Great bright 55/58mm for reasonable money

[MMouse]

Hello,

I had previously a great Voigtlander 58mm f/1,4.
Apart from chromatic aberrations with the A7, it is an superb lens and I enjoyed it.

Now I'm missing a good 55 to 58mm lens that could be a standard on the A7 and a 85mm on APS-C.

I need something bright, but I'm afraid f/1,2 lens will be almost as expensive as the Voigt so f/1,4 may be fine.
I look for decent sharpness wide open and not too distracting bokeh.

I have had a few 50mm lenses and that was the main point, sometimes beautiful bokeh but too much character for my liking.
For example my Minolta MC PG 50mm f/1,4 is sharp but I find it's bokeh on APS-C too harsh and it sometimes glow strangely on full frame. I think the Voigt had much smoother blur than the 50's I own.

Do you know a lens that could remplace the Voigt for significantly less money ?
I think I can spend about $200 if necessary.
Above that, I'll probably wait and buy another since I know it's a great lens.

Thank you for your advices.

[jamaeolus]

You can usually pick up a Canon FD 58 1.2 or even a 55 1.2 for around that sum. Either one is reasonably sharp at 1.4 and beyond....

[papasito]

If don't matter to you the CA, the MC 1,2/58 is a real great lens

[D1N0]

You should be able to pick of one of the Tomioka 55mm F1.4's (many brands) for around $50

[Lightshow]

[luisalegria]

How sharp is sharp?

Or sharp enough?

Thats very subjective.

As d1n0 says, there are tons of very similar and very cheap 7-element 55/1.4's around, actual makers uncertain, from the late 1960's-80's. All heavy metal things. Maybe they have too much character but thats also subjective.

[MMouse]

Thank you.
Did a few more researches and went on Flickr to see samples.
Some old lenses seems to be quite sharp with nice colors, but I don't like their bokeh that much. f/1,2 lenses are too expensive. I don't mind disturbing bokeh for f/1,8 lenses, but I want a smooth bokeh lens.

I'll probably wait until I could find a new Voigt.

[y]

The 55-58s are great. Most of them come from early 60s which implies not so great sharpness but great bokeh.

Topcon RE. Auto-Topcor 58/1.4 - an excellent lens with excellent bokeh at f/1.4-f/2. My personal fav. A limited edition of Voigtlander 58mm f/1,4 was modeled after this lens.

Konica Hexanon AR 57/1.4 - very nice bokeh for not much money

[MMouse]

Thank you.

Topcor looks quite similar to the Voigt but it's rare in Europe and not that cheap.

Minolta MC 58mm 1.4 and Konica 57mm 1.4 are probably among the best bokeh lenses in that period, but well I'm not 100% convinced. Looks very good on some shots but not what I'll call smooth.

[Sciolist]

[cooltouch]

Jamaeolus's recommendation of the Canon FD 55mm f/1.2 is a lens I can heartily recommend. If you're patient and you shop around, you should be able to find a nice copy for under $200. I know this to be true because I bought one for substantially less than $200.

Another lens to consider is the Canon FL 55mm f/1.2. It can usually be found for quite a bit less than the FD version. A significant fact to keep in mind is that the optical formula of the two lenses is identical. There is a difference in coatings and obviously a difference in the mounts, but using the lenses on a Sony mirrorless, this mount difference isn't going to matter.

I've done comparisons between my FD and FL 55mms and I can't tell a difference between the two under normally lit, bright sun conditions, so I don't think the coating differences are a very big deal, to be honest.

[D1N0]

[stevemark]

I have quite a few lenses in that range. Some of them i have been comparing here:
http://artaphot.ch/systemuebergreifend/objektive/477-standard-lens-bokeh-i


Among them, i would recommend the following:

* Minolta MC-II 1.4/58mm (sharper than the MC-I version); it is in fact more a 60mm lens, and it has a nice bokeh. Quite cheap (in the 50 USD range). Its bokeh is even slightly smoother that that of the FD 1.2/55mm (look at the link above)!!

* Konica AR 1.4/57mm: quite similar to the Minolta MC 1.4/58. Very cheap, often considerably below USD 50.--

* Minolta MC 1.2/58mm (in fact about 60mm): considerably smoother bokeh than the FD 1.2/55mm, slightly smoother than FL 1.2/58mm.

All these lenses have a much smoother bokeh than the corresponding 1.2 and 1.4/50mm lenses. For the bokeh, the longer focal length (about 60mm real focal length) is more important than the optical construction.
http://artaphot.ch/systemuebergreifend/objektive/479-standard-lens-bokeh-ii

Stephan

[Sciolist]

[KEO]

I have one of the Konica Hexanon 57mm f/1.4s, and I would say it has smooth bokeh.

[martinsmith99]

50/1.4 Takumar? Considerably cheaper than your budget and a good enough lens on my 5D mkii.

[MMouse]

Thank you.
I think the Voigt will be my own Christmas present. Unless I found a great gem, may happen, I don't know.