Lenses

I've never been one to be a follower.  I definitely will not follow the masses in purchasing popular products by inexplicably popular manufacturers.  I am no lemming, I am no blind follower.  As such, for this reason as well as others, I'll never promote anything made by Canon, Nikon, (cr)Apple, Tesla/Musk (jeez...  I don't even like writing these two names), or similar manufacturers just to name a few that come to mind first.  

(I have to point out that my negative feelings and opinions of Musk go far deeper than simply not following the masses after decades of giving lectures on the evils of this lying, dishonest, rapist of our Earth...  and it is a topic I have beaten to death in professional lectures touching upon, unfortunately, only deaf ears.  In time, unfortunately when it is too late, people will understand what I had been warning about decades earlier.) 

I don't just blindly dislike these manufacturers.  I do research these manufacturers and try some products before striking them down as a viable option for me.  

(Although, in the interest of being honest here, I have never used a Tesla product.  Musk is a typical comic book villain and that is enough for me to avoid his products.)  

I have used and owned some photographic gear made by Canon and Nikon but my experience with these products leaves me wondering why people purchase these products.  Well, not really.  I know the answer to this.  The majority of people who purchase something with the Canon or Nikon name on it do so only because they know the name and think it is the best of the best.  

Even though I am not fond of Canon, I still have some Canon lenses sitting on shelves but they were purchased on the used market at bargain basement prices and, at the time, these were the only particular lenses available for my Sony camera bodies and the prices were right.  If I'm going to be completely honest, only one of these three lenses is occasionally useful today.  Out of principle, I specifically purchased these cheap used lenses on the used market so that none of my money would go to Canon.  

Although I do use an Olympus lens every now and then, my feelings for Olympus are no better.  I once used multiple Olympus bodies and many Olympus lenses for a few years.  Then Olympus discontinued this line and started with a whole new line of cameras and lenses that were mostly incompatible with the older existing lineup(s).  This meant that if I still wanted to stick with Olympus, then I would need to start buying all of the cameras and lenses in the new lineup since new and old were incompatible.

I still use one or two of those old lenses and I occasionally use a unique Olympus camera body with an incredible Kodak sensor (the real Kodak Corporation...  not the Kodak stuff sold today that is manufactured by some other company who purchased the Kodak name and slaps the name on cheap garbage).  The sensor in that particular Olympus camera body is something really special so I can't let go of that camera.  Eventually, Olympus sold off the imaging/photographic side of their corporation so today's newer "Olympus" branded camera products really have nothing to do with the Olympus we once knew.  This is the same story as today's Kodak as well as today's Pentax (now Ricoh of terrible copier fame).  

Nikon...  To be short and sweet, I simply do not see the appeal of Nikon (pronounced nee - con, not the way Paul Simon incorrectly pronounced it in a 1960s song causing all the lemmings of the world to pronounce it incorrectly).  I simply do not like their products.  It is not even worth my time explaining what I do not like.

I am now slowly collecting a line of lenses that sort of pokes fun at Nikon and their Nikkor labeled lenses (pictured at right).  This relatively new brand of lenses is "Rokinon".  Spelled backwards, this reads "No Nikor".  I like that!  I like this line of Rokinon lenses because they are of moderately high quality at very good prices.  I really do love the "No Nikkor" statement though and, I admit, this is also a big selling point for me.  It is, admittedly, a nice gimmick but these lenses are exceptional for their price too.

Over the decades, I've learned which brands of photographic gear are worthwhile.  By carefully scouring the used marketplaces online, I've also collected some very high quality lenses made by these worthwhile manufacturers.  I have lenses made by Hasselblad, Zeiss, and Leica...  all well within the top category of high quality lenses.  I have some Mamiya gear as well.  

Anyway, the point of this blog entry wasn't necessarily to bad-mouth some manufacturers I don't particularly care for although it may seem that way from the little bit of ranting I did above.  It was to remind myself that I have some really high quality lenses made by some exceptional manufacturers.  Hasselblad, Zeiss, Leica, Mamiya...  they are exceptional and I really enjoy using these products.  I'm very glad I have found these lenses at affordable prices on the used market over the decades.