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What's the latest lens you added to your collection?
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Latest lens. MC Quantaray Wide Auto
24mm f2.5.
Made by Sun Optical. I believe in 1980. This is the 58mm filter thread version not the 55mm filter thread version.
It's in excellent shape with original caps.

I can't believe it was 8 years ago, that I said I wanted to try one.
I really wanted the Sun Optical lens, but this is close enough.

Will be testing it as soon as I get it. If there's any interest I will post the results on the forum.


PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

walter g wrote:
Latest lens. MC Quantaray Wide Auto
24mm f2.5.
Made by Sun Optical. I believe in 1980. This is the 58mm filter thread version not the 55mm filter thread version.
It's in excellent shape with original caps.

I can't believe it was 8 years ago, that I said I wanted to try one.
I really wanted the Sun Optical lens, but this is close enough.

Will be testing it as soon as I get it. If there's any interest I will post the results on the forum.


Is the Pope catholic?
Of course there is interest.
Looking forward to it Walter
Tom


PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Tom.
I will post my results when the lens comes.

Edit. I just ordered a hood for it so I can do a proper test. Hopefully they both come in at the same time.


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 6:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

had some spectacular ebay luck


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

benadamx wrote:
had some spectacular ebay luck


Who's a lucky boy then!
Congratulations
Tom


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My 85 arrived. I may have a go at cleaning the front elements from fungus (not very much). It's focus is a bit grindy, aperture sometimes slow to respond. Front and rear element have cleaning marks, but it only cost a third of a pristine copy.

Super-Takumar 85mm 1:1.9 by The lens profile, on Flickr
Super-Takumar 85mm 1:1.9 by The lens profile, on Flickr


Last edited by D1N0 on Thu May 28, 2020 11:07 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 11:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another lens for my new Canon collection.
Canon FDn 28mm f2.8.
Took a gamble on this one. Hope it works out.
Don't need to buy a hood for this one as it uses the same hood as my FDn 28mm f2.


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 12:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The mail man always rings twice.

Some days are like Christmas and multiple lenses arrive. The Tamron SP Adaptall-2 60-300mm 1:3.8-5.4 looking virtually unused and with proprietary hood (Bayonet mount)

Tamron SP Adaptall-2 60-300mm 1:3.8-5.4 (23A) by The lens profile, on Flickr


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DSC02063 by Mr TTT, on Flickr


PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

D1N0 wrote:
My 85 arrived. I may have a go at cleaning the front elements from fungus (not very much). It's focus is a bit grindy, aperture sometimes slow to respond. Front and rear element have cleaning marks, but it only cost a third of a pristine copy.

Super-Takumar 85mm 1:1.9 by The lens profile, on Flickr

Super-Takumar 85mm 1:1.9 by The lens profile, on Flickr


Nice catch! Congrats Whoo Turtle


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 5:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

it's a great lens, and if you're going to use it on a sony A7-series i recommend getting a grip extender if you don't already have one - i didn't, and between that and the SP 300/5.6 i aggravated an injury in my hand trying to counterbalance it, and couldn't shoot for a few weeks.

D1N0 wrote:
The mail man always rings twice.

Some days are like Christmas and multiple lenses arrive. The Tamron SP Adaptall-2 60-300mm 1:3.8-5.4 looking virtually unused and with proprietary hood (Bayonet mount)

Tamron SP Adaptall-2 60-300mm 1:3.8-5.4 (23A) by The lens profile, on Flickr


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The epitome of ordinary.
The lens no one talks about and few people want.
The very uncool SMC Pentax K 55mm f1.8.
Laugh 1

#1


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

benadamx wrote:
it's a great lens, and if you're going to use it on a sony A7-series i recommend getting a grip extender if you don't already have one - i didn't, and between that and the SP 300/5.6 i aggravated an injury in my hand trying to counterbalance it, and couldn't shoot for a few weeks.



A Pentax K-1 has a bit more heft to it. The lens does feel like it has more glass in it than air, but it is pretty compact for a 300mm legacy lens. When I saw the box it came in i thought the seller sent me the wrong lens.


Last edited by D1N0 on Tue May 26, 2020 7:35 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oldhand wrote:
The epitome of ordinary.
The lens no one talks about and few people want.
The very uncool SMC Pentax K 55mm f1.8.
Laugh 1



It's a great lens though, and that camera is actually quite rare. It doesn't appear very often.

Pentaxforums.com wrote:
The Pentax K2 was one of the three original K-mount cameras introduced by Pentax as a replacement for the Spotmatic family of screw mount cameras.

