"Other" brand lenses?

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sloop_john_b
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"Other" brand lenses?

Post by sloop_john_b »

I spent a good part of Friday on an airplane and bought two photography magazines to while away the hours and hopefully get some learning done. Not sure why i didn't think of this before, but I was surprised how many brands of lenses there are out there - Pentax, Sigma, Tokina, Tamron, etc., for starters.

Are any of these worth getting over, say, a Canon-brand lens for my T3i? The prices seem more manageable, but is the quality up to snuff?

FWIW, I'm looking for something with more zoom then my current kit 18-55 lens.
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jps
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Re: "Other" brand lenses?

Post by jps »

Some of these brands do make good lenses, and in zoom ranges you may not find from a Canon branded lens. Something to consider, if you think you may buy a full frame sensor camera down the road and don't want to buy new lenses, think about a lens that can cover the FF/35mm format size, or else you will get some major vignetting. If you plan to stay with APS size sensor cameras in the future then you need not consider that. Of the brands you mentioned I would seriously consider something from Tamron. Pentax lenses will not fit your EOS (Eat Our S**t, at least that is what the Canon rep told us when the system first came on the market!) as it is a different lens mount but the other brands you mention will have lenses that fit the EOS system.
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jdogric12
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Re: "Other" brand lenses?

Post by jdogric12 »

just get a funsaver

[/thread] LOL
Coach
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Re: "Other" brand lenses?

Post by Coach »

I've been an amateur photographer since the 1960s and have owned or shot pretty much every major brand / format camera there is. I am down to a nice Nikon pro-sumer digital. Here is my 2 cents.

Most brand name lenses, Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad, Tamron, and Tokina ( to name a few ) are so sharp that you really cannot tell the difference between them. What sets them apart is how they render the out of focus areas. This is known as bokah.

Along with my Nikon lenses I also use some very fast Tokina and Tamron lenses for action or architectural work where the eye is drawn mainly to the in focus areas. But for landscape, portrait, or product photography ( ie: artsy stuff ) where the entire photograph is absorbed by the mind I will only use my Nikon glass. Both Nikon and Hasselblad made their name on the bokah of their lenses, well that and the unbelievable crispness of the Carl Zeiss lens on the Hassys ).

Now Canon lenses are very good as well and those who love them love them. The thing I like about my Nikons are lenses that I bought back in my military days can still be used on my modern bodies, and yes, just like vintage guitars, there is a difference.

I should mention that I do not care for Sigma,Vivitar, Phoenix, Samyang, Quantaray, ProMaster lenses, they have not worked well for me.

Best,
Harry
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jps
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Re: "Other" brand lenses?

Post by jps »

Coach wrote:Most brand name lenses, Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad, Tamron, and Tokina ( to name a few ) are so sharp that you really cannot tell the difference between them. What sets them apart is how they render the out of focus areas. This is known as bokah.

Best,
Harry
There are a few other important factors, such as chromatic (spherical and lateral) aberrations, coma, flare, vignetting, etc. that contribute to a lens' quality. Yes, sharpness is quite good for most brands these days, at least in the central part of the image circle; Softar filters were created by Carl Zeiss specifically because portrait photographers found Hasselblad (Zeiss) lenses too revealing of "defects" in peoples' faces!
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