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Cheap lens challenge!
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
SXR_Mark wrote:

They don't look totally knackered (they are sold as faulty because they are untested), so I should be able to get three usueable lenses out of the lot (making £4 per lens)

Wish me luck



Good luck, godspeed, and go for it!


PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Good luck Mark!

I've made a couple of purchases too...

Firstly, what looked like a cheapie 28mm...hmm, take a closer look Laughing

Click here to see on Ebay

So, I tried again to get a less well known lens. I owned the Hanimex 70-210mm zoom before, and it was actually OK! The 80-200mm always gets a good bashing though, so I couldn't resist!

Click here to see on Ebay


PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:

Firstly, what looked like a cheapie 28mm...hmm, take a closer look Laughing

Click here to see on Ebay



Well spotted! Very Happy


ManualFocus-G wrote:
The 80-200mm always gets a good bashing though, so I couldn't resist!Click here to see on Ebay


I see, a nice soft lens pouch with a free lens! Laughing

Mark

EDIT: I didn't intend to be rude with the last statement. My apologies if I caused offense. Mark

Last edited by SXR_Mark on Fri Apr 22, 2011 9:35 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is a preliminary test of the X-Fujinon 50mm f1.9 lens I bought for this challenge



The lens is in good condition, but does have a bit of cleaning wear on the front element, and a couple of very light scratches. The damage is visible only under bright LED torch illumination (LED torches are incredibly revealing of surface damage on lenses) when it can be seen as bright points of scattered light. In reality, it is minor damage and shouldn't affect the performance.

At the moment, my first attempt at an X-Fujinon to 4/3 adapter does not give me infinity focus, but I intended it only to give me an indication of the lens performance. I think I should be able to make an adapter for 4/3 with infinity focus.

The performance does look very encouraging. At f1.9, it is decently sharp but there is a bit of colour haloing. I expected as much, since most 35mm lenses exhibit this wide open in my experience, and it is by no means a bad result. At f2.8, the performance looks very good indeed. All pictures were taken with my Oly E3, and focus was by eye (not live view), so it may not be exactly spot-on

Mark














PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great bargain Mark!!

OK, here's my first contender...wait for it...yep, a Bell & Howell 28mm f2.8 prime lens in OM mount Cool Looks like the seller realised their mistake and didn't post the Zuiko after all Laughing

Here's the lens:





And the auction:



What can I say about the lens? Well, it vignettes heavily wide open and isn't sharp. At all. Corners are terrible Laughing By f8 is usable I guess Wink

My usual sharpening applied and a touch of contrast too.

f2.8



f5.6



f5.6



f2.8



And now for some crops...

f2.8





f4.5





f5.6





f8





PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
SXR_Mark wrote:
An update on my purchases for this challenge.

I wanted something a bit different, which ruled out the plethora of 70-210mm zooms out there. But I also wanted something that should be decent. So I decided the best way to get a good lens at a cheap price is to buy one that can't be used on a digital camera!! 'Confused' That is something with no current adapter. This would give me a challenge as well.

So, my first purchase is a X-Fujinon 50mm f1.9. OK, so a nifty fifty is hardly original, but trying to make a mount for it to 4/3 or m4/3 should give me something to work at. And it was certainly cheap!



I don't have the lens yet, so I really do not know how difficult making a mount will be. But I made one for Practika PB to 4/3 so I am reasonably confident of making something.

Anyway, just in case I fail, I picked up this lot today.





Ignoring the M42 and PB TCs, we have a Helios 44M 58mm f2, a Canon FD 50mm f1.8 SC; a Konica AR 40mm f1.8 and a X-Fujinon 55 mm f2.2 (that home made adapter will be useful 'Laughing')

They don't look totally knackered (they are sold as faulty because they are untested), so I should be able to get three usueable lenses out of the lot (making £4 per lens)

Wish me luck

Mark


Good luck Mark, I was one of the other bidders on that lot of 6 lenses, that 40mm Hexanon is a superb lens, hope it is in decent shape and you can get it working, ideal for micro 4/3rds.

