good RF glass is sooooooooo expensive ...

fish4570 · Expire: 2012-03-21

... i am getting a second nikon film slr body (i have a good f2a; i will buy a good fm2n for a compact kit) so i can get some nice glass at a decent price. i've got a solid nikkor 50/2 and an e series 35/2.5, which, by the way, has very good optics but feels like a toy. so, i reckon i will start looking for a fast-ish 24 and a pancake nikkor 50/1.8 (not the E).
i'm keeping my bessa r2m body and some day get a nice, fast m-mount 50 for it. the m-mount market is just too bleeding high right now.
what say y'all about a 24? might consider a fast-ish 28 instead and retire the e 35/2.5.

Esox lucius · Expire: 2011-11-18

For full frame use, I think you can't go wrong with the Nikkor 24/2.8 Ai/Ai-S (but the oldest "F" version is not as good as the Ai/Ai-S versions). Likewise, the 28/2.8 Ai-S is excellent as is the 28/2 Ai-S which costs more. Unless you need that extra f-stop the 28/2.8 is just as good. These are the lenses that established Nikon's reputation of excellent wides.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

There's some not too expensive Russian glass for your Bessa that will work fine with a screw to M adapter. Unfortunately the Jupiter 12 is not a likely candidate due to the TTL metering in the Bessa.

The Nikkor 24 is one of their really good ones, and I'd say it is. Nikkor 28's seem to have a price differential between the one with the floating elements (Ai-s, I think it was) and the earlier non-floating element ones (these don't focus as close, and the cognoscenti insist it is not as sharp as the later one)... You pay for the Nikkor name and esteem of the glass however.

A nice alternative might be a Tamron Adaptall-2 24/2.5. I've ended up with two - the first came with some camera, and is missing the locking lever but does seem to stay in its mount OK. I like it enough that I bought a nearly-new one from KEH - these go ~$100 plus adapter... the Nikon Ai adapters aren't overly expensive and can be even cheaper if they happen to be on a lens Wink

Opinion on the 24/2.5 seems to be mixed: some say they are soft, others think they are fine. I'm in the latter camp. Plus, I don't have to hunt down a 24 for Pentax K or Minolta (though I understand the Rokkor 24's are really, really good)...

Personally, a 24 for me is getting a bit wide, and on the Nikon FE at least I found the vast sky tended to cause under exposure on the street.

What do you have against the e series lenses? I've found them pretty damn good.

fish4570 · Expire: 2012-03-21

thanks, Vilhelm and Jussi.

i LIKE the E 35. it does color beautifully. optics are very good. but it does feel plasticky to operate. nothing against it at all. as for the E pancake 50, i've read a lot about it; it seems to come out short of the nikkor one in performance - and feel.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

paul i'll tell you what i did. i got a summicron-c 40/2 on a 'broken' leica cl, which of course was easily repairable. i can now sell the cl if i want and i will have gotten the lens for free. or you can just buy this lens outright for about $400. it is fabulous, honestly, the best 40, 35 or 50 (including zeiss planar 50/1.4) ive ever used, and you can use it in any of those 35-50mm situations. you can definitely retire the 35 and maybe the 50 as well. its also tiny as a thimble yet very easy to focus via the tab.

not sure exactly what the need is for a 'fast' 24, which indeed is very expensive. i bought a pretty inexpensive snapshot skopar 25/4 and i absolutely love it. because its really wide with great DOF i mostly shoot it for street scenes/landscapes hyperfocally, thus no need for speed. if i want fast i use the summicron.

anyway, just some thoughts based on personal experience.

fish4570 · Expire: 2012-03-21

24/f2.8 would plenty fast-ish. RF extra-wides need accessory viewfinders - or an R4 body, which further jacks the investment. i am considering the rokkor and cv 40s, by the way, for the r2m ...

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

my skopar 25/4 was $325 with vf and is also the size of a thimble.

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Paul if you can't afford it easily buy Russian camera+lenses good as than any Leica. If you look for better quality switch to Pentax 645 MF format. Both solution is cost effective unlike any Leica RF glass. Another tipp buy a Werra 3 + glasses, one of the best quality 35mm system and very affordable.

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3438 Location: Netherlands

fish4570 · Expire: 2012-03-21

i've been the FED route with several fsu lenses. they didn't hold up to my CV lenses for the bessa r2m, and the bessa viewfinder makes fsu finders look, well, inadequate. hey, i even sold my iiif. i want an RF 50mm lens that renders like my slr nikkor 50/2. so it has to be a double-gauss type, not a sonnar or tessar type. getting one in m-mount is expensive. i know a canon 50/1.8 in LTM with adapter would fill the bill optically, but i want a stinking m-mount for some weird reason or other. hey, it's all good. i ain't in no rush ... much. Laughing