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What's your favourite 28mm in M42 mount?
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:36 pm    Post subject: What's your favourite 28mm in M42 mount? Reply with quote

What can you suggest for a WA lens for an M42 camera, to fill the gap between the CZJ 20/2.8 and 35/2.4 Flektogons, hopefully of that kind of image quality?

I currently have only two lenses in this bracket:

S-M-C Takumar 28/3.5
Vivitar 28/2.8 WA

Of the two, the Vivitar is my favourite (possibly because I've owned it since about 1968!), but it quickly loses corner definition at wider apertures. The Tak is better in this respect but overall I don't feel it reaches the sharpness the Vivitar can at f8.

What else is worth trying?


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have only one 28mm in M42. It's a Focal 28/2.8, a K-Mart brand. I picked it up in a thrift store for a few bucks. It's actually a pretty good optic. Here's a thread about it I started here back in 2011:

http://forum.mflenses.com/focal-28mm-f-2-8-m42-t45736,highlight,%2Bfocal+%2B28mm.html

The thread includes info about other aftermarket 28s that are better than one might expect.


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Peter, one that springs to mind is the Tokina RMC 28mm f2.8 often seen in the guise of a Hoya HMC 28mm f2.8.


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I love my Enna Ultra-Lithagon 3.5/28mm

Also nice:

Mamiya Auto Sekor 2.8/28mm
Pentax Takumar 3.5/28mm
Schneider-Kreuznach Curtagon 4.0/28mm
Fujinon EBC 3.5/28mm


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think I've got a "bad" 28mm, but possibly the best of the bunch by a small margin would be the Tamron 28mm f/2.5 Adaptall-2 ... no A/M facility with the original M42 mount, so you'll need a body with automatic aperture control.

A Fujinon 28mm f/3.5 won't disappoint, but it's a bit slower than the Tamron and may need (slight) modification to fit your camera.

The Meyer Optik "Lydith" 30mm f/3.5 (aka Pentacon 30mm f/3.5 in a later incarnation) has very pleasant "bokeh", to my mind. Note that there were also 29mm Meyer (later Pentacon) and 28mm Pentacon lenses. These are different to the Lydith. I'm not saying they're "bad", I simply don't have examples to be able to comment.

I'm also very pleased with my Enna Macro-Ennalyt 28mm f/3.5, the close-focus is better than most!

YMMV Smile


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Peter! Good to see you here!

Nikkor 28/2

Edit: Embarassed no Nikkor to m42 adapter (without glass) are available.


Last edited by visualopsins on Sun Sep 08, 2019 6:33 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kypfer wrote:
I don't think I've got a "bad" 28mm, but possibly the best of the bunch by a small margin would be the Tamron 28mm f/2.5 Adaptall-2 ... no A/M facility with the original M42 mount, so you'll need a body with automatic aperture control.

A Fujinon 28mm f/3.5 won't disappoint, but it's a bit slower than the Tamron and may need (slight) modification to fit your camera.

The Meyer Optik "Lydith" 30mm f/3.5 (aka Pentacon 30mm f/3.5 in a later incarnation) has very pleasant "bokeh", to my mind. Note that there were also 29mm Meyer (later Pentacon) and 28mm Pentacon lenses. These are different to the Lydith. I'm not saying they're "bad", I simply don't have examples to be able to comment.

I'm also very pleased with my Enna Macro-Ennalyt 28mm f/3.5, the close-focus is better than most!

YMMV Smile


It is not just the bokeh from the Lydith, but the way that it paints that makes it such a wonderful lens
Tom


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the nice welcome! I'm never far away but I don't have a lot of time to post messages these days.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I was hoping to see some example pictures if possible.

The lenses that spark my interest most are the Fujinon and the Tamron. I'd forgotten Fujinons were M42. What modification would be needed to the EBC 28/3.5 to use on a Pentax Spotmatic F or a Chinon CE3 Memotron?


PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This shot is from a Tamron 2.8/28 adaptamatic - my son's lens but borrowed once for a time.
I haven't used the other one.
Tom


#1


PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

peterqd wrote:
Thanks for the nice welcome! I'm never far away but I don't have a lot of time to post messages these days.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I was hoping to see some example pictures if possible.

