When the Cotty Jr. thread prompted me to pull out my SRT-101 with the rokkor 58/1.4, this thread immediately came to mind.
One of my biggest motivations for a mirrorless system will be the opportunity to use many of these old lenses, and quite possibly be able to take pictures even better than they've ever done before. I can think of hundreds, or thousands of reasons why modern lenses aren't made to the same level of finish as the lenses of 40 or 50 years ago. Yes, there are people that would pay an extra few hundred dollars for a lens that feels in your hand like a supertak 50/1.4, but most people wouldn't. I wonder if there is an opportunity for a business that takes modern lenses and crafts metal housings to vintage levels of finish. How many people would pay $2,000 to retrofit something like the DA* 55/1.4? I've gone back and shot film now and then over the past 5 years and every time I'm struck by the difference in the process of taking pictures, and also the process of developing or post-processing them. I also almost always notice the difference in image quality between what I can get with my new gear, and with the older gear. And that's in the situations where the old cameras can take the photos. Note, I didn't say that the images with the new gear were prettier, but with my gear, the digital images are almost always technically superior. I often think that I should spend some time emulating the rhythm of shooting with my film camera, even if I'm shooting digital. I know that with a film camera I'm quite capable of thinking through almost every aspect of a shot, and getting a keeper with only one or two frames. I've also found that taking a test shot will point out things that I've forgotten, or just didn't notice, and that the histogram will allow me to do a much better job of correcting my exposure, or any other detail that I didn't immediately notice. And yet, there is nothing like holding a camera that your hands have known for 38 years. -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
