Budget Glass Hall of Fame

[raid]

The manual focus Tamron 90/2.5 macro lens is one of my alltime favorite short tele lenses. It is a very sharp lens.

Another budget super SLR lens is the 50mm/2 Nikkor.

In RF, the Canon 50/1.8 is hard to beat for the cost/quality combination, except maybe by the J-8.

 

[raid]

Gray-dude, that Kiron is stunning. (With some heavy vignetting wide open, I see...) There is some other famous Kiron macro (100? 105? f2.8? f4? ... can't remember) for Nikon and Canon that now goes for hundreds, as I recall. If Kiron made the Nikon 75-150, is that E series lens the same as the one you're showing here?

My only Kiron is a 28mm/.2.0 in Nkon F mount. Is it worth more than $50?

 

[Greyscale]

Gray-dude, that Kiron is stunning. (With some heavy vignetting wide open, I see...)

The vignetting occurs when using the "Close Focusing" capability.

 

[Nokton48]

I have a 28mm F3.5 Minolta MC Rokkor that I bought for Twenty Dollars, that I am very fond of. It's really a very good lens.

 

[raid]

I have a 28mm F3.5 Minolta MC Rokkor that I bought for Twenty Dollars, that I am very fond of. It's really a very good lens.

I agree. I have the same lens.

 

[Nokton48]

I also have a 35mm F2.8 MD Rokkor-X I bought at Midwest Photo for Five Dollars. It had a sticky aperture, which I cleaned it out in my shop in about twenty minutes total time.

Extremely underrated lens.

 

[raid]

I also have a 35mm F2.8 MD Rokkor-X I bought at Midwest Photo for Five Dollars. It had a sticky aperture, which I cleaned it out in my shop in about twenty minutes total time.

Extremely underrated lens.

I don't own any Minolta camera, but have a Minolta to LTM adapter. I use the lens on LTM bodies.

 

[NickTrop]

New glass...

Nikon 35mm f1.8 AF D - great lens, $200-ish brand new. This lens got me into digital. (An old school fast, reasonably-priced nifty fifty for APS-C. Why did it take to 2010-ish?)

Rokinon (Samyang) 85mm f1.4 portrait lens (various mounts) - that's next on the list now that newer versions have AF confirm/metering capabilities. $300 for a 1.4 in this focal length that's regarded as a fine performer? No brainer.

 

[Greyscale]

If you are a fan of swirly bokeh, the Yashica ML 50/2 can be had for a song.


Bee in thistle, Bike Trail, Fort Dodge by Greyscale3, on Flickr

 

[ChipShorter]

I still love my Nikon 24mm 2.8 AIS. Manual focus, but for whatever reason I still prefer it to the other 'cheap' 24mms. I have tried the sigma wide II and just didn't get comfortable with it.

 

[kanzlr]

New glass...

Nikon 35mm f1.8 AF D - great lens, $200-ish brand new. This lens got me into digital. (An old school fast, reasonably-priced nifty fifty for APS-C. Why did it take to 2010-ish?)

Rokinon (Samyang) 85mm f1.4 portrait lens (various mounts) - that's next on the list now that newer versions have AF confirm/metering capabilities. $300 for a 1.4 in this focal length that's regarded as a fine performer? No brainer.

the Samyang is awesome. Used it on the D700 and preferred it over the Nikon AIS by a mile.

 

[David Murphy]

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...

I used to have one of these in OM mount - a great bargain very wide lens and fun to use. I'll try to post some photos.

 

[Classique]

the Samyang is awesome. Used it on the D700 and preferred it over the Nikon AIS by a mile.

I too purchased the lens few months ago. It is amazing bargain for the quality of optic you get. One interesting quirk I noticed was that it tends to result in slight underexposure (-0.3) on my D700. However, once the focus is right, it produces razor sharp images with creamy, smooth bokeh.

I feel like in the end, I will only keep Quanteray Tech 10 24mm, Sigma 50mm 1.4, Samyang 85mm 1.4, Tokina AT-X Pro 28-70mm and Nikon AF-S 80-200mm and sell all my other lenses.

 

[lattiboy]

A somewhat uncommon lens that I had never even heard of is the Kiron/Vivitar 24mm f/2. I picked it up (and later sold it) for about $100. I regret it completely.

Looking at some of the files now, it easily resolves as much as the Zeiss 24mm at similar apertures. An absolute steal for anything South of $200. Rendition is fine, bokeh is meh, but detail and resolution were off-the-charts good.

Here's a 1:1 on the 5N at f/2.8:

And 1:1 at f/4-ish:

A picture of the lens itself:

I would also say the Komine/Vivitar 28mm f/2 "close focus" is a stunner. I don't have much I actually shot with it, but it is right up there with the Minolta 28mm f/2 Rokkor-X I had.

 

[BardParker]

After reading this thread I bought a Vivitar 19mm f/3.5 in Pentax K mount on KEH. I am really pleased with this bargain lens on my Pentax K1000!

1946 Globe Swift

[/url]
1946 Globe Swift by KentWebb, on Flickr[/IMG]

1946 Globe Swift

[/url]
1946 Globe Swift by KentWebb, on Flickr[/IMG]

Base to Final

[/url]
1946 Globe Swift by KentWebb, on Flickr[/IMG]

Unusual Attitude

[/url]
1946 Globe Swift by KentWebb, on Flickr[/IMG]

Taken on Kodak Ultramax 400. Process and scan.
Regards,

Kent

 

[p.giannakis]

Any Fujinons out there?

A bit on the rare side but excellent performers.

 

[Koolzakukumba]

Sonnar...or Tessar? Whatever, £20.

Sonnar...or Tessar? Whatever, £20.

A 120mm Sonnar that came attached to a £20 Contessa Nettel folding camera. With an adapter, it fits my SL66E and I think it's lovely. Although marked as a Sonnar, it's actually a Tessar design.

"The lens was inscribed as a 12cm f4.5 Contessa Nettel Sonnar Anastigmat (about 75mm in 35mm terms) but there was no mention of Zeiss anywhere on it. A bit of research revealed that the Sonnar name was first used by Contessa in 1923/24 having been designed by Dr Ludwig Jakob Bertele. When Zeiss Ikon took over the company in around 1926, they decided they liked the Sonnar name so much - a German pun on Sonne or sun, if I'm not mistaken - they would use it on another lens of Dr Bertele's design - the Sonnar we know today. Bertele's original Sonnar, it transpires, was actually a much simpler, four-element Tessar design."
More...

 

[daleeman]

My OM mount Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5, which I bought for US 125 if I recall correctly:

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

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)

Cheers,

Roland.

Where did you find the pentax to leica adapter and how is it rangefinder coupled? Focus to infinaty too?

Thanks

 

[ferider]

Where did you find the pentax to leica adapter and how is it rangefinder coupled? Focus to infinaty too?

Thanks

Have a look here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113676

Roland.

 

[lynnb]

The I-61 LTM 53mm/2.8 was a real surprise to me - and I bought it with a Revue 3 (Fed 3) for under $50.