Cosina 19-35 3.5-4.5 MF

GrahamNR17 · Expire: 2012-09-06

Does anyone have a Cosina 19-35mm, the older manual focus, full-frame version?

I'm considering one as the answer to my (low budget) requirement for a wide-angle lens on digital, and maybe some alternative viewpoints on film. I know it's not as good as a decent 17mm that many have on here, but how good/bad are they?

Thanks for any info Cool

Graham

NewStuff · Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 847 Location: Wales, UK

Have yet to find one on Ebay that I don't get outbid on. Good luck getting one for a reasonable price.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

I have the AF version which I assumed was the same as the MF version. I also had a 19mm Cosina prime which had the same performance. They are both sharp on my 5Dii, except for the extreme corners, and I do mean the last few pixels. They do tend to flare easily and have a slight red cast. When the flare isn't a problem, they had good contrast too. I would say they are better than the Tamron 17mm Adaptall lens except when pointed into the sun; the Tamron is nowhere near as sharp.

GrahamNR17 · Expire: 2012-09-06

Good info, thanks chaps Wink

dropmyload · Joined: 30 Sep 2011 Posts: 56 Location: Nairobi, Kenya

I bought a copy recently, is this the one you are referring to?

haven't shot much with it yet...

aoleg · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 1389 Location: Berlin, DE

I had this lens in AF version (same optics though). It's good and sharp, with rather noticeable geometric distortion and CA (nothing articularly bad though). Flare was a bit of a problem though, but it's a cheap lens and it's got to have its share of imperfections.

Aanything · Expire: 2014-05-30

This lens is sharp over all the (apsc) frame, it has a very useful focal range both for ff and for apsc (which is something quite rare) and it's cheap.
Distortion is evident, but on par with many wide zooms.
I think it's really a useful lens, especially at the wide end, where you'd need a much more expensive lens to outperform this.
I sold it because after buying a flektogon 20 it wasn't getting much use, but I warmly recommend it to those who look for a cheap wide.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4748 Location: Cheshire, England

I keep seeing this and wondering if its worth having. They go for too much just to buy on spec.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

On APSC they will be sharp. I use on fullframe and film and the corners are not really noticeable. It's one of my favourite lenses. It has a couple of flaws but so what. I can work around them.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I had one, sold it after a week, on my EOS 450D corners were soft even at f8. Right side was worse than left so probably decentred, very susceptible to veiling flare too. The Tokina 20-35 is much better but also much harder to find, I think people keep hold of them.