Brand Or Generic Lenses?

I don't have a favorite camera or lens brand. The same is true for other photographic equipment I use: Films, tripods, filters, etc. Some people seem to be prejudice when it comes to picking cameras or lenses. They prefer brand "X" over brand "Y" for no logical reason! Unless Brand "X" is paying me to use their equipment and advertise for them, I use whatever brand I feel gives me quality images for my money. I can easily think of over a dozen times different people walking up to me and curious about why I use certain camera brand or lenses. "Is that a Canon?" one guy asked me. ''No, it's a Minolta'', I answered. ''Hmm, does it take good pictures?''. '' Yes, it does'', I replied. Then I thought to myself ''I think I'll buy my Minolta a new lens as a reward for taking so many good pictures, after all, I only press the shutter release''. I think this man was under the impression that only owners of Nikon and Canon are capable of taking good photographs since these brands have been used by majority of professionals. The reason for this is that Nikon and Canon have been mass producing pro caliber cameras and lenses for a long time while other manufacturers mostly aimed at amateur market. So If pros use them, they must be the best. Not really. The truth is, all major camera and independent lens manufacturers make equally good cameras and lenses. Lets look at lenses which are more important than cameras when it comes to taking sharp and colorful images.


Canon EOS 20D, Tokina 300mm ATX Pro f-4

As you know, there are two types of lenses manufactured: Those made by camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Minolta, etc.) known as brand names and those made by Independent lens manufacturers (Sigma, Tokina, Tamron, etc.), known as generics. Generic types are lower in prices than brand names. Does this mean they are lower in quality? May be 10 to 15 years ago generic lenses weren't as good as brand names, but that has changed. Newer generic lenses are as good and sometimes even better than brand names. When choosing a new lens, it is well worth looking into both types of lenses.
Judge each lens separately and compare it with other similar lenses in its class. Don't compare a 28-85mm made by one manufacturer with a 75-300mm made by another. Some people do this just because they had bad experiences with a certain lens. Just because they owned a 28-85mm lens made by one brand which turned out to be average in quality, then all lenses made by this certain brand must be bad. All manufacturers have produced lenses that turned out to be less than perfect. This doesn't mean their whole system is poor. First decide on the focal lengths you need and the speed of its maximum aperture. Now decide if you prefer a zoom or a fixed lens. See your camera manufacturers lens list and look for maximum and minimum apertures, close-focusing distance, glass type (APO, ED, L, AT-X, etc.), lens construction (elements and groups), filter size (important when owning several lenses). Other useful features to look for are tripod collars for telephoto lenses, body construction, focusing and zooming direction (it is useful to have all your lenses focus or zoom in the same direction for faster operation), hyper focal distance markings (available on fixed lenses). Now compare these features with the same lens made by an independent lens manufacturer. Decide which features are most important to you and then compare prices.
The price of a lens says a lot about its quality, but up to a point. A 70-210mm f-4 zoom for example, costing $300 made by a brand name might be slightly sharper and better built than a generic brand that costs half the price. It may be worth the extra money to buy the brand name to get the extra sharpness and more durable body. The generic brand however, can still produce good images at half the cost. Popular zooms including 28-85mm, 70-210mm, and 100-300mm are now offered at very low prices by both brand and generic manufacturers. Most are well built and are very close in sharpness. They are very affordable and the cost difference is not that much. Pro lenses which can easily cost well over a thousand dollars need serious thinking before you buy. There is no such a thing as a poor lens if they cost over a thousand dollars. Even lenses that cost half this price are good. A 300mm f-2.8 lens can range from $2000 to over $4000. Generic brand 300mm f-2.8 lenses can challenge the brand versions at half the cost. The brand 300mm f-2.8 may be a bit sharper at wide open apertures, but I assure you this small advantage is not worth the extra $2000. Brand models will likely produce better results with teleconverters. This is very important consideration if you plan on using teleconverters with fast telephotos. Other than these, the price of the lens is based on how much the manufacturer needs to sell a lens in order to make a profit. Independent lens manufacturers are not under any pressure to make any lens. They make whatever they feel like. If they feel there is a big demand for 300mm f-2.8 lenses, then they make such a lens. On the other hand, camera manufacturers must offer a full system in order to compete with other camera manufacturers. They have to make 300mm f-2.8 lenses for example, if they want to attract professionals. Add 400mm f-2.8, 500mm f-4, and 600mm f-4 lenses to this production and massive advertising's big camera companies must do (we have seen Canon, Nikon, and Minolta commercials, but not Tamron, Tokina, or Sigma) as well as other products they sell and advertise (copiers, fax machines, printers, etc.), and the cost will go way up which is passed on to the consumer.


Minolta Maxxum 9, Minolta 300mm APO f-2.8

My generic brand 80-200mm f-2.8 Tokina AT-X cost me half the Minolta version which I almost bought. Luckily I've known all the guys at a local camera store for a long time and can get honest answers from them even if it means a smaller sale. I was advised to go for the Tokina over the Minolta version since both were almost identical in terms of sharpness except the Tokina model cost much less. I shot a few test rolls and were happy with the result and saved more than 700 dollars. On the other hand, I picked the Minolta 300mm f-2.8 model over other brands and paid almost twice as much for it simply because it offered better sharpness with its matched 1.4X and 2X teleconverters. I knew I was going to use this lens with teleconverters and wanted to get maximum possible sharpness at wide open apertures. With the two examples I mentioned above, I made reasonable comparisons and judgments before spending my money. I didn't care which brand I was going to end up with. I cared about quality at the price I could afford.
What about bargain lenses? We have all seen lenses at very low prices. Some have good glass but are not well made. They may produce acceptable results, but some have a few other problems. Zoom rings for instance, may not be well damped or the body construction not as strong as more expensive models. I tested a low priced Vivitar (identical to Phoenix and Promaster) 28-300mm zoom and although it produced acceptable results, the lens was frustrating to work with. Zoom ring kept sliding down which made taking pictures difficult. The Phoenix 19-35mm I tested (identical to Vivitar and Promaster) was very close in terms of sharpness to other higher priced versions, but is not as solid as the rest in its class. To some, these draw backs are minor and worth saving their money, while others feel the extra money they spend give them a much better lens.
Be open minded and try different models. Most camera stores allow their customers to take test rolls before purchasing. Take advantage of this opportunity. Take several test shots at different f-stops and compare results. Photograph the same scene with all models you are considering and compare colors and sharpness. Pick the best you can afford. This doesn't mean the most expensive you can afford, but the one that produced the best results which is within your price range. One last thing: Lenses produced by different manufacturers produce different color casts. If you are a perfectionist, and there is nothing wrong with that, you may want to stay with the same brand for all your lenses, otherwise you can mix and match.