Your preferred 12 mf lenses and why

[Orio]

Warning: this thread belongs to the series of useless but fun threads

Post the list of your 12 preferred manual focus lenses, with a short comment on the reason why, and one -only one!- sample photo for each!
(you can add a 100% crop of the photo if you think it's necessary to show detail)
I wrote "preferred" rather than best, because you should not list a lens because it's chic or most valuable or famous,
but because of what it does for you in real use.
Please, if possible, make ranked lists (not casual order).

Here's my list:

1) Contax Distagon 1.4/35
I can do everything with this focal lenght and speed: landscapes, portraits, night scenes, you name it.
It always performs flawlessly and gives an undefinable magic to my images.
But what I appreciate more is that you can use it unprotected in any light conditions, and it never ever flares:




2) Contax Planar 1.4/85
It's not a perfect lens (it shows quite some CA wide open), but in my opinion it's the best lens for female portraits ever made.
The combination of sharpness and out of focus transition creates an atmosphere for female portraiture, glamour and fashion
that I have been unable to recreate with any other lens:




3) Contax Planar 1.2/85 50 Jahre
This lens, in spite of it's extreme speed, is insanely sharp wide open, and, in spite of it's large front glass, handles flare
admirably. The extra half stop speed compared to the 1.4/85 makes it possible to have a slight but sometimes decisive
advantage in those low light situations when maintaining a fast shutter speed is indispensable:




4) ZM Biogon 2/35
I bought this lens because it's the commercial lens with the smallest geometric distortion, and I love wide angles
that do not distort architecture. Using it, I have found another quality: it is so outworldly sharp, that I can take a photo
at any distance, and crop it to any size, and obtain a photo equivalent for image quality to one produced by the best of tele or macro lenses:





5) Contax Planar 2/135
This lens is perfectly sharp wide open, and it makes medium-range telephoto photography available also in
critical low light conditions. It works perfectly also as a female portrait lens due to the wonderful out of focus rendering:




6) Contax Distagon 2/28 "Hollywood"
Quite simply, this lens renders the most amazing dimensionality I ever found in photographs.
Every time you take a photo with this lens, you just can not wait to see the result:




7) Leitz Apo-Telyt-R 3.4/180
An amazing long tele lens that is perfectly sharp wide open, as the following example (taken hand-held) will show.
It is also very compact and portable:





8 ) Contax Vario-Sonnar 4.5-5.6/100-300
This zoom is perfectly sharp wide open and it lets me take photos through the whole medium-to-long focal range
without changing optics and with a reasonable size and weight even for travels. This sample photo (and following crop) wide open:





9) Contax Distagon 2.8/21
This lens can take any super wide angle challenge and win it effortlessly. It's image quality and perfect detail readability are impeccable
down to the farthest corners of the image:




10) Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 3.5/90 SL
The super sharpness and excellent control of CA make this lens ideal for landscape use,
but it can work great also as portrait and snapshot lens:





11) Contax Distagon 2.8/25
The small size and excellent performance make of this compact, very portable super wide lens
the ideal companion for my travels and for capturing live events inconspicuously:





11) Contax Planar 1.4/50
This standard lens you can take everywhere and use it with all lighting conditions.
It is very sharp stopped down, but evocatively poetic wide open, and records all the most
delicate shades of colour vividly:




Finally you may ask: why 12 choices? Why not 10?
Well, because 12 in numerology is the number of the greater knowledge, and, 12 are the hours on the watch
and the months in the year, and photography has a lot to do with the passing time.
Also, 10 sounded too rational and utilitarian. 12 sounded more artistic

[adent]

I'll have to get back to you in a few months. I am thinking that by that time I "may" own enough MF lenses to participate.....

[Pancolart]

Beautiful article and nice motivation for future work (it will be very hard to mach quality of this presentation). Also an ode to Zeiss.

[poilu]

great Zeiss showroom!
the pancake Zeiss 45mm is not my preferred lens but it have great quality
it is one of the sharpest, the smallest, give great colors, no CA and quite flare resistant
it is not my preferred because it is too small for fast shots and too slow for dark shots
but like all Zeiss, it is reliable and never disappoint

[WolverineX]

It's difficult to choose favorite lenses...it's like choosing between your kids...

but, here is my dirty dozen (I'll add samples later)

1. Olympus 90mm/2
- Legendary Olympus macro lens, should i say more?



2. Olympus 35mm/2
- My favorite portrait lens at the moment. As i'm using it on Olympus dSLR, because of the crop factor it's effectively a 70mm lens for me



3. Olympus 500mm/8
- Quality mirror lens that gives me lot of reach in small package (as they all)



4. CZJ Pancolar 50mm/1.8
- Famous lens and yet still pretty affordable, one of the best 50mm lenses out there



5. Industar 61 L/Z 50mm/2.8
- Little sharp lens with macro capability, nice substitute for bigger sister Volna-9, good to have in your photo bag