The K2 was the top model of the three and replaced the ES II screw mount auto-exposure camera. It was the first Pentax to feature a vertically running metal focal plane shutter which provided a faster flash synch speed than was possible with the horizontally running shutters in the KM and KX.

The K2 featured Av exposure automation as well as match needle manual metering like the KX. Unlike on the KX the aperture set was not visible in the viewfinder.


Last edited by D1N0 on Tue May 26, 2020 7:32 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oldhand wrote:
The epitome of ordinary.
The lens no one talks about and few people want.
The very uncool SMC Pentax K 55mm f1.8.


It's NOT uncool at all. A very solid Ultron and the last version in 55mm; all previous versions have been in M42. The next edition in Pentax-M was already 50mm but still with the same Ultron design and it's still in production (SMC Pentax-DA 50mm F1.8 ).
IMHO only Minolta had a comparable long production time of the Ultron more or less unchanged till date (Sony SEL 50/1.8 ).


Last edited by tb_a on Tue May 26, 2020 7:39 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tb_a wrote:
Oldhand wrote:
The epitome of ordinary.
The lens no one talks about and few people want.
The very uncool SMC Pentax K 55mm f1.8.


It's NOT uncool at all. A very solid Ultron and the last version in 55mm all previous versions have been in M42. The next edition in Pentax-M was already 50mm but still with the same Ultron design and it's still in production (SMC Pentax-DA 50mm F1.8 ).
IMHO only Minolta had a comparable long production time of the Ultron more or less unchanged till date (Sony SEL 50/1.8 ).


Thank you Thomas.
Yes it is a good lens, or I would not have acquired it Smile
The marketplace does not see it, and it goes unnoticed.
Thank you for the background, it is always appreciated
Tom


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

fiftyonepointsix wrote:
Thankyou again for this information- Nikon and Canon have the excellent books by Rotoloni, Kitchingman, and Dechert. It would be interesting to see more information on the Minolta lenses published.


My opinion- The Minolta line shows the pragmatism of the Japanese market for price and performance. Not the fastest lenses on the market, not the slowest. No 50/1.4 or 50/1.2 in the line-up, kept out of the Nikon/Canon speed race. Very well made, excellent choice of materials down to the lubricants used. I've opened a lot of Canon, Nikon, Zeiss, and Leica lenses to clean haze out from each side of the aperture. Not so with the Minolta lenses. Choice of glass: the hard part of collecting Canon lenses= finding clean ones. The glass used starting ~1956 reacted badly with the lubricants used. Finally have a clean 50/1.2, an early one that came with Vt Deluxe. First one without damage to the surface behind the aperture.

To add- on pricing, the seller and I made offers/counteroffers. My last, added a note that I had the MIOJ Nikkor 3.5cm in both LTM and S-Mount, and the pair cost me less than this one. He accepted that offer, was $425. I'm happy. I wanted the set as I've used Minolta since 1969.


One collector is working on a comprehensive Minolta history book to be published, I believe for the 100th anniversary of the company - 8 years to go. Others are working on more precise investigations of the differences between the total production of a single camera or lens by tearing them down to verify if lens elements or materials really changed, which could be included in print one day too. I like to collect but I am mainly a user.
I agree in general about the use of lubricants and the mechanical design of the Minolta lenses. They're easy to work with and only with a few models does the lubrication run onto the aperture blades, but they are so easy to service I don't mind it at all.

While there were no fast LTM lenses in production besides the 3.5cm F1.8 in limited numbers due to the shift in production to SLRs, but they did produce a prototype 50mm F1.4 seen with the Minolta Sky in bayonet mount!

Actually, at this time in the 1950's, Minolta was the largest camera company in Japan, with 5 factories including their own distribution centre. It's probably a bit unfair considering Nikon and Toko (Tokyo Kogaku) were by far the largest optical producers during the war and to no surprise, most of their facilities were bombed. That said, Minolta also lost 3 factories in the war.
The totally vertically integrated company structure controlling research and development, materials and lens development, camera manufacture, coating facilities, grinding facilities and distribution and packaging certainly gave Minolta the competitive advantage over others and they chose the right price point for their products, even if they perhaps are not considered as successful as the other small makers like Pentax or Olympus in terms of sales which is probably more to do with the lack of a professional/sports camera and high-speed telephoto lenses.
There was very little that Minolta needed to outsource to other companies. They typically used Swiss and American machinery, and the factories were modern with air-conditioned facilities.
If you are familiar with Japan today, it is quite common for the largest manufactures to outsource many of the smallest tools and parts to independent 'small factories', but it is still a very efficient system which promotes innovation and a fair wage and obviously worked very well for Nikon and Canon after the war.

