Blennie on Spirobranchus

Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

By Simon Foale

Well, memorable for me anyway – your mileage may vary. Some of the images I’m sharing here made good money for me a few years ago when I had a side hustle in stock photography, so I’m assuming they have a modicum of broader appeal. Most of them are simply images I like, and I hope you enjoy also. So, about the lenses, I expect most readers would agree it’s a no-brainer that good glass is an important, though far from sufficient, ingredient for the creation of an impactful, and thus memorable, image. So if it’s possible to own lenses with fewer flaws, then more of your images have the potential to be made into big, sharp prints, which is always something I like to at least have the option to do. But having wasted far too much time worrying about mtf figures and other nerdy lens data, much of which is irrelevant in the real world, I thought I would revisit some of my own favourite images that I know were shot with lenses that many photographers these days would either politely dismiss or even ridicule.

Ken Rockwell routinely self-cites his essay ‘Your camera does not matter’, which I have to admit always struck me as a teeny bit ironic for someone who has made a career of reviewing camera gear. Anyhow, while I flatly disagree with some of what he says in that piece (you can’t shoot sunbirds, saltacid spiders or spine-cheek clownfishes with any ol’ camera – you do need the right gear), I do agree with many of his broader points. Ansel Adams said: “There is nothing more disturbing than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” To crudely paraphrase, a boring photo, made with an expensive or even ‘legendary’ lens, is still a boring photo.

All that aside, I have to admit to nevertheless having a scientific, and perhaps even childish fascination with the technology itself, including a lot of the older cameras and lenses from the mid to late 20th century. I love the fact that the humble Tessar, a lens with just four elements in an arrangement that was first conceived in 1902, can deliver astonishing detail, colour and contrast, still holding its own against fancy modern lenses that include many more elements, in designs only achievable with highly sophisticated computer models, exotic glass types and all manner of high tech coatings.

So, here are the images, grouped by the lens they were made with, in no particular order. Most have been made with Fujichrome slide films, including Velvia.

Sigma MF 35-70mm F2.8-4

I mainly used this short zoom lens on an Olympus OM40 body in the late ‘80s. I sold it while backpacking around South America on a shoestring budget because, well, let’s just say my travel budgeting skills have seen some moderate improvement since that trip. I can’t see any real optical flaws in the images I made with it.

Iguacu Falls detail
Iguacu Falls detail
Machu Picchu window
Machu Picchu window
Caballitos de totora, Pisco, Peru
Caballitos de totora, Pisco, Peru
Ciudad Perdida platform and waterfall
Ciudad Perdida platform and waterfall, Colombia

A little more can be read about this lens here

Vivitar 17mm F3.5

This is one lens I regret letting go of, because it’s pretty hard to find these days. I used it for a while in the early 90s on Nikon bodies but then found myself using the AF-Nikkor 20mm F2.8 more often, particularly for underwater work, because it had autofocus. Again, the images don’t seem to show any significant optical shortcomings.

Catherine driving
Catherine driving (We hired a Ford Capri convertible for a day, just for fun. It was, but didn’t make either of us want to own one)
Portsea back beach
Portsea back beach

You can read a little more about this lens here.

AF Nikkor 35-105mm F3.5-4.5

This is an earlier iteration of a series of lenses in this focal length range. It’s quite plasticky, and has a very narrow and dodgy-looking focus ring. I used it as a workhorse zoom for at least a decade, then put it away as more versatile zooms arrived with the digital era. It still works fine, and I recently decided to put it back into use. It has a useful macro capability, but without autofocus.

Black-capped Lory, Solomon Islands
Black-capped Lory, Solomon Islands
Hagalu Village, Nggela, Central Solomon Islands
Hagalu Village, Nggela, Central Solomon Islands
Small island off Kolombangara, Western Province, Solomon Islands
Small island off Kolombangara, Western Province, Solomon Islands

More about this lens here.

Ai-s Nikkor 135mm F2.8

This lens has no flaws to speak of, but has simply been overshadowed by the much more celebrated 105mm F2.5 and the 135mm F2 DF, among others. It’s always been relatively cheap, is extremely well made, and produces excellent images, including at F2.8. It’s also great as a macro lens with the PN-11 extension ring.

Pacific Gull on the beach at Wamoon
Pacific Gull on the beach at Wamoon (Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria). Kodachrome 25
Catherine in hammock
Catherine in hammock (TMX@100)
Toots
Toots Hibbert, The Palais, Euroe Yroke (St Kilda). TMY@400. I know, it’s not sharp. I don’t care 🙂
Clapping Game
Clapping Game, Solomon Islands

More on this lens from KR here

AF Micro Nikkor 60mm F2.8 (Pre-D).

I still regularly use this lens, which I obtained around 1990. I used it an awful lot in the ‘90s on the Nikon F801S body, both above water and underwater in an Ikelite housing. Its fast and accurate autofocus proved extremely handy underwater, especially for fish portraits. But it has since seen a lot of use on digital bodies, particularly for botanical and back-yard wildlife work. Being a macro lens, it has been used a lot at F16 and even F22, apertures at which most lenses are very much diffraction limited. I don’t find myself fretting about the inevitably low count of lines per millimetre at these apertures.

