One lens kit

John Bragg

John Bragg

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So, to amuse myself I have been on a mission to find some good quality legacy glass on a tight budget. Specifically, I have been revisiting the notion of the standard zoom. I came across a likely candidate in a Tamron 35-70 f3.5 mod 17A and was lucky to land it on ebay for a mere £6.99. It had no Adaptall mount fitted, but I found one for £3.99 in Olympus OM bayonet. It arrived today by Hermes and was followed some minutes later by the mount. I had to spend a few minutes assembling lens and mount, having not seen or handled an Adaptall 2 before, but it was soon put to work taking some portraits of my 3 year old daughter. I must say that despite my liking for the speed and quality of primes, there are times when a one lens kit is handy. It balances well in the hand on my OM1n and its minimum focussing at the 70mm end is just on 25cm and it is a diminutive 50mm long in its collapsed state. Although this is a pure first impression, it looks like I am going to like this little power house of a lens. I also like the fact that I can use it on any manual focus body with a simple change of mount. What is your do it all lens ? Do you have one that is pressed into service when you need a one lens kit ?
 
For manual focus film cameras, the 35-70 or the 28-80 were usually decent lenses. I do have one that I should use more often. The Minolta Rokkor-X 35-70 F3.5 zoom. This lens formula was shared with Leitz camera company on the Leica R SLR cameras.
 
For film, the Minolta MD 28-85mm f3.5-4.5 on my X-700.

For digital, the answer used to be an Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro but I’ve just bought a Leica Q2 so it’s now the 28mm f1.7 Summilux that is fixed to the Q2!
 
I often use my Minolta AF 70-210 F4 in A mount. I enjoy long telephoto zooms though. 70mm is enough for me as a minimum distance. I have a 28-75 F2.8 but 75 is too short for me at the long end, so I sold it.

Lately I've been using a 135mm 2.8 prime on my Praktica BMS. Works pretty well, but again I like the telephoto length. Seems a little less flexible than the variable zoom but makes it a little more of a challenge. Haven't decided yet whether I like zooms or primes yet.
 
John Bragg said:
What is your do it all lens ? Do you have one that is pressed into service when you need a one lens kit ?
Click to expand...

My digital one-lens solutions:
Canon G15 compact with fixed 28-140mm equivalent f/1.8 to f/2.8 zoom lens
Fuji X-Pro2 mirrorless with 23mm f/1.4 or 23mm f/2 prime lens
Fuji X-Pro2 mirrorless with 16-55mm f/2.8 zoom lens
Fuji S5 SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5 to f/5.6 zoom lens
Fuji S5 SLR with 28-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens
Olympus micro 4/3 body with 20mm f/1.7 prime lens

My film one-lens solutions:
Nikon SLR with 35mm f/1.4 Nikkor prime lens
Leica M6 35mm rangefinder with 35mm f/1.4 Zeiss ZM prime lens
Contax G1 35mm rangefinder with 45mm f/2 Zeiss prime lens
6x7cm Fuji medium format rangefinder with 90mm f/3.5 Fujinon lens
4x5 inch Calumet view camera with 135mm f/5.6 Fujinon lens
 
35mm is a good compromise between wide angle and normal lens for me, 50s are a bit too narrow for my taste to be universal.

When I need a lens for low light shooting I usually take AI-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4.

If size and weight are deciding factors, I switch to Voigtlander 40mm f/2 pancake. Granted, it's not a 35 but still in the ballpark and it's razor sharp.
 
Going by the KISS principle, a Nikkormat in good working order with a 35/2, a lens hood and either a UV or a light yellow filter, depending on which film I use, would suit me for a lifetime.

The standard 50 isn't wide enough for me. If wider is the way for you, the Nikkor 28/3.5 with hood and filter as above would probably be a better choice.

Nothing else. Only film, a lot of it, in my case from my darkroom freezer where I have too many rolls, vintaging away.

Nikkormats and F mount lenses are still plentiful on the secondhand market, and costs are not excessive.

My Nikkormat FT2s (I have two) are reliable and do everything I want from them. My Nikkormat ELs (I have three) are. I believe. not quite as reliable because of aging electronics, one (my oldest, purchased new) has developed not metering issues but a winder problem and will go to be repaired next week, my highly reliable repair person in Melbourne has quoted me A$100-$120 for 'quick fix' CLA. Apparently it's a broken or weak spring problem.

I will be using my ancient cameras until they break down or I do, whichever comes first.

Of course I have many other cameras, film and digital, so in that sense I'm not quite as 'minimal' as this post would have you think...
 
In my SLR days it was only one kit zoom lens. Once it was changed to DSLR, kit and only lens didn't last long. I got three zooms. But by the end of my DSLRs days I was constantly switching to 50L. SLR and DSLR. Even at covering events as volunteer or just for family pictures.

Friday night from 2014. 50L @f1.2

15219074985_3e64a643c3_o.jpg
 
Wonderful shot Ko.fe

so that was with a 50mm... YUM
cannot understand your aversion or is it Discontent with a 50
Fantastic shot, your a natural with a 50, why fight it~
always hiding behind your 35, hehehe. ;)
 
To the OP, for OM system the only walk around zoom I ever personally liked was the 28-48mm S Zuiko. Not real fast (most compact zooms aren’t) but constant aperture and very compact with 49mm filter size.
 
helenhill said:
Wonderful shot Ko.fe

so that was with a 50mm... YUM
cannot understand your aversion or is it Discontent with a 50
Fantastic shot, your a natural with a 50, why fight it~
always hiding behind your 35, hehehe. ;)
Click to expand...

Thank you, Helen.
It was 50L on DSLR. AF f1.2 lens. Not something I’m strong to handle now. Maybe if I start to workout instead of jogging and bike:)
 
Variety

Variety

How about a 40mm on a lot of cameras from the Smena to the Leica CL? That's a price range from 50 pennies to five hundred pounds.

A very good but unappreciated zoom is the 1980's ATX by Tokina, it goes from 28 to 85mm and the Minolta and Canon 28 to 80's. A better range than the 35 to 70's,imo.

There's a lot of bridge cameras that cover a wide range and are dirt cheap because they are neither SLR's nor RF's as the riff-raff see them.

And - a touch of heresy - there's a lot of good quality P&S compacts with good zooms on them going up in price to the Leica C3. My favourites being from Pentax and Olympus. And there's P&S's with excellent primes on them.


Regards, David
 
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John Bragg said:
I must say that despite my liking for the speed and quality of primes, there are times when a one lens kit is handy
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I agree, but for me that 'one lens' has always been a prime :)

Most of the times I have travelled with a single lens it's been a quality, fast 28mm. I suspect that's going to shift since I bought the Voigtlander 35/f2, but that's very much due to my fondness for the lens, rather than the focal length.
 
My one lens kit for my last family vacation was my Nikon FE and 35mm f/2 AI-S. Shot for a week and didn’t want for anything else (although I did wish both the camera and lens were a bit smaller and lighter).

Haven’t been shooting my digital cameras much lately so my digital one lens kit is usually my iPhone XR. Seldom get my DSLR out any more unless I need a long zoom or macro lens.
 
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