manual lenses

[fordy]

Now I've got the manual focussing sussed on the X-Pro1 I fancy picking up some cheapo old but quality manual lenses to play with with a suitable converter. I am spoiled in Tokyo for places to find classic photo gear and will be in Hong Kong for a weekend very soon too.

Question is, what is worth keeping an eye out for at sensible money? Any ideas photo Wammers?

 

[macvisual]

Have a search for a Helios 44/2 (58mm) lens, f/2 lens, I bought one about six months ago for £35. Cheap as chips with great quality.

Samyang are also manual focus and great quality lenses, I've got the 35mm F/2.8 lens which is superb and not big money. There's also a 14mm lens also. Can be bought for reasonable money second hand.

 

[rockmeister]

what can you convert? I've seen that they make a converter for Leica glass, but what else??

 

[topoxforddoc]

Carl,

The M42 screw mount lenses are plentiful, cheap and sometimes of excellent quality. The Pentax (both the Pentax and the Takumar/Super-Takumar ranges) M42 lenses were excellent. The common lenses were the 28/3.5, 35/3.5, 50 in various guises, 135/3.5 and 200/4 (if my memory serves me correctly). All are good performers and they are readily available. Prices have firmed since the M4/3 boom though. Otherwise I would look out for Voigtlander bargains in Leica L39 screw mount, if your budget is larger.

Charlie

 

[fordy]

what can you convert? I've seen that they make a converter for Leica glass, but what else??

There are aftermarket converters for pretty much anything by the looks of it.

 

[fordy]

Carl,The M42 screw mount lenses are plentiful, cheap and sometimes of excellent quality. The Pentax (both the Pentax and the Takumar/Super-Takumar ranges) M42 lenses were excellent. The common lenses were the 28/3.5, 35/3.5, 50 in various guises, 135/3.5 and 200/4 (if my memory serves me correctly). All are good performers and they are readily available. Prices have firmed since the M4/3 boom though. Otherwise I would look out for Voigtlander bargains in Leica L39 screw mount, if your budget is larger.

Charlie

Thanks for that Charlie, I shall look out for those as I am sure I have seen these on my travels. certainly seen the word Takumar in the Pentax sections anyway. I didn't know anything about the M42 screw mount but it looks like it was regarded as a bit of a universal system back in the day and there appears to be huge choice too, even from Fujifilm themselves. Looks like a versatile one to start out with. I was thinking Olympus OM but there are a lot less of those about I think.

I'm thinking about a manual fast 50 and an 85 until Fuji plug the XF range gaps in time.

 

[rockmeister]

The finest 50mm I ever used was a Zeiss T* 50mm f1.8 from the range then made for Contax/Yashica...they may not go for much since neither cam maker exists now, but if you can find a converter that lens is way up there with (or better than) Leica glass etc. Other than that I tend to lean towards Olympus and Canon lenses from the 70's for value and quality and lasting build.

 

[fordy]

Yes C/Y to XF converters are popular. I doubt the lens is cheap anymore being a Zeiss! According to wiki there was a T*Planar 50/1.7 "noted for its sharpness", a 50/1.4 and a 55/1.2 Anniversary.

I'll keep a lookout for these but fear the system is probably rare and collectible already. Good steer Rocky!

 

[fordy]

Scratch that there's a few on eBay for 200 USD ish. Hmmmm......

 

[rockmeister]

was it a 1.7...I'm remembering back to '86 and I don't know what I had for breakfast....hold on do some research..... op:

hm well. Just make sure, 1.4 or 1.7(! u was right) that's it's on of the old ones, pre 1990's, because when contax went bust, Zeiss handed over the making to Cosina, and from then on your buying a zeiss branded cosina which is ok, but no better than any other standard prime.

 

[f1eng]

was it a 1.7...I'm remembering back to '86 and I don't know what I had for breakfast....hold on do some research..... op: hm well. Just make sure, 1.4 or 1.7(! u was right) that's it's on of the old ones, pre 1990's, because when contax went bust, Zeiss handed over the making to Cosina, and from then on your buying a zeiss branded cosina which is ok, but no better than any other standard prime.

Hi Rocky,

I have collected cameras for many a year and one of my favourites was Zeiss. Zeiss made a set of spectacularly good lenses for their sister company, Zeiss Ikon, for their Contarex SLR.

When Zeiss Ikon folded these lenses looked like they were going to waste. The owner of Yashica was a big Zeiss fan and did a deal with Zeiss to license tha Contax name, which had been the Zeiss rangefinder, not SLR, but had a longer reputation than the Contarex, and to make available the Contarex lens designs in their Yashica mount.

The higher volume lenses were made in Japan and the fast aperture low volume lenses in Oberkochen. Zeiss did install a Zeiss QC department in Japan.

The current Zeiss volume lenses are still made in Japan, at the same factory as before AFAIK, perhaps Cosina is part of Yashica??? Only the lower volume speciality optics are still being made in Germany, at similar prices to Leica.

I still have my Contarex BTW and a few lenses. I have considered getting the Metabones Contarex to Fuji X adapter so I can use them again but I rather suspect the Fuji lenses match the sensor better than any older lens.

FWIW!

 

[HectorHughMunro]

was it a 1.7...I'm remembering back to '86 and I don't know what I had for breakfast....hold on do some research..... op: hm well. Just make sure, 1.4 or 1.7(! u was right) that's it's on of the old ones, pre 1990's, because when contax went bust, Zeiss handed over the making to Cosina, and from then on your buying a zeiss branded cosina which is ok, but no better than any other standard prime.

