Re: Avoiding EF-S Lenses... Smart or Dumb?


g n p wrote:
A camera, as we used to say, is just a dark box that holds film. Lenses
are the real investment, because if cared for, they'll become your
childrens' lenses.

Will


So you're saying that a good lens now is something that cannot be improved
upon and that it will be good for any photon-receiving technology of the
future (immediate or otherwise).
I bet you love your abacus or slide rule, and keep them in "as new"
condition................. (for the kids, of course)

I'm saying that lenses that are great now will remain great lenses for
years to come if you take care of them. Improvements will be made,
certainly. But I've got a great 50mm 1.4, and I'm sure it will be great
in twenty years, even by those standards. Incremental improvements to
the lenses that I currently use will surely come, but I've already got
lenses that outperform the print sizes that I go for. If I need to
print larger than 12x18, then we've reached a point where 35mm as a
format size, regardless of sensor resolution, is a questionable choice.
And for my money, I'd rather spend money in the future buying a new
24mm prime or 100-400mm zoom than replacing lenses that I've had and
grown to love and cared for enough that they're still just as good as
what's new for the work that I do. Some people have the means and
desire to update every lens in their kit with every new peice of glass
that comes around. I have neither.

I also inherit most of my ideals from the fact that I'm a
cinematographer first and a photographer second, and in cinematography
it is neither uncommon nor detrimental to use cameras and lenses that
are 30 years old. Add to that the amazing pictures friends of mine have
taken with old, inherited lenses (my family has never really owned
cameras, so I had nothing to inherit), and I know that good optics, if
maintained, are good optics for much longer than the 10-year timeframe
the OP indicated.

Will

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