What's the latest lens you added to your collection?

Gott23 · Joined: 10 Dec 2018 Posts: 250

So I got my hands on all these leaves today...

Sciolist · Expire: 2021-04-16

^ 'tis a wondrous thing Gott Like 1 small

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Steakface · Joined: 19 Oct 2017 Posts: 18 Location: Royal Oak, Michigan

I took a break from MF lenses while I got my Fuji kit together, the search for a portrait lens has brought me back. The crop sensor is more demanding and I found a lot of the lenses that went well on my A7 don't perform as good on my X-T3, so on I search! I've been trying to find a nice 55-58mm to pair it with but have yet to strike gold.

Minolta MC-II 58mm f/1.4 (Older purchase) - Wide open it's not very sharp and is quite hazy. Contrast improves at f/2 but even then it's still not very sharp. Stopped down to f/8 and it's excellent. Has a really nice vintage rendering as well, used right it can product beautiful pictures. Not the best choice for the crop sensor if you plan to use it at bright apertures (unless you're going for a specific look).

Minolta MC-II 55mm 1.7 (Older purchase) - One of my favorite lenses on film and the A7, unfortunately it doesn't impress me as much on aps-c. It's pretty soft and has low contrast up until f/2.8. Thankfully it still retains it's wonderful rendering that I love so much, but I still wouldn't choose it for crop.

Pentax m42 Takumar 55mm 1.8 (New purchase) - This is the first version, before they used radioactive glass. It's very prone to flare and not very sharp, but contrast is alright. I wasn't super impressed with it but it takes nice pictures, my wife ended up taking it for her Spotmatic.

Pentax m42 SMC Takumar 55mm 1.8 (New purchase) - This is the last m42 version before the K mount, it has radioactive glass. It's a little bit sharper than the 1st version, has better contrast, and it handles flare way better. It's the best lens in this category up to this point, but even then it's only a tiny bit sharper than the 1st version. I'd like something that can resolve a bit more detail. I ended up selling it (wife's prerogative because it's radioactive and we have babies).

Pentax K SMC 55mm 1.8 (New purchase) - This version renders the sharpest out of any 55mm lens I've tried so far, but it is notably hazier at 1.8 than it's predecessors which reduces overall resolution. It has a wonderful rendering, I really like this lens and right now it's my favorite fast 55mm.

Canon FL 55mm 1.2 (New purchase) - A heavy chunk of metal and glass, I decided to give it a shot. Up until f/2 it's not very sharp and contrast is low. The colors out of this lens are beautiful and bold though, very lovely. It's very difficult to focus but if you get it right it pays off. This lens makes me regret going Fuji crop, I imagine I'd absolutely love it on the A7. On the Fuji it seems unnecessary since I rarely use it wide open.

I then branched out and tried some 50mm lenses.

Pentax-M SMC 50mm 1.7 (New purchase) - I bought one of these last year but it suffered from haze and element separation. This new copy has no problems and wow, it's pretty nice. The center resolution is really great and rendering is nice too. It's high contrast and handles flare very well. My only complaint is that corners don't get razor sharp until f/8 while on the PK 55mm they are good from f/2.8. Since I'm using it as a portrait lens this isn't a huge deal to me.

Minolta MD-III 50mm f/2 (Older purchase) - I've had this one for a while but I had to give it a mention. Even on crop it's center resolution is excellent even wide open, the best performer I've found yet. Like the Pentax-M 50mm 1.7 the corners take some time to get sharp but it doesn't handle flare as well (still pretty good though). It's currently my gold standard, if I could find a 55-58mm with similar central resolution and performance I'd stop looking.

Gott23 · Joined: 10 Dec 2018 Posts: 250

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

Details are fine ! Wink

Sharpness is not always the main factor.

Gott23 · Joined: 10 Dec 2018 Posts: 250

Gott23 · Joined: 10 Dec 2018 Posts: 250

So, my "not going to buy anything for a while" lasted all of about one day; but in my defence- I did get quite a few unusual German lenses for a steal. One thing I have got is a job lot of an Exa II with a range of Enna lenses. I've ID'd most of the other lenses - Enna Lithagon 28mm f/3.5, and possibly an Ennalyt 95mm f/2.8 (its the only thing that looks THAT blocky and zebra... but has anyone any idea what could be stuck to the set of bellows in the pic below???

and the other lenses: