12-30-2015, 11:30 AM
30 years ago I bought a Zeiss 35/1.4 Distagon and a Planar 85/1.4 for Contax/Yashica. The Distagon had 9 elements. the Planar 6 and both had T* coating. My Sigma 35 these days has 13, was less costly, weighs 65 grams more, has AF, 1 aspherical elements more and one FLD glass. I would not trade in that that Sigma for an old Distagon. It had compared to a Nikon 35/2 neutral to cold colours. Same goes for Nikkor 85/1.4, 10 elements and meanwhile for my taste too much CA - it will have to go if a newer 85/1.4 appears, be it Nikon or Sigma. But if I see the Zeiss with backlight and wide open, I have to say, T* coating at that time was far away for what contemporary coatings perform.
There will always be people clinging to the past, everything was better some time ago, especially films and those old brilliant lenses. So far I haven't seen a comparison of an old and new lens of the same FL and aperture convincing me there were better lenses made years ago. But if those people are happy with old lenses adapted to new cameras - hey, who am I to criticize that? I see it as a matter of personal taste, neither right nor wrong.
There will always be people clinging to the past, everything was better some time ago, especially films and those old brilliant lenses. So far I haven't seen a comparison of an old and new lens of the same FL and aperture convincing me there were better lenses made years ago. But if those people are happy with old lenses adapted to new cameras - hey, who am I to criticize that? I see it as a matter of personal taste, neither right nor wrong.