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What's the latest lens you added to your collection?
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cheap but very good IQ
* Canon FD 50mm F1.4 S.S.C breach lock

Rare and vintage IQ
* Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5cm f2 Nickel (1932)


PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2022 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Manichaean wrote:
NikonD wrote:
Sexy and very sharp


I got one of those recently in Ai-s version. Not in such perfect shape, but still quite fit. BTW I have noticed that Nikkor lenses are more often come up rather worn, probably due to the system being often used by professionals. May be I'm wrong but it seems that it is easier to find a Minolta in mint condition than a Nikon.


never noticed that... but I guess it's true... I always search for a lens that's in as good shape as possible


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
From my one of my favorite "enablers"...

One of the more maligned nikkors to come down the pike:
pre-a/i 43-86 f 3.5.

I will have to convert in order to see what all the fuss was about.
It was at a price I could live with, and in reasonably good condition.
I can't really tell much through the FT-2's viewfinder.
The chrome noses are starting to find me.

He has a pre-a/i 20mm f 3.5 that i'm really on the fence about...
Photo of the 43-86 in a bit, before I pull out the screw drivers and files Mr. Green

-D.S.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Pentacon 29mm f2.8 multi coating.

I haven't test it yet, many users here say that it's a crap😅 What do you think?


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Here it is on the FT-2.



There's top showing the aperture ring and depth of field scales.

It is a reverse zoom: push it out to increase magnification, and pull it back to reduce magnification.
Coatings are thin brown from the front, and slightly blue magenta from the rear.
Quality of the build is fairly high. There is no zoom-creep to this one.
It could have used a baffle over the rear element to prevent the ingress of dust.


This is at the 86mm position, and there is quite an opening there...

-D.S.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Recently I've been focusing much of my efforts on finding Astro-Berlin lenses at affordable prices.
The past week I just got these 3 pre-war 1930s Astro-Berlin lenses in the mail:

Astro-Berlin Pan-Tachar 200mm f/2.3
Made in the late 1930s.
Covers 9x12 cm format at infinity, and 4x5" at portrait distance. I will build a digital camera obscura to capture the full size of this incredible lens.
Optics are identical to other Pan-Tachar lenses: 4 elements, no groups, triplet variation.

Astro-Berlin Astro-Kino VII 50mm f/1.4
Made in the 1930s and was fitted on a Siemens 16mm projector.
Covers full frame at infinity, it has beautiful swirly bokeh and is very sharp. Lens barrel measuring 48mm diameter, which is an odd diameter for a projection lens to be.
Optics are similar to other Astro-Kino VII lenses, 7 elements in 3 groups, heavily modified petzval design.

Astro-Berlin Proj. Tachar 30mm f/1.8
Unknown production date, but I believe it to be from the 1930s. There is a D.R.P. markings on it, telling me it's pre-war at least. I have found sources of a Proj. Tachar 35mm f/1.8 from the early 1930s.
Cover approx. 85-90% full frame, thought you get a far more clean image on APS-C. The image circle of this surprised me, as the lens barrel was so small, measuring only about 20mm diameter.
Optics are identical to other Pan-Tachar lenses: 4 elements, no groups, triplet design variation.



PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mojtabaa wrote:
Pentacon 29mm f2.8 multi coating.

I haven't test it yet, many users here say that it's a crap😅 What do you think?


Crap in the corners and outer margins due to field curvature, so best used on a APS-C or M4/3 sensor and stopped down at least a couple of stops - wide open, even on an APS-C sensor, the margins of the frame are crap.

There is also a lot of copy variation, the rear element group is badly designed so that perfect alignment is not always achieved.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:
It is a reverse zoom: push it out to increase magnification, and pull it back to reduce magnification.


I've never really known if there is such a concept as "normal" and "reverse" for these push-pull zooms.

After all these years of using both I still can't decide which feels more natural to me... Wink


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mojtabaa wrote:
Pentacon 29mm f2.8 multi coating.

I haven't test it yet, many users here say that it's a crap😅 What do you think?


I think there's an agreement that, this lens is fitting better as character lens, that means , cropping corners on FF, it's not the best on this particular lens.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 5:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have just won this lot of bits for a whopping £13.

I am most interested in this long f5.5 lens and I'm struggling to identify it. I can't find any off-brand this big / long / wide aperture.





It appears bundled with a focusing grip + rear mount, I can only assume it's the original.



