54 21 September 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
Testbench READERS’ LENSES
Second-hand ste a
D a v e Tu c k e r
● Canon EF 70-300mm
f/4-5.6L IS USMI’ve bought a few second-hand
lenses over the years, and one
of my favourites is the Canon
70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM.
I traded in my 70-200mm f/4
lens for this beauty and found
that the image quality was veryimpressive indeed, with the
bonus of an extra 100mm reach.
I wasn’t concerned with the
slightly higher f-stop as I very
rarely went below f/4 anyway.
MPB.com had a second-hand
one marked as mint condition,
which was £200 less than buying
new. I snapped it up and have
used MPB.com many times
since, as I like the way they give
accurate descriptions of theirMolly Hollman
● Pentax SMC Pentax-M 50mm F1.7
My fi rst DSLR was a Pentax K-r
and I chose Pentax as I previously
had Pentax fi lm cameras in
the past and loved the lenses.
However, I foolishly sold my lenses
with my Pentax fi lm camera and
when starting out with digital had
very little budget remaining after
buying the camera. I found some
manual vintage lenses on eBay,
having meticulously read reviews
on the Pentax lens forum. The
two I started with were the SMC
Pentax-A 50mm F1.7 and the
SMC Pentax-M 50mm F1.7 –
although I confess it took a while
to get used to focusing manually.
Both lenses are truly amazing.
I’m rather a bokeh addict and
they give the creamiest
backgrounds and the most
glorious colours. They suit my
preferred genre of fl ower and
nature photography as the
aperture is low enough to blur
backgrounds beautifully; throwing
the subject into focus, but also
giving interesting colours and
shapes in the background when
not wide open. They double up
as great portrait lenses too.I now have a Sony A7 III with a
cheap adapter for the lenses and,
if anything, I am using them more- as the Sony ‘manual focus assist’
is brilliant at showing me the area
in focus in live view or through the
EVF. My ‘hit rate’ is much better
than it was previously. I often use
them with extension tubes for
macro or close-up and because
the aperture is manual I have total
control when shooting in manual.
As well as understanding their
strengths, I have learnt to avoid
their weaknesses. The six-bladed
diaphragm can sometimes give
rather hexagonal light circles when
shooting scenes with points of
light in them, such as trees. When
shooting into the light, chromatic
aberration can also be traced.
The lenses have taught me a lot
with regard to manual focus, and
cost me only £40 each. Given that
mirrorless cameras do not always
have the lightest lenses, these little
lenses would be an asset to those
downsizing to mirrorless because
of weight issues. There are always
lots on eBay and I don’t think you
can get better glass for the money.
Molly has used
second-hand
lenses as a way
of refining her
manual focus
technique
1/500sec at f/1.7,
ISO 100© MOLLY HOLLMAN
© FERRY WIDJA JA