Favorite and/or Recommended 28mm Lens in M42?

[das]

I am in the market for a 28mm lens in M42 mount for film use to fill a gap in my lineup. Does anyone have any favorites? Corner performance, minimum focusing distance, and close-up performance are some of my major considerations. However, the lens absolutely needs to have an aperture stop down pin (so no Lydiths, or other ancient models before the pin era). I have looked at the 29mm f/2.8 Pentacon (have a strong affinity for East German lenses but I hear that this lens is not that great), the 28mm f/3.5 SMC Pentax (last version), the Mir-10A 28mm f/3.5 (which appears to be ridiculously overpriced), but I know there are a number of other OEMs out there (Chinon, Fujinon, etc.) and then some thrid party lenses folks use like certain Vivitar models (have no familiarity with them or their versions).

Thanks for any help you could provide!

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

I think you would be unlikely to find anything much better than the 28mm f/3.5 Takumar. I have one (Super-Multi-Coated version with 49mm filter ring), and am very pleased with its build quality, design, and sharpness. Here are a few photos I took with mine:








These are all on FP4+.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Yes! The Takumar 28mm (as well as the 35mm) f 3.5 is hard to beat!
A lot of lens for $30-$90 USD...

 

[das]

Wow, beautiful photos! Thanks!

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Wow, beautiful photos! Thanks!

Thanks!

 

[santino]

Didn’t Zeiss produce a fairly recent Distagon? You know, the same lens as the zE and ZF but in M42.

 

[das]

Didn’t Zeiss produce a fairly recent Distagon? You know, the same lens as the zE and ZF but in M42.

I don't think Zeiss made a M42 ZS version of the 28mm -- only the 25mm f/2.8. There is a Zeiss 28mm f/2 M42 out there advertised for "industrial use," but it does not have an aperture pin.

 

[raid]

I recall that the M42 28/3.5 was amazingly sharp (and low cost).

 

[dexdog]

I agree with a couple of the above posts, hard to beat the SMC 28mm f/3.5 Takumar

 

[Austintatious]

+1 for the Super Tac !
As for Vivitar, there is a 28mm f2.5 in M42 that I also like. Quite sharp and not too spendy but is is on the large side. Lots of folks use it for video.

Vivitar / Panagor (Kiron 22xxxxx) 28mm F2.5 Lens Reviews - Vivitar Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

Vivitar / Panagor (Kiron 22xxxxx) 28mm F2.5 reviews and specifications. The Vivitar / Panagor 28 mm f/2.5 (Kiron 22xxxxx serial) is a vintage wide-angle manual-focus lens produced by Kino Precision (Kiron) in the 1970s and. This is a Vivitar Prime lens.

www.pentaxforums.com

 

[Ray Vonn 2023]

+1 for the super tak. I have the Pentacon, I like it, but for environmental shots, not so much landscapes.

 

[titrisol]

I've had a few, the takumar 28/3.5 is very good and the 35mm is lovely (this one flew under my radar for a very long time)

So is the Vivitar 28/2.5 and the Sekkor (mamiya) 28/2.8
I bought a Focal brand (K-mart) which was decent but not stellar, and a Soligor (green stripe) which was bleh.
Fujinon made a very good lens but I have never tried it.

PS Check the lens reviews @pentaxforums for more details
many other lenses are reviewed in there

 

[das]

Thanks, everyone. Picked one up!