What are some of your favourite M42 lenses?

[bruzzo]

The M42 mount is a universal mount that many manufacturers produce from Europe to Russia to Japan. Since there are so many lenses made with m42 mounts, it's hard to get familiar with most of them. So was wondering what are your favourites and recommendations.

I only have very limited experience with m42 lenses, mostly Japanese:
Japan:
Fujinon 55/1.8
SMC Takumar 50/1.4
Auto Rikenon 55/1.4
Mamiya Sekor 135/2.8

Europe:
CZJ Pancolar 50/1.8
Meyer 200/4

Russian:
Jupiter 11A 135/4
Helios 44-2 58/2

[sceptic]

For build quality as well as image quality (especially the bokeh), I find the S-M-C Takumar 50/1.4 hard to beat. A surprise, to me at least, is the Pentacon 100/2.8 (descendant from Meyer-Optik 100) which is really sharp and has great (smooth) bokeh. Here is a shot wide open on an A7R:

Focused by scepticswe, on Flickr

[Snodge]

I can quite happily stick on my Helios 44-2, my Pentax 50mm f/1.4 (and lose infinity focus), and at 135mm I quite enjoy my Sankyo Kohki Komura f/3.5 lens...

[Aanything]

Randomly, for various reasons - including quality/price ratio:
Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 4/20
Auto Mamiya Sekor SX 2.8/28
Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 3.5/35
Mir 24 2/35
Mamiya - Revuenon - Tomioka etc. 1.4/55
Zenitar-M 1.7/50
Mamiya Macro Sekor 2.8/60
Super Takumar 1.8/85
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 3.5/135
Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 2.5/135 (later version)
Jupiter-21 4/200
Tair 3 4.5/300

[Lightshow]

My early 0000xxx Helios 44(though it's actually M39)
Macro-Takumar 50/4
Fuji EBC 50/1.4
S-M-C Takumar 50/1.4, 55/1.8, 85/1.8 & 105/2.8
Super Takumar 85.1.9

[miran]

I don't have any fancy lenses. Of those that I do have, I currently like the Pancolar 50/1.8 most. Also Helios 44-2, Flektogons 35/2.8 and 35/2.4 and Sonnar 135/3.5.

[inombrable]

My most used (and liked) M42 lenses.

Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35 f/2.4,
Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20 f/2.8
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonar 135 f/3.5 Zebra
Asahi Super Takumar 50 f/1.4
Pancolar 50 f/1.8
Asahi Super Takumar 200 f/3.5 Preset
Pentacon 100 f/2.8

[mo]

My favorites....for ease of focusing and use.
Macro Takumar 4/50
Takumar 2.8/105
Auto Takumar 2.2/55
Primoplan 1.9/58
CZJ DDR MC S 3.5/135
CZJ Pancolar 2/50
Auto Yashinon 2/5cm

[bruzzo]

[newst]

Top 5

CZJ Flektogon 2.8/35
Zeiss Oberkochen Sonnar 2.8/85
CZJ Pancolar 1.8/50
Takumar preset 3.5/135
CZJ Biotar 2.0/58

[anktonio]

Auto Chinon Multi-Coated 55/1.7.
No PP, only resized, direct JPG with neutral settings.



Happy shots!

[sceptic]

Lovely capture sceptic, beautiful capture! I love the sharpness of the girl's face and the smooth out of focus transition to her left shoulder and then to the background.
I have experience with a Meyer Optik 200/4 before and it's actually not bad at all. The bokeh especially is excellent. I'm not sure why but these Meyer Optik lenses are not that sought after compared to others such as CZJ or USSR CZ clones, or even Japanese Rokkors, Olympus, and Konicas (those Olympus OM lenses are so expensive!). Maybe because there are so many made at that time I guess?[/quote]

Thank you! Yes, the Pentacon/Meyer lenses give excellent performance/price ratios, at least the tele lenses. The Pentacon 50/1.8 is also rather "special" in that it has a 0.3 m MFD (but the bokeh is not very smooth).

[Oldhand]

There are so many great M42 lenses that the list from this thread is going to be enormous.
I have a thing for nifty-fifties and like using all that I have kept.
If I had to choose just one it would be the Super-Takumar 1.4/50.
As an all round lens that will still be working in a hundred years time, I don't think it can be beaten. But it is its great optics and silky smooth operation that endear it to me.
There are lots of others that I also like very much, but forced to pick just one .........

