Arsat H 20mm lens F2.8

[greg]

Click here to see on Ebay

I just felt in the mood to buy a NEW manual focus lens. I spotted this one on eBay and it fit the bill, New, wide angle, cheap and probably built like a tank.

From what little I could find here and on the Internet, it appears this is a lens only available in the Nikon mount and there seems to be tons of them on eBay. This seller alone has two separate auctions, both had 10 available copies. Now that I have said this, I probably will be swamped with varieties of all sorts of mounts

It will be waiting for me at the PO when we return from vacation, hopefully in time to be used with an interior shoot of a re-conditioned movie theater from the American film golden era. Our group, with a modest $5 donation each and a 20 member maximum to offset the electricity, will have the sole use of the building for two hours.

The shipping notice I received after PayPal was sent indicates it will be shipped from Georgia, USA

[Attila]

I think this is rare and lot better what you can get for 100-200 USD.

[LucisPictor]

Well, I think it's a very good price.

If it wasn't sold in the States (shipping costs!) and if I didn't have two very nice 20mm lenses already (CZJ Flek 4/20 and Nikkor-UD 3.5/20), I might have bought one.
Thank God, I don't need to.

[ChrisLilley]

Interesting and fairly inexpensive lens.


Flare and CA look a bit scary, though. Interested to see your samples.

[sichko]

A couple of samples...





....both at f/11 (I think). No sharpening other than during resizing.

[Krisgage]

I saw one from grizzybear for $135, complete brand new set.

[Attila]

Samples of John are really good! I think this is a keeper lens definitely.

[sichko]

Thanks Attila. The lens shows quite a lot of complex (moustache) distortion on FF - I haven't tried it but there's a shot on the web somewhere which I remember. On a crop camera you only see the central part as barrel distortion. It's obvious when you photograph a brick wall but for many situations it's not a problem.

[Attila]

[greg]

Today I received the Fuji S2 from the Bay and had a chance to try out this lens without any adapter. It is a quick, put the lens on, add batteries,run out the door, look quickly for something to photograph before the rain starts, see this little flower in the neighbors yard, grab a couple shots and run back in.




This is the original reduced in size and changed to JPG:




This is a 100% crop from the original image, no adjustments other than the crop and change to JPG:


I don't think it is bad for the first picture from a new camera/lens combination. Handheld; f5.6; 1/90; ISO 200; maximum JPG size; very overcast. No post processing other than stated above.