Collapsible lens for Fed 2E or 3B Camera?

ryueikyo

Ryueikyo
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Mar 27, 2008
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Greeting,

I didn't know if anyone one could help me?

I am thinking of getting a collapsible 50mm lens for my camera and didn't know if anyone could recomend one to me?

I would like to get something fast as I photograph alot in bars and clubs, and a collapsable lens would allow me to put the camera in my pocket easly.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

ryueikyo
 
Collapsible, fast and screw mount are actually a rather difficult combination.

At 50f/3.5, there are a lot of options, including the Soviet I-10 and I-22 lenses, the original Leica Elmars, the Canon Serenar, and the somewhat rare Cosina Heliar made for the Bessa T which is probably the best of all of these.

At 50/f2.8, there is the later Leitz Elmar in LTM version, somewhat rare as well.

At 50/f2.4 there is a rare collapsible Konica Hexanon.

At 50f/2, there is the collapsible FED 50/f2 lens made for the FED-Zorki (rare, fast, but not too impressive optically). Then there is the collapsible Sonnar from Zeiss, relatively rare in screw mount. From Nikon I think there was a 50/f2 lens as well. And from Leitz there is the venerable collapsible Summar, the collapsible Summitar and the later collapsible Summicron, which is also somewhat rare. Photographically the Sonnar, the Nikon and the Summicron are probably the best of these for the application you have in mind, but that's a matter of taste, and the lenses are collectibles and you might not want to lug them around every day. The Summar seems to have a cult reputation for its "classic" rendering.

At 50f/1.9 there is a collapsible Canon Serenar that should work on the FED, too.

What have I missed? I'm sure there's other lenses out there.

Philipp
 
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I agree with RXMD ... fast and collapsible is going to be hard to do with these cameras. I love the 50mm Fed collapsible (aka the I-10). It's as small as they come, but only f/3.5. I also use the f/2.8 version of the Elmar ... slightly faster, but noticeably larger, and still not very fast.

I would suggest the Jupiter-8 ... f/2 and very compact for a non-collapsible lens. The f/1.5 Jupiter-3 is faster but slightly larger.
 
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