Best Vintage MF lenses

+1 for the SMC Takumar 50 1.4 comments. This diminutive lens makes for a very nice short portrait lens on a crop body.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the Zeiss Flektogon 35 /2.4 or Zeiss Triotar 135/4 on this thread.

The Flek is amazing for Macro and has a nice creamy Bokeh. Colours are well saturated too. I think i just hit auto levels on Lightroom for this shot as I wanted to limit any post work to show what the lens was capable of.

I picked the Triotar up because the few images I have seen from it online display a 3D like quality to them (plus it was cheap) and I was interested to see what it was like... I've yet to get round to using it much since re-lubing it though.

My favourite though is the Zeiss Pancolar 80 /1.8. - Wonderful colours and great contrast. Pin sharp corner to corner even on FF. Centre is sharp all the time and blurred backgrounds look like they are hand painted, rubbed down with fine sand paper and placed behind lightly frosted glass. It has been said to be the best Zeiss M42 lens since WWII and my personal copy lives up to that reputation. Which is possibly why they demand such a high premium.

Examples like this can be found in the CZJ Pancolar 1.8 80mm group on FlickR, which show off it's potential better than I can...

Mackeral wrote in post #15800953
How much did your Rokkor cost after conversion?

I think it was $600 - quite a lot but it's a very special lens in excellent condition. I suspect I could have found one for perhaps a hundred bucks less but then I'd have paid import duty and ended up in the same place financially.

Hi, guys!
a little time ago I bought a vintage Rollei Rolleinar 135mm f2.8 already conversioned to EF mount.
I like this lens - its brother of CZ 135/2.8 is the same optical and mechanical construction.
Very nice lens for my opinion.

5D
All shots at max. wide - f2.8

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shumnich/864618​8272/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shumnich/864507​4395/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shumnich/864619​7388/

alunh wrote in post #15818859
+1 for the SMC Takumar 50 1.4 comments. This diminutive lens makes for a very nice short portrait lens on a crop body.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the Zeiss Flektogon 35 /2.4 or Zeiss Triotar 135/4 on this thread.

The Flek is amazing for Macro and has a nice creamy Bokeh. Colours are well saturated too. I think i just hit auto levels on Lightroom for this shot as I wanted to limit any post work to show what the lens was capable of.

I picked the Triotar up because the few images I have seen from it online display a 3D like quality to them (plus it was cheap) and I was interested to see what it was like... I've yet to get round to using it much since re-lubing it though.

My favourite though is the Zeiss Pancolar 80 /1.8. - Wonderful colours and great contrast. Pin sharp corner to corner even on FF. Centre is sharp all the time and blurred backgrounds look like they are hand painted, rubbed down with fine sand paper and placed behind lightly frosted glass. It has been said to be the best Zeiss M42 lens since WWII and my personal copy lives up to that reputation. Which is possibly why they demand such a high premium.

Examples like this can be found in the CZJ Pancolar 1.8 80mm group on FlickR, which show off it's potential better than I can...

Good info. Thanks for this.
Might try to give those a shot... love Zeiss stuff. Just got a 50mm f1.7... having trouble getting it to focus to infinity though.

I thought the old T-mount "Preset" telephoto lenses should be mentioned in the Manual Focus lens thread.

They can be bought for $100 or less and give not too bad results if you work at it a little. To get good results you should:

1) Use 10x Liveview for focus
2) Use a decent tripod
3) Use remote shutter or 10 second self-timer
4) Shoot in bright sunlight or use high ISO
5) Use f/16 for better sharpness and contrast


Spiratone 400mm 6.3

7D samples: (first is at 18mm to show reference position)

A few more:

Kalimar 500mm

Mike - pretty impressive Spiratone 400mm 6.3 tests.

I find the Kalimar 500mm 8.0 is just as sharp but those last 3 photos of the house windows were taken quickly this morning and are a bit overexposed.

magoosmc wrote in post #15829864
Mike - pretty impressive Spiratone 400mm 6.3 tests.

Impressive indeed Mike... I tried out an old Russian MTO 1000/10 today but didn't use the zoomed live view that you suggested. I'll try again tomorrow to get a shot of a pair of red billed parrots that have taken up residence in my back garden. Thanks for the advice!

Anybody have any experience with any iteration of a Yashica 50/1.4? I have a Yashica 50/1.7 DS-M and it's easily my favorite lens, it's on my camera 50% of the time (which is a lot for one lens to me ). I'm thinking about buying a 1.4 version either in DS-M or ML form, but at the buy it now prices on ebay I'd almost feel stupid not paying an extra $100 and getting the Planar 1.4.

I'm just wondering what other's thoughts are on those lenses if they've used them... my two Yashica lenses (50/1.7 and 28/2.8) are probably my favorite vintage lenses in terms of performance... something about them just shines.

The Yashica ML 50/1.4 is very good and a great bang for the buck lens. FINALLY, I have updated my equipment list. Feel free to ask me why any one of them is on the list. Gene

gasrocks wrote in post #15834342
The Yashica ML 50/1.4 is very good and a great bang for the buck lens. FINALLY, I have updated my equipment list. Feel free to ask me why any one of them is on the list. Gene

What is your thought on the Yashica ML 50/1.4 vs the Sigma 50?

No contest. Modern Sigma wins if you are looking for the "usual" sharp with smooth bokeh. I once did a side by side test of the Yashica ML 50/1.4, 50/1.7, 50/1.9. All good. All reasonably priced. 50/1.4 was the best at all apertures by a slight margain. Gene

gasrocks wrote in post #15834342
The Yashica ML 50/1.4 is very good and a great bang for the buck lens. FINALLY, I have updated my equipment list. Feel free to ask me why any one of them is on the list. Gene

How does your Helios 44-2 have 13 blades i don't think mine has that many blades

pkilla wrote in post #15834812
How does your Helios 44-2 have 13 blades i don't think mine has that many blades

The old chrome Helios 44 I have has ~13 baldes. And I think I own black a 44-2 version with that many blades too - not sure. But the subversions seem to have sometimes differences in the same subversion.