Shooting with a munual lens.

woodsyi · « **on:** 14 Feb 2017, 04:23 pm »

Picked up a used manual lens in almost new condition at a good price -- Zeiss ZE Planar T* 50mm F/1.4. I am using with a 5D III. It's making me think more about composition, exposure, light and all kinds of other things. I am looking at the world differently as I walk my dog in a park with a camera in hand. Too often with a zoom shooting action, I don't think too much about the art of photography. That's all about freezing action at the right moment, but this simple fixed lens is taking me deeper into the art of photography. The fact that it's soft wide open adds even more artistic possibilities. It's nice soft though -- kind of like the benign distortion from tubes, you know.

It's different from shooting in manual mode with an auto lens. I walk out with just this lens and it's like going back in time to when things were not so fast and furious. I am slowing everything down. I am taking a long time (or at least thinking more) planning, positioning and taking a shot while my dog wanders around the park sniffing at every thing. I too am "sniffing" around for scenes to shoot. The leash is still on the dog -- so I am not breaking the no-leash law.

It's cold and no one is in the park anyway. Bonus is that my wife likes it since I am taking the dog out in the cold. The lens is manual but it's modern. I cheat by bracketing 5 (or 7) frames in 1/2 stop increments in continuous mode. Anyway, I am enjoying this lens. And that is the whole purpose of taking pictures for this hobbyist.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Feb 2017, 05:14 pm »

Early B. · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Feb 2017, 07:04 pm »

Awesome!

In scenes where there is movement, a manual lens will force you to "wait" for the right shot.

Jon L · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Feb 2017, 10:17 pm »

Quote from: woodsyi on 14 Feb 2017, 04:23 pm

Zeiss ZE Planar T* 50mm F/1.4.

Brings back memories of trying to manually focus Canon FL 55 mm at f/1.2!

IMG_0753 by drjlo1, on Flickr

JohnR · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Feb 2017, 01:19 pm »

Nice

Photon46 · « **Reply #5 on:** 15 Feb 2017, 06:44 pm »

Yes, using a manual focus lens definitely makes one think more about the choices you makes as a photographer. Glad that your new purchase is opening up your creative process. We can become so dependent on the ubiquitous automation in modern cameras that we risk losing touch with the art of "editorial decision making" in photography.

FWIW, When I needed to get a set of lenses to maximize the potential capture resolution of the Canon EOS 5-DsR we bought for our studio, I ended up buying a Zeiss ZE manual focus set of five lenses (21mm through 85mm full frame.) They are awesome lenses, never regretted the purchase at all. It's a pity they were only for sale for such a short period of time. The combination of the EOS 5 DsR and the Zeiss lenses gives performance that's probably 85% of the PhaseOne P65+ we have for 1/8 to 1/10 the price.

SET Man · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Feb 2017, 01:59 am »

Hey!

Congratulation on your Zeiss 50mm.

Although, I do have my zoom on my camera most of the time. But I feel that everyone who like photography with SLR, Full frame DSLR or FF Mirrorless should OWN a 50mm lens. I remembered the days back then when you go to camera store to buy an SLR camera, most of the time you'll have a choice of just a body or a kit set of body and a 50mm lens with usual f stop f2 and faster. Now a days when you buy a DSLR or Mirrorless camera kit whey are now come with cheappy slow zoom lens.

Like you've already found out about walking around a 50mm vs zoom. With zoom, you change the perspective when you zoom in and out while standing still, and that change the way the picture look. The 50mm's perspective is very pleasant to me.

Take care,
Buddy