Unloved and therefore cheap, but surprisingly good lenses

WNG555 · Joined: 18 Dec 2014 Posts: 784 Location: Arrid-Zone-A, USA

Thanks to Oldhand's entry, I picked up a Yashica ML 42-75mm to try, and it was VERY affordable. Wink

Mine resembles oldhand's and doesn't have a built-in hood. It shoots remarkably well throughout its focal range.
Although on my copy, the external focus barrel wobbles once zoomed forward to 42mm. Probably due to age/wear.
A nice addition to my ML primes.
Thanks Thomas!

[leemik]

Those are very nice shots along The Charles! Color and resolution is excellent.
That Cosina zoom looks strangely reminiscent to my Tokina RMC 28-70 f/4! I wonder if it (and the Revuenon) were made under the Tokina roof.

Rick1779 · Expire: 2014-06-06

Minolta MD50/1.7 and Minolta MD 45/2
Zenitar M2s 50/2

Best price ratio 50ish ever

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I have literally an entire shelf of lenses that fit this bill. Almost all are obscure brands, a couple that aren't, like an old Sigma and a newer Tokina. The Tokina is in an uninspiring zoom range, like 35-70mm. The Sigma is just old, but is a nice looking lens, at least.

So what I did one day was mount each to my NEX 7 and take some test shots, figuring that I'd put them on eBay and include the test shots with pics of the lenses themselves. Well, I still haven't gotten around to listing all these lenses on eBay and now I don't recall where I've put the images I took with them, much less which images I took with which lens. So, if I'm gonna sell them on eBay, it looks like I get to do this all over again.

But one thing that I was surprised about -- there wasn't a bad lens in the bunch. Every one did an admirable job at the focal lengths or focal ranges they were best exploited for. And of course, this gave me pause. I began to think that perhaps I might should keep one or three of them. Especially that old Sigma, which is a longish zoom in M42. As it so happens I don't have any longish M42 zooms in my personal collection, so that Sigma at least will probably not reach the auction block.

If time permits -- later -- I'll see about shooting some more pics with these lenses and I'll post some images from a few of them here in this thread. Maybe I'll do this later today, since I don't have much of anything going on at the moment.

papasito · Joined: 09 Jan 2015 Posts: 1662

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

This shelf of lenses I mentioned earlier is actually sixteen altogether. So, not having anything better to do, I took each one out and shot pics of some azaleas that are blooming right now. After a dozen or so shots, it gets pretty boring, but the images serve their purpose.

I was actually surprised by the quality of the images that a few of the lenses produced. I took all shots with the lenses wide open, reasoning that they were most likely to illustrate their shortcomings most clearly when used wide open. Only one lens -- a Sears brand 28mm f/2.8 in M42 -- was marginal in its performance. So I stopped it down to f/8, and at f/8 it performed quite well.

Here are a few images taken with some of the better performers.

The Tokina is a 28-105mm by the way. It's an SZ-X, which is the line of lenses just below the AT-X in terms of quality. Honestly, this SZ-X is probably just as good as any of the AT-X models. This shot is using its macro setting.

Next is an Albinar 75-300 f/5.6, made in Japan. Incidentally, the first zoom I ever owned was an Korean-made Albinar 80-200/3.9, which was a surprisingly sharp optic. And this 75-300 is no exception. The following image was also taken using its macro mode. You need to keep your eye on the slender little stalks. What are they? Pistels or stamens, I can never remember which is which. And the fuzz on the green leaf in the bottom of the photo.

Here's a real no-name. A Magnicon 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8. This shot was taken at 70mm.

And a Vivitar 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5. It's serial number begins with 77, which means it was made by Kobori. Not a bad little lens. Taken at 85mm.

And another Vivitar. This one's a 135mm f/2.8. Serial number begins with 28, so it's a Komine. A decent little 135mm in M42.

Please recall, all of the above shots were taken with the lenses wide open. I'm sure that, if I were to have dialed them into, say, f/8, the images would have looked much better. Oh, and all these images are straight out of the camera. I didn't do any PP to them at all. The camera was my NEX 7.

Well, I have more, but I won't bore you with more shots of azaleas. My original intentions were to put the lot on eBay, but now that I've shot with them all, I'm thinking I might hang on to one or two of them. Or three.