheaper.

 

[Paratom]

Still I find it makes absolutely sense to use the best lenses on a camera like the D800. Otherwise one doesnt need such a sensor.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Still I find it makes absolutely sense to use the best lenses on a camera like the D800. Otherwise one doesnt need such a sensor.

Agree and that is part of the issue. Nikon does not have the best in all focal lengths

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

I wonder if you mix lenses from too many brands, even if all are good, if they do not produce different look/color etc.?Paratom-

I do think that should be a consideration if one puts together a portfolio or gallery of images to be shown together.