On the Fujinon 1.9/50, you should be able to get that to work on you camera too. I bought a Petri 1.8/55 for 99p (earlier in this thread) and removed the three screws that held the Petri bayonet in place than epoxied a Canon mount off a broken Sigma zoom and hey presto, works a treat, focuses slightly past infinity, so I should have put some shims in to correct that before glueing, but it's no biggie, takes stunning pics, currently my fave lens to use for just walking around as it's so small and light but is tack-sharp and more than fast enough for most conditions.

The Fujinon should be very good also, Arkku raves about EBC Fujinons and all 50/55 lenses are pretty good really.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Looks like some great bargains above!

I grabbed a couple of bargains from a recycle shop near my house in Shizuoka, Japan. First is a Komura 135/3.5 with pouch (490 yen / 5 USD). Anyone have this lens? Is it any good?






Second isn't exactly a MF lens but on my camera (D3000) it won't autofocus so I'm posting it up. AF Nikkor 35-135/3.5-4.5 (500 yen)




I'll post some pics soon.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't know if this qualifies for the challenge because it was bought before the time.

But here's the e-bay posting. [url]
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=330537157832&si=lvQM2qKTEk6kjJ6CsFbnz6We9Fg%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT[/url] This was the weird one where I earned 15 ebay bucks for buying this, so a net $3.25 gain.

And here's an image taken with it. It has the common Vivitar issue with the aperture return spring, so one never knows just what aperature one is going to get unless one shoots wide open all the time.



PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Great bargain Mark!!

OK, here's my first contender...wait for it...yep, a Bell & Howell 28mm f2.8 prime lens in OM mount Cool Looks like the seller realised their mistake and didn't post the Zuiko after all Laughing

Here's the lens:





OT. Anyone knows who is a maker of this lens? I saw this little rhombus sign on DOF scale on several lenses.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cimko and Cimko lenses are usually not good...


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
gaeger wrote:
I don't know if this qualifies for the challenge because it was bought before the time.


Good results from a good lens. Your Vivitar was made by Tokina. I have a Tokina-made Vivitar 24mm that looks a lot like yours, and it too is a nice lens.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
None of these can compare with the free lenses in our eyes..............The best things in life are free. Wink


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Or even better -- gear you wind up with that you've actually made a profit off of. Huh, you say?

Easy. You buy an outfit for a good price. Keep the item or items you want, then sell the rest of the pieces, piecemeal. It isn't unusual to make a profit off the sales and still be able to keep the item(s) you want.

I did this recently. Bought a Canon AL-1 outfit from shopgoodwill.com because it had a FD 50/1.4 SSC that I wanted. Sold the AL-1, two lenses, and a flash for more than what I paid for the outfit, and got to keep a superb FD 50/1.4 SSC.

And that is the best of all possible outcomes! But I can't use the lens here because it isn't obscure.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
OK, next up...the much maligned Hanimex 80-200/4 MC macro zoom.

This one came in PK mount, so I couldn't mount it on my 5D. Until I removed the fins (the lens is stuck wide open anyway Laughing ).







All shots wide open at f4





Macro mode @ 80mm







There's a fair amount of purple fringing and bokeh ca, but actually for smaller sized images this lens isn't that bad and handles quite OK.

100% crops







PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Huh! You know that Canon outfit I just mentioned? A Hannimex 80-200 was one of the lenses. I got $20 for mine! So you did well.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
Huh! You know that Canon outfit I just mentioned? A Hannimex 80-200 was one of the lenses. I got $20 for mine! So you did well.


It's still going in the bin though Laughing


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


My contender for this...

We'll see how bad the fungus is when it arrives here, but I'll take a risk for a fiver.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Holy cow, we have someone on Linux Shocked

Looking forward to the Pentacon shots! I've had one before with mushrooms and it worked well, probably the MC helped Smile


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:

It's still going in the bin though Laughing


Actually, considering it's wide open, those shots don't look at all bad. Pretty good in fact. I've seen a lot worse. Shame about the stuck aperture, otherwise you would get a decent price if you listed it with images like those.

Great panning technique with the gull by the way.

