Legacy Lens

Nikon Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 Longnose Lens Review – The Forgotten Favorite 
1800 1013 Hemant Chatterji

A brief review of the Nikon Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 Longnose standard prime lens. With sample photos, history, and specifications.

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  • Hemant Chatterji
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Canon FD 24-35mm f/3.5L – Earning the Red Ring
2200 1237 Chris Cushing

My preference for shooting vintage Canons can make reducing the weight of my camera bag a real struggle. My preferred camera, the F-1, tips the scales at 820g bare. The A-1, though substantially lighter, is…

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The Underdog Nikkor-S 50mm F/1.4 F Mount Lens, and Why it’s My Favorite Lens
2200 1238 Josh Solomon

I know what you’re thinking; “Do we really need another 50mm lens review?” I don’t blame you. A quick glance through our archive shows write-ups on fifties from Minolta, Pentax, Canon, a shootout between Zeiss’ two best fifties,…

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Leica’s Worst Summicron 50mm F/2 is one of the Best (and Priciest) Legacy Fifties Around – Summicron V3 Lens Review
2000 1125 Josh Solomon

Longtime readers of the site will know that I’m far from a Leica fanboy. I generally prefer Japanese manufacturers and often champion their products’ value over their pricier, hyper-mythologized German counterparts. Considering my aversion to…

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Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 Lens Review – A Case for Legacy Telephoto Primes
2000 1125 Chris Cushing

It’s no surprise that every world-class camera company has each produced at least a few brilliant prime lenses that legacy shooters claw over one another to buy; Minolta has their 55mm f/1.2, Canon the 50mm…

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Carl Zeiss 45mm F/2 Planar in Contax G Mount Review – an Almost Perfect Legacy Lens
4000 2250 James Tocchio

The Carl Zeiss Contax G Mount Planar 45mm F/2 prime lens is, without bluster, amazing. It’s helped me make some of my favorite images in years. It’s also irritating. Never before have I used such…

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Pentax Super Takumar 50mm F/1.4 M42 Mount Lens Review
2000 1125 Chris Cushing

Eight elements. Eight. The original Zeiss Planars got by with just six, the Planar T* of the 1970s used seven. Minolta, Canon and Nikon all used seven elements in their fifties. Pentax themselves reverted to…

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Minolta AF Macro 100mm F/2.8 A Mount Lens Review – Spoiler : It’s Perfect
2000 1125 James Tocchio

Photography is a fluid craft. The light, our subjects, and even our interests are always in flux. So it helps when our gear can keep up. And it’s this uncommon versatility (combined with amazing image…

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Nikon Nikkor O 35mm F/2 Pre-AI Lens Review
1999 1333 James Tocchio

Not long ago, I reviewed the fastest 35mm Nikkor that Nikon has ever made, the 35mm F/1,4. While incredibly luxurious in the hands and a stellar performer in low-light situations, this lens let down in…

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Five Reasons Vintage Zoom Lenses Aren’t Terrible
2000 1125 James Tocchio

Few things in the vintage camera world are as universally reviled as old zoom lenses. They carry a reputation for being bulky, useless in low light, and criminally soft, especially when compared to legacy prime…

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SMC Pentax M 40mm F/2.8 Pancake Lens Review
1280 720 James Tocchio

Lilliputian. Svelte. Teensy and weensy, and of course, teensy-weensy. All words I’d never expect to write in a lens review, yet here we all are and I might as well get these silly synonyms for…

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Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm F/2 – Lens Review
1212 682 James Tocchio

I shoot a lot of old cameras, archaic machines that in some cases recall a time when the United States was comprised of only forty-eight such distinct territories, and it’s not unusual to find a…

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Canon FD 24mm F/2.8 S.S.C. – Lens Review
1600 900 James Tocchio

Not long ago, I penned an opinion that every photo geek should own a wide-angle lens. In case you missed it, I talked about the incredible ability of wide-angle lenses to present a vision of the world that just…

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Minolta’s MD 50mm F/1.4 Might Be The Ultimate Standard Legacy Lens
2448 1632 James Tocchio

Along with the runaway success of today’s mirrorless digital cameras, another segment of the photo gear market has seen a big rise. And while the products in question are neither new nor novel, they’re essential…

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