A Craigslist miracle

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I just picked up an SMC Pentax 15mm f/3.5 on the local Craigslist...



...for $100



😀

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Here it is on my ME Super. Wow. Wow. I have to admit, I'm tempted to sell it and get some RF gear. But it's a hell of a nice hunk of glass. I'll have to see if it's better than the Sigma 10-20...

 

[NIKON KIU]

Good for you.
I paid close to $800 for my Nikkor version of this lens, and I got a good deal.

Impressive lens. Now go out and use it!!

Kiu

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I believe it's the aspherical version, too--it's got the "4" on the distance scale.

Heck yes! I'll definitely be shooting with it this week.

 

[Silva Lining]

Heh - good to see there are stil great deals out there for the eagle-eyed!

Bon chance and happy snappin'

Post a couple of shots once they're done??

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Heh - good to see there are stil great deals out there for the eagle-eyed!

Bon chance and happy snappin'

Post a couple of shots once they're done??

Wouldn't dream of doing otherwise!

 

[oftheherd]

Whew, that's impressive. I have always loved my 18mm. I can only dream of a 15mm. I can't wait to see some pics from it.

Congrats on the good deal. I think many of us have had some great deal from time to time. Welcome to the ranks.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Thanks!

In a way, though, it reminds me of how good things are for us in RF land. The CV 15mm Heliar is almost unbelivably good, especially on film...and for $350. Can't get a prime of that quality, at that focal length, at that price, for an SLR these days...

And I think selling this thing for a profit is out of the question. It's fate! I have to make good pictures with it. I told the guy who sold it to me, "You know, this thing is really rare..." "Oh, I know!" he replied, "you will never find another!" A guy from Chicago emailed him while I was on my way to pick it up and offered him 600 bucks for it. And he said no, because I was first.

Same thing happened to me last year, when I bought a 1945 Supro 6V6 tube amp and matching lap steel from an old man on Craigslist for $200...You just can't profit off of karma like that...you have to pay it homage...that time, I just brought the stuff home and rocked out. Or...country'ed out. So I'm going to country out with this lens.

 

[raid]

This is a great deal.
I have an SMC 17mm in K mount and a 7mm Canon in FD mount.

 

[35mmdelux]

awsome. congrats.

 

[Nikon Bob]

I have seen some work done with that lens and you will not be disappointed with it's performance. A very good find, enjoy it.

Bob

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I can't go out shooting with this lens until tomorrow, but here's a quickie test from my yard. I'm comparing it to the Sigma 10-20 on my Pentax K20D...settings are f/8, 1/125, infinity focus. The main thing I'm getting here is that my Sigma is way, way out of alignment--it's so soft at infinity that I'm going to have to send it in to them for adjustment. I'm quite angry about this--how can a company send out a product so drastically out of whack? Anyway, the Sigma is better at the corners, but see yourself, for the rest...

And now the crops

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Seems to me that the Pentax is much better at handling this tricky lighting situation, and has a much more pleasing contrast. It's a keeper, I think!

 

[hans voralberg]

If you don't want to I'm pretty sure there will be a truckload of people waiting to buy it 😉

 

[Abbazz]

I believe it's the aspherical version, too--it's got the "4" on the distance scale.

Congrats on the purchase.

If you haven't seen it, here is a great page (in Italian) from Marco Cavina's website about this rare Pentax lens created by Zeiss' designer Erhard Glatzel:

http://www.luciolepri.it/lc2/marcocavina/articoli_fotografici/15mm_Zeiss_Pentax/00_pag.htm

The same page translated in Cyberglish courtesy of Google:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.luciolepri.it%2Flc2%2Fmarcocavina%2Farticoli_fotografici%2F15mm_Zeiss_Pentax%2F00_pag.htm&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&sl=it&tl=en

Cheers!

Abbazz

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Ah, excellent, thanks!

After testing it, the Sigma is fine, BTW, it just focuses past infinity in manual focus mode. It's plenty sharp when using AF, though not as nice in the center as the 15/3.5.

 

[kds315]

I have the SMC 3.5 15mm also, but haven't used it yet. Planned on having it converted, but that would be quite a shame as I learned from my friend macro (thanks Abbazz, haven't even noticed that he had that on his site!!) that only about 900 have ever been made!!

Cheers, Klaus

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

You mean converted to M? If you want to scale focus it on your R-D1, you should just pick up an *istD or K100D for cheap...