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NM, Nothing to see here!!
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Dec 4, 2013 07:17
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Is this fungus? I thought it was a chip in the glass or something but that looks weird and possibly alien! Also strange purple splotch! Googling lens fungus returns some terrifying images, I guess I'm lucky I haven't seen it before.  This one is 1X magnification:  Some lens barrel too for size reference. 
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Dec 4, 2013 08:34
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ah forget it posted:Is this fungus? I thought it was a chip in the glass or something but that looks weird and possibly alien! Also strange purple splotch! The discolored oil-slick like sheen and the odd geometric shape of the blobs inside spell lens element separation - almost for sure. This happens when the glue, used to bond cemented lens groups, gives up either due to heat, stress, age or other problems. This is especially common in older lenses which used Canada balm, a kind of tree sap chosen for it's good adhesion and optical properties. It is fixable but very expensive and also quite risky to do so. Usually it does not show up on the image until the case becomes very severe, changing the optical formula. The first noticeable artifact is usually a very slight loss of light transmission as you can see in that rainbow colored sheen. You can easily verify this by google image searching "lens element separation", like so.
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Dec 4, 2013 08:52
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VomitOnLino posted:The discolored oil-slick like sheen and the odd geometric shape of the blobs inside spell lens element separation - almost for sure. This happens when the glue, used to bond cemented lens groups, gives up either due to heat, stress, age or other problems. This is especially common in older lenses which used Canada balm, a kind of tree sap chosen for it's good adhesion and optical properties. It is fixable but very expensive and also quite risky to do so. Thank you, very interesting! Thankfully it's just old 135/3.5 so no big deal 
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Dec 4, 2013 09:23
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If you were going to start buying into a legacy system from scratch, what would you go for? I've got a couple of FD lenses for my Nex (50/1.5 ssc and 35-105/3.5) but I honestly just defaulted to FD because my first camera was an S90, so basically no reason whatsoever. They both are highly rated on sites that talk specifically about FD lenses, but I did basically no research before diving in and aren't all that attached to them.
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Dec 4, 2013 22:52
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I'm a fan of Contax/Yashica. You can find really good glass for very cheap if you hunt eBay enough (I just got a mint 28mm f2.8 for 10 dollars. It even came in the leather pouchet). It's usually very good glass, the lenses are all metal built so they are resistant and feel very solid, and you can also grow into zeiss lenses, which are expensive but zeiss. It's a dead system so lens values tend to be better than canon/nikon stuff. If you pay attention you can find someone unloading a complete setup for 30 or 40 dollars on ebay. But i'm biased toward C/Y honestly, I use it for film, and should actually not make any propaganda so prices go even lower...
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Dec 4, 2013 23:18
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Huxley posted:If you were going to start buying into a legacy system from scratch, what would you go for? Depends on how much money I had, and whether I was sticking the lenses on a NEX or whether I needed native glass. Nikon has a huge lens library and compatibility with modern stuff (particularly the new DF). Pentax has a pretty big lens library although their compatibility is more mixed and the high-end modern stuff isn't there. Those are the best two options in my opinion because the glass is great and you get access to the Pentax ME/MX and Nikon FM2. If you're just scrounging old glass to put on that NEX, the obvious answer is "buy everything". Manual focus glass is loving cheap nowadays, there's no shame in trying out lenses for fun or cherrypicking the best lenses out of each system. I love my Pentax wideangles (K35/3.5, K28/3.5), my Nikon 105/2.5, etc. There are some gems in the C/Y for sure (Zeiss stuff), Minolta and Fuji are great and underrated, Konica is unappreciated entirely nowadays, etc.
