Vintage Lenses

Plain Nev said:
I've just bought a Zenith!
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I used specimens of both the Zenith 3M (39mm thread mount but with a different back focus to the Leica mount) and the Zenith E with its manual aperture 42mm mount, back in the 1960s. They seemed to me to be nice, if somewhat limited cameras.

What spoiled both cameras for me were the viewfinders, which showed, if I recall correctly, something like 85% of the frame. On the other hand, both finders were surprisingly bright and easy to focus. They were also capable of very good results with all their Soviet lenses, apart from the Industar 50mm, which was fine if you got a good one but...
 
I'll keep an eye on the viewfinder. No pun intended. :D It'll be interesting, for sure. And hopefully a bit of fun too.
 
Not sure if they count as vintage, but unless I need 200mm + for which I use a Sigma, I only have old Minolta metal body lenses
for my Sony's.

I currently have the 35-70, 35-105 and a 70-210 Beercan (£10 from an Antique shop and in amazing condition).
I will probably just add a 50mm to this in the near future.

The 35-105 lives on my camera day to day, I have just bought an A700 in fantastic condition from MPB for £110.
Can't wait to get out with it.

This was from my first a200 with the 35-105
 

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leaky5 said:
Not sure if they count as vintage, but unless I need 200mm + for which I use a Sigma, I only have old Minolta metal body lenses
for my Sony's.

I currently have the 35-70, 35-105 and a 70-210 Beercan (£10 from an Antique shop and in amazing condition).
I will probably just add a 50mm to this in the near future.

The 35-105 lives on my camera day to day, I have just bought an A700 in fantastic condition from MPB for £110.
Can't wait to get out with it.

This was from my first a200 with the 35-105
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I've only just spotted this. What's the story with the Spitfire?
 
I like his channel. He's manages to make his cameras sound a bit more interesting. The Helios is a crazy lens. I've seen something like this before, with the elements being reversed and turning it into a macro lens. It's all good fun.

And, talking of lenses my most recent find was a Vivitar 50mm 1.4 lens with a Pentax K Mount. I didn't know a great deal about them, but it appears it was built by Cosinon. Cheap as chips in a charity shop, but it will need cleaning.
 
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Plain Nev said:
I like his channel. He's manages to make his cameras sound a bit more interesting. The Helios is a crazy lens. I've seen something like this before, with the elements being reversed and turning it into a macro lens. It's all good fun.

And, talking of lenses my most recent find was a Vivitar 50mm 1.4 lens with a Pentax K Mount. I didn't know a great deal about them, but it appears it was built by Cosinon. Cheap as chips in a charity shop, but it will need cleaning.
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Some of the Vivitar lenses are very good, especially the ones made at the Komine factory.
 
Out and about at the Antique and Bric a Brac fair this morning. It was definitely the day for lenses. Picked up a Fujica ST605, plus a 50 and 28mm Chinon lenses for £15.00. And a couple of Canon New FD lenses, again 50 and 28mm for £3.00 and £8.00 respectively. Can't be bad.
 
This may be heresy in this thread but I recently bought a TT Artisan 50mm f2 in Sony mount which cost £78. It's available in several mounts and it's the size of a compact 50mm f1.8/2 from the film era and as it's available in several mounts you don't need an adapter. There are reviews of it on line and I've posted some pictures in the Sony thread.

I just thought people in this thread may be interested.
 
Plain Nev said:
Out and about at the Antique and Bric a Brac fair this morning. It was definitely the day for lenses. Picked up a Fujica ST605, plus a 50 and 28mm Chinon lenses for £15.00. And a couple of Canon New FD lenses, again 50 and 28mm for £3.00 and £8.00 respectively. Can't be bad.
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You've got some real bargains there :D

When you say "new" FD lenses were they new to you or unsold new (then) stock? Unsold new stock FD's used to crop up quite often but I haven't seen any for a long while.

I recently sold a Chinon 50mm f1.4 and a 28mm f2.8 in Pentax mount on this site. I didn't get much for them. IMO the 50mm f1.4 is one of the better film era 50's I've owned. I thought the 28mm less good but still perfectly useable.
 
woof woof said:
This may be heresy in this thread but I recently bought a TT Artisan 50mm f2 in Sony mount which cost £78. It's available in several mounts and it's the size of a compact 50mm f1.8/2 from the film era and as it's available in several mounts you don't need an adapter. There are reviews of it on line and I've posted some pictures in the Sony thread.

I just thought people in this thread may be interested.
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The TT Artisan lenses are very much in the tradition of vintage lenses. I've got the 17mm, and it's very good.
woof woof said:
You've got some real bargains there :D

When you say "new" FD lenses were they new to you or unsold new (then) stock? Unsold new stock FD's used to crop up quite often but I haven't seen any for a long while.

I recently sold a Chinon 50mm f1.4 and a 28mm f2.8 in Pentax mount on this site. I didn't get much for them. IMO the 50mm f1.4 is one of the better film era 50's I've owned. I thought the 28mm less good but still perfectly useable.
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Somebody might correct me on this, but I thought "new" referred to the updated FD lenses that dispensed with the breech lock. I think they sort of coincided with the advent of electronics in the Canon range.
 