[calvin83]

Rodenstock 2.8/30
Pentax 35/2 v1
CZ Ultron 50/1.8
Yashica Macro 60/2.8

[Tedat]

there are many favourites like every Yashinon DX lens, Helios 44, Mamiya Sekor 1.8/55 or Rikenon 1.7/50... but if I have to choose one, it will be the Edixar 1.8/55

I just love this lens

[Newfie]

Hi Guys

Hard to pick but here are my favorites. Ensinor 24mm, SMC Tak 1.8, Spiratone 105mm, Soligor 135mm f2.8 and my alltime favorite is the
Helios 44-6.

Regards,

Gavin

[LucisPictor]

There are many M42 lenses that I really like(d).

The Takumar-Series surely offers some of the best ones.

But when I look at my cabinet and check what I still have here (I have sold a lot), the list is like that:

- Fujinon 1.8/55
- Mamiya Sekor 1.8/55
- Jupiter-9 2.0/85
- Jupiter-37 3.5/135

There must be a reason why I kept those.

I also have a Pentaflex 2.8/50, a Soligor 2.5-3.5/35-70 and a Fuji 2.2/55, but I haven't used those two a lot, so I cannot really tell anything about them.

[jbalfour]

I only have one M42 mount lens, but I love it. the Helios 44-2.

[bychance]

I am a bit of a newbee to MF lenses but so far one lens has consistanty delighted me and that is (a pair) of soligor 135mm f2.8 lenses that cost less than a tenner each. Both are very sharp indeed and the colours are lovely. I just got hold of a Super-Takumar 105mm f2.8 and so far it is looking excellent and will probably wind up a keeper.

Steve.

[y]

Asahi S-M-C Takumar 50/1.4 (non-rubberized)
-Simply an exceptional lens.
KOMZ Jupiter 37A 135/3.5
-Tanklike build, sharp, many iris blades for nice bokeh, smooth focusing and it's really cheap. CZJ MC Sonnar 135/3.5 tends to be more expensive and has fewer iris blades, although it might be a bit sharper.
CZJ MC Flektogon 35/2.4
-Super silky bokeh in combination with short focusing distance, although corners at infinity are not that great.
Asahi S-M-C Macro Takumar 50/4
-Nice resolving power and Takumar smoothness combined.

[fermy]

Photosniper Tair-3. That rig is simply cool. On top of that it takes good pictures, what a bonus!

Jupiter 37A is currently my preferred 135mm.

Zebra Jena Sonnar 135mm f3.5.

Fujinon 55mm f1.8. Great color rendition.

[anktonio]

[Humulus]

KOMZ Jupiter 37A 135mm f/3.5
KMZ Zenitar-M 50mm f/1.7
Vologda Helios-77M-4 50mm f/1.8
CZJ MC Flektogon 35mm f/2.4
CZJ MC Biometar 120mm f/2.8
Asahi SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4

[cooltouch]

Well, I love my 50mm f/1.4 Super Tak -- I mean what's not to love with this lens? And my Yashinon DX 50mm f/1.7, which I bought for a pittance, is also tack-sharp. But I have a very soft spot in my heart for my 100mm f/4 macro SMC Tak. This is a very late SMCT with the rubberized focusing collar, plus mine also came with a nice screw-in metal hood.

Here's a couple of flower shots I took with this lens and my NEX 7 yesterday:

Blood Rose, NEX 7, SMCT 100mm f/4 @ f/11, ISO 100


Yellow Hibiscus, NEX 7, SMCT 100mm f/4 @ f/11, ISO 100


I find that using flower shots are often not the best way to evaluate the sharpness of a macro lens because of the depth of the flower. For example, I was shooting at f/11 for these shots, which still gave me enough shutter speed to stop action. But because it was windy yesterday, I couldn't stop down any further or I would have had blurred images. The result are images without sufficient depth of field in the central portions of the image that make the image look "soft," when it really isn't.

Thus to evaluate sharpness with the above two shots, you have to look for areas of the flower that appear to be in focus.

[StyxD]

my Takumars 50/1.4 and 135/2.5, Jupiter 37A 135/3.5, Pentacon 50/1.8 and Flektogon 35/2.4