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Dec 4, 2013 23:51
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I would base it off of the intended use and amount of money you are planning on investing. If you are using a mirrorless crop sensor you can consider a speed booster, but for the same price ($400) you can grab more lenses. Unless you grab a knock off from ebay for $130. I am curious how effective it would be to stack adapaters with a speed booster. Example m42 to md then md mount speed booster to nex. I have two prime minolta lenses (28mm-2.8 and 50mm 1.4) I found for $20 each and am very happy with. I also have a pentax k mount JC Penny 135mm 2.8 I got for $6--decent lens overall I barely use that much of a zoom. I have read that minolta lenses tend to have consistent color, but it was from the internet. If you take the everything approach you can grab anomalies like the helios 44 or minolta 85mm varisoft. daspope fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 00:17
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Huxley posted:If you were going to start buying into a legacy system from scratch, what would you go for? I'll echo what's already been said: Contax/Yashica, Konica AR, and Minolta MD are as obsolete and orphaned as Canon FD, so there's little demand from DSLR users* for that glass. Pentax K-mount and Nikon (can't remember the details) is still compatible with modern DSLRs from those companies so those lenses are in a bit higher demand. As has been mentioned though, manual-focus 3rd-party lenses (everybody slapped their brand name on SLR lenses in the 80's) are abundant and cheap, and quality usually ranges from "meh" up to "pretty good". Really top-of-the-line stuff is rarer and much more expensive, so in some instances it's worthwhile just getting something 20 years newer and autofocus. There are a number of now-defunct brands of 3rd-party glass that made decent or better lenses in many different mounts. I'm particularly fond of Vivitar Series 1, but you have to be careful - the brand dropped to the bottom of the market with cheap gimmicky crap after their heyday in the early 80's. If you can find a Viv S1 70-210 Version 3 (Komine) for less than $120 it's a good deal in any mount. I also really like my Viv S1 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 in MD, though on a Nex that wouldn't be as fun as it is on my X-700 (Wiiiiiide!). * I use a DSLR - a Pentax K-5 - but I own AR, MD, and FD manual-focus lenses because I love to collect old cameras and shoot film and generally enjoy throwing money at things that are as old and worn out as I am. If your budget can work it - I'd guess you'd spend 20-100% more doing this than just picking up whatever - go with a theme for your old glass. A set of nice primes (pancake lenses around 40-45mm were popular back in the day, and the old standby focal lengths of 28/35/50/85/105/135mm were popular for good reasons), or (as I might do someday) a full range of Vivitar zooms, or some upgrade pathway like C/Y-Zeiss.
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Dec 5, 2013 01:57
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Olympus OM glass is the poo poo but it can be pricey and hard to find compared to Pentax and Nikon stuff.
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Dec 5, 2013 07:41
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Paul MaudDib posted:Yes, K lenses will normally stop themselves down under spring pressure; the camera forces the aperture to open to meter. I'd be willing to bet Canon lenses work like the Olympus, because in every instance where there are two options, Canon used one and Nikon used the other, and the smaller makers picked one of the two to emulate. E.g. Canon mount/zoom-in/focus-farther-away is counterclockwise, Nikon is clockwise, and the control dials are opposite between the two on DSLRs (one defaults to aperture on front and shutter on back, but I forget which or whether I've reversed it in my Nikon's settings. The Canon way feels more natural, but I prefer the Nikon dials and D-pad). Hell, until the change in 1987, the Canon mount had the male end on the camera body. And then Olympus tried to standardize lenses with the 4/3 thing.  HPL posted:Olympus OM glass is the poo poo but it can be pricey and hard to find compared to Pentax and Nikon stuff. Canon should be the cheapest by that metric, if you want '70s kit; they changed the lensmount in the late '80s, but have always shared the top spot in production numbers with Nikon.
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Dec 5, 2013 14:57
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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Thanks for all the tips! It sounds like basically any major manufacturer will be fine, with "great" being more on a lens-by-lens basis. Like, it's not a situation where "FD is OK, but everything about MD is better" or something obvious I'm missing. Not accounting for opinion, of course. E: Being that my budget probably tops out around $50-100 per lens. Anything else and my kids will find a way to destroy it. Huxley fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 16:02
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Pretty much. All the major names made great glass back in the day. They also made a few duds, but generally if you stick with first-party glass, you can't go wrong. Third party glass can be dicey, but if you do your research and take some chances, you'll find some nice lenses, like I have an Osawa lens that's really nice and was supposedly made by Mamiya.
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Dec 5, 2013 16:38
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For a budget of $400 total, for body+toys+lenses enough to cover what you want to do, you could have an excellent set-up in any system. For $300 you could do pretty well, too, perhaps just missing that one special thing that you'd show off to people. For $200 you could be out shooting, and pondering the purchase you'll make 3 months later (hint: it'll be a lens. Always. 3 months after any camera purchase comes a lens purchase). If time isn't a big pressure at the moment, I would lurk your local listings (Craigslist or equivalent, and "local" varying in area depending on population density). Wait for a good price (not a great price - those evaporate like spilled methanol) on a kit that looks like it was loved & used - both are important. One hint that you might be looking at something that somebody actually used with some gusto is an aftermarket strap; OEM straps for many 80's "consumer" or "prosumer" grade SLRs were spagetti-thin uncomfortable things. Another hint is an unusual lens. Something like an ultra-wide (wider than about 28mm), or a really fast 85mm (like f/1.8 or better), or a big-rear end supertelephoto that's faster than f/8. Scuffs and scratches on the body or the metal/plastic parts of a lens just add character as far as I'm concerned, and some interesting scars can have cool stories behind them, further evidence that the gear was actually used and didn't just collect dust and rotting light-seals (and fungus) sitting on some shelf.
