Why do you still need manual-only lens?

[Tronhard]

Hi Bill!

If this is your tilt-shift lens I am totally envious (but not jealous)!

WW

[William W]

. . . We are now seeing FINALLY the emergence of MILC being taken a bit more seriously by Canon . . . etc

Yes. With 20-20 Hindsight even the most loyal Canon TR&D Team Members surely must see the whole EOS era as The Long and Winding Road.

WW

[William W]

Hi Bill! If this is your tilt-shift lens I am totally envious (but not jealous)!

Hi Trev
Hope all is good for your 2017.
Yes, it is my TS-E 90.
Yes, I know the difference (between envy and jealousy).
One guess as for what purpose I mainly use the lens...

[Tronhard]

Hi Bill - a great 2017 to you too!
The differentiation between the two definitions was not actually for your benefit!

I agree with your statement, and I think Canon have taken a very hesitant step into the world of MILC. I have the original EOS M, and for all M-series except the M5 I have felt they are severely let down by the lack of an electronic viewfinder in particular. The M5 is their first serious attempt to approach what companies like Sony have done ages ago. That said, I do applaud their decision to keep the 1.6 crop factor. As I understand it the micro 4/3 is about the same crop down again. If they want to make the M series popular with more serious photographers, then they have to improve the range and quality of the EF-M lenses on offer. There is not much point in having a small, light body if you have to mount an EF-size lens onto it.

I would be interested in getting the M5 or its next derivative for those times when my aching legs don't want to haul around another couple of kilos of DSLR.

Hi Trev
Hope all is good for your 2017.
Yes, it is my TS-E 90.
Yes, I know the difference (between envy and jealousy).
One guess as for what purpose I mainly use the lens...

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred - Happy New Year

I didn't know that, thank you.

BTW I think that is a limiting/limited design.

Happy new year to you too Bill!

The most limiting part of the design is that it will only work on the larger Nikon bodies as the controls have to pass under the pentaprism housing. It works on my D800, but I can only use it in one orientation when I shoot in vertical / portrait orientation. Not being able to shoot in shutter priority has never been a limitation as I only use the lens for landscape and architectural work with a tripod.

It does what it has been designed to do and does it well. I get a tiny bit of vignetting in the top corners when I push it all the way to the edge of the frame in vertical / portrait orientation and that is something that is usually quite easy to take care of in post.

[inkista]

I'm glad I've a Nikon.

Nikon's tilt-shifts pretty much work the same way. And I believe the Nikkor 50/1.2 is also a manual focus lens.

May I add another question. How do you use a manual lens on a modern dslr. One can use the viewfinder or the back screen. I only use the viewfinder. On my first dslr, Nikon D80, I had the matt glass replaced. ...

To use a manual focus lens on my 5DMkII, I replaced the default matte screen with the "precision" matte screen--it's just darker than the original screen to give a more accurate DoF rendition with fast lenses (one of my manual lenses is an Olympus OM-mount 50mm f/1.2, so I needed the additional accuracy shooting with it wide open). You can also replace the matte screen with one with a split screen and microprism collar, like old film SLRs have, but messing with focus screens can become problematic once you get to the newer dSLRs that have LCD overlays (requires wiring in), and they're not easily replaceable.

You can also add an after-market chip to the manual lens (simply glue it on to the lens mount), which will fake some basic electronic communication with the camera. You still have to manually focus, but the focus confirmation dot will light up, and you can send EXIF information.

If you use liveview or have a mirrorless camera that's using an electronic viewfinder, there are additional aids, such as magnification, focus peaking, and split-screen aids that can help you with precise manual focusing.

The issues with having to perform stop-down metering basically mean that you want to focus and compose with the lens wide open, and then stop down the lens and set exposure, because once the lens stops down the viewfinder will get darker, making it harder to see what you're doing.