Planar 50/1.4 MM, sell or convert to Pentax?

[ludoo]

I just bought a Planar 50/1.4 MM at what seems like an exceptionally good price, and am now faced with the eternal dilemma: should I buy a Leitax conversion kit to fit it on my Pentax, or sell it to make a small profit which will go to the 5D fund?

I don't know much about this lens, so can those of you who have it tell me what I should expect from it, compared to the Nikkor SC 50/1.4, Mamiya/Tomioka 55/1.4, Super Takumar 50/1.4, or even slower lenses like the Pancolar, SMC Takumar 55/1.8, etc?

And what would be a honest price, both for me as a seller and for the buyer, if I decide to put it for sale here to fellow members? The lens has a minor scratch to the black paint on the exterior of the filter thread, some minor dust between the elements, but is otherwise in excellent shape and has the original box and caps.

[Lazzaros]

If you need to fund the 5D and don't want to use it on that camera you could sell it and make some profit.... But..You could use it in your future 5D too...

[Jesito]

I've done the Leitax conversion a couple of times with the 50mm 1.7 and it's quite straightforward. The investment is not too much, the conversion is reversible, and even you can sell it afterwards for more (because the scarcity of K mounted Planars).

So my advice is: take the conversion, enjoy it now and when you have to fund the 5D sell it with some profit.

This is a sample taken with the Planar 50mm 1.7 leitax converted on my *istDS:



Regards.
Jes.

[ludoo]

[Jesito]

[ManualFocus-G]

The Planar is an incredible lens, my favourite standard lens by quite some way. I just love the colours and "pop" that you don't often get from other lenses. I'd keep it, and keep it as C/Y. When you get your 5D, you will just LOVE this lens

[ludoo]

[egidio]

I wouldnt sell this lens now, Its worth more than (I think)300eur you would get for it. Wait, use it on 5d later, or wait till it gets 500eur+ and sell it on bay. I have a crop now, but I tested this lens on FF, it just shines on big sensor.

[ludoo]

[Jesito]

[Seele]

The thing is: you can get this lens brand new in Nikon Ai-S, Canon EF (manual focus only), Pentax KA, and two forms of M42 mount. A bit costlier, but made with the same machines: the tools at Tomioka were transferred to Cosina's works after Kyocera threw in the towel, and Zeiss did not see any point in making them in C/Y mount anyway, so they decided to make it in other mounts.

http://www.cosina.co.jp/seihin/cz/zf-50/index.html

[ludoo]

Seele, I knew of its existence, but I did not know the current lens was identical. "A bit costlier" though is an understatement, as the new lens is listed at more than 550£, which translates to about 700€.

[Hari]

Ludoo - if you want to sell the planar, do let me know

The moron I paid sent me a broken lens and shut down his account on ebay :/

[aoleg]

Another prospective buyer If you decide to sell, I'll be next in line!

I'm sure you'll enjoy the lens though.

[ludoo]

Lots of interest for Zeiss lenses.

I picked it up this morning and it's mechanically perfect, even the scratches on the black paint around the filter thread were greatly exaggerated in the pictures, and are almost invisible.

Optically it's in fair condition: a few dust specks inside, a few very faint cleaning marks visible only from the back pointing against a strong light, and a minuscule trace along the edge of the front element of what could be just dirt/grease or the beginning of fungus. It's so tiny that I had to show the store people how to see it, and it took them a couple of tries before they noticed it. I will monitor it, worst thing -- if it's fungus and I notice it growing, which seems unlikely -- I will have the front element cleaned.

It's funny though how they treat lenses such as this one: the store caters to collectors of very expensive gear (Leica, Contax, high-end Nikon stuff, etc.), and for them a lens which is not absolutely mint is worth very little. They even told me that cleaning a lens such as this, in case it develops the beginning of fungus, is not worth it: according to them, even when cleaned its value would still be substantially lower than a mint example, and the 50 (more like 15 but I did not argue the point) euros of the cleaning job are wasted. On ebay, a lens like this without major faults and in perfect usable condition would be a really good find and fetch a substantially higher price... I am more and more convinced that the real bargains are of "user" condition gear from excellent stores, much better value and less risk than buying from ebay.

[Scheimpflug]