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Dec 9, 2013 06:37
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ExecuDork posted:Scuffs and scratches on the body or the metal/plastic parts of a lens just add character as far as I'm concerned, and some interesting scars can have cool stories behind them, further evidence that the gear was actually used and didn't just collect dust and rotting light-seals (and fungus) sitting on some shelf.  It also makes it a lot easier when you inevitably start dinging it up yourself. Recently I discovered the plastic frame around the viewfinder of my Pentax ME Super had cracked at some point after I got it, and I didn't even care. If it had been brand new with none of its brassing or scuffs, I probably would have been mortified, as it's probably more than 30 years old.
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Dec 9, 2013 06:50
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Delivery McGee posted:I'd be willing to bet Canon lenses work like the Olympus, because in every instance where there are two options, Canon used one and Nikon used the other, and the smaller makers picked one of the two to emulate. Yep, My 90s T70 had a bent aperture lever for a while and occasionally wouldn't engage the pin properly, end result a lot of stuff taken wide open and overexposed.
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Dec 9, 2013 10:40
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I know the answer to the 3rd party v OEM batteries is generally get SterlingTEK or Wasabi as they have a proven track record. Unfortunately I live in the far corner of the world and can't get hold of these brands within the time frame I need them (January 1st-ish). I can however get some no-name 3rd party ones. Obviously it's entirely dependent on manufacturer, but has anyone gone the no-name route? How did it turn out? Other option is million dollar Canons.
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Dec 12, 2013 06:39
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Atalante01 posted:I know the answer to the 3rd party v OEM batteries is generally get SterlingTEK or Wasabi as they have a proven track record. Unfortunately I live in the far corner of the world and can't get hold of these brands within the time frame I need them (January 1st-ish). I can however get some no-name 3rd party ones. Obviously it's entirely dependent on manufacturer, but has anyone gone the no-name route? How did it turn out? Other option is million dollar Canons. Of course the ones you get might be filled with dog poo poo and nitroglycerin, but I'd rather take the risk than spend five times as much on Canon batteries.
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Dec 12, 2013 22:37
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Has anyone tried the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens? I have a chance to snag it for cheap-ish, and I'm curious about it.
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Dec 13, 2013 05:06
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Wow, if you were looking at the Joby hand strap and you have a Nikon camera, just forget about it. The strap restricts your hand in such a way that you can't angle your hand to comfortably press the shutter button. It works on Canons because the Canon shutter button is at a forward angle, but on a Nikon, you'll have to hook your finger around and press with the side. Awful, awful ergonomics.
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Dec 13, 2013 05:23
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No Gravitas posted:Has anyone tried the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens? I used one for a few minutes in the store, it was drat nice, and I've heard in various places that it's actually competitive with the Nikon 85 1.4 (I mean, other than not having autofocus).
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Dec 13, 2013 05:28
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Hopefully I won't be laughed out of existence here, what with your f-stops and light meters and all, but my sister just called me asking for advice on what's the best $150~200 camera she can buy at Best Buy (specifically, I think she has gift cards or something) today because she's graduating and wants something to document the whole horrible ordeal. Important features would be: - Speed (power on to captured shot) - Picture quality (obviously) - Portability (I assume she'll have this under her gown) Thanks guys!
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Dec 13, 2013 14:29
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Wasn't there a deal on the Canon EOS M with kit for like 2-300? Get that. Otherwise powershots are all pretty nice, and you can't really go wrong with one. evil_bunnY fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Dec 13, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2013 14:31
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zenintrude posted:Hopefully I won't be laughed out of existence here, what with your f-stops and light meters and all, but my sister just called me asking for advice on what's the best $150~200 camera she can buy at Best Buy (specifically, I think she has gift cards or something) today because she's graduating and wants something to document the whole horrible ordeal. There's a point and shoot thread that may have better specific advice, but if their OP hasn't changed it basically says, "Go get the most expensive Canon Powershot that feels good in your hands."