I think it is fair that while Nikon and Canon were researching high-speed glass in competition with small companies like Zunow - essentially all catching up with Zeiss - Minolta was first in Japan for single-coated lenses and first in the world for multicoated consumer photographic lenses. The MC 35mm F1.8 was reportedly the fastest 35mm lens in the world at release, and it remains very good today despite the size, so they have their fair share of wins, not to mention the excellent work done on Autofocus cameras later.


PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excited to try these out. I know the bayonet mount basically doesn't exist but you can modify some other adapters to make it work. Well built, supposedly very sharp, and the built-in lens hood is either a great addition or a weird gimmick. We shall see.

Mamiya ES 55mm F1.7 and F1.4




PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 10:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

D1N0 wrote:
Oldhand wrote:
The epitome of ordinary.
The lens no one talks about and few people want.
The very uncool SMC Pentax K 55mm f1.8.
Laugh 1



It's a great lens though, and that camera is actually quite rare. It doesn't appear very often.

Pentaxforums.com wrote:
The Pentax K2 was one of the three original K-mount cameras introduced by Pentax as a replacement for the Spotmatic family of screw mount cameras.

The K2 was the top model of the three and replaced the ES II screw mount auto-exposure camera. It was the first Pentax to feature a vertically running metal focal plane shutter which provided a faster flash synch speed than was possible with the horizontally running shutters in the KM and KX.

The K2 featured Av exposure automation as well as match needle manual metering like the KX. Unlike on the KX the aperture set was not visible in the viewfinder.


Thank you Dino,
Yes the camera is excellent.
The combination is very good.
Tom


PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2020 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

benadamx wrote:
had some spectacular ebay luck
-Minolta MD 50/1.2-


Nice catch! I always keep an eye out for one at a low price but there are not so many of these around compared to the 58/1.2 it seems. Actually, it is probably not worth me owning both and the 50/1.4 in addition to that, which performs very well already. The MD lens will not always be possible to clean if there is a bargain listing with fungus. The deep purple/maroon coating is nice - well and truly departed from the MC legacy.


Last edited by Teemō on Wed May 27, 2020 10:17 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2020 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

bobo777 wrote:
Excited to try these out. I know the bayonet mount basically doesn't exist but you can modify some other adapters to make it work. Well built, supposedly very sharp, and the built-in lens hood is either a great addition or a weird gimmick. We shall see.

Mamiya ES 55mm F1.7 and F1.4

Correction: it's Mamiya ES 55mm F1.8, I don't think they had a 55/1.7

A million dollar question is: who made the 55/1.4?
Chronologically Mamiya XTL system is right between the Cosina made M42 55/1.4 for DTL and a Mamiya made 55/1.4 for MSX.

Based on a smaller 52mm filter thread, I'm going to take a guess this 55/1.4 was the first 55/1.4 made by Mamiya in-house.


As for me, I'm waiting for an all-black Cosina-made M42 Mamiya/Sekor 55/1.4.


PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2020 4:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

aidaho wrote:

A million dollar question is: who made the 55/1.4?
Chronologically Mamiya XTL system is right between the Cosina made M42 55/1.4 for DTL and a Mamiya made 55/1.4 for MSX.

Based on a smaller 52mm filter thread, I'm going to take a guess this 55/1.4 was the first 55/1.4 made by Mamiya in-house.


As for me, I'm waiting for an all-black Cosina-made M42 Mamiya/Sekor 55/1.4.


You are correct. That was a typo.


PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2020 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

РО56 2/35 КМЗ /// RO56 2/35 KMZ by Mr TTT, on Flickr


PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A Panagor Auto Macro 90mm 1:2.8 made by Komine
Panagor PMC Auto Macro 90mm 1:2.8 by The lens profile, on Flickr

Panagor PMC Auto Macro 90mm 1:2.8 by The lens profile, on Flickr

important addition to my collection of Panagor primes (Project panagor).


PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2020 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

D1N0 wrote:
A Panagor Auto Macro 90mm 1:2.8 made by Komine

important addition to my collection of Panagor primes (Project panagor).


Nice. I think I am close to be done with Panagor collection. This lens, + 28mm/2 + 28mm/2.5 + 35mm/2, probably will look for the 55mm/2.8 or 200mm/3.5, or the 28mm/2.8.