[couplos]

hi,

 

just was given an old soligor 28mm 2.8/macro,

just as my old (cheap) fd-lenses,

this lens has a smooth, buttery focus ring,

 

why is this so different today,

the only lenses i own today approaching this,

are the canon 400mm f5.6,

and the tamron 180mm/macro (quiet less however),

 

the sigma 50mm f1.4,

f.e. not being that cheap,

is ways far from the cheappy soligor

 

kr,

couplos

[Brightcolours]

Buy manual focus lenses and you have your "smooth, buttery focus". You can buy them new from Voigtlander, Canon (TS-E lenses), Nikkor, Zeiss.

[chrismiller]

I think the old manual lenses feel they way they do because you are turning well damped brass helicoils. Modern lenses are generally autofocus, and to provide fast focusing the least possible resistance is required when moving the focus groups. The latest lenses designed for mirrorless cameras actually move the focus group using electromagnets - you may of noticed Klaus complaining about Fuji lenses rattling when powered off - that's the focus group moving when not held in place.

 

Potentially lenses with focus by wire designs (Fuji, Sony, mft, Canon stm etc) could have great feeling focus rings. My X100t is okay, but not in the leage of my old pentax mf lenses.

 

Chris

[JJ_SO]

Like chrismiller said: Fast focus is a priority these days. And honestly, If I can maintain focus by AF as precise as I could do with a manual focusring, I wouldn't care about "well damped focus rings". Especially because these days most matte screens don't provide a focus help. And if I have to rely on that little light which is coupled to the AF module, the question remains: Why not AF from start on?

 

If you were referring to the Sigma 50/1.4 Art, you may notice there's a kind of a transmission between focus ring and distance scale - you need to turn the focus ring more to move the distance scale. To do is, there has to be a kind of a friction clutch, which can be programmed as manual override (by using the dock). All the latest Sigma Art and Sports lenses have this transmission, as well as all Canon and Nikon lenses with inbuilt AF-drives. Only the less costly standard zooms are misisng that detail and therefore are hard to focus precisely.