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New old lenses, and DSLR recommendations please!
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Which lens(es) should I save?
Neither! they are doomed to fail!
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Both! Huzzah for old lenses!
55%
 55%  [ 5 ]
The Panagor 90mm
44%
 44%  [ 4 ]
Total Votes : 9



PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:24 pm    Post subject: New old lenses, and DSLR recommendations please! Reply with quote
Hi! I currently use a Canon 400D with Pentax SMC (M42 mount) 28mm, 50mm, and 135mm lenses.

I had an uncle who gave me a couple of old lenses with a pentax K mount:
Panagor 90mm F2.8 Macro
Pentax-M 40mm F2.8

Unfortunately both are moldy.

My question is 2 pronged:
Firstly, my canon is starting its death throes and I am considering a new DSLR. What would you guys recommend as a good next step? I was considering a Pentax, particularly if i decide to send the lenses for cleaning.

Secondly, would the above lenses be worthwhile saving? I will attach pictures in a followup post.

Thanks!


PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
#1

#2

#3

#4


PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
the pancake 40 is a nice little lens, but not so good... can't say nothing about the panagor


PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Anyway you can get both cleaned and test them on a K5 Wink


PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
haha, good advice. would you say the k5II is worth the extra 150USD? Also, any idea how much a good cleaning would cost? I was quoted 100usd per lens at a nearby camera store.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I would buy the k5, you should found some nice bargain, no advice on cleaning cost, but here many other users are more experienced than me


PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 3:07 am    Post subject: Re: New old lenses, and DSLR recommendations please! Reply with quote
jasonification wrote:
My question is 2 pronged:
Firstly, my canon is starting its death throes and I am considering a new DSLR. What would you guys recommend as a good next step? I was considering a Pentax, particularly if i decide to send the lenses for cleaning.
As it turns out, the Canon EOS system is easily and inexpensively adaptable to many different lens mounts, so my personal recommendation would be to stay with EOS. If you enjoy and are familiar enough with Canon's camera controls, I highly recommend a move to the EOS 40D or the EOS 50D. Both are extremely capable cameras, and will not break the bank if you're moving up from a 400D/XTi. You'll enjoy higher resolution, customizable settings, a heftier weight, a magnesium-alloy metal outer shell, and you can open up a slew of increased functionality by using the Magic Lantern firmware. I have also found both the 40D and the 50D to offer generally improved image quality and color saturation over the 400D/XTi, as well as an improvement on the white-balance settings in most situations.

jasonification wrote:
Secondly, would the above lenses be worthwhile saving?
Judging by the supplied pictures, there is a major fungus infestation on at least one lens. Such conditions are difficult to impossible to correct, as the damage is deep into the lens' coatings. Some lenses suffer no great side-effects from stripping the coatings from them, but this is generally difficult to achieve while retaining the other optical qualities of the lens.
Essentially, if the lens is a high-value collector's item, it may be worth the expense of some kind of restoration.
But if it's a middling-to-fair lens, you really can't realize any value from it, and it would make a great candidate for
experimental teardown and reassembly.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi Craig! Thanks for the great advice. Would your comment regarding fungus on the lens be referring to the second photo? That's kind of the lens i wanted to keep, but if you think it's beyond saving i might just forgo the lenses )):


PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I voted for both, because I could not vote for the Pentax pancake alone.
But the Panagor is worth it.


PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
the Panagor gets good reviews at the Pentax Forums.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/panagor-90mm-f2-8-macro-pmc.html

Maybe worth saving? but $100 might buy a clean version ?


PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
panagors (according to ebay) are going for at least 195-300+ :O


PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
jasonification wrote:
panagors (according to ebay) are going for at least 195-300+ :O


That's worth scrubbing clean then ! Laughing


PostPosted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
If you are considering Pentax, see if you can handle some like the K-5 or K-30.
Nothing like actual feel in the hand to sort choice.
They are about to release the 24MP K-3 as well.
Shake reduction inbody is one of the pluses for manual focus lenses.

Pete in NZ


PostPosted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thread moved from Digital SLRs section, because it's about lenses not cameras.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 11:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I know nothing about the Pentax 40mm but the Panagor is a very good lens.
It's certainly worth cleaning...by someone who knows what they're doing. We recently saw what can happen to a lens in the wrong hands. Crying or Very sad


PostPosted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 12:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
A couple of issues here.

If you have some cheaper lenses, you have to decide whether those cheap lenses should dictate what sort of camera you buy!!!

The Pentax cameras have focus confirm beep, which is very useful when focusing MF lenses. If you buy adapters for Canon EOS/EF, they can also have a focus confirm chip(beep) on them. The ones with the EMF chip have adjustable front/back focus, so these are really good!!!

One other point.
You can get Pentax K -> Canon EOS/EF adapters. Generally, you need to be careful that the aperture follower lever (or the guard) do not foul the mirror or make marks on the front of the mirror box. Original Pentax lenses are usually ok, but always check other PK mount brands first, as this might be an occasional problem with certain lenses.

Personally, I'd go for a Canon, so you can mount Canon EF, Nikon, M42, Olympus & Pentax K lenses, while Pentax will only handle M42 & PK.
For focusing, (and second hand) rather than a Canon 40D, go for the 50D instead, as this has liveview, which is useful for accurate focusing MF lenses. Or get a new 650D.


PostPosted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
jasonification wrote:
#1

#2



that panagor is made by komine and is same lens as 90mm/2.8 vivitar macro and it's worth saving. but, that glass seems really bad... is it on the front of the lens or back? if it's on the front element you might try cleaning yourself. i recently bought helios 77 that had spots of fungus growing and i was able to remove the fungus using cleaning liquid i use for cleaning my contact lenses ("Total care daily cleaner" by Abbott). Applied couple drops of cleaning liquid and cleaned the glass element with lens cloth, after liquid dried i cleaned glass element with dry lens cloth. Reassembled the lens and now it's like new


PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 11:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
thank you all for your responses! I'm a bit too terrified to take apart the front element [plus i'm pretty sure the fungus may be hiding in other nooks and crannies of the lens] so i'm going to take the Panagor down to my (relatively) local camera repair shop. Will update soon!


PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Panagor 90 Macro has sturdy built and is nice to handle.It is pretty sharp as well,but all that is ruined by poor coatings and horrendous flare that appears very often.This was the main reason for me to resell it.

NEX5N+Panagor 90 Macro



PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
@shapencolour: what beautiful detail!


PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've used a couple of Vivitar and Panagor 90's in the past, on my Oly OM, and also on my EOS. It's a pretty nice lens, and very well built.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jasonification wrote:
@shapencolour: what beautiful detail!


Thank you Smile This is a small figurine of Zeus which I've bought years ago during my numerous trips to greek islands.I used it to test Panagor Macro because it was at hand,standing on the bookshelf nearby.The picture doesn't show much flare but shifting the lens 10 degrees to the left and towards the window caused huge image deterioration.
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