Production resumed Helios 40-2, Zenitar, TeleZenitar

[Pancolart]

Helios-40-2 of the same quality materials if produced today would have price of at least 750 EUR. Minimum.
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P a n c o l a r t . P h o t o . G a l l e r y http://juredolzan.deviantart.com
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Vintage lenses age like wine.

[calvin83]

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Metalluga, you should send a link to this thread to the factory management. I would suspect they could double their sales by selling internationally, but they would need to get the word out.

PS: Word got out on other forums too: http://www.mu-43.com/f40/russian-lens-production-starts-up-again-33267/

[Sirrith]

[Pancolart]

[rawhead]

Hmmm. Weren't the Helios-40-2s going for like $100 back in the early 90s? I find it hard to believe that would now cost 750€ to manufacture.
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EOS 5D Mk II, Sony NEX-6, Pentax 67II, Kiev-60, Hasselblad 203FE, 903SWC, Graflex Norita 66, Mamiya M645 1000s, Burke & James 8x10, Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic (4x5 and 3x4), Century Graphic (2x3), R.B. Graflex Seried D, Rolleiflex SL66E, Rolleiflex 2.8C Xenotar, Mamiya C330f, a few M42, six P6, three OM, four Hasselblad, two Pentax 67, two Mamiya 645, one Noritar, and a sprinkle of EF. Oh, and an Aero Ektar.

[Pancolart]

[Metalluga]

[Arctures]

I am going to get one copy of 40-2 as soon as I get some detailed info or tests. I am agree with Metalluga and I am sure they could provide excellent quality lenses for reasonable price. I am not going to visit Moscow in the next 2-3 weeks but I wish visiting that shop so much Hope to see some shots at least. Also I believe they really could make a new lens series based on different designes already developed in USSR.

BTW. They do have a basic international section on their website:
http://www.zenit-foto.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=426&Itemid=143
Banner says "Foreign trade" so I believe it is very likely they will ship abroad.

PPS. Looking on their services I fund the following section:
....
On demand optical elements production.
Herein OJSC KMZ a new technological equipment produced by «Optotech» (Germany) has been implemented. This equipment is for precision spherical, aspherical, cylindrical, planar type and prizmatic optical elements.
....

They are also surely could manufacture an apochromatic optics. So this is just wonderful.
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Canon 5DMKII, NEX-5n, Contax Distagon T* 28/2.8, Contax Planar T* 50/1.4,
Minolta Rokkor MC 58/1.2, Minolta MC Rokkor-X PF 50/1.7, Konica Hexanon AR 50/1.8,
Konica Hexanon 57/1.4, Hexanon 55/1.7, Konica Hexanon 40/1.8, Auto Yashinon 50/2.0,
Voigtländer APO Lanthar 90/3.5 M42, Jupiter 21M 200/4, Helios-44-2 58/2.0,
Mir-24M 35/2.0, Pentax SMC 55/1.8, Minolta MD 35-70/3.5, Tamron 19AH 70-210/3.5

[iangreenhalgh1]

New 16mm Zenitar 16mms are 199USD here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FishEye-MC-Zenitar-f-2-8-16mm-Minolta-AF-Sony-Alpha-New-/150556751240?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item230de1b588#ht_4650wt_1163
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'The question I would really consider (especially if an amateur and on a budget) is whether or not anyone (including yourself, of course) can tell the difference in any situation for which you will use the lens...and if they can, why are they burying their noses in your prints hard enough to tell the difference instead of responding to the prints emotionally and thinking about what they might mean?' - 2F/2F on apug.org

Digital: Sony NEX-3, Samsung NX100, Canon EOS 450d
35mm SLR: Konica FT-1, Konica FC-1, Konica Autoreflex T, Carena SRH760, Exakta RTL1000, Canon EOS 10qd
35mm VF: Olympus Stylus, Konica C35, Konica A4, Konica MG, Konica MT-9, Ricoh FF-9, Ricoh AF-80
35mm RF: Zorki 6, Kiev II, Kiev IV, Contax IIIa, CZJ Werra III,
Medium format: Franka Rolfix, Mess Ikonta 524/16, Voigtlander Bessa with Skopar 3.5/105, Voigtlander Bessa with Voigtar 3.5/105, Kiev 6C, Century Graphic 23, Ensign Selfix 820, Kershaw 450
MF lenses: Schneider Angulon 6.5/68, Componon-S 5.6/100, C-Claron 4.5/135, Xenar 3.5/105, Mamiya C 2.8/45, Mamiya 2.8/80, CZJ Flektogon 4/50, Biometar 2.8/80, Zodiac 3.5/30, Tominon 4.5/135, Pullin Pulnar 2.8/100
Large Format: Ernemann HEAG Series VII version II 9x12 with Kodak Anastigmat 6.3/170
Konica Hexanons 4/21, 2.8/24, 3.5/28, 2.8/35, 1.8/40, 1.4/50, 1.7/50, 1.8/50, 3.2/135, 3.5/135, 3.5/200, 4.5/300, 3.5-4.5/35-70, 4-4.6/28-135, 3.5/35-70, UC 3.5/45-100, 4/70-150, 4/65-135, UC 4/80-200. Hexars 3.5/28, 3.5/135, Konishiroku 2.8/35
Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.8/35, Skoparex 3.4/35, Tessar 2.8/50, Sonnar 1.5/50, Biotar 2/58, Pancolar 1.8/50, Cardinar 4/100, Zeiss-Opton Biogon 2.8/35
Meyer/Pentacons 2.8/28, Primagon 4.5/35, Trioplan 2.9/50, 1.8/50, 2.4/50, Primotar 3.5/50, Primotar 3.5/135
Topcon RE Auto Topcors 1.8/58, 3.5/135, 5.6/200
Russians: OKC1-18-1 2.8/18, OKC1-28-1 2.8/28, Jupiter-12 2.8/35, Jupiter-8 2/50, Industar-50 3.5/50, Industar-26M 2.8/50, Industar-22 3.5/50, Zenitar M2S 2/50, Helios-44-2, Jupiter-9 2/85, Jupiter-11 4/135, Tair-3C 4.5/300
Tokina 3.5/17, Nikon Auto Nikkor-N 2.8/24, Nikon Micro-Nikkor-P 3.5/55, Ross Xpress 3.5/4in, Ross Xpress 4/5in, Ross Xpress 4.5/8.5in, Wollensak APO-Raptar 10/541

[Metalluga]

[ForenSeil]

[RnR]

[fermy]

I think their lens selection is very smart.

First they are doing the lenses that KMZ already manufactured in the past, so that they have all the documentation and know how. Secondly, it would be stupid to focus on lenses that are cheaply available on second hand market in large quantities. For example, they wouldn't be able to offer Jupiter-8 at the price that I would be interested to buy it. Jupiter-12 that can be used on mirrorless would be interesting, but that requires modifications to the existing design.

That limits their choices to Teles and UWA and here their best designs are SLR lenses, with possible exception of Jupiter-9. Not to mention that SLR lenses can be used both on mirrorless and DSLRs, while RF lenses are only for mirrorless.
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[Metalluga]