Who knows about Kestrel lenses?

diddy · Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Posts: 288

Hi,
I came across a lens badged "Kestrel". I could not find any info about it on Google. Does somebody here know who produced these Kestrel lenses?
Thanks,
Diddy

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I have seen 135mm marked Kestrel, I think it was a Samyang, they will be right at the bottom of the price/quality scale.

diddy · Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Posts: 288

Thanks a lot! I saw a 28mm 2.8 which looked basically like new. I will look for something better then.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

If your camera can use it, get the Pentacon 2.8/28, it's a really good lens and possibly the cheapest 28 you can buy.

diddy · Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Posts: 288

Thanks for the hint! This is on is BP mount, or? I have to get a lens for m42 mount. I was looking at 29mm or 30mm Pentacon / Meyer but most of the reviews say that they are not that great (or?). Do you have another suggestion perhaps?

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I've got a 30mm f3.5 Pentacon that's very good, and easily found for very little money, as is the Carl Zeiss Jena 29 f2.8 that I recently bought in a charity shop for £10 - with a mint Praktica, deals are still out there, and there are some very decent lenses around in this range.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I had the 3.5/30 and 2.8/29, both are, as David says, very good lenses, the 29 is supposed to suffer from copy variation in the later examples but the one I had was excellent, it was an early one when they were stilled badged Meyer Optik. I had a later Pentacon 3.5/30 and that was also really good. The 29 has weak corners wide open, even on APS-C but this can be used to creative effect and it goes away stopped down.

I think the PB mount 2.8/28 is slightly better than both the 29 and 30, probably mostly due to better coatings, being a later lens, at f8 it's really sharp and as good as most much more expensive 28mms, I've got two copies, one was 6ukp on ebay recently, the other was 5ukp on ebay ages ago.

I'd just grab the cheapest, best condition 28, 29 or 30 you can find and try it out.

diddy · Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Posts: 288

Ok, thanks a lot! I quite like the Carl Zeiss Jena / Pentacon / Meyer lenses, so I might give this a try.