Budget Glass Hall of Fame

As mentioned by Dan, the Elmar 9cm f/4 v1 is a wonderful lens and can be had for $90ish

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M7, E100G
 
It was cheap but seems to be getting more expensive of late:

The Jupiter 3 ... I think I paid around $60.00 for mine a few years ago.

And it's hard to think of that lens without wondering what Brian Sweeny is up to these days?


he adjusted mine last year :)
 
Canon 50mm f/1.8 Mark-II. For around $90 new, isn't that a bargain?


Although this is taken with the Mark-I version, the optical formula is the same.

Canon 5D + Canon 50mm f/1.8 Mark-I
 
Also, one of the best lenses I ever used is 35mm f/3.5 SMC Takumar. $60.

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I agree, the 35/3.5 screwmount Pentax lens is incredible. I have two of them, one is an early one with a cocking lever on the lens to tension the aperture mechanism, and the later one is the Auto aperture version that was made before the SMC version. Both are super sharp. This photo was made with the ancient manual-cocking version!

bumpers.jpg
 
Agree with the Pentax SMC 50/1.4, I have one on an SPII and it is stunning.. and not just a little bit.
The Pentacon 50/1.8 that was on my MTL3 was quite good..
I also bought a ltm - M adapter for £20 which came with a free J8, the J8 is great.
But most manufacturers 50mm are no dogs.

Think I've taken some of my fav pics with my cheapest lenses.

Edit : special mention to the OM 50/3.5 macro.. bargain
 
My OM mount Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5, which I bought for US 125 if I recall correctly:

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Then there is my Zuiko 50/1.8 MIJ that is probably my "sharpest" 50:

p1-publish.jpg


And finally there is the 50/1.4 Takumar that I got as a gift, that cost me only an adapter, and - once RF coupled - is better than my pre-asph Summilux in all respects but size (close focus, bokeh, barrel distortion, etc)

P1010060-L.jpg


Scan-111228-0012-L.jpg


Cheers,

Roland.
 
RFF is not good for my bank account!

After seeing this thread, I snapped up Quantaray Tech-10 24mm f2.8 for $37 including shipping for my D700 =D If it performs as good as everyone say, I think I can let go of my Sigma 12-24 that I've seldom used.

Damn! You got a better deal than me on my Nikon mount... and I've been after this lens for a while! I haven't had this particular lens that long but do check out the comparisons posted on page one from that German article. It was rated the best performer and by comparison it's hands down the best performer wide open - including Leica, Nikon, Canon, Oly - etc.

I had this lens in Pentax K mount in its Sigma variation. Excellent. But I never realized just how good it is... I think you'll find it makes an excellent "35mm prime" on APS-C.
 
Damn! You got a better deal than me on my Nikon mount... and I've been after this lens for a while! I haven't had this particular lens that long but do check out the comparisons posted on page one from that German article. It was rated the best performer and by comparison it's hands down the best performer wide open - including Leica, Nikon, Canon, Oly - etc.

I had this lens in Pentax K mount in its Sigma variation. Excellent. But I never realized just how good it is... I think you'll find it makes an excellent "35mm prime" on APS-C.

:D All thanks to you for bringing up the lens! I have been searching for a small prime wide to replace by ultra wide zoom for D700 (full frame) since I rarely used it for it's size and slow aperture (although quite nice during daytime). I am very excited to receive the lens and try it.

By the way, how does it perform on full frame/film? I've read some reviews that the corners are a bit soft, still better than most 24mm primes, but sharpens nicely by f/5.6.
 
[...]
And finally there is the 50/1.4 Takumar that I got as a gift, that cost me only an adapter, and - once RF coupled - is better than my pre-asph Summilux in all respects but size (close focus, bokeh, barrel distortion, etc)

P1010060-L.jpg


Scan-111228-0012-L.jpg


Cheers,

Roland.

What adapter did it take to make the screwmount version of the lens work on an M body?
 
To all posters,

please stay on topic
and don't try to hijack the thread to entertain
your Fuji XPro "humor"

off topic posts deleted.

Stephen
 
Ohhh... here's another one I've had for a while. How can I forget? Devoted a Pentax K body to it. Want a decent ultra wide for not a lot of dough? How about the Vivitar 19mm f3.8. I've taken some nice pics with this one... unfortunately none scanned. Forget what I paid for it - probably around $50. Had it for years but haven't used it in a while... Really nice build quality on this one...

product_85170.jpg
 
This was taken using a Jupiter 11a M42 mount (135mm F4). I bought it for a few quid - if I remember rightly £10 or less?

It is industrial in all ways and has 'made in the USSR' stamped on the body and a lens hood which screws on 'reversed' into the filter thread. A bonus is the a gentle scent of machine oil coming from within the barrel of the lens.

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Yes, I have this lens, in Nikon mount and under the Spiratone brand. Very impressive. Would be interesting to know who made it; I bet it was the same maker regardless of the badge.

"Budget" seems to be stretched some here, based on some of the replies. I know you can get certain M39 Leica lenses for cheap now, but when they were new they certainly weren't budget lenses. And I sure wouldn't call the M-Hexanons "budget" just because they're a lot cheaper than their Leica counterparts! But I'll concede that nowadays there are a lot of terrific bargains on lenses that cost a lot when new.

I suppose the true measure is a lens that for some reason is inexpensive now, and wasn't very expensive when new. Rangefinder lenses don't really seem to fit into that category at all, other than the FSU lenses. The exception might be lenses that just so happen to be permanently attached to camera bodies -- think of the Yashinon 45/1.7 on the Yashica Electro models, or basically any Novar attached to an inexpensive Zeiss Ikon folder.

In the SLR lens world, I'd nominate the Konica Hexanon 40/1.8, or the Series E Nikon 28/2.8 and 100/2.8.





Ohhh... here's another one I've had for a while. How can I forget? Devoted a Pentax K body to it. Want a decent ultra wide for not a lot of dough? How about the Vivitar 19mm f3.8. I've taken some nice pics with this one... unfortunately none scanned. Forget what I paid for it - probably around $50. Had it for years but haven't used it in a while... Really nice build quality on this one...

product_85170.jpg
 
Harry, the 2/50 seems to be going for $200+ and the 1.4 for even more. I think there are a lot of excellent LTM lenses in that range.

In SLR or RF mount? I paid between $50-80 for the Nikkor-H.C 2/50 and about $90 for the Nikkor-S.C 1.4/50 in F mount. Both of these are the original ones with the chrome and black metal barrels. But it's been about 5 years and digital cinema cameras and HDSLR have driven up the prices on pretty much all manual focus lenses...
 
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