Which Lens

The Colour? *whistles innocently and scarpers*

It's quite clear how much you understand from this quote:

"the length quoted is for 35mm cameras and not digital sensors."

G

That's generally a good argument, but for one thing. APS-C digital sensors are more demanding than film, because the image has to be magnified more. Lenses designed recently therefore tend to be very sharp. They are sharper than most previous lenses, other than the best.

Having said that, most of my lenses are good film-era lenses, and I have no complaints. It's just a matter of choosing wisely.

G

The silver ones take better pictures. This is due to them not being anodized silver as is widely thought, but rather coated with a very special layer of magic fairy dust - ask any owner

And I agree with George that modern lenses in general are sharper than their film era counterparts.

I wouldn't recommend buying older lenses in the hope that Pentax will be releasing a FF DSLR at any point (they won't), however, I would say they're worthwhile if you intend using them on an old film camera or if you're offered a few cheap and fancy giving them a try. If your only cameras are likely to be the current digital models though there are very few film-era lenses that make a compelling argument for themselves against their DA equivalents.

I know nothing but --- I understood that CCD and CMOS sensors were much more sensitive to the angle at which the light strikes the film/sensor than good ole 35mm film.

Therefore DA or DI or whatever the designation - the inherent design was to ensure that the light always arrive at the film/sensor plane perpendicular to the plane??

I might be talking a load of boll""ks but in practice it doesn't seem to matter that much. Which is why Tamron and Sigma have just re-badged their lenses rather than re designed them

anyway as long as you get the image you want from the kit you have the name on the front is just a name on the front!

Cheerz MZ

The black FA lenses I have handled seem much heavier in construction, compared to the silver equivalent's.Can I assume then that they produced silver lenses to compliment siver bodies
Thanks all for your response,I'm making sense of things slowly.

Regards

Chris

Is that what that is !! I keep trying to brush it off,

So, from what I gather so far, modern digital lenses are, in the main "better", just out of interest, which camp does the FA50f1.4 fit into??
Well perhaps I should of ommitted a smilie when asking the question about silver/black FA lenses seriously though,it was and remains a genuine question.:idea
Regards

Chris

Many older lenses were designed, fortuitously, to present the light to the film at close to 90 degrees, so they work fine on digital. In my experience, most older Pentax lenses work well, which is why I still use several.

However, the ones I use were all very highly regarded in their day, and are all very sharp. So, buy wisely, as I said.

G

There are many different types of FA lenses. Early ones had lots of metal construction under the plastic exterior and some of them can be quite heavy.

Later ones can be split into two types. The first type are "consumer" lenses such as many of the 28-80mm and 28-90mm ones and they are relatively light whether silver or black. It's still all plastic!

The "pro" lenses such as the Limited range are made of metal again and whether silver or black are still metal and rather heavier. But the colour doesn't affect things.

Hope that helps to clarify things!

If shooting in the desert, take a silver lens; in the Arctic, take a black.

The silver will reflect light in the desert, and keep the lens cool. The black will absorb light in the Arctic and warm the lens slightly.

I keep two of everything, and choose according to my itinerary.

G

PS: I got Peter Mandelson to write the last line.

Thanks John for that information.
Does my FA50F1.4 sit in the consumer list? or is this the last of the film lenses that are equal in quality to digital lenses.
George,I don't shoot in the desert or the arctic but if I do I will heed your advice.

Regards

Chris

The FA 50mm f1.4 belongs to the earlier group and I suppose is the last of the original FA film lenses. It's optically the same as the M series lens as far as I know, so its pedigree is a long one.

The only note of caution I would sound is that I don't agree with the statement the film lenses that are equal in quality to digital lenses. - that's not really the point.

Lots of the later lenses are equal in quality to the earlier ones, despite being manufactured in a different way.

For the purposes of digital photography some (not all) film lenses will be less suitable, that's true, but it's not necessarily related to which group of film lenses they belong to.

So what are the better older lenses in your opinion George. I ask as I know a shop who will have a selection comming in shortly.
Ian