ManualFocus-G wrote:

OK, here's my first contender...wait for it...yep, a Bell & Howell 28mm f2.8 prime lens in OM mount Cool Looks like the seller realised their mistake and didn't post the Zuiko after all Laughing

What can I say about the lens? Well, it vignettes heavily wide open and isn't sharp. At all. Corners are terrible Laughing By f8 is usable I guess Wink


Ouch! That's not a nice trick. I'm shocked that a lens designed for 35mm film should vignette so badly on full frame. This one's a turkey I'm afraid to say.

Mark


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Holy cow, we have someone on Linux Shocked

Looking forward to the Pentacon shots! I've had one before with mushrooms and it worked well, probably the MC helped Smile


I plan on removing the 'shrooms after this Wink

My laptop uses Linux, as does the desktop, though that dual-boots with Windows7 for Image-editing purposes (Photoshop, though expensive, rules).


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:
Holy cow, we have someone on Linux Shocked


I have a Linux box, also -- running Ubuntu. I have my peripherals set up so that my Windows box and Linux box both share a single monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and I have this high-tech switch thingie I paid $100 for to do the switching chores. It's started messing up though. Now when I boot to my Linux machine, the monitor and mouse work, but it can't find the keyboard. Grrr . . . .

Gotta admit, when it works Ubuntu is pretty cool. It loads in about 1/4 the time it takes Windoze to load, and runs great on older hardware without a lot of memory.

So, NewStuff, you don't care for Gimp? Can't say that I do, either. It's okay, but just feels clunky to use. Sure would be nice if Adobe would port PS, or even better, CS, to Linux.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I tried GIMP both with and without GIMPshop, but didn't get on with it. I used Paint Shop Pro from v2 until V8 on a windows boot, and then was taught to use Photoshop when working for a small independent, and haven't looked back since. I make the odd foray into image and video wditing FOSS at upgrade time, to see if anything has changed enough for me to avoid shelling out money to Adobe, but so far, nothing I can live with, and Adobe makes another not insignificant wad if cash from me.

I use LinuxMint/Win7 x64 on the desktop, and an Ubuntu/mint dualboot on the laptop.It works well enough for me, and everything else short ofof Image and Video editing are done within a *nix operating environment.

Last edited by NewStuff on Sun Apr 24, 2011 6:30 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've used PSP from v4 to v9, and I don't mind admitting it, I still use it, but mostly the PSP X2 Ultimate flavor, which is actually v12.5. I still use 9 on occasion. I have CS5, but you know, I find PS to be rather sparse in the tools department compared to PSP X2, and just the way its user interface is designed is clunky compared to PSP X2. Or maybe it's just because I don't know PS well enough to appreciate it for the brilliant software it allegedly is . . . .


PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
My lens for the contest
Carenar 28mm M42 Mount



f2.8


f5.6


f16


f22


PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I thought I would give an update on the bundle of "spares or repair" lenses I bought since they arrived today.



I will post pictures of the as they arrived. I have made no attempt to tart them up at all. Hopefully, they will be a good deal better once restored. Wink

First, the Konica Hexanon 40mm f1.8. This has a smooth focus. The aperture ring is rather stiff but the aperture opens and closes properly and has no oil. There is a fair bit of fungus inside, but it looks quite light and so the coatings may not be badly affected. There do not appear to be any major scratches, but a full assessment will have to wait until the external dirt has been cleaned off. I'm hopeful this will clean up nicely.





The X-Fujinon 55mm f2.2 looks in very good condition, requiring only external cleaning of the optics, but the aperture is stuck wide open. I am optimistic that I will be able to fix this.





the Helios 44M has a big bash on the filter ring. The focus is very stiff (but moveable). The auto/manual switch does nothing. The rear element has been covered in goo from the packaging and the front element has some slight cleaning marks. But the aperture is oil free and opens and closes properly. after a good clean, I reckon this should be perfectly useable.





Finally, the Canon FD 50mm f1.8. This has some light fungus but otherwise the optics look fine. There are no problems with the aperture either. The real problem is that part of the lens mount is missing! Using this one will take some ingenuity. Anyone got any suggestions on how to graft a mount onto an FD lens? I'm afraid to say this is the only FD lens I have so I am not familiar with the way the mount should look.





So, I reckon I should get three useable lenses (Konica, Fuji and Helios) at a cost each of £4. Watch this space for pictures when I've cleaned them up. Now, where did I put that cold cream....

Mark
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