Periclemenes on bubble coral
Periclemenes on bubble coral
Nemo
Amphiprion ocellaris (AKA ‘Nemo’)
Red-fin Anthias
Pseudanthias dispar (Red-fin Anthias)
Ostracion meleagris male
Ostracion meleagris (Black Boxfish) male
Sepioteuthis lessoniana
Sepioteuthis lessoniana (reef squid)
Octopus kaurna
Octopus kaurna burying in sand
Sepia apama
Sepia apama (Giant Cuttle) mating

Here’s a pretty dismissive review of it. Ken Rockwell has a more generous review of the subsequent ‘D’ version.

Bausch and Lomb Rapid Rectilinear

This uncoated four-element lens is on my late grandfather’s 1914 No. 1A Autographic Kodak Junior. Its design dates to around 1866. It doesn’t ever really get sharp at the edges of the 6x11cm frame, even stopped down to F22, but I was honestly blown away by how well it performed when I first shot some colour film with it.

Wallaman Falls base
Wallaman Falls base

More on this lens here

I hope you’ve enjoyed the images. My Flickr site is here

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About The Author

By Simon Foale
Repairing and trying out my late grandfather's 1914 No.1 Autographic Kodak Junior initially led me down the film rabbit hole but now that I'm here I might stay for a bit. I am currently based in North Queensland, Australia. I used film for over 20 years before digital but these days I'm keen to indulge my curiosity about some film types I never tried back in the day, including some of the so-called 'document' films. I also like sharing stuff from my film archive.
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Comments

Max Tiraquon on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

I think the Vivitar 17mm F3.5 is just a rebrand Tokina, plenty on eBay if you are interested, I not long ago sold mine myself. My go to wide angle for digital is the Viltrox 20mm it's very good,obviously no good if you're shooting film.
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

Thanks for this Max.

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Geoff Chaplin on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

I have the Dallmeyer Rapid Rectilinear (for 8x10 I think) - you've inspired me to actually use it! Thanks.
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

Let us know how it goes! The RR on my grandfather's Kodak was the first uncoated lens I have used. I was really surprised by the richness of the colours it produced.

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Jeff T. on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

Beautiful photos. Forgettable lenses--that's a little puzzling to me. At first I thought you meant lenses that weren't very good, but now I'm thinking you meant lenses that you don't use much anymore, that you've forgotten about. Is that right? Qualitatively speaking, of course, there's a great deal of difference between the Vivitar 17/3.5 and the Nikkor 135/2.8 or any of the AF Nikkors you mention.
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

Thanks Jeff. By forgettable I really just mean 'not celebrated or fussed over' (even as 'vintage' lenses). And definitely not 'legendary' - a term I find pretty interesting. The only one in my list with significant optical flaws is the last-mentioned and by far the oldest one, the Rapid Rectilinear. I guess the bigger point I'm trying to make is that too many photographers these days fuss too much about optical perfection, as indicated by the number of lens test websites providing measurements of every conceivable optical property of a lens - Ken Rockwell says that most lenses made after the middle of the 20th century (or so) are sharp enough for most applications. He's probably right.

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Art Meripol on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

forgettable lenses but unforgettable photos. A fun post and concept.
You can make good photos with almost any equipment but the more you know the more good equipment comes into play.
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

Can't disagree with that!

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Dan M. on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

I must confess to my addiction to older glass. I actually prefer uncoated or 1st gen coated lenses myself. These older lenses produce a certain "look" that is period specific. I actually prefer the results to newer, multi-coated optics.
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 21/11/2024

My admittedly limited practical experience with the one uncoated lens I own lends support to your argument. Theory is one thing but seeing the results for yourself is quite another, which has definitely piqued my curiosity about some of the early 20th Century lenses. I'm a bit keen to try an uncoated anastigmat one day.

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Zach on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 22/11/2024

Great writeup and lovely images! I especially love the one in the Ford Capris, reminds me of a similar experience with a rented convertible PT Cruiser.
I think Ansel Adams said it great, "The single most important component of a camera is the 12 inches behind it." Your photos make me think you've got a eye and brain behind your viewfinder!
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 22/11/2024

Thanks Zach. I am also a fan of that Adams quote. The other ingredient that I think often makes a big contribution is time! Time to research a subject, time to get familiar with a particular set of equipment, time to plan a shot, and time to wait for the right moment. As an overloaded teaching academic, time is the one thing I have much less of these days!

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Tony Warren on Memorable photos made with forgettable lenses

Comment posted: 23/11/2024

Great read Simon and brings out the character of the various lenses well, especially the Nikons. I have a Tamron 17mm that will never leave me and constantly use an Ai'd Micro Nikkor.

I had a spell making 8x10s using Multigrade as a negative material. The lenses were Achromats or Double Achromats using two close up lenses back to back, the "double" using Nikon 2d and 3d 2-element versions. I did a post about it a while back. The images couldn't have been much sharper but were effectively contact prints of course. Simple lenses are still viable - it is only the coatings and the need to accomodate SLRs, zooms and demanding sensors that add to the complexity.
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Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 23/11/2024

Thanks for this Tony. I've been reading with admiration your posts, many of which showcase your impressive capacity to construct wonderful cameras from relatively basic ingredients. My skills in that department are limited to fairly simple repair jobs on old lenses and bodies. But it's still very satisfying to get a broken or compromised camera working again!

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