6. Nikkor 20mm/4
- Smallest 20mm lens and probably the sharpest, that will be my favorite super wide angle lens…until i manage to get Olympus OM 18mm/3.5…



7. Nikkor 28mm/2.8 Ais
- Nikkor optics with excellent close up ability, very useful combination



8. Tair – 3 300mm/4.5
- Built like a tank…and weighs as much…but stellar performer in it's focal range



9. Panagor 55mm/2.8 / Vivitar 90mm/2.8
- A pair of macro siblings , that i couldn't choose one over another, both go to 1:1 magnification, i only miss their third sibling Vivitar 135mm close focus



10. Tokina AT-X 80-200mm/2.8
- Excellent optics with constant aperture



11. Tokina AT-X 35-70mm/2.8
- Another from 2.8 line of Tokina lenses that has quality performance



12. Tokina AT-X 50-250mm/5
- If you need to take just one lens, this is the one, swiss army knife of the lens world. Covers focal lenghts from 50mm to 250mm and has a great macro ability for a zoom lens going to 1:1,4 magnification



and there are more lenses i have that at least deserve a honorable mention, like micro-nikkor trio, rokkor 35-70/3.5, sigma 8mm fisheye, oly 55mm/1.2 and so on...

[LucisPictor]

I love threads like this one!

Orio, one question: I do use several cameras and I prefer different lenses on those cameras. Do I give 12 for each cam or 12 altogether?

[poilu]

[Excalibur]

[LucisPictor]

[Orio]

[Orio]

[vlousada]

@Orio,
Impressive that Contax lenses are your first 6 favourite..
If I have them all, those would be my favourite too

@wolverineX
Zuiko 90 surely one in Top list... Hope I can buy one someday!



My modest 12 favourites so far:

1. Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 L
Realy love this one, but if I can trade it for an Aspherical version won't think twice

2. Minolta Rokkor 58mm 1.2 converted to EOS
Legendary lens.

3. Canon FD 135mm f/2 converted to EOS
My fastest 135mm (my favourite focal length) and very sharp wide open. Great use on 5d2..

4. Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5 Macro
One great macro lens

5. Zuiko 21mm f/2
Great small lens for landscapes.

6. Contax Distagon 135mm f/2.8
Another very good 135mm

7. Contax Distagon 180mm f/2.8
This lens is one of my top lenses. I need learn how better use it

8. Zeiss Pancolar 80mm f/1.8 M42
What a fantastic "portrait" lens

9. Contax Planar 50mm f/1.4
One of best 50mm in my collection

10. Zuiko 50mm f3.5 Macro
Another good macro compact lens

11. Tair 11A 135mm f2.8
my favourite soviet so far

12. Minolta Rokkor MC 85mm f1.7
Just to complete the list

[jjphoto]

I don't really have favourites.

[GrahamNR17]

I don't have twelve lenses. Am I excluded as being a sad excuse for a lens collector, or can I list them all twice

[Orio]

[ManualFocus-G]

Good thread!

#1 - Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50/1.4

Always, always performs whatever the light. Great pop and contrast. This is a rubbish example of the pop and colours, but shows it can be used in dark conditions and come up with the goods (grain added in pp)


Offering a ride by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#2 - Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 100-300/4.5-5.6

This is a truely incredible lens. Great for both portraits and wildlife...it's sharp and has loads of pop and almost no CA.


Young elephant seal yawning by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#3 - Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 35-70/3.4

An exceptional walkaround zoom...it's a little long at the short end, but images have nice pop and colours and are very sharp!


Why lie, I need a beer by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#4 - Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85/1.4

Simply the best portrait lens I've ever used. Exceptional pop and contrast.



#5 - Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28/2.8

Another lens from the factory of sharpness! Great for landscapes but also provides pop for close ups.


Lone poppy by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#6 - Pentacon 135/2.8 preset

Buttery smooth bokeh by the bucket load, and nice pop.


Sunflowers with the Sony a100 and Pentacon 135/2.8 preset (2) by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#7 - Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 135/3.5

The lens produces nice pop and fanatasic colours, even wide open.


Furzey Gardens (21) by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#8 - Samyang 14/2.8

Sharp even at f2.8! And it's sooooooo wiiiiiiiiide!


Crown Victoria sweeps past by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#9 - Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100/2.8

A very useful lens for macro, but also for portraits. Sharp wide open, fantastic colours, contrast and pop.


Fiancee! by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#10 - Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35/2.8

A cult classic, I just love the vintage images it produces. Not bad for close ups either


Saga Rose ready to depart from Southampton by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr

#11 - Tamron Nestar 400/6.9

I must get some samples up! This screwaway lens is really sharp wide open and very light!

