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ugly great lens
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:20 am    Post subject: ugly great lens Reply with quote

Stewing on the pretty 135mm thread I thought about the opposite thing. I find that many of my best lenses have been so used over the years that they look terrible but take marvellous pictures. This thread is dedicated to great images of and by ugly great lenses. When I say ugly I don't mean poor industrial design design elements should not be a criteria. Only how worn and beat up but still taking great photos.


PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:52 am    Post subject: Re: ugly great lens Reply with quote

jamaeolus wrote:
Stewing on the pretty 135mm thread I thought about the opposite thing. I find that many of my best lenses have been so used over the years that they look terrible but take marvellous pictures. This thread is dedicated to great images of and by ugly great lenses. When I say ugly I don't mean poor industrial design design elements should not be a criteria. Only how worn and beat up but still taking great photos.


Good idea. I happened to have acquired such a lens recently. It is Vivitar Series 1, 135mm f/2.3 early non VMC version. The lens looks like this, with quite some paint loss, which I guess might have been from either extensive usage or poor storage.

Since it is well-known lens, there is no need for me to say more.


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I don't know if my ugliest ever lens is still taking great photos or not because I sold it over 20 years ago. But it was sensational, although the only way to describe its appearance was butt-ugly. The lens was a Nikon AIs 180mm f/2.8 ED. The exterior was heavily worn and it had a huge gouge taken out of the front element. But, man-o-man, did it take great photos. Here are a couple I took with a Nikon F2 shooting Fujichrome 100 slide film.




PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Same experience as Michael in a way.
I don't really want to keep ugly lenses unless I can't find a better sample.
I have had a couple but have usually sold them or used them for parts.
Looking over my lenses, the grungiest is my Canon FL 35mm f2.5 - but only because it has seen plenty of use.
It still looks pretty good cosmetically.
It does take awesome images too.
The grottiest thing that I use is the home made adapter that I put together for my Miranda lenses.
Here it is, followed by an image from yesterday made by the adapter and the Miranda 1.8/50
Tom
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 1:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My easiest example was this: Konica hexanon ar 57mm 1.4


it lives in my regular use konica basket. I have around 8 other examples of this lens as I feel it is underrated and under priced.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll nominate my 'Pentamog 200 f4'. Which is one of my favourite lenses, but owes it's existence to the discovery of enough bits of a Pentacon and Meyer Optik Gorlitz to create one lens. Which also sports a Soligor tripod mount and Tamron hood.