'normalish' lens advice for R3M

maitani

maitani

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i'm looking for a normal lens (35 or 40mm) for my R3M

i've shortlisted the following,

m-rokkor 40/2
VC 40 1.4
uc-hexanon 35/2 ltm
m-hexanon 35/2
VC color skopar 35 2.5 ltm or m

which one is the best, i'm looking for some vintage look like i get out of my old nikons.. no need for clinical asph sharpness, also size matters, the smaller the better

any hints from the experts? any other similar lenses, i might have forgot?

regards
maitani
 
My dream camera is the R3A (or M) with the 40mm Nokton. It LOOKs really cool and I hear the lens is pretty good too
 
is the 40 1.4 that different from the 35? i had a 35 1.4 MC and it was insanely sharp when stopped down... i suppose it could be the coating, but my guess is that really only affects flare and color, not so much sharpness.

also, 40-50 is the normal range. i dunno if i'd have called my 35 wide angle, but it was definitely starting to stretch things out a bit. great lens, though
 
Based on the criteria in your message, the Rokkor-M 40/2 fits the bill. It's very small, and very good. Here's a thread w/ photos from the version of this lens made for the Minolta CLE: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72704

I still have this lens, even though I sold my R3A some time ago.

One other question: Have you ruled out a 50? The 50 framelines on the R3* are easy to see and compose with. There are a lot of 50s out there that would meet your criteria (compact, some vintage character).
 
hi thanks for all the feedback, keep it coming.. the rokkor looks very good too,

does anybody know it there's a nikkor 3,5 2.5 in ltm mount? if yes that could be of interest too.

I know there's a 3.5 1.8 but they are rather expensive.

I'm planning to use my millenium 50 nikkor on the bessa in the near future, per adapter. did anybody try that, does that work well? does the adapter need any special requirement to be coupled?
 
good point with the budget, I've seen 3,5 1.8 ltm's for around 1700 us$ that would be definitely too much, I'm looking to spend in the 600-800 dollar region for something decent.. less is of course always better.
 
found locally a boxed/mint black LTM mint snapshot skopar 50 2.5 very cheap, i'll add this to my R3M as a 50 for the moment... anybody knows if those are those sought after? i couldn't find too much information about it, it reminds me of the elmar-m 50 2.8 i had for a short while. looks like a very sweet lens, can't wait to burn some film through this combo.
 
maitani said:
found locally a boxed/mint black LTM mint snapshot skopar 50 2.5 very cheap, i'll add this to my R3M as a 50 for the moment... anybody knows if those are those sought after? i couldn't find too much information about it, it reminds me of the elmar-m 50 2.8 i had for a short while. looks like a very sweet lens, can't wait to burn some film through this combo.
Click to expand...

Check out these two RFF image links:

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79436

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79618
 
So far no mention of the Rollei 40mm Sonnar, which I like inspite of it's maximum aperture being just 2.8. Hardly softens at that point though. Very nice.
 
maitani said:
does anybody know it there's a nikkor 3,5 2.5 in ltm mount? if yes that could be of interest too.

I know there's a 3.5 1.8 but they are rather expensive.
Click to expand...

I'm late to this party but yes, there is, and it's a great lens if you don't mind the vintage handling (focus lever with infinity lock, aperture scale rotates with lens). Certainly "the smaller the better."

I watched a Nikkor 3.5cm/2.5 LTM on ebay recently, IIRC it went for a little over $300. Which made me grin because I got mine for that sum with a very nice IIIf attached... Still, not a whole lot of money.
 
^ Glad you picked up the CV Color Skopar 50mm 2.5 for your CV R3. Its a great lens and the build/weight is NICE !

Please take this as IMHO:

I would consider 50mm "normal" on a R3M/A & 40mm on the wide side with the 1:1 VF VIEWing.
* I had the CV Nokton 40mm on my R3A but found it to be too tight to the edges of the VF box. Switched out to a 50 1.5 & its prefect for "me". I will only use the R3A with a 50mm. Perfect VF to FL balance.

For a R/R2_ I would consider 35mm being on the "normal side" for VF VIEWing, x.68/.70
* but, I use a Nokton 40mm on a R2, using the inside of the 35mm frame lines. Had a CV Color Skopar 35mm f2.5 but wanted a little more speed
 
I have the CV 40mm f/1.4 SC and like the results from it a lot, but I don't like the handling (focusing). I really love the Zeiss 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar!
 
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