Hipster Lenses
2013.12.06
Day One Hundred and Sixty Four. Got my hands on some classic lenses (of the 30+ year old variety) for free.99, so I figured I'd do a quick test with them. Scientific testing seemed unnecessary, so I took them down to the coast at sunset. First up was the Nikon Lens Series E 50mm f/1.8. It was unusably soft at f/1.8, but tack sharp by f/5.6. The first image was taken with this lens at f/8. It looks just as good as an modern lens, but has no electrical contacts, so your RAW files won't have any meta data. Up next was the Vivitar Macro Focusing 80-200mm f/4.5. Manual focusing handheld at 200mm with no VR was an interesting experience. It definitely made me miss the split focusing screen of manual cameras. The second image was taken with this lens. And ... that's it. Every other picture I tried was complete rubbish. Maybe I'm missing something, but if you can afford modern lenses, you should be shooting with a modern lens.
