Everybody likes to talk about their vast collections of Canon or Nikon glass. Blah, blah, blah. Good for them. But, for the rest of us? Those of us that are just way too cool for school and like taking pictures with our lenses rather than watching them rot on a shelf? Well, we know the goodness of the Takumar lenses from Asahi. Heavy in the hand, but so smooth to the eye. We like to call the one pictured “The Baby Lens” cause it just loves looking at newborns and makes that new skin look like it’s glowing from the inside out. Shooting in natural light and bouncing it here and there is such a simple pleasure and these lenses with their optical peculiarities and quick adjustment help make the camera even more invisible to the operator.

And before all you Canon and Nikon-o-philes write your snarky hate notes… We’re just kidding, we like Canon and Nikon, too. Remember, they’re just tools.

We like the black ones to use when filling areas in thumbnail storyboard sketches. It lets you clean up these little illustrations quickly and helps simplify small compositions when working small. A lot of artists do fantastic work with these, but we use them in a bit more utilitarian way. They’re similar to the Waterbrushes we posted earlier, but these come pre-filled with inks in a range of colors.