No samples at the moment.

#12 - Aetna Coligon 100/2.5

Stumbled across this lens for very little money but it produces wonderful colours and bokeh.


More Southampton docks at night by ManualFocus-G, on Flickr[/b]

Others which pop into and out of the list

Nikkor Ais 24/2.8
Nikkor Ai 20/4
Nikkor-N 28/2
Tamron SP 28-80
Tamron SP 17/3.5
Super Takumar 55/2
Super Takumar 105/2.8
S-M-C Takumar 35/2
Konica 40/1.8

[Lordcamel]

Yep I love this thread and I love your 2nd pic taken with the 100-300 vario !

Unfortunately I won't have samples for all of them but here's a few lenses I've owned and loved :

1 : Nikon 180 2.8

An amazing Lens really





2 : Leica R 50 f2 Summicron

SHARP! Nice focus throw




3 : Zeiss 25 Distagon

Incredible lens, great character, incredible details

Love those colors !


Nice details


Great character close up


4 : Nikon 50 1.8 Great performer wide open too (AF version but manually focused)



5 : Nikon 50 1.2 AIS (samples soon)

6 : Nikon 35 1.4 AIS (samples soon)

7 : Leica R 35-70 f4 Amazingly sharp ! Nice macro capabilities and .. did I say sharp ?!

8 8 10 11 12 : Will have to think about it ..

[tomasg]

I tend to like MF lenses for their carachter (read faults) too, anyway lately they are preferred to my AF lenses so far i have a rather small collection, that it s slowly growing. I am sort of limited a bit, being a Nikon user, but that is going to change, either with a Sony NEX in the near future, or in some years with a FF mirrorless. So here we go:

Vivitar 17/3.5 Tokina made, small, light, 17 mm is plenty wide on FF, a lens that makes you think a lot, racommended to learn framing, composition

#1


Nikkor 24/2.8 i am not the one to discover this lens , small a joy to use

#2


Nikkor 28/2 again one that doesn t need much presentation from me, great close up performance, good classic bokeh

#3


Nikkor 55/3.5 Micro, altough macro photography is not my thing much, this is great for casual work, great for infinity lendscape

#4


CZJ Biotar 58/2, as you know famous for it s swirly bokeh, great overall too, after all it s a CZ, one of the creative lenses

#5


Samyang 85/1.4, modern lens, really excellent wide open

#6


Helios 40, magic? wild bokeh, swirls, glow, sharp stopped down, the crome version is beautiful too, just special. Big and bulky.

#7


Vivitar 85/1.5, rare i think, the best word to describe it is gentle, not very contrasty but sharp, 15 blades for perfect circular highlights at f2.8, f4, f5.6

#8


Nikkor 105/2.5 a classic, a must have for every Nikon owner and not

#9


Mayer Trioplan, again a creative lens, painters bokeh, great bokeh highlights

#10


CZJ Sonnar 135/3.5 color, contrast, bokeh...you know

#11


Tair 11a, bokeh, bokeh highlights stopped down, low on contrast, big and heavy
#12


Tomas

[Excalibur]

****I love threads like this one!****

A rich man's thread ......... if you totalled the prices of the lenses posted it would come to 1000's of £££££s and the average member would be embarrassed to post his ordinary lenses. Hey but I don't care and do have favourites:-

Sigma 24mm superwide II
This lens is very sharp and even shows in this low supermarket scan:-


Hexanon 28mm f3.5
Always gives pretty and sharp results (well on film)


Canon FDn 35mm f2.8
Another sharp lens I use mainly for people


Pentax Super tak 35mm f3.5
As everyone knows:- a lens that gives excellent results



Hexanon 40mm f1.8
This is just an excellent lens


Meyer 135mm f2.8
We all know this is a VG lens, so an unusual shot of pond weed:-


Kiron 80-200mm f4 non zoom lock
I like this lens because it was cheap to buy and it's sharp:-



For low light all I have is:- Minolta 58mm f1.4 and Canon 50mm f1.4 so I suppose these would have to be my favourites

Minolta PF 58mm f1.4 using flash and a crop:-

[Nesster]

Orio, I am depressed as I am not shooting at all of late. But your first three photos make my heart glad and are like butter.

[Orio]

[Orio]

[gaeger]

I don't have any truly exotic lenses, and I'm definitely not rich. In fact, at the end, I'll tell you the collective cost of all of these lenses.

My favorite lens ever is the Nikkor 50-300mm ED AIS. It's sharp wide open throughout its range, but it's a big old beast, and one doesn't really want to carry it into the mountains!



Since we're on zooms, let's continue with a couple of really fun ones. First is the Nikkor 35-200 f3.5, which is one of the few "macro" Nikkors that even get close to "macro." It has its problems: fringing, and on the long end it's so long that the whole apparatus is flexible and that can result in out of focus edges. But its wide range make it a good lens for me for hiking. I can take with a superwide and call it good.



