What's the latest lens you added to your collection?

DrBB · Joined: 26 Mar 2014 Posts: 117 Location: Croatia

Just won Voigtländer Super-Dynarex 135mm f4 (DKL) for 12eur

2manylens · Joined: 05 Jul 2024 Posts: 1

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Canon FL 50mm 1.4. Mostly shot at f/2. Has some weird bokeh at times, lots of coma in the corners wide open. I can see why it's not popular, but it is actually better than most old lenses wide open. A couple of the closeup shots I did were wide open.

Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 661 Location: New Zealand

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1214 Location: Winnipeg Canada

Older Soligor 135mm f3.5.

Quick test shot at wide open and ISO 400 seems alright. It wants to fringe in strong back-light, and will probably need a hood.
49mm filter thread diameter. Lens looks like what someone here called looking like a 55-58mm on an extension tube.
I can't tell if it's coated or not- if it is, it's awfully thin coating(s). It is fairly compact for a 135mm. I should compare it size-wise to a few other similar focal lengths around here.
I'll have to fabricate an aperture indexing tab for it so's I can test further without getting muddled on exposure Wink

I got myself another fairly good migraine going just trying to sort through all the Soligor info on this sub-forum.

-D.S.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Welcome 2manylens! Where in the World are you located? Smile

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3221 Location: The Netherlands

Ok, my Takumar 200mm f/3.5 has just arrived. It definitely is an impressive lens, despite being 60 years old it looks almost new and all mechanical parts move like it just left the factory. I will share some images soon.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Vintage_Photographer · Joined: 10 Jun 2024 Posts: 72

Added a Minolta MD 75-200 f/4.5 to the collection. It arrived, was unpacked and packed back up again immediately. Front and rear lenses were covered with fungus!

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4080 Location: Switzerland

Vintage_Photographer · Joined: 10 Jun 2024 Posts: 72

blotafton · Joined: 08 Aug 2013 Posts: 1636 Location: Sweden

Vintage_Photographer · Joined: 10 Jun 2024 Posts: 72

Tokina SD (version 1) 70-210 4.5-5.6 arrived today and initial impressions are pretty positive.

It's quite small and light and is very smooth zoom (push/pull) and focus. Aperture rings have nice clicks too.

Images look to be nice and sharp from f/8 onwards (at 200mm) but a little soft wide open.
f/5.6

f/8.0

f/11

f/13

Focus point for each were the stamen pollen grains.

Zooming right in at f/5.6

All in all an excellent result for just £2.99 and £3.98 postage!

Camera used was Fuji X-T4 (26MP).

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Pretty good zoom lens results!

Vintage_Photographer · Joined: 10 Jun 2024 Posts: 72

Just added this little baby.
Sigma 28-70 Zoom-Є f3.5-4.5 - quite compact and smaller than the MD 35-70 though not up to that lens's sharpness (but much cheaper too!).

Wasn't able to find much about this lens online - most reviews are for the later UC version.

Another eBay bargain at £6 plus £3 postage.
Initial impressions are fairly positive. Annoyingly zooming in or out doesn't maintain focus but in terms of sharpness of image whist not ground breaking is perfectly acceptable. A little CA on occasion but nothing horrendous.

Vintage_Photographer · Joined: 10 Jun 2024 Posts: 72

Quick test shot at 70mm f/8 - just a cactus on the window sill.

Pixel peeping at 100%

pepperberry farm · Joined: 02 Jan 2017 Posts: 50

Oldhand · Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2024 12:42 am Post subject:

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 253 Location: Austria

I bought this lens around last Christmas from a seller in Haifa, Israel. And then it was shipped to Australia, because of a mistake made by Israelian Post. It was an ordeal, to say the least, especially for the seller, to have the lens returned to his place. It finally arrived after more than six months in transit and I picked it up today from the post office.
Personal note: When buying from international sellers, always recommend the seller to write "Österreich" instead of Austria. It makes the post clerks frown since they have never heard of the country and then they look it up and put it right. Australia and Austria is the most common mistake in international shipment.

The exterior looks like the lens got some good use during its lifetime. Must have been taken on and off a million times, as the little remaining paint on the bayonet indicates. However, the lenses are clear, no fungus and almost complete absence of visible dust. Focussing is smooth and aperture snappy. The 35/1.4 varies extremely in price and goes up to EUR 1.500,--, this one was (probably due to its shabby look) really very attractively priced. I think I got a good one. First light tomorrow on the D610 Wink

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4080 Location: Switzerland

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 253 Location: Austria

Doc Sharptail · Joined: 23 Nov 2020 Posts: 1214 Location: Winnipeg Canada

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4080 Location: Switzerland

pepperberry farm · Joined: 02 Jan 2017 Posts: 50

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 253 Location: Austria

Hi Doc, challenge accepted Wink

First few shots with the 35/1.4 Nikkor on D610. I´ve developed the following images from the NEF files without any changes, though Active D-Lighting is on AUTO and I left that as it is. The images are sized down to 1600x1068.

1/2500 sec @ f1.4 & ISO100 and around closest focus distance. Manage light and angle towards the background right, you might get rewarded. Notice there´s already plenty of sharpness, though it´s veiled. Playing a little bit with dynamic range and contrast would yield a quite acceptable result. I think that applies to most of the following images.
#1

100% crop from above
#2

1/1000 sec @ f1.4 & ISO100 again near close focus distance. The background is about a meter away from the object and it starts to show rather in an unpleasant unruly way. Again veil, but also sharpness, and a bit of luck with the bumblebee. In order to get an agreeable image, some correction in exposure and contrast, probably saturation, might suffice.
#3

100% crop from above
#4

1/1250 sec @ f2.8 & ISO100. Again close to min focus distance and from a similar angle like #1, but stopped down 2 clicks.
#5

100% crop from above
#6

1/4000 sec @ f1.4 & ISO100. Daylight landscape wide open. Rolling Eyes

#7

100% crop from above
#8

100% crop from similar image but stopped down to f2. The haze is mostly gone and it shows quite some detail. Already at this aperture, it is good and actually much better than my Olympus Zuiko 35mm f2, which shows a whole lot more haze at f2! I made a series down to f/11 and it continues to improve right up to this aperture, though from f2.8 - f4 only in corners and edges. The center is already pretty fine from that aperture onwards.
#9

Following three images are a 100% crop comparison between f1.4 and f2.8
1/3200 sec @ f1.4 & ISO100
#10

100% crop from above
#11

100% crop from similar image but stopped down to f2.8
#12

1/2000 sec @ f1.4 & ISO100. Again something no one in his right mind would do with this lens, though I find it fought well. Here I used Active D-Lighting to brighten up the moss-overgrown tree trunk.
#13

My thoughts, after the first few images: it needs some good practice to get to know the lens thus make sense of it. It´s not an easy going bloke and a creature of the night. It performs well from f2.8 onwards and is then pretty comparable in its performance with a lot of other, slower 35ers from that aperture onwards. F2 and f1.4 should be used under appropriate low light conditions and will most likely perform only well under these conditions, though you might get lucky while experimenting in daylight with them.

35mm is an ideal focal length and certainly far more practical than the (similarly fast) 50s that time already offered. Immensely usable for a press photographer, who´s goal is first to catch the moment, second to win the beauty contest. With that in mind, Nikon designed this exceptional lens, and the pro´s took the two clicks down with gladness.