because

i love shooting with all-manual takumar lenses.

because they're cheap

because despite being cheap, they perform better than a lot of modern lenses, if not competing right with the best

because it's so romanticizable to use lenses made 40 years or more ago - vietnam war, cold war era lenses

because the process of taking a picture is so much more than just with modern AF lenses - even on dslr, it's not much more than point and shoot to me

because everything about using them to take a shot is slow, deliberate, purposeful - see, compose, meter, focus, shoot

because they're built like they'll last forever - and they've done a pretty good job of it already

because they simply feel nice to use - solid, yet not heavy, smooth, yet not sluggish

because there are no snapshots with such lenses - only photos. only something purposeful and thought out

because they will never fail - only the photographer can mar the image by choosing the wrong aperture, or misfocussing, not the lens

because these lenses in particular have such a rich history about them

because there's a bit of pride involved in seeing people using $600 lenses, and getting better photos with a $60 one

but, why write about all this?




















BECAUSE FUCK STUDYING, THAT'S WHY.