Favourite Lens

IWC Dopplel

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Anyone have an old favourite lens ? I bought a lovely old 35mm, made in 1968 and it superb, who needs aspherical surfaces and electronics, buttery smooth to focus, tiny and pin sharp. Not super cheap but will hold it's value and cheap for Leica, but anyone looking for a wonderful M mount 35mm which will hold its money and is superb - Leica f2.8/35mm Sumaron. £800-900 will buy you a minter
 
My favorite lens is my Minolta 85 f/1.4 G RS - so ~ 25 years 'younger' than yours, but still from the last centrury :)

There's just something about the way a top end Minolta prime renders the image that I like.
 
They are all favorites :) If I had to pick one, it would be the Eye of Sauron 200mm f1.8 from Canon.
 
1996 Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro, the 72E version. Tack sharp and nice bokeh when used for head shots, nice length on a cropped sensor if you have the room for it. Being a macro the AF isn't quick enough for moving subjects even with the focus limiter, so I recently added the "modern" plastic Sony 85mm f2.8.

I also have the 1986 version of the Minolta 100mm f2.8 for macro too, I've never got around to letting one of these two macros go. I can't choose!
 
The only old lenses I have now are for my Olympus and Pentax SLRs so from those I’d say the Olympus 50mm f1.8.
Of my current lenses I do really love the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII but the new Z 50mm f1.8s is pretty special.
 
Olympus 25mm F1.2 Pro. Its not so much the optical performance (which is great with the feathered bokeh), but the way it handles. The manual focus clutch is an absolute dream to use for manually pulling focus in video.

Paired with a Panasonic GH5, its ergonomically almost perfect and pretty much persuaded me to abandon full frame.
 
The 35. I always gravitated to f=35mm when using wide angle zooms. The best lens I ever use. It matches my visual view , so my basic FX DSLR kit has the 35/1.4.
 
My favourite lens at the moment is a 50mm carl zeiss planar attached to my Leica M10. It renders just beautifully and handles like a dream.

I also have a very soft spot for my 1982 35mm summicron - these old lens are just gorgeous and I'm looking at now getting a 1950's collapsible lens.
 
I love my mk11 50mm summilux on my M9, superb bokeh and great colours. When I slimmed down my lense numbers I sold a mint 50mm Summicron that I should have kept
 
Sigma 150-600 hasn't come off my camera since I bought it
 
My favourite is the Canon 35mm f1.4L (on a 5D3) but closely followed by the 16-35mm f2.8L as when used carefully the ultra wide perspective can work very well.

I suppose technically these are modern lenses, but the 35L (released in 1998) was one of the first lenses I bought when I made the jump to full frame and tends to be the go-to lens (unless I need the flexibility of a zoom, in which case it's the 24-70!)
 
I used to really like my 85 1.8D back in the film days... then it became the 50 1.8D when I switched to DSLR APS-C... recently I've gone MFT, and bought the Oly 45/1.8, but also got a Panny 20/1.7 - I never thought this last one would grow on me like that! I really like this lens... focusing speed is not it's virtue, but it's size and it's character, humm... I can't explain, but it ends up in my camera quite often!
 
Favourite lens? Ooh, I've had so many over the years, it's very hard to answer. Right now, with mirrorless cameras meaning I can use all those lovely vintage lenses again, I'm in lens heaven. I've got various adapters for my Lumix m4/3 cameras, and for my full-frame Sony A7, and I'm currently loving...

Vintage...
* Voigtlander Color Ultron 50/1.8. A 7-element Planar design, spectacular on the Sony. Possibly my favourite ever 50.
* Helios 58/2, the Russian "swirly bokeh" lens. Not for everyday use, but lovely when it's suited to the subject matter (I have two versions, mk2 and mk4, slightly different). Really only works full-frame, so on the Sony
* Olympus Zuiko 135/3.5. I use this on m4/3 with a 2x crop factor, so equivalent to 270mm. And the great Lumix body stabilization makes it easy to hand hold.
* Mir 35/2. Another Russian lens that's way better than its cheap price suggests, works well on full frame. (And speaking of Russian 35s, I was disappointed to find my Jupiter-12 is no good on my Sony - with a digital sensor, it completely loses definition away from the centre)

More modern lenses...
* Canon 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 (on a 5D2). Really nice implementations of two of my favourite focal lengths, and not bulky like their faster siblings with the red lines.
* The fixed 23/2 (35mm equivalent) on the Fuji X100F. A great walkaround focal length, and coupled with the Fuji sensor, the colour rendition is beautiful.

Sold but wish I hadn't...
* Olympus Zuiko 50/1.4, sold before I got into mirrorless cameras, must get a replacement.
* Voigtlander (modern Japanese) 35/1.4 Nokton. Favourite lens on film rangefinders for years, again sold pre-mirrorless. Would love another one, but they're not cheap.
* Leitz Summitar 50/2. It almost physically hurts when I remember I had one of these but sold it. And since then the price has increased quite a lot.
 
I used to really like my 85 1.8D back in the film days... then it became the 50 1.8D when I switched to DSLR APS-C... recently I've gone MFT, and bought the Oly 45/1.8, but also got a Panny 20/1.7 - I never thought this last one would grow on me like that! I really like this lens... focusing speed is not it's virtue, but it's size and it's character, humm... I can't explain, but it ends up in my camera quite often!

I think it's one of the best mirrorless lenses because of its tiny size yet still offering a fast aperture and a flexible 40mm equivalent focal length, I wish there was a similar E-mount lens.
 
My fav Lens I have ever owned is my Canon 200mm F1.8 which weighs a ton but has quality and bokeh to die for
 
Current favorite lens for my Nikon D500 is my Tamron 70 200 f2.8 G2. No, it’s no Nikon 70 200 FL, but for the money, it is a superb hunk of glass. For me, having both the audio and photo bug requires $ compromises. High end primes, (or in the AV world, anything from Krell audio) are beyond my reach, so I prefer zoom lenses that bang above their cost. For hiking, I use the 70 300 Nikon 5.6 F-P, as the 70 200 is weighty. Again, not the greatest lens, requiring good light or high iso’s but has surprising good IQ for what I paid for it.

Some of these listed primes have me drooling like my dog.
 
Just bought a 35mm summarit, 1st new Leica lens I have bought - cost me a kidney, but I wanted to see how a modern 35mm would render.
IMG_4219.jpeg
IMG_4220.jpeg
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My favourite lens depends on what I'm doing...

Portraits - this is my favourite...
IMG_0770.jpeg


Wide-angle and video - this is my favourite
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Street - this my favourite by far
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Another favourite combination, B&W and colour with this old lens are lovely

Leica Noctilux f1.0-0749.jpg

Noctilux 2-5273.jpg
 
Lovely combination, Monochrom and Noctilux. Never having seen a Noctilux in the flesh I am surprised how compact it looks - I always imagined it would be massive and disrupt the balance of the M. But yours looks really well.

It's the hood that is large, so indoors it's quite neat, still very heavy but I love it on the monochrom, everything looks dreamy at f1.0

Olive n Nocti 3-.jpg

Noctilux f1.3-9208558.jpg
 

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