Is this SOLIGOR worth it ?

[Stanley]

Hi everybody,

I don't know much about M42'quality lenses and I wonder if this Soligor is a good lens or not.

Here is what I have :

SOLIGOR TELE-AUTO 300mm 5.5
filter: 62mm
serial: 17102972



What's your advice ?

Tks in advance,

Stanley

[Lloydy]

I bought one a couple of weeks ago for about £20 I think, I bought a few lenses at the same time and that figure seems about right.

It's an OK lens, I've used it a bit and had decent results. It's lighter and smaller than my Tair 300, but it's a stop slower.
I haven't compared the two side by side yet, but I suspect the Tair will be a bit sharper.

The build quality is decent enough, it's got a tripod ring and a built in hood.
I like it.

There's a few pictures on my Flickr pages taken with it -


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/5025863574/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/5025246507/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/4948162555/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/4948160977/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/4948159723/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/4948748464/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/4948157007/in/photostream/

Manual focus lens set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudplugga/sets/72157624144175231/





.

[Stanley]

Thanks Lloydy !

[ManualFocus-G]

It's a Tokina made lens, and if it's as sharp as the previous 300/5.5 model, then it should be very good

[luisalegria]

I have it, its quite a good lens.

Do not pay too much for it, it can easily be found very cheap.

No more than $20 for a clean one.

[Stanley]

Thanks for your advises

I think I'll get my hands on it for 5 EUR.

A misslisted item somewhere on the bay...

[luisalegria]

You need to also consider your risks of the mount

The lens in your picture is almost certainly a T4 interchangable mount, but the mount on it seems to be a Miranda (thats the Miranda meter coupling arm on it I think).

You can get a more useful T4 mount like M42 or Nikon, but you will probably have to look for a lens that has it.

[Stanley]

Yes indeed, there is something with Miranda about it.

I tought it was a camera brand or something... Is it a mount or part of a mount ?

You talk about considering risks, what is it ? It seems there is something I should know...that I ignore.

Can you tell me more about it ?

[luisalegria]

The risk is that often sellers do not know or say what mount the lens has.
So its possible to buy an attractive lens with a mount you can't use.

Miranda was a camera maker that had its own type of mount - actually had two mounts on each camera, a 44mm screw and a breechlock. Lenses made for either mount have the same problems. This one looks like the breechlock type because of the metering connector.

Miranda mounts don't have converters to any modern camera mount, unlike M42 or Nikon. This Soligor looks like it has the T4 interchangable mount system (same idea as Tamron Adaptall)

So you should be able to remove the Miranda mount and put in a T4 M42 or Nikon. But you will need that M42 or Nikon T4.

Some mounts to watch out for -

These are some makes that have no modern adapters that I know of for anything, maybe not even 4/3 types or cameras without a mirror. Some people replace the mounts, but this requires some skill and daring.

Konica
Miranda
Petri Breechlock
Alpa
Praktina
Praktiflex
Fujica bayonet
Mamiya bayonet

Depending on the make of your DSLR there are other cases that can also cause problems, very common ones being the Canon FL/FD breechlock and the Minolta MD. " target="_blank">Click here to see on Ebay

[Andrew G.]

[Stanley]

allright allright, I learn something... thank you.

So what choice do I have for the best result on my Canon DSLR ?

how can I ensure myself that a lens will fit my canon ? (otherwise than clearly announced M42)

How many mounts does exist ?

[luisalegria]

How many mounts ? More than a hundred probably, most not common.

This list is incomplete -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_mount

Canon EOS mount has many adapters available.

Easily available adapters to Canon - at least mechanically

M42
Nikon
Olympus
Pentax K
Rollei
Exakta/Topcon (mostly, some Topcons have a different mount)
Yashica/Contax
Leica R
Retina Reflex/Bessamatic
Praktica bayonet
Hasselblad
Pentacon P6
etc.

The experts here probably have a full list somewhere.

And of course there are Tamron Adaptall mounts.

There are also adapters that have lenses to permit infinity focus, the usual ones are for Canon FD and Minolta MD, but this seems to often be an unsatisfactory solution.

[Stanley]

I had in my mind that M42 mount was used for most of the brands during 70's - 80's period.

So, I have a nikon eos convertor and I'm (still) waiting for an M42, so I'll (try) to stay focused on these two.

thanks again for the tips

[Sevo]

[Stanley]

so PK has nothing to do with PratiKar and all the T are interchangeable mount and could fit with M42 adaptors, right ?

[ManualFocus-G]

Correct, Prakticar lenses are also known as pb lenses. Pentax k are known as pk lenses. Both are different. T mount lenses are adaptable to pretty much any camera.

[Sevo]

PK is "Pentax K". Pentacon used it on the Praktika B series, too, but only some years after Pentax had introduced it.

[SkedAddled]

Yes, that is most likely the T4 mount. As already mentioned, it is similar to Tamron's Adaptall interchangeable mount. This is my Tokina-made Soligor 400 f/6.3 T4 M42 mount in detail. It uses a breech-lock ring similar to the Canon FD lenses, which attaches to the particular mount being used. It's a versatile system, but locating different mounts is normally not as easy as finding Adaptall mounts.