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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Usually I would't write about AF lenses here on MFlenses.com, but since the thread title is about "the latest lens you've added ..."
(not the latest MF lens ...) I'll make an exception Wink



On the left the Sony AL 2.8/70-200mm G, on the right the Minolta AF 2.8/70-200mm APO G SSM. While the Sony was my workhorse for years
(along with the Zeiss ZA 2.8/16-35mm), I did actually have the Minolta version for some time around 2004-2008. When I bought the
Minolta, it was an exceptionally rare piece, at least here in Switzerland. Basically only a handful of early adopters had acquired it because of its
high price (around CHF 2700.-- back then) AND because Minolta didn't have a "real" DSLR yet (the Dynax 7D just had been announced).
Even worse - their professional SLR, the Dynax / Maxxum / Alpha 9, didn't have the necessary electronics for SSM lenses yet!
In other words - it was a real niche product.

Fast forward to 2008. Sony had established their well made A700 and A900 DSLRs, and the Sony version of the 70-200 G (still made
by Minolta) was selling very well. Back then I started to write for the "Fotospiegel", a beautiful quarterly magazine on photography
published by Sony (previously Minolta, of course). It was then when Sony gave me the subtle hint that the Sony version would
better fit my A900! One or two years later I sold the Minolta 2.8/70-200mm APO G SSM, but always missed it.
Occasionally (two or three time over the last ten years) I saw one, and a few days ago I pulled the trigger.
Here it is, finally, again!

My next lens to be shown here will be an MF again, I promise Wink

S


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
RokkorDoctor wrote:
Doc Sharptail wrote:
It is a reverse zoom: push it out to increase magnification, and pull it back to reduce magnification.


I've never really known if there is such a concept as "normal" and "reverse" for these push-pull zooms.

After all these years of using both I still can't decide which feels more natural to me... Wink


MOST of the zooms I've experienced operated in the pull in to increase magnification~ several of which were nikkors of varying quality.
I have a strange tendency to buy zooms, and then not use them in favor of my primes...

-D.S.


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:

I have a strange tendency to buy zooms, and then not use them in favor of my primes...

-D.S.


Yeah, that's true for my (vintage) MF zooms as well.

However, in my "real world photography" (not the "vintage testing" stuff) I mainly use two zoom lenses: Sony Zeiss 2.8/16-35mm and Sony Minolta 2.8/70-200mm G.

Coupled with well designed DSLR I don't have that much weight to carry with me. The tele zoom is rigged onto a belt, so I don't have to carry it in my hands, and the DSLR with superwide is in my hands. Especially for cityscapes with quickly changing light such as setup is much better suited than a series of primes. If there's enough time and no hurry, I sometimes use a set of primes as well (2.8/20, 1.4/50, 2.8/100 Macro, 2.8/200 APO).

Of course for other purposes (mainly portrait and architecture) there are specialized primes in my bag, sometimes AF, sometimes MF.

EDIT: Examples are 1.4/85mm, 2/100mm, 2/135mm, 2.8/200mm and 2.8/300mm for portrait. For architecture, especially interiors, I often use the 4/17mm shift lens, occasionally also a 2.8/35mm shift lens or the Nikkor AiS 3.5/35-70mm zoom which has close to zero distortion (<1% over the entire zoom range, compared to 2.5-4% for most other 35-70mm lenses including the Zeiss CY).

S

Last edited by stevemark on Sun May 01, 2022 12:25 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Doc Sharptail wrote:


MOST of the zooms I've experienced operated in the pull in to increase magnification~ several of which were nikkors of varying quality.
I have a strange tendency to buy zooms, and then not use them in favor of my primes...

-D.S.


My Pentax zooms seem to be consistently pull (towards you) to zoom in lenses. Tokina goes both ways (variable aperture push (away from you), fixed pull) Tamron too but no rule about which ones push or pull I can see. (all adaptall-2). My Vivitars all pull except the varifocal ones, those are push. I haven't checked my two touch zooms for turning left or right to zoom in :p


PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A little beauty.





PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2022 2:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

(Sellers Pic)

One of the more attractively styled early Japanese SLR lenses, a Juplen 135/2.8 for M42, this can also be found as a Sonnagar brand lens. The serial number has an 'S' prefix, which I strongly suspect points to Komura as the manufacturer. Most copies of this lens I have seen are still in excellent condition.


PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2022 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
quidam wrote:
A little beauty.
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The Topcor RE 2.8/35mm is a typical 1st generation retrofocus wideangle lens with the flaws in rendering typical for those lenses. Of course these flaws can be used to get the equally typical "vintage look" Wink.