Plain Nev said:
Somebody might correct me on this, but I thought "new" referred to the updated FD lenses that dispensed with the breech lock. I think they sort of coincided with the advent of electronics in the Canon range.
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If they 'correct' you they are wrong, 'new FD' is indeed the name used for the last variants of the FD mount lenses
 
Always thought it was a shame they got rid of the breech lock. I have a couple of 50mm macros (will look to sell one shortly), a 135mm which are all breech lock and a 70-200 zoom which is “new”. Always thought the breech locks felt better quality.
 
Plain Nev said:
The TT Artisan lenses are very much in the tradition of vintage lenses. I've got the 17mm, and it's very good.

Somebody might correct me on this, but I thought "new" referred to the updated FD lenses that dispensed with the breech lock. I think they sort of coincided with the advent of electronics in the Canon range.
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Ah I see what you mean now.

I've had a few breech lock lenses and currently have a nice 50mm f1.8 and a Miranda 24mm f2.8 "Macro" both are up for sale with no takers. I have the newer ones too, 24, 28 and 35mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and f1.8 and a 85mm f1.8. I do like the build of the old breach lock ones but I think that they must have tweaked the optical formula or maybe just the coatings as I think that some of the newer ones maybe slightly edge out the older breech lock lenses for general IQ.
 
Craig1912 said:
Always thought it was a shame they got rid of the breech lock. I have a couple of 50mm macros (will look to sell one shortly), a 135mm which are all breech lock and a 70-200 zoom which is “new”. Always thought the breech locks felt better quality.
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I think maybe there is more plastic used in the FDn lens. Mine all look nice and shiny. Although, the quality is still there.
 
The Meyer Optik Domiplan lens is generally regarded as being cheap and cheerful. Or an interesting lens, so to speak. But I'm not seeing it with mine.

DSCF3108.jpg

This really surprised me. I'm not sure if you're seeing the sharpness in this crushed form, but it's definitely there. Quite a nice result, I thought.
 
Plain Nev said:
I think maybe there is more plastic used in the FDn lens. Mine all look nice and shiny. Although, the quality is still there.
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Yep. The FDn lenses use polycarbonate in the lens barrels to reduce weight and improve their balance on the lighter A series bodies.

The FDn lenses also featured SSC, Super Spectral Coating , on all lenses whereas this was only used on the higher end of the previous generation lenses. Previous FD lenses were marked SC, (Single?), or SSC. None of my FDn lenses has any markings to indicate coating.
 
I didn't know that. Certainly produce nice results though. I recently used the 28 on my Fuji, and the images were very rich and detailed.
 
For those of you with the Nikon 180mm AI-S ED, whats this like at f2.8?

Looking for a 200ish/2.8 that is good at the 2.8 end so open to suggestions

What would you consider a good price for the Nikon 180m, seen options from £600 down.
 
Can't help you there, I'm afraid. I've never really been a big Nikon man. Funny how you tend to go for certain manufacturers. I think if push came to shove I'd plump for Canon. I just find their vintage cameras more interesting.
 
Hello all,

I bought a very battered A7 FF Sony thingy for a song.
HhCaCZX.jpg


I used a 60+ year old 42 mil thread Pentax 50mm lens, I was astonished

Cheers - P
 
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AgentOrange76 said:
For those of you with the Nikon 180mm AI-S ED, whats this like at f2.8?

Looking for a 200ish/2.8 that is good at the 2.8 end so open to suggestions

What would you consider a good price for the Nikon 180m, seen options from £600 down.
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180 mm f/2.8 Nikkor ED

[AIS]
5
(F4)

4.5
(DX:D2X)
4.5
(FX: D3X)



IR:

2-
(DX: D200 modified)​
This fast medium telephoto lens has, thanks to its ED element and modern optical formula, a superb optical quality. Images are rendered with high sharpness, contrast and vivid colour saturation. Even wide open quality images are produced, and stopped down to f/5.6 it's hardly possible to better the image quality. Beyond f/16 there is a noticeable decline in quality so these small f-numbers shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary. Flare and ghosts can be a problem under high-contrast conditions. It performs marvellously with an extension ring added. The PN-11 tube is the best choice and brings with it a tripod collar to help the 180 ED give 1:3 close-ups with tremendous quality. I often use the 180 ED with my F2 Titan.
Be aware that the pre-ED versions (engraved Nikkor P) of the 180/2.8 are inferior in image quality in comparison with the ED 180. Not a bad lens, but the standard of the ED is a tall order to meet.

On the D2X, image clarity is excellent, but as the lens is stopped down, small traces of chromatic aberration (CA) detract from the purity of the image. The amount of CA is by no means excessive, and for many subject and shooting conditions would go undetected. However, to demonstrate I for one noticed this slight deviation from perfection, I have downrated the 180ED for D2X a wee bit.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
For those of you with the Nikon 180mm AI-S ED, whats this like at f2.8?

Looking for a 200ish/2.8 that is good at the 2.8 end so open to suggestions

What would you consider a good price for the Nikon 180m, seen options from £600 down.
Click to expand...

phillipreeve.net

Review: Nikon Ai-s 180mm 2.8 ED - phillipreeve.net

The Nikon Ai-s 180mm 2.8 ED is a legend among manual Nikkor lenses, but is it still up to today's standards on Sony's A7 cameras...
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net
 
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