The last zoom in the gang is the Nikkor 50-135mm f3.5, a really well-built and handsome lens. Great for mid-range use.



On to the telephotos! First is the Nikkor 300mm f4.5 ED-IF. It is really light for a 300mm, which can be both a blessing and a curse. But the focus is to die for -- one pinkie on the focus ring is all it takes.



Next, we have what could be the lowliest Nikkor telephoto, the 135mm f3.5 AI. People drool over the 105s, 100s and 85s of the world and miss out on one of Nikon's sharpest lenses, which can be got for a song



OK, so I've dissed the Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AIS. But it still makes my list. Small and ultra sharp.



Can't afford a 105? (You can but more on that later.) How about the Nikon Series E 100mm f2.8? This is a tiny lens that can approach the 105 in sharpness, though perhaps not in contrast.



Now we're to the sharpest lens I own, the Nikkor 55mm f2.8 AIS. This thing is like a razor and pretty versatile, too. If I had take one lens on a trip, it might be this one.



In the 35mm range, I have a sentimental favorite. It's the first Nikkor I ever owned, the Nikkor-S 35mm f2.8. It came with the battered, plain-prism Nikon F that I bought when I was in J-school in the 1970s. It served me well there and through the years. It sits most of the time now. Here's a blast from its past.



Just a little wider is the Nikkor 28mm f3.5, a great alternative to the f2.8 in that range. It's compact and tough and good walking-around lens.



I've owned the Nikkor 20mm f4 K version, the Nikkor-UD 20mm f3.5 and now the Nikkor 20mm f3.5 AIS. Great little lens, maybe not the character of the UD, but still pretty good. It's better close up than far away, but still no slouch for panoramic landscapes.



Finally, I'm going to cheat. A lens I reach for just as often as any of my manual lenses deserves a mention on any "best" list. It's the lowly, lowly Nikkor 18-55mm AF-S, the kit lens that came on a gazillion Nikon DSLRs and that people turn up their noses at because of its cheap plastic build. In a word, it's fantastic.



Now the end note. All of these lenses together cost me a collective total of $0. That's right, zero. I've been lucky to buy lens lots over the years and to sell off the ones that I can't justify keeping (though sometimes I would really like to have kept them), earning enough to cover the original cost. So this bunch has been free. Now, autofocus lenses are another matter ...

[iangreenhalgh1]

My modest collection, most of these I bought for peanuts, none were expensive, all below 35ukp, most below 15.

1. Petri CC Auto f1.8 55mm - awesome, dare I say, as good as a Pancolar? Cost me 99p.

2. Tair-3C f4.5 300mm - huge and heavy but superb optics and I love the focusing wheel.

3. Tokina RMC f3.5 17mm - fantastic ultra-wide for my NEX

4. Wollensak Apochromatic Raptar f10 541mm - process lens I remounted for telephoto use, stunningly good

5. Ross Xpress f4.5 8.5inch - large format lens I remounted, razor sharp, contrasty, great colours, great telephoto. Another 99p lucky find.

6. Pentacon f2.8 135mm - the bokeh monster with 15 blades, always in my shooting bag.

7. Meyer Oreston f1.8 50mm/Pentacon f1.8 50mm - I own both and they are the same, fantastic bokeh, sharpness and colours, the Pentacon one was 99p in mint condition, everyone should own one.

8. Pentacon f4 200mm - typical Meyer/Pentacon colours and boekh and pretty sharp with excellent CA control.

9. Gaumont Kalee Bloomed f2.2 5inch projection lens - the best portrait lens I can imagine, tiny dof, super creamy bokeh, just dreamy and wonderful images.

10. Rathenower Optische Werke Visionar f1.9 168mm - ginormous and ultra-heavy 35mm projection lens, Petzval type like the Kalee above, unique renderings, my most artistic lens, cost me 1 euro.

11. Docter Optics 3.3-19.5x Wide Angle Zoom - massive and incredibly heavy zoom lens from a Gretag printing machine, at the long end hits infinity and is incredibly sharp with a compeltely flat field and a good deal of 3D quality, at the short end, greater than lifesize macro with zero CA, incredible lens that cost tens of thousands new and cost me 99p.

12. Pentacon f3.5 30mm - same as Meyer Lydith, a very small all-metal lens that is an ultra-reliable workhorse on both my EOS 10D and NEX-3, never let me down, sharp, contrasty, typical Meyer colours and bokeh, if I had to have just one lens, this one would be my choice probably, not stellar but very good in all situations. It cost me 12ukp and has repaid every penny ten-fold.

[Orio]

The thread is starting to become really interesting.
Gaeger, nice collections of Nikkors you use, and what excellent photos you took with them!