Really Sharp Full Manual Lenses?

T

tommygdawg

Well-known member
Hey all,

I've lately been less than happy with the performance of some of my older manual lenses. I love using them, but they're not as sharp as I would like. I love the sharpness of the Panasonic 14-140, but not the f4-5.6 aperture. Does anyone have any recommendations for lenses that are really sharp like 14-140 but are not servo lenses? I'd like something a bit faster than f4 and I'm also willing to pay a bit more because I realize I'm going to have to for a good lens. I need at least a 50mm and something in the 20-30mm range (not necessarily a zoom though).

Thanks all!
 
I've used the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 on a GH2 and been happy with the results. For wider, the 20mm 1.7 from Panasonic has been praised, but the auto focus is no where near silent and there's no stabalisation.
 
I'd go with the 50mm Super Takumar 1.4. It's been amazing for me and I highly recommend it. On ebay, this lens typically runs around $100.
 
Been shooting with a old cheap Pentax smc 1.7 50mm today.<br>Very sharp pictures!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMC-PENTAX-...mera_Lenses&hash=item43a9ef9510#ht_560wt_1316

Theres also the old Canon 50mm 1.8 (Got it, fine pictures):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CANON-FD-50...mera_Lenses&hash=item2567fe4646#ht_500wt_1316

And Nikon:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-50mm-...mera_Lenses&hash=item2a14406ff6#ht_500wt_1083


Before spending to much on new lenses, try buying a couple of oldies from ebay, they are better then the price tag indicates.

 
Well it is not only about sharpness. Vintage lenses have characteristics that confer a particular look you will not find in modern optics. And all this looks more "cinematic" than modern glass.
There are a lot of lenses that could cover your range. Pentax, Zeiss, or Nikon optics is one alternative. There are also some sleeper lenses (Porst and Revuenon 55mm).
 
The sharpest legacy lenses I have include:
Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 (2.8 is said to be better)
SMC Macro-Takumar 100/4
Vivitar Series 1 28-90/2.8-3.5
Vivitar M42 50/1.7

...And I have some other legacy lenses that are absolute crap, so no guarantees there. At their age, scratches, dust, mold, and other problems can really creep in.
 
What aperture are you shooting at? I love the bokeh on my 50mm FD 1.8 wide open but the sharpness sucks. Sharper starts coming in around 2.8 and gets better after that, imo.
 
That's almost universal of almost every lens I've tried, except maybe the micro-takumar... But then, that starts at f4.
 
Most of my vintage lenses have been sharp enough wide open - sharp enough, that is, to appear perfectly sharp in video if not stills. The only exceptions were a Nikon 50 f/1.4 that forced me to always shoot at f/2 and a Vivitar 24mm f/2 that is literally glowy at f/2 and only usable at f/2.8 and above.
 
Sorry it took me so long to get back on this. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. My biggest issue I have with my older manual lenses, like Jester said, is they just are so glowy, it's very frustrating. I LOVE old manual lenses and I love the manual focus and look of them, I just wanted something a bit higher quality that would be good dual purpose for photo and video. I've noticed lately on a lot of shows that they look a lot less "vintage" and more digital, so the use of manual old lenses to get a vintage look is becoming less attractive to me. I basically want something that is just better and you can certainly get that in old manuals, but it's often VERY hit and miss, sadly.
 
Most fast normal to wide prime lenses suffer from coma wide open, which creates that soft "glowy" look. To get rid of the "glowy" look, you have to close down 1-2 stops.

Some of the modern macro lenses like the Olympus 50mm f2.0 or the Zeiss 100mm f/2.0 are very sharp wide open and have well corrected coma, so no "glowy" look.
 
That's the biggest thing I'm trying to get rid of is the "coma" and sharpness. I guess if it's generally not possible, then it's generally not possible :P
 
Some of the cheaper lens adapters out there can give the impression that a lens is not sharp due to poor machining tolerances by the manufacture.
 
David W. Jones said:
Some of the cheaper lens adapters out there can give the impression that a lens is not sharp due to poor machining tolerances by the manufacture.
Click to expand...

This is only ever true at infinity focus, which can be off if the adapter is inaccurate. Sharpness is never affected by the adapter at any other focal distance - the distance markings might be, but they aren't particularly accurate to start with on old SLR lenses.
 
If its "glowy" to me there is something wrong, either with the glass or the interface between the camera and lens. But "glowy" is a pretty subjective description, so its difficult for anyone to respond to your issue without seeing samples. Everyone today seems to think the world of the current Zeiss and Canon L primes and I've never heard anyone call them "glowy" but there are Canon FD designs that perform just as well, the trick is finding one in pristine condition. I think a good condition FD 50mm F1.4 is about as good optically as anyone can ask for from a still lens.
 
The sharpest that I ever used was a Contax G 45mm F2. This thing was amazing, the down side was that the adapter it uses is a big pain. This guy never is never soft, no haze and no CA even wide open.

The Contax G has no focus ring so the adapters use a geared ring, that dose not quite feel right.

Ended up selling it, still not sure if that was a good idea. If you want something really good for cheap check out a Nikon 50mm F1.8 AI, $75-100 on ebay.

Here is vid of it.
 
Last edited:
aguia said:
If its "glowy" to me there is something wrong, either with the glass or the interface between the camera and lens.
Click to expand...

Many modern lenses are based upon the original Zeiss Planar lens design from 1896 ( Wikipedia: Zeiss Planar ), which includes the Canon 50mm f/1.4 FD lens. The Planar lens design exhibits coma at wide apertures, which causes that "glowy" looking image halation. Yes, even my $700 Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 lens creates "glowy" looking images when shooting high contrast subjects at f/1.4, as does the $3,700 Leica 50mm f/1.4 lens too.

To eliminate the "glowy" look of the Planar design simply stop down 1-2 stops from wide open, the coma will be controlled, and the "glowy" look will disappear.
 
i just want to confirm something, all these lenses are 50mm. is that 50mm at s35 sensor size? what mm would they be on my gh2 compared to my 14-140 lens?

isnt there a huge crop factor? for instance wouldnt the 50mm's be around 100mm on my gh2? or is it the other way round? 25mm?

haha if someone could just confirm this for me. - i would appreciate it
 
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