Down payment on Bertele FLB

[Miles.]

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. 😎

希少 PENTAX ultra Achromatic Takumar 85mm F4... - Yahoo!オークション

商品説明★超希少★PENTAX ultra Achromatic Takumar 85mm F4.5 ケース付【商品状態】中古品/現状外観は綺麗な状態ですが、レンズにカビのような物がみられます倉庫にて長期保管されていた商品ですので、カビや埃はある物とお考えくださいメンテナンスを前提にご検討ください

auctions.yahoo.co.jp

This one sold last week. Were you the buyer?

 

[boojum]

Tom Lehrer, MIT math prof and songster, would introduce a song with, "In response to a diminishing number of requests, . . ." In this vein I have a link here to "my" Bertele on "my" M9. Both are cosmetically poor. But the M9 has factory new sensor and circuit board. The Skyllaney Bertele Sonnat has a bad paint job but the guts are just fine. As Brian has said, when this lens is used one knows right away that it has been made, put together and adjusted right. Using the f-stop ring and the focus ring just shows the lens is done right. Those controls deserve the old metaphor of "like silk" for sure. It is brass and heavy. It is expensive.

There was a used car dealer in Port Chester, NY, who had this on the back of his business cards, "Quality is like oats. If you want clean fresh oats you have to pay a fair price. If you can be satisfied with the oats that have already been through the horse, those come cheaper." There is a bite when you buy the lens, but there is only one bite. Then happiness.

OK, the folder of some so-so M9 - Skyllaney Bertele Sonnar shots. https://www.flickr.com/gp/sandynoyes/445ef39aS1

 

[Horatio]

希少 PENTAX ultra Achromatic Takumar 85mm F4... - Yahoo!オークション

商品説明★超希少★PENTAX ultra Achromatic Takumar 85mm F4.5 ケース付【商品状態】中古品/現状外観は綺麗な状態ですが、レンズにカビのような物がみられます倉庫にて長期保管されていた商品ですので、カビや埃はある物とお考えくださいメンテナンスを前提にご検討ください

auctions.yahoo.co.jp

This one sold last week. Were you the buyer?

Lots of fungus in that sample.

 

[boojum]

I have a hard time liking the 43mm Leica Summicron on the Q3. It is APO, sharp, good color and all that. But I like the Sonnar family's images better. Maybe it is better color saturation. Maybe it is just that the Sonnars are usually on a CCD. But the do well on the M240 CMOS. I am not a tech type at all so I cannot point to some thing to describe what it is about the Sonnar family that I like. They are warmer (?), more romantic (?), something. They have a special something I do not see in this one Leica lens that I have.

And I have the same lack of sales resistance as Dexdog. I ordered one, too. I really like the SBS, and that '42 CZJ 1.5 is nice, it sees beautifully and works so well with the M9. It is a peach. But I think I will really be happy with the SBS FLB. I hope so. They are not cheap. I'll be eager to get it. Hopefully tariffs will not be a problem.

 

[wlewisiii]

I don't know what to say to you about that particular lens, not having used it.

I have the 50/1.5 Nokton Aspherical in LTM and love it on my M 240. OTOH I had the 35/1.7 Ultron in LTM that I never liked. It was also Aspherical and should have been very similar to the Nokton. I ended up selling it to Brian with no regret. (as an aside, I still need to find an appropriate 35 for the M 240 but that's never been easy for me...)

Overall my favorite lens remains my 1937 Zeiss collapsible 50/2 Sonnar that, in addition to the Sonnar look is uncoated as well. A very old school vintage look to the images it makes on the M 240 or my Nikon S4.

Enjoy what you have and can get 🙂

 

[boojum]

I don't know what to say to you about that particular lens, not having used it.

<snip> OTOH I had the 35/1.7 Ultron in LTM that I never liked.<snip>

Enjoy what you have and can get 🙂

I have an Ultron 35mm 1.7 that I like a lot. It works well at night with the night time lights. So far I have enjoyed it on the M240. I like what it did with the light in this pic. I'll spare you any more but they all have that glow to them and kind corona.

M2419847 by West Phalia, on Flickr​

 

[wlewisiii]

That's how I feel about 50 Nokton 🙂

 

[xayraa33]

I have an Ultron 35mm 1.7 that I like a lot. It works well at night with the night time lights. So far I have enjoyed it in the M240. I like what it did with the light in this pic. I'll spare you any more but they all have that glow to them and kind corona.

M2419847 by West Phalia, on Flickr​

That is a nice image from a great lens.

 

[boojum]

That is a nice image from a great lens.

Thanks. I got lucky with that shot.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

William- we traded lenses....
And it ended up in good hands.

My Pentax UAT 85/4.5 is perfect.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

So far I know of three RFF members that are buying the new lens...

Must be some underlying root cause. I wonder what or who it could be?

 

[boojum]

So far I know of three RFF members that are buying the new lens...

Must be some underlying root cause. I wonder what or who it could be?

I do not think there is one single reason. The lens in version I was/is quite nice but has that Sonnar bugaboo of focus shift most noticeable at f/4.0 and f/5.6 which are two useful openings. The common street wisdom for the Sonnars has been "wide-open and f/8.0" but focus shift can be compensated for. Anyway, Chris at Skyllaney has found a genius fix 90+ years after the original design. Neat. So if you are a Sonnar fan who would like the sweetest version of the '32 Bertele Sonnar, this is your lens. It already was very good with color and image. It is a niche l;ens.

It is the first ever with a floating lens block so for collectors that is good. And there is an active group of Sonnar fans on this board. I think that there is some sort of tech type here who knows lenses who opts for Sonnar, too. As a tyro I can tell you I appreciate how well the Sonnars describe color and image, they understand light very well. Kubrik was fond of Zeiss besides the NASA designed f/0.7. The Ultimate Guide to the Lenses Used by Stanley Kubrick - IFH He also liked Cooke and Angenieux. I am not sure about Angenieux but I can tell you that Cook and the Sonnars do something special with light not found, OK I have not found, in other lenses.

And I am sure that there are other reasons. But for me, just getting a nice image works really well.

 

[wlewisiii]

William- we traded lenses....
And it ended up in good hands.

My Pentax UAT 85/4.5 is perfect.

All ended up happy, so that's the good thing 🙂

I finally got a Nikkor 35/2.5 and used it on the M 240 today with the Amedeo adapter and now I don't feel the need for another 35 soon 🙂 I'll post the results later.

 

[boojum]

Sonnars. I have that 43mm on the Q3. It describes images with the precision of a technical manual. The Sonnars and the Thypochs describe an image with the beauty of Khayyam's Rubaiyat. I have a LibArts background so am limited in technical discussions to what I know. But I think you get the idea.

It is the romance or art of the retro lenses, like the '32 Sonnar of the SBS FLB, and the Sonnars which follow and some other lenses like the Amotal and those Thypochs who somehow make the image a little better.

So now that I do have a Leica lens on a Leica sensor I can compare it to Sonnar lenses on Leica sensors. Sonnars please me more. No question. I am quite eager for the SBS FLB. I guess it will be The Chieftain o' the Sonnar Clan.