My Camera Bag: Manual Lenses

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I've got three manual, prime lenses in my camera bag of tricks: a 28mm wide angle, a 135mm portrait lens, and a large 400mm mini telescope.

LensFocal DistanceMax Speed35mm Equivalent
28mm1ft - infinityf/2.842mm
135mm5ft - infinityf/2.8200mm
400mm20ft - infinityf/5.6600mm

I went out on a dreary, mostly grey, overcast day to play with these. Honestly, I don't use them that much; I do like the 28mm lens and think it offers a really sharp image, but when packing a shoulder bag for an outing, I always seem to find myself leaving them behind. I really oughta force myself to change this habit.

Regardless, I had found myself down in Delaware City, Delaware, on this chilly, grey day and was standing on the shore of the city looking at Fort Delaware in the river.

Fort Delaware using 28mm

Fort Delaware using 135mm

Fort Delaware using 400mm

Being manual lenses, these lenses lack auto-focus and auto-aperture control; these need to be set manually first. Frankly, with manual lenses, it's a good idea to set everything manually, and it wasn't until after I got home that I remembered that I had neglected to set the ISO setting properly, so the grey day turned out to be a little greyer. Alas. Unfortunately this became really pronounced with the pictures I took with the 400mm lens. I'm the first to admit they did not turn out well, and that was all due to user error

Manual lenses - particularly ones of such an age as these (they're old; really old) - do not provide as sharp an image as newer lenses, but they do provide images that look as if they were taken on film.

28mm

135mm

400mm

(this picture turned out awful; please don't judge me)

I've gotten lazy using variable-distance automatic lenses. Manual, prime lenses are really good for forcing the photographer to really think about the subject and the lighting at hand. This 400mm is pretty huge and requires the use of a tripod (the lens itself has a tripod attachment), but the other two are rather portable. I'm thinking the next time I go out on a phototrip they should be the only two lenses I take.

My Camera Bag:


(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe


About Me

Amateur photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd. 
General all around problem-solver and creative type.

My Favourite Tags

#spaceforce3#altphoto#crappycameraphotos
#digitalpinhole#pinhole#firehydrant

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4 comments
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I thought it would be an intresting post to examine... but it wasnt, not for me. not that the pics are not intresting, its not an issue. I actually dont have 135 and 400 in my stash, and I am quite intrested in having a good 135mm (considering it may be good option for street portrait photography) - but Canon L is too expensive for me, and manual... hm, no, this case need an AI.

also, as I recently more into birding photography, I understood my 70-300 is definitely not enaf, and thinking about adding something like 400-600, maybe even manual, its not a plan or intention, just a feeling, an urge, if you'd like... I just look around. trying to figure 2+2... dont want to get anything too heavy and clumsy, what will strongly demand using a tripod.

Entering your post, probably I was awaiting to examine an intresting 'user-case' experience of using those 135 and 400 s lens. #mycamerabag seems an intresting tag, anyway... here is a !BEER for you.

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You know, it's true, this was definitely not a workshop type post. I rarely - very rarely - use these three lenses, and I just don't have that much experience with them. The 400mm, in particular, is just so physically large it's cumbersome to carry around. I suspect you could find a much more modern 400-600 for your Canon that is easily half the size, if not smaller yet. It really would be a good lens for birding.

Thanks for stopping by!

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well, I hope i will grab some when I see a good cheap edition drifting not far from me! maybe, in the future. when I will have salary checks again :P

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