Phoenix 19-35mm worth it?

[cooltouch]

I ran across a listing for this lens at B&H in M42 of all things, and decided to investigate things a bit more. Haven't been able to find any reviews for it, but the fact that it's available for old "obsolete" mounts I find is encouraging. It's also made in Japan, and not China or Taiwan.

But I'm also thinking you get what you pay for, so I'm wondering if something like this is even worth the small investment. If it works reasonably well on the Wide end, it would be a fairly economical way to have an ultrawide focal length.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Phoenix-19-35mm-f-3-5-4-5-Wide-Angle-Zoom-Lens-CANON-FD_W0QQitemZ230382564775QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item35a3def5a7

Update: I've since found some reviews for this lens. They are mixed, with the prevailing opinion being that it does a good job at 19mm when stopped down to at least f/8.

[fatdeeman]

The lens in the pictures is a canon EF auto focus lens despite the title saying canon FD

[cooltouch]

Well the small print says the lens is not necessarily the one that's being sold. Still, I don't reckon the one that B&H has for sale for M42 is AF.

[fatdeeman]

It might be a variation of the wide angle zoom that was released under many names such as vivitar, phoenx, centon, cosina and cambron. The lens is made by samyang I believe. They are easily identified by the relatively wide filter ring that flares outwards like a trumpet.

The reason it might be the same is because this lens was advertised as having different focal lenghs by the different companies despite them all being the same lens.

The vivtar version was badged as 17-28mm and 19-35mm, both carrying the series 1 badge and the phoenix I believe was badged 19-35mm

I have an 18-28mm Centon.

The image quality is so so wide open and as you have learned it is much better at around f/8 where the sharpness is as good as most lenses.

Seeing as it's such a wide lens I don't see this as much of a drawback because I would probably be using a lens this wide at at least f/8 anyway.

It might be a different lens altogether but it looks very similar.

[cooltouch]

Yeah, that's kinda why I was originally asking -- that is, what's its performance like at the wide setting? A 19mm at f/8 is no problem for me. Still, I'd rather have a prime, but ultrawides have become so expensive now, I'm always looking for workable alternatives.

[justtorchit]

This is a fairly common lens. They go off on eBay and KEH all the time. As someone mentioned before, this is indeed the same rebranded 19-35mm phoenix/vivitar/cosina/promaster/etc lens. And as far as I have seen always seems to go for around $100. I'm going to surmise, based on previous experience with inexpensive wide-angle zoom lenses (especially plastic ones), this is another instance of "you get what you pay for". I have only made a couple shots on one in-store when looking at a used sample but I'm sure you can get some decent results under the right conditions. If you're particular about optics however, you'll have this on craigslist in no time. It's not a sleeper if that's what you're wondering.