Discussion Topic - Favorite Lens(es)

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Dialed-In's avatar
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In lieu of having a tutorial this time around I thought it would be interesting to have a discussion about lens and what are everyone's favorite(s).  My favorite lens is actually a tie between two different fixed focal length lenses.  The first one is a 1972 Asahi Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4.  The lens is completely manually, focuses super smooth, very fast (f/1.4), has smooth bokeh, and is incredibly sharp.  It also helps that I purchased it for $30 on eBay along with a $10 adapter (M42 to Canon EOS). Some shots I have taken with this lens are below:

:thumb482309625: :thumb481021430: :thumb416489642: :thumb479281728: :thumb465520172:

If interested in this lens the following sites are quite useful:

www.pbase.com/carpents/nls
www.pentaxforums.com/lensrevie…

My other favorite lens is a Rokinon 8mm f3.5 fisheye which is quite possibly the most simple lens to use.  I typically leave the focus at infinity and f-stop somewhere inbetween 5.6 and 11.  When the subject is relatively close, I adjust the focus to about 1.2 to 2 ft and everything stays very sharp.  This lens is also completely manual and does not have any kind of image stabilization (Canon version).  The sharpness of the lens, cost (~$200), depth of field, angle of view (horizontal ~167 degrees, diagonal ~180 degrees on APS-C), and ease of use make this lens an easy favorite for me.  It is prone to a little chromatic aberration but not anything that cannot be addressed in post-processing.  Here are some shots I have taken with this lens:

:thumb472869171: :thumb465618893: :thumb467704725: :thumb482182638: :thumb472939247:

If interested in this lens the following sites are quite useful:

www.kenrockwell.com/tech/8mm-f…
www.flickr.com/groups/fish-eye…

So what are your favorite lenses and why?
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harrietsfriend's avatar
It seems so many of my nature forest shots are taken with my Zeiss 150mm Sonnar on the Hasselblad, 120 film camera.  It is F4.0, mildly fast for medium format, quite well made and a joy to handle.  Pictures can me made into prints, measured in meters or feet.

eugene