Sony I think I need to try an experiment

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I'm fortunate in that I have more cameras than I rightfully should have or need.(Yes, there's that word 'need' again, @Brownie)
I usually have at least two sitting out on my desk/cabinet ready to take pictures at the whim. I usually grab one based on the lens attached.
To get my 'creative' juices flowing, if there are any to be had now, I thought I should mount at least one old manual focus lens on one of them.
As they sit now they all have native auto focus lenses attached. I'm thinking that's too easy and is making me lazy, or lazier than I should be.

Do you all think this will help?
Help with what you ask.
I'm not sure.
Right now I really enjoy just grabbing a camera and heading out into the garden to catch a few shots of the bees at work or the lizards at play and having the shots turn out.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Right now I really enjoy just grabbing a camera ...

This to me seems to be key: wanting to grab a camera and make pictures. If mounting a different lens will detract from that, I'd say don't. You might want to do that if the impulse to grab a camera would be waning. Just my simple mind's immediate reaction, don't expect anything deeper from me .

 

[rayvonn]

Impossible to say unless you try. You might not like manual focus and the output of these older lenses, especially if you're happy with your image ouput and gear as is. Maybe get a cheap 50 to adapt and see how you go? If you don't like it, the loss is negligible.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Ad, I hear where you're coming from. I don't think it's a matter of waning interest. It's more a case of exercising my 'mind', such as it is, and getting into that 'photo zone' where I'm thinking more about the picture I want to make vs grabbing the snapshot.

@rayvonn, I'm not without more than enough manual focus lenses to use. I actually enjoy the manual focus routine as it 'slows me down' somewhat and makes me 'think' more about aperture/speed/ISO etc. So no loss of $$ is involved in this adventure.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

... getting into that 'photo zone' where I'm thinking more about the picture I want to make vs grabbing the snapshot.

Ah, I get it. Can't give you any advice on that. If I start thinking more than a few seconds while photographing, results invariably get worse. For static scenes I might take my time with focusing, setting the aperture and exposure compensation and what not, but that's about it. Don't get me wrong, some great photographers prepare meticulously for a photo; Erwin Olaf comes to mind, his work is from a different universe IMHO. It's just not something that works for me.

 

[wee-pics]

I'm fortunate in that I have more cameras than I rightfully should have or need.(Yes, there's that word 'need' again, @Brownie)
I usually have at least two sitting out on my desk/cabinet ready to take pictures at the whim. I usually grab one based on the lens attached.
To get my 'creative' juices flowing, if there are any to be had now, I thought I should mount at least one old manual focus lens on one of them.
As they sit now they all have native auto focus lenses attached. I'm thinking that's too easy and is making me lazy, or lazier than I should be.

Do you all think this will help?
Help with what you ask.
I'm not sure.
Right now I really enjoy just grabbing a camera and heading out into the garden to catch a few shots of the bees at work or the lizards at play and having the shots turn out.

I don't think that the kind of camera-lens set-up has any impact on the question of too easy or making me lazy.
It's the predisposition of your mind that plays the decisive role, or let me put it in another way: your in-built software (brain) predetermines your attitude, not the hardware of your photo or the lenses.

Sometimes I have a special project where the choice of camera and lenses has a decisive impact. I choose carefully the best option.

Most often I just grab one of my cameras with a prime zoom or a prime lens and go roaming. That means I stroll around without any pre-decided aim or idea or concept and hold my eyes open to whatever presents itself to them. Being just open, receptive makes me see things out-of-the-way that I usually would not have realized at all. This kind of flow has resulted in some of the best shots I've ever made. And it never has been a question of which camera I've taken with me or which lens was mounted.
It's your feet (walking closer instead of zooming to get the perspective you want) and the position of your body (upright / kneeling / lying on the ground / looking for a higher bird's-view position) that decide how good the result is that gets on your storage card.

 

[fredlong]

I love autofocus. It's one of the aspects of modern photo equipment that lets me forget the equipment and put my attention on the image. I'll switch to manual focus if it serves the image in some way and I do use manual lenses for various reasons. Just not for slowing down and paying attention.

If you want to pay attention and not be lazy, then pay attention and don't be lazy. What's in the frame? Why am I pointing my camera at that? Is there a better angle? Am I close enough? To close? What's on the other side? What's going on here? Should something else be in the frame? Or out of the frame? Is the light serving the image or does it need to be changed? Can I change it or do I need to return later?

Just slowing down long enough to focus won't answer any of those questions. Stopping to look AFTER focusing, after there's an image in the frame, is a good time to stop and pay attention.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

All points well taken, Walter and Fred. Thanks for commenting and giving me your thoughts on this.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

First lens up for the experiment is the Nikon Series E 100mm.

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[rloewy]

I mostly shoot manual nowadays, so I am a big fan of manual lenses. I just don't like the Nikon E 100mm - I have one and I believe I have taken it out twice, and was disappointed both times. The 105mm 2.5 is a much much better lens, imho.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I got mine free from a relative and don't have money to spend on lenses, such as the 105 which I'd love to have a copy of.
I'm also easily pleased when it comes to lens performance as I don't have a very critical eye, but you could probably tell that from the images I post.

 

[rloewy]

I got mine free from a relative and don't have money to spend on lenses, such as the 105 which I'd love to have a copy of.
I'm also easily pleased when it comes to lens performance as I don't have a very critical eye, but you could probably tell that from the images I post.

I am not going to say anything like that about the quality of your images - as I enjoy them very much. I just wanted to comment on the "experiment" part, hoping that you do not judge the results with the manual lens as inferior and thus stop shooting with manual lenses, simply because I think the Series E 100 is not the greatest manual lens out there to judge the success of shooting with such lenses.

FWIW, there are lots of very affordable manual lenses out there that will give you, imho, better results and a better shooting experience, I just mentioned the Nikon 105mm 2.5 because it is roughly the same FOV and same manufacturer. Personally my #1 option in this category of great manual lenses that are affordable will be Minolta lenses. It is easy to buy their nifty fifty lenses for very small prices and they punch way above their price, the 50mm 1.7 for example is a very affordable lens with excellent ergonomics, build quality and results.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Not to worry, I have lots of manual lenses to choose from for this 'experiment'.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Well here it is a month later and I thought I should report in on my progress or lack thereof.

This was mostly a failure in my view.
I've put the 100mm away and changed out which cameras I have out on my desk. I also put a 40mm on one of my cameras instead of a zoom.
Maybe that'll help. A lighter load to carry on my bike might help. It's been pretty hot here lately too so out door shooting has fallen off too.