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Although it's not exactly what you're looking for, I'd have to second the Nikon Series E lenses. They truly are remarkable little lenses. I haven't been able to find a good copy of the 35mm 2.5 but the 36-72, 50mm and 100mm are nice little lenses, especially the size of the 100mm. Also the older non-ai lenses are pretty spectacular as well. One lens I hate to mention because it does get such bad reviews is the 35-70 3.3-4.5 ai-s lens. It's tiny and a lot better than the bad reviews give it. I mean, it isn't great, but there's something very Nikon in its not greatness. Another zoom lens I love, which I assume you're familiar with is the Canon FD 35-105mm 3.5. This lens is ALMOST parfocal. Obviously constant aperture. Internal zoom. Fairly compact. I've had a few copies over the years, then end up selling it because I didn't use it too often, regret it and seek another one. My most recent copy I put on the Sigma FP and here's a sample of it at 105mm wide open... No mind-blowing image by any means, but fairly sharp wide open and I like the way it handles the highlights. Of course it's a mess in direct light... as I found out last week during a shoot. However, there are rumors that Canon considered putting the L badge onto it because they were so happy with the lens. As far as primes, other than the Nikons, the Takumar lenses are a personal favorite of mine. I've heard people argue that the 28mm 3.5 is one of the best 28mm lenses they've used. I haven't used that one but the 35mm 3.5 is excellent. I've used a couple of the wide angle Tokina lenses from the late 70s, early 80s and they were decent, but I think they were f/2.8 lenses. Obviously you could get a cheap Neewer fixed ND to pop on the lens and leave there to give you that slower stop and to protect the front of the lens. Also check out the old Vivitar lenses, I have a set of mostly Tokina made ones in the m42 mount and I have always been very fond of them. The image instantly feels like an old 70s made for TV movie. I'm probably going to sell them though, not because I don't like them, I just have too much stuff and really need to scale back. I guess you could also look at some of the older Zeiss Jena lenses... even the MF ones would give you the slower apertures you were looking for wide open. Great thread! Wish there were more threads like this on here like it.

As with the fair use copyright strikes there needs to be a layer of legal protection for the smaller guy who doesn't have access to lawyers. Before the lawyers get involved, a judge should be able to quickly throw out spurious BS cases.

I think more than ever there is a power struggle between the law and corporations, we'd do well to keep an eye on that - since most of the normal rules which keep companies in check like product and competition are becoming less of a factor. We have quite a few duopolies, even monopolies in many markets and in many countries. What the corporate bastards have also realised, is that since the pandemic they are able to act like a cartel with patterns of cartel-like behaviour like all of them raising prices in unison and creating exclusivity of market share for themselves, and also making the consumer increasingly dependant on tech as a service... Less of a product, more of an app or a cloud based service. The pandemic accelerated all of this. And that of course is where all the recent subscription bullshit comes in. But of the two quite different topics raised in this thread... I am way more worried about the abuse of the legal system to stifle journalism. The companies in question are Nvidia and Universal Records. I suggest to think twice before handing them your hard earned.

Yes, this is also a symptom of late-stage unrestrained capitalism when there is no longer a lot of competition in the market, but instead there are a handful of well-established/entrenched players who can gamble with losing some sales in the short term. Don't buy a VW this time around because they added a stupid subscription? They'll be in the running next time after all the others add shitty subscriptions too. The same applies to stuff like car vendors trying to move away from supporting Carplay/Android Auto because they really want to sell you subscriptions to connected features in the car, despite that you already have all of those things paid for in your phone already.

No they don’t as such…but Sigma do and Leica have a 135 f2 APO in the works, but the price of that will make the Plena seem ‘cheap’. Just a couple of years ago, I thought the weak link in L Mount was the lenses and whilst I think there are a couple of holes still, I’ve gone round in a big circle and ended up with a set of f1.8 primes, the; 18,35,50 and 85 and with the addition of a 28-70 and a 70-200, over 4 bodies, I’ve got all bases covered for my needs, video and stills. For sure. I wrestled with all kinds of combos of brands, bodies, lenses and each time I thought I’d found my best set up, I found flaws if not outright issues. In the end, I decided to just go back to basics and creativity has shot up as a result. As has logistics, workflow and a load of other basics. I have no further needs and instead, only wishes and intentions and none of those are kit related.

Did you even really read my post? I gave several suggestions and the OP never clarified or said his requirements were set in stone. Soft vs clinical, deep focus and circular bokeh right? There are a few ways to achieve that look. Most vintage lenses are soft compared to modern lenses. Does OP want REALLY soft? Why? Very easy to take a vintage soft lens and add a desired look in post for anything extreme. My vintage Yashicas and old Vivitars all have many bladed apertures and produce round apertures at f/2.8 so I get some low light benefits as I need it while still being vintage soft. But I can live at f/3.5 or f/4 as desired. So no, I wasn’t just waiting to talk, I was offering a perspective and fostering a discussion.

Absolute scumbag behaviour from these American corporate fascists. The law and YouTube needs to stand up and say... enough. You should not be able to abuse so many innocent people via the legal system. It's all fair use.