These lenses usually consist of a master lens and a wide angle converter in front. The master lens often was a Tessar type (or even a simple triplet for slower f4 lenses), but Topcor chose a Heliar type instead. Obviously that didn't solve the inherent problems of retrofocus wideangles. Nikon even tried a double gauss as a master lens for their early 2.8/35mm, but failed as well. Only when a more integrated approach was explored - correcting the inherrent erreors of the front wideangle converter group with two positive lenses at the rear of the master lens - the coma of retrofocus lenses was reduced to accaptable values.

Anyway, here's my sample of the Topcor RE 2.8/35mm - a black one:


S


PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2022 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That Topcor 2.8/35 is a really excellent optic and is sure to please you as it's a beautifully built thing and a joy to use, I converted mine to M42 so I can use it on a wider range of cameras and love it as it has both excellent IQ and character.


PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2022 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
That Topcor 2.8/35 is a really excellent optic and is sure to please you as it's a beautifully built thing and a joy to use, I converted mine to M42 so I can use it on a wider range of cameras and love it as it has both excellent IQ and character.


Wow, is it hard to convert to m42? Exakta adapter is not the one to suit my other lenses on different FL


PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2022 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You used to be able to buy replacement mounts, but I haven't seen them for sale for a long time now, sadly.


PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2022 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
#1


#2


Another lens I have been on the lookout for, spotted as part of a lot of camera accessories on Goodwill auction site. It's an Aires 35mm F/3.2 for an Aires 35-V camera. I was the only bidder at $40 about 6 months ago for a matching camera, also from Goodwill, it has the F/1.8 lens, not the more sought after F/1.5 lens. The camera worked fine, and the meter was responsive too, a good buy. I already had the 100mm F/3.5 lens I bought a few years earlier not knowing what it was. This lot today was $15, pretty good value. I messaged Goodwill to ask them only to send the Aires lens, and relist the rest to see if they can get another $10.


PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2022 3:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Alun Thomas wrote:
#1 #2


Another lens I have been on the lookout for, spotted as part of a lot of camera accessories on Goodwill auction site. It's an Aires 35mm F/3.2 for an Aires 35-V camera. I was the only bidder at $40 about 6 months ago for a matching camera, also from Goodwill, it has the F/1.8 lens, not the more sought after F/1.5 lens. The camera worked fine, and the meter was responsive too, a good buy. I already had the 100mm F/3.5 lens I bought a few years earlier not knowing what it was. This lot today was $15, pretty good value. I messaged Goodwill to ask them only to send the Aires lens, and relist the rest to see if they can get another $10.


Good one. I once saw an Aires 35-V including 35mm, 45mm f/1.5 and 100mm lens for $110 on ebay. At that time I was about to quit buying more lenses so I hesitated. Then it was gone fairly fast. I know the opportunity would probably never come back again.


PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2022 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Panagor 35-100mm f3.5. I may already have a copy. Don’t know who made this lens. Usually the range is 35-105.


PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2022 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
vivaldibow wrote:
Panagor 35-100mm f3.5. I may already have a copy. Don’t know who made this lens. Usually the range is 35-105.


Could be Komine could be Kino. Panagor (Jaca corporation) worked with both.

Found an image with the box. It as 14 element in 12 groups lens:


PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2022 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
D1N0 wrote:
vivaldibow wrote:
Panagor 35-100mm f3.5. I may already have a copy. Don’t know who made this lens. Usually the range is 35-105.


Could be Komine could be Kino. Panagor (Jaca corporation) worked with both.

Found an image with the box. It as 14 element in 12 groups lens:


Thanks for the package photo. I suspect it is neither. Panagor/Kiron/Kino usually don't have PMC stamp on the lens rim, for example, 28mm/2.5 and 21mm/4, and a zoom (?). Panagor/Komine have PMC, for example, 55mm/2.8 and 90mm/2.8. The 35mm/2 is unknown (more towards Komine), as we discussed before.

The 35-100/3.5 has the PMC. From this point of view, it is more likely Komine, also because it is relatively newer. But Komine doesn't seem to have 35-100/3.5, or even 35-105mm/3.5. I have the suspect it is Tokina, if Tokina once has a single ring 35-105mm/3.5 for Vivitar (I can't remember clearly).

Anyway, it is a beautiful lens, as all other Panagor lenses. Looking forward to seeing it.
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