I didn't think Contax went bust; wasn't it a joint venture that just stopped trading? I understand what you mean about Cosina re; lenses like the modern Planar but the newer Distagons are pretty impressive. Yes, the 50mm Planar was f/1.7 and f/1.4. I still have both! The Yashica lenses are also surprisingly good for small money. The Planar f/1.7 is not that expensive. All of these lenses were built in Japan anyway so, unfortunately, we're not talking German glass.

 

[rabski]

Way back in the mists of time when I was trying (not entirely with success) to make a living out of photography I has a Contax RTS with a range of Zeiss T* lenses. Including, and may God forgive me for selling the lot in the end, a fish-eye, 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2, 85mm 1.4 and 135 and 200.

They remain some of the best lenses I have ever used in terms of their colour rendition and sharpness. AFAIK, the T* were made by West German Zeiss and are similar to the Hasselblad Zeiss T* optics.

Wish to hell I'd kept them...

 

[fordy]

Been and had a look at some of these Contax Zeiss lenses on the way home from work. I didn't see any 50's but there was a glass case full of different primes and zooms in that one shop. They look to be beautifully made though, if quite large in many cases. Tempting but getting quite pricey if mint. There wasn't anything for less than £500 I don't think though. The fact that they had their own Contax case alongside the Leica case and the medium format case suggests it's premium stuff. It was set apart from the usual run of the mill stuff from the big makers anyway.

I did see a variety of Pentax M42 screw thread lenses including a few copies of the SMC 50/1.4 and several SMC 135/3.5 for cheap. A Minolta MD Rokkor 28/2.8 and 135/2.8 for super cheap looked tempting. No end of Canon and Nikon manual glass too of course.

I need to go to Shinjuku where the majority of the used camera stores are and have a more committed look in the next few weeks.

 

[HectorHughMunro]

The Zeiss G lenses can be used with some cameras in AF with Metabones adapters. I don't know if they make one for Fuji.

 

[f1eng]

Way back in the mists of time when I was trying (not entirely with success) to make a living out of photography I has a Contax RTS with a range of Zeiss T* lenses. Including, and may God forgive me for selling the lot in the end, a fish-eye, 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2, 85mm 1.4 and 135 and 200.They remain some of the best lenses I have ever used in terms of their colour rendition and sharpness. AFAIK, the T* were made by West German Zeiss and are similar to the Hasselblad Zeiss T* optics.

Wish to hell I'd kept them...

Zeiss used the symbol "T" to denote coated, and T* multicoated. The exotic fast lenses you mention were indeed made in W. Germany but most in Japan with German QC dept.

IIRC the T* multicoating was developed in conjunction with Pentax, who used the "SMC" code for their version.. Everybody has multicoating nowadays...

I bought a Contax RTS with 50mm f1.4 when it came out, hoping it would replace my Contarex. In fact I could not afford to change to the Contax system back then (the lenses were expensive compared to the trade in value of the Contarex ones) so kept using my Contarex.

I agree with Charlie that the Pentax lenses are probably the best quality/price bargain. Though his Leica R lenses are peerless they are also very, very sought after and valuable.

 

[rockmeister]

Minolta made some excellent glass, but if you have a free choice, any of Canon's pro range from the 70's or 80's are a sure fire good bet for decent quality. Bear in mind that coatings advanced a good deal in later years (early lenses tend to be sharp and have excellent contrast, but can have very noticeable chromatic aberration when used on digital cameras, and some of the wide angles had a lot of barrel distortion). If it were me, to play safe, I'd be looking at stuff made around '85 - '95. Canon were at their peak then, hence my suggestion.

 

[f1eng]

The Zeiss G lenses can be used with some cameras in AF with Metabones adapters. I don't know if they make one for Fuji.

They make an adapter but not AF. The G autofocus is in the body with the lens driven with a screwdriver slot. The metabones adapters which allow autofocus only do so on lenses which are all electronic AKAIK.

- - - Updated - - -

Minolta made some excellent glass, but if you have a free choice, any of Canon's pro range from the 70's or 80's are a sure fire good bet for decent quality. Bear in mind that coatings advanced a good deal in later years (early lenses tend to be sharp and have excellent contrast, but can have very noticeable chromatic aberration when used on digital cameras, and some of the wide angles had a lot of barrel distortion). If it were me, to play safe, I'd be looking at stuff made around '85 - '95. Canon were at their peak then, hence my suggestion.

True, a lot of the Minolta stuff is truly state of the art and underestimated.

I have an old Canon FD 300mm f2.8 which I use with an adapter on micro 4/3. Stunning. Mind you IME almost all Canon SLR wide angles are poor until recent ones.

 

[Chris-_007]

I have quite a few 'Legacy' lenses that I use with my Nex. I have a preference for Canon FD's as they are good quality and pretty cheap to pick up. The 50 f1.4's go for £50ish over here and would be a good cheap place to start. If you fancy going a bit exotic try the Tamron SP 90 mm f2.5 macro. Great for portraits and macro. It's frighteningly sharp too. Takumars are pretty good too.

I have lots of examples in sets that can be viewed at full size here http://www.flickr.com/photos/84429093@N08/sets/

Good luck!