Down payment on Bertele FLB

Congratulations! You will really like it, a most-unique lens.
And- one of my thought on this new lens...

"Enthusiasts lucky enough to have the new Floating-Lens-Block Omnar-Bertele Sonnar will have to ignore all the tips I give them about compensating focus for a Sonnar."
 
I can report that the first effort from Chris is a grand lens. So see if you can figure out what the improved version will be like. Version I has great color and the skin tones seem "right" to me. That is how I can evaluate color. Now that Chris has a solution for Sonnar focus anomalies, well if you like Sonnars you really need to get one of these.

At a personal level, I hope that they can sell a ton of these lenses.
 
dexdog said:
price is 2750 GBP, or about 3730 USD.
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😱

I have a couple of old George V era silver half crown and crown coins... 🤣

I suppose I shall have to enjoy this one vicariously too. Time to go finish that roll with the Nikkor 50/1.4 so I can drop it off at the lab tomorrow. At least that was a sonnar I could afford 😉
 
The Bertele will be the most expensive lens that I have ever bought by a factor of three! The down payment was about what I paid for my most expensive lens to date, the Sigma 14-24 f2.8 zoom (which is a really fantastic lens).
 
Some more from my thoughts on the Skyllaney lens... "The build quality of the Bertele Sonnar is unsurpassed. It is a fine piece of optical and mechanical precision of a level that is usually relegated to custom lenses made for research labs. The new design solves an age-old problem. Many photographers admire the rendering from the Sonnar, but had difficulty in getting used to focus shift. We call this conservation of inconvenience. Great lens, hard to use. Skyllaney just solved the “hard to use” part. Now- “Great Lens” is all to say."
 
I can vouch for the quality of construction. My copy of the original SBS is just gorgeous. The paint job is not good, it was a test and the paint did not cling. The lens function is unaffected. And as can Brian, I can vouch for how well the lens "sees." Chris at Skyllaney has done a great thing. I have a number pf pics on Flickr. I can't vouch for their artistic value but the lens has never let me down. Here is one of it on an M240 and just look at the skin tones on my friend, Marshall.

 
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dexdog said:
The Bertele will be the most expensive lens that I have ever bought by a factor of three! The down payment was about what I paid for my most expensive lens to date, the Sigma 14-24 f2.8 zoom (which is a really fantastic lens).
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Made me have to think about it...the most expensive lens I have... or rather, the most I have spent for a lens...

Eprey history says...
"Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Lens for L39/LTM (Silver) w/M Adapter - Exc Cond!
US $411.45"
Very good purchase, too, but it's hardly in the same class as the Bertele. Maybe I should assuage myself by finding a clean Nokton in S mount? 😎
 
wlewisiii said:
Made me have to think about it...the most expensive lens I have... or rather, the most I have spent for a lens...

Eprey history says...
"Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Lens for L39/LTM (Silver) w/M Adapter - Exc Cond!
US $411.45"
Very good purchase, too, but it's hardly in the same class as the Bertele. Maybe I should assuage myself by finding a clean Nokton in S mount? 😎
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I have one of the LTM Noktons, I really like it, and it is my only 50mm lens with "modern" rendering. Every other 50 that I own was built in the 1960s or earlier.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
The most expensive lens that I own cost about $40K in the early 1980s.
It was made for an optical computer. I rescued it from the scrap heap some 20 years ago.
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It's probably a really neat lens, but I think my favorite of your rare/expensive lenses is the super corrected Pentax lens - Ultra-Achromatic-Takumar 85mm F4.5. 😎
 
wlewisiii said:
It's probably a really neat lens, but I think my favorite of your rare/expensive lenses is the super corrected Pentax lens - Ultra-Achromatic-Takumar 85mm F4.5. 😎
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Adjusted for Inflation, that is the most expensive Camera Lens that I own.
Currently sells for about the same as an APO-Summicron.

Prices on lenses are way up-
 
Sonnar Brian said:
Currently sells for about the same as an APO-Summicron.
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Saw one of those online sale price was almost $12,000! I was looking at websites to get an idea of other lenses out there. The same store had the plain jane non-APO 50/2 summicron for $3300. Given the above, the bertele is expensive but not in nose-bleed territory
 
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dexdog said:
Saw one of those online sale price was almost $12,000! I was looking at websites to get an idea of other lenses out tĥere. The same store had the plain jane non-APO 50/2 summicron for $3300. Given the above, the bertele is expensive but not in nose-bleed territory
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I actually think the price is quite reasonable; I just can't afford it. That doesn't make them wrong or the price bad 🙂
 
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