Like @0xThylacine I also do a range - from macro to astro - biggest limiting factor though is time.
Haven't quite gone the full vintage, albeit I do go for the older Nikon and Tokina lenses a bit. Still to find a tele I like though, so bird shots are rare as hens teeth.
And as I'm not comfortable with my photo being taken, I rarely take photos of others. Except at work - so I can avoid my ugly mug ending up on the intranet.
That's really cool.
The majority of my kit is older F-mount lenses with a few adapted M42. I recently got a tilt shift (PC-E Micro Nikkor 45mm f/2.8D ED) and have been trying my hand at making perfect angles/lines with it. Been failing a lot though and much like youself, my time can be restricted at times so my only annoyance with experimenting is having little to show after.
Also, for what it's worth, I think 'ugly mugs' feel more real than perfectly chiseled faces. :)
Ha yeah I had an older DX, so was able to use the early lenses, no metering to damage. Biggest mistake I made was getting the 55mm 2.8 macro. Nothing else looked sharp.
More recently got an old D800E - finally wide angle lenses look great. Also the screw driven AF lenses are so cheap these days - everyone wants either the manual lenses or the more modern lenses with vibration reduction, so I pick up the bargains.
Tilt shift is interesting, alas I cannot justify.
@IceNine speaking of screw driven AF lenses and sharpness. I noticed that the AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D is sharper and strangely, less barrel distortion than the G variant (or at least it was with my copies).
On one hand, I don't like the industry move to mirrorless because F mount is dying off. But on the other hand, I can only afford all these amazing lenses because of it. I've acquired lenses that cost 1000 new for 120 because of this. Some of these are more affordable now :)
Yeah, the older AF lenses are classics. My fave for desig. Though are the two below. These being the very first and the very last of the 55mm macro lenses Nikon made. Also the only ones of this focal length to go 1:1 witgout tubes.
I sold the one on the left though, more a collectors item and while cool, it wasn't practical (e.g., didn't focus to infinity due to mount design - needed very early F-mount cameras).
And with the move to mirrorless, yeah is a shame given the 60 year history.
Suspect though that, as you have said, the cost will drop significantly, like the screw focus lenses (I like them because little to go wrong too).
Ice Nine
Ash Qin 📷