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Dec 13, 2013 15:26
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Huxley posted:There's a point and shoot thread that may have better specific advice, but if their OP hasn't changed it basically says, "Go get the most expensive Canon Powershot that feels good in your hands." This is always good advice
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Dec 13, 2013 17:02
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I hope she isn't committed to Best Buy - I saw some decent bridge cameras at Target for $150-$200 if she wants something that fits a little better in the hand. But I'm assuming she doesn't need all the fancy controls, so yeah, most Canon Powershots are respectable.
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Dec 13, 2013 18:58
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Can I give her the go ahead on a PowerShot S110? I see some murmuring of "lens errors" on Amazon reviews... I think she's deciding between that and the CyberShot DSC-WX300
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Dec 13, 2013 19:42
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zenintrude posted:Can I give her the go ahead on a PowerShot S110? I see some murmuring of "lens errors" on Amazon reviews... S110 is great, and pretty much any camera's going to have some incidence of defective units. Keep in mind people are more likely to leave a negative review if they encounter a problem.
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Dec 13, 2013 19:50
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No Gravitas posted:Has anyone tried the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens? I've had one for about two years now, and it's had a place in my standard kit ever since buying it. It's quite sharp even wide open and has nice ergonomics; the focus ring more reminiscent to old manual lenses than the loose rings you see on modern Canons etc. It just has a nicely firm feel to it. However, some people have complained about the lens being low-contrast. I personally don't mind that. I bought it new and think it's insanely good value for money, so if you can get it at a discounted price, go for it.
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Dec 13, 2013 22:52
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A smug sociopath posted:I've had one for about two years now, and it's had a place in my standard kit ever since buying it. It's quite sharp even wide open and has nice ergonomics; the focus ring more reminiscent to old manual lenses than the loose rings you see on modern Canons etc. It just has a nicely firm feel to it. However, some people have complained about the lens being low-contrast. I personally don't mind that. I bought it new and think it's insanely good value for money, so if you can get it at a discounted price, go for it. Seconding, I own one too, it's great. Focusing at f1.4 is a unique challenge, though.
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Dec 14, 2013 04:09
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big scary monsters posted:I have no name batteries off eBay for my 50D. They work fine and haven't leaked or melted yet, possibly their life is a bit shorter than the genuine article but I haven't particularly noticed it. When the OEM ones wore out, my employer got 3rd-party EN-4s. They were crap. I'm rocking the last eight-year-old OEM battery in the D1x I looted as severance pay. But that's newspaper cameras. I got a  offbrand as the second battery for my personal D7000 (with knockoff battery grip), and have charged it twice in the four months I've had it. Third-party batteries are either as good as OEM, or poo poo out of the box, it seems. You rolls your dice, you takes your chances.And now for something completely different: I'm thinking of getting a knockoff BlackRapid strap, or buying/reverse-engineering-in-my-garage this thing. But I'm not sure I trust the all-plastic $30 Neewer battery grip on my D7000 to not have the tripod mount break off when used in such a fashion. Opinions? Edit: if you have a film camera/DSLR without vertical grip, the thing linked above is superfluous. Just carry it on your shoulder backwards, with the hot shoe against your hip. It'll point straight down and not get bumped on doors and poo poo.A grip/pro body has different balance, needs the more radical solution. Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Dec 14, 2013 |
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Dec 14, 2013 12:30
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Delivery McGee posted:And now for something completely different: I can't comment on the durability of the battery grip, but strapwise my current plan is to over-engineer the poo poo out of it. I have a Joby ultrastrap-or-whatever that attaches to the tripod screw, but it's a pain having to screw the strap on and off when I want to put the camera on a tripod. I've managed to screw in the strap into one of the extra holes in an Arca-Swiss style QR plate, but I still have to screw the strap in there (and off) manually. Over-engineered solution: a separate Arca-Swiss style QR clamp; I'll attach the strap to that, and then just slap QR plates on everything I might want hanging on my hip.
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Dec 14, 2013 13:55
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Delivery McGee posted:And now for something completely different: The design on that strap you linked looks awful. I have a knock off black rapid and it works well because the strap itself doesn't move; the attachment point and camera slides along the strap. It looks like that one moves the whole strap and would just saw at your neck all day. I wouldn't worry about the battery grip unless you are putting serious heavy glass on the camera and if you're doing that you should have a safety strap on the lens as well. One thing I would point out if you go with a knock off is that you should replace the attachment plate with a black rapid fastener. The plate that I've seen most of the knock offs come with are huge and uncomfortable to shoot vertical with. Plus the black rapids are way easier to screw/unscrew just by spinning the carabiner.
