New lens : who is your first victim ?

[Soeren]

A ruler at 45 degrees and a piece of paper on the wall 🙂

Why at 45 degrees? shouldn't it be 60 degrees? 🙂
Oh btw to the OP its a toss up between my wife, cat and kid.
Kind regards

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Dear Roger, I think Bob was just agreeing with my point, - i.e. I too have not bought an 'unuseable' lens, in over forty years, - perhaps I've been lucky, but yes, I do examine first - feel focus operation, iris, look through it under a light, etc., this gives a pretty good indication of condition. However, I do not rush staight out and take pictures of cats, brick walls etc., and in the same vein, unlike most here, I don't have the feeling that my cameras need constant servicing, or CLA - if you prefer that term!.
Cheers , Dave.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Roger, I think Bob was just agreeing with my point, - i.e. I too have not bought an 'unuseable' lens, in over forty years, - perhaps I've been lucky, but yes, I do examine first - feel focus operation, iris, look through it under a light, etc., this gives a pretty good indication of condition. However, I do not rush staight out and take pictures of cats, brick walls etc., and in the same vein, unlike most here, I don't have the feeling that my cameras need constant servicing, or CLA - if you prefer that term!.
Cheers , Dave.

Dear Dave,

Fair enough. I completely agree about not rushing out and shooting a whole roll of brick walls or cats' arses, but equally, after I've done the basic checks you do (which would reveal most of the problems I mentioned, but not softness), I will always shoot a test roll of stuff that's not important, usually across the next few days. That's not quite the same thing!

What I was thinking of was literally the first shot, which is normally Frances. After that I'll shoot a range of stuff, as and when I get around to it, at various apertures and of various subjects that are not terribly important, i.e. are more or less repeatable.

Put it this way: I'd not go off on a shoot where the pictures were the main thing (i.e. for publication) with a lens I'd never used before. I don't think you would either. Or Bob. All I'm trying to do is to ensure that if I don't come back with pics, or if they're not very good, it's my fault, not the fault of the equipment.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Besides, if you really don't care that much about equipment, how come you have six different systems?
Roger

Roger:

1) a M mount system that I constantly use
2) a Mamiya 7 system that I constantly use
3) a Bronica SQA system for those occasions when I need a SLR
4) a Contax G system that I really should sell
5) a Nikon D70 system for when it make sense to shoot digital
6) a Nikonos system, when I use it nothing else will do

The Bronica SLR, the D70, and the Nikonos are special use cameras but their resale value is nominal so I keep them for occasions when their use make sense.

The ContaxG system truly is redundant and I do need to get around to selling it.

I do think that your thoughts and mine are closer than our semantics indicate.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I do think that your thoughts and mine are closer than our semantics indicate.

Dear Bob,

I am as sure as I can reasonably be that you are absolutely correct about our differences being semantic rather than real; I wish there were more of us who could think the same way, seeing past what divides us to what unites us. (Not just in photography.)

Cheers,

Roger

 

[shadowfox]

I vote my family, but my lenses usually don't come boxed 😛 , it's either wrapped in old stuffy-smelling newspaper, or stuffy-smelling case/bag/pouch/bubbles.

Btw, my daughter has by now come up with two kinds of smile, the super-cute-"kawaii" -kind, and the ugly-im-so-bored -kind... take a guess which one she put on mostly at my lens tests? 😀 😀

 

[Photog9001]

who needs a wife, or a cat, when there are test charts ,-)

 

[Rudolphono]

It's the shower in the basement.

 

[Al Kaplan]

They are decidedly NOT victims! They feel honored that I'd photograph them, and I don't tell them that I'm trying a new lens...LOL. Actually, it's whomever is handy, and I have neither dog nor cat, my grown kids live hundreds of kilometers away...I guess often as not it's my immediate ex-wife.

 

[Soeren]

It's the shower in the basement.

Is it my screen or does that lens show just a slight vignetting and just a bit sharpness fall off 😀

 

[ruby.monkey]

Were you waiting for Janet Leigh?

 

[Rudolphono]

This picture is made with an self made camera.
Made of an old Agfa Isola I a old Prontor Press shutter for large format cameras
and a single lens which is usually used for something in laser technology.
Picture is made at f/2.
The camera is called Pimpinella 5000.

Ralle

 

[Rob-F]

Well, I bought a 28-85 Manual Nikkor on eBay. The aperture ring detent was so light that constant checking was required to make sure it had not moved. Oh, yeah: I bought a Hasselblad 1600 (I think it was--we are going back a good 35 years here); the lens, a Kilfitt, came nowhere near to focusing correctly. I took that one back. The store didn't even attempt to correct the problem. I'm sure glad I didn't take that one on a vacation!

Nowadays, one good quick check is to put a Nikon lens on my D200 and try a couple of shots, even if I plan to use that lens with film. I would take a walk around the neighborhood to find something to snap.

 

[BobPS]

I voted number 3.

And I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only one whose family members (wife and daughter in my case) fled away when they saw the new lens 😀

When I buy a new lens, haven't bought many lenses all this years only 7 lenses so far in the span of 14 years or so, I always use that lens for several weeks to familiarize myself with it.

Bob

 

[Hultstrom]

I guess it is invariably my dog.

/M

 

[Doug]

I usually load a roll of cheap film and wander about the neighborhood, making stops at some common snapping points, trying the lens at different distances and f/stops, make at least one check for linear distortion, and see how it works.

The lousy weather, and need for snow-shoveling, has led to putting off trying the 18mm ZM lens that arrived the other day from a fellow RFF member.