The lenses that spark my interest most are the Fujinon and the Tamron. I'd forgotten Fujinons were M42. What modification would be needed to the EBC 28/3.5 to use on a Pentax Spotmatic F or a Chinon CE3 Memotron?


I'm not familiar with your specific bodies, but the problem can stem from the small lug on the back of the aperture ring on Fujinon lenses which was originally used for the open-aperture metering on the Fujica cameras.

To allow the lens to seat fully and thereby focus to infinity and not jam the aperture ring (on some cameras), this lug may need to be removed. It's non-reversible, I'm afraid, though not totally irrepairible, which may annoy any Fujica collectors out there Wink

I've no anticipation of selling my Fujinons on any time soon, (mostly purchased when I used Fujica film cameras) so they've all had their lugs filed and they all get used on my Pentax DSLRs Smile


PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is a shot from the Meyer Lydith 30mm
Tom
#1


PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kypfer wrote:
I'm not familiar with your specific bodies, but the problem can stem from the small lug on the back of the aperture ring on Fujinon lenses which was originally used for the open-aperture metering on the Fujica cameras.

To allow the lens to seat fully and thereby focus to infinity and not jam the aperture ring (on some cameras), this lug may need to be removed. It's non-reversible, I'm afraid, though not totally irrepairible, which may annoy any Fujica collectors out there Wink

I've no anticipation of selling my Fujinons on any time soon, (mostly purchased when I used Fujica film cameras) so they've all had their lugs filed and they all get used on my Pentax DSLRs Smile

Thanks, that's a relief and it sounds fairly simple. I was anticipating you might say the lens clashes with the mirrors. A review I read of the Fujinon lenses indicates they were designed to be similar to CZJ lenses, both in IQ and colour rendition, so they sound exactly what I'm looking for.


PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lovely pictures Thomas, thank you. You certalnly have some beautiful places to photograph.

Of the two, in terms of IQ, the Lydith is my favourite. My feeling about Meyer-Optik lenses is coloured by having to use a Domiplan for about 10 years in the 1970's, and that can never be changed. I have never even considered one since then. However, if I can find a Lydith going for a good price I will definitely give it a try.

As for Tamrons, I have several zooms and I haven't really taken to them a lot. My favourite is the 01A 35-80 but even that flares very easily. But, again, if I can find a 28mm at a decent price I'll give it a go.


PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

peterqd wrote:
. . .
What modification would be needed to the EBC 28/3.5 to use on a Pentax Spotmatic F or a Chinon CE3 Memotron?


Peter,

I'm not familiar with the EBC 28mm or Spotmatic F operation. But I do own a Fujinon EBC 135mm f/2.5 lens and a Spotmatic F (which I've never used). For what it's worth:

The EBC 135 screws fully onto the Spotmatic with no trouble. The lens metering lug, which kypfer mentioned, falls to the outside of the Spotmatic's mount so there's no conflict.

Edit: And even though my EBC 135 doesn't have an Auto / Manual switch, it does have auto stop down capability on my Spotmatic F. Earlier I had mistakenly said it didn't have auto stop down.


Tim


PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

peterqd wrote:
Lovely pictures Thomas, thank you. You certalnly have some beautiful places to photograph.

Of the two, in terms of IQ, the Lydith is my favourite. My feeling about Meyer-Optik lenses is coloured by having to use a Domiplan for about 10 years in the 1970's, and that can never be changed. I have never even considered one since then. However, if I can find a Lydith going for a good price I will definitely give it a try.

As for Tamrons, I have several zooms and I haven't really taken to them a lot. My favourite is the 01A 35-80 but even that flares very easily. But, again, if I can find a 28mm at a decent price I'll give it a go.


The Lydith is in a different class to the Domiplan ... chalk and cheese ... much like comparing Tamron zooms with their primes, though they do all benefit from a lenshood Wink

The Adaptall-2 28mm is quite widely available and still reasonably priced, unlike the 24mm which is rather more "sought after" Wink