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Dec 14, 2013 19:15
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Sigma 30mm f/1.4 - poo poo garbage for idiots or a good purchase to replace my Canon 50mm f/1.8? Discuss. (I have a T3i)
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Dec 15, 2013 05:22
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800peepee51doodoo posted:The design on that strap you linked looks awful. I have a knock off black rapid and it works well because the strap itself doesn't move; the attachment point and camera slides along the strap. It looks like that one moves the whole strap and would just saw at your neck all day. If I go with the BlackRapid style, I'll use their style of strap; the two-point is for regular strap on the shoulder (shrug it off and wrap it around my wrist a couple times for prolonged shooting), just to make it point downward so as not to bang the lens on things. Amok posted:I can't comment on the durability of the battery grip, but strapwise my current plan is to over-engineer the poo poo out of it ... it's a pain having to screw the strap on and off when I want to put the camera on a tripod. Is there an aftermarket strap with swivels in it like this Canon one?  I really like the swivels, makes for easy untangling when I've wrapped it around my forearm or set it down. My coworkers laugh at me for having a Canon strap on a Nikon camera. But '70s velvet paisley straps with swivels are too short for my tastes, and Nikon-branded straps are just entirely lovely: too short, no swivels, and fall apart within a year. The Canon one I got free when the Canon reps visited my university, and is still going strong after 8 years of photojournalism use. Ulysses S. Grant posted:Sigma 30mm f/1.4 - poo poo garbage for idiots or a good purchase to replace my Canon 50mm f/1.8? Discuss. (I have a T3i) Edit: If I were a Canon guy, I'd go with this Canon lens for about the same price. Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Dec 15, 2013 05:50
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Delivery McGee posted:And now for something completely different: I avoided the tripod mount all together and put a split ring through one of the OEM strap fittings on the body (later, instead of the ring, I tied a couple loops of parachute chord through the fitting, it felt better when shooting in portrait). I then clipped my homemade Blackrapid to that. Balance was actually better this way, I found. For years I carried a 1D and everything up to a 70-300 this way with no issues, although I did keep a hand on it, just to keep things from bouncing on my hip.
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Dec 15, 2013 05:53
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Rot posted:although I did keep a hand on it, just to keep things from bouncing on my hip. When I'm working my way through crowds, I reflexively put my right hand on my right shoulder and my left hand behind me, from years of lifting a camera out of bumping range and sweeping my bag behind my back. Any recommendations on a bag that'll hold a D7000 with grip and/or D2? I've been drooling over the Tamrac Rally series, but it isn't quite thick enough. I have a Maxpedition tactical manpurse that will just hold my lenses, but I'd like something that I can store the camera in when at home/driving.
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Dec 15, 2013 06:03
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Delivery McGee posted:When I'm working my way through crowds, I reflexively put my right hand on my right shoulder and my left hand behind me, from years of lifting a camera out of bumping range and sweeping my bag behind my back. Yep, same here. Delivery McGee posted:Any recommendations on a bag that'll hold a D7000 with grip and/or D2? I've been drooling over the Tamrac Rally series, but it isn't quite thick enough. I have a Maxpedition tactical manpurse that will just hold my lenses, but I'd like something that I can store the camera in when at home/driving. I'm a Think Tank fan. I use a Retrospective 15 (I think? That seems small but I don't have it with me to check) that I managed to cram a pro body and a couple lenses in, for casual afternoons wandering around. Then I use an Urban Disguise 60 for heavier work or regional air travel. These also serve as storage. For longer days & heavier loads (hiking, skiing, etc) I haven't found anything that suits my needs. I used a Clik Elite Contrejour 40 for a few years but it's heavy and didn't suit my needs all that well. It has seen some miles, though. This ski season I'm gonna give the Lowepro Rover Pro 45 a go. So far it seems alright...I'm not in love. What I really want is a bag from F-Stop but twice now my PayPal order has expired waiting for backorder  
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Dec 15, 2013 06:28
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Ulysses S. Grant posted:Sigma 30mm f/1.4 - poo poo garbage for idiots or a good purchase to replace my Canon 50mm f/1.8? Discuss. (I have a T3i) Order a used one from KEH so that you can exchange it with no hassle if you get one that's not properly calibrated to your body. Once you have one that matches well, mount it and don't take it off unless you have a good reason.
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Dec 15, 2013 07:10
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Sigma 30mm F1.4 is a great lens on a crop.
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Dec 15, 2013 12:20
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