Tell me about m42 lenses

[johannielscom]

Euhm...

Merely posting here so you guys can follow the link in my signature to that lovely 200mm Takumar I'm selling in the Classifieds...

 

[Drago]

try the flektogon 35 / 2.4 - imo the best 35mm lens in m42 mountl. and the takumar 50 / 1.4 is one of the best 50's in all mounts

 

[tunalegs]

In my opinion German M42 lenses are vastly over appreciated currently. I've used lenses from most of the German companies, Enna, Isco, Schneider, Schacht, CZJ, Meyer... and honestly most of them are just o.k.

Especially the West German lenses, keep in mind that the West German camera industry collapsed during an era of rapid improvements in lens design and that a lot of the lenses that were available from these companies in the 1960s were designs from the 1950s. This is especially true for wide angle designs.

There are some good wide angles, I like the Schacht Travegon especially - but honestly it's not any better than the 3.5/35 Takumar and it will generally cost you more, and likely not work properly when you get it. The Schneider wides are also good - but again you can find Japanese lenses just as good for the same cost or less.

I only kept one W. German wide, an Enna 3.5/35 which is not particularly good, but I personally like the rendering it gives.

The E. German lenses range from awful to brilliant, but on the whole are cheaper than their less common western counterparts. Just watch out for petrified grease, especially in the Zeiss Jena lenses (less of a problem with Meyer lenses).

Japanese lenses are commonly overlooked. Fujinons and Yashinons - Mamiya Sekors... just watch out for the ones that were designed to couple to camera meters with a proprietary linkage, some of the Fujinons and Mamiyas will not work with adapters.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

The 50mm to get is the Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4. It has the rare-earth thorium glass in it (and is radioactive) which gives the lens an extraordinary refractive index. It is one of the very best 50mm (or normal focal length with respect to other formats) lenses ever produced by any manufacturer, in any mount.

The M42 lenses don't get too wide but there are exceptions. The faster wides are excellent.

Regardless of focal length or even manufacturer, an M42 kit is a lot of camera and lens for the price, considering that almost no one wants or uses them these days.

Aside from the Spotmatic, the Fuji ST 801 was my favorite M42 camera.

Phil Forrest

 

[tunalegs]

Oh but two German normals to watch out for: The Zeiss Ultron 1.8/50 and the Rollei Planar 1.8/50.

The Ultron has become extremely expensive lately, the less well known and harder to find Rollei Planar (the M42 version) seems to go for about half as much but is likely just as good, even if it lacks the flashy styling.

The CZJ Tessar 3.5/50 is remarkably sharp if you can live with the small aperture. The more common 2.8/50 is a little less brilliant - but very common!

 

[raid]

I have the Planar 50/1.8 and 50/1.4 in Rollei QBM mount. Both are awesome lenses.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Another vote for the 30mm Lydith, good ones are good but I'll add that their age means you have to tread carefully.

If you like softness for portraits then any old cheap 80 to 100mm lens will do. And some of them are dirt cheap.

But, I still say Pentax lenses for the M range are under valued at the moment.

Regards, David

 

[zuikologist]

David, I think you are right, possibly becuase they are not easily adapted to full frame Nikon or Canon and therefore do not get the pixel peeping reviews of other lenses. I have found all Pentax SMC-M lenses to be good to excellent except some of the later consumer zooms. Even there, the 75-150 and 80-200 are a cut above most other zooms of the era. They are of course easy to use on all mirrorless systems, where their compactness is a bonus.

Hi,

Another vote for the 30mm Lydith, good ones are good but I'll add that their age means you have to tread carefully.

If you like softness for portraits then any old cheap 80 to 100mm lens will do. And some of them are dirt cheap.

But, I still say Pentax lenses for the M range are under valued at the moment.

Regards, David

 

[Dwig]

Two cautionary notes:

1. While all M42 Takumar lenses have an A/M switch to close the aperture, many 3rd party M42 lenses lack this function. This was an economy move many manufacturers made when the bodies acquired TTL meters which provided the stop down function for both metering and DOF preview. Lenses without their own stopdown switch or button can only be used at maximum aperture with the M42>K-mount adapters. Some M42>m43, and similar, adapters provide a stopdown function. Most via a fixed plate. Those with a fixed plate won't accept the last generation of Pentax SMC-Takumars which have additional tabs for full aperture metering on the Spotmatic F and ES series.

2. The M42>K-mount adapters all a K-mount body to accept M42 lenses but don't actually adapter M42 lenses for mounting on K-mount bodies. The distinction is that the adapter must be inserted into the body mount before screwing in the lens. Putting the adapter on the back of a lens and then attempting to mount the combiniation on a K-mount body will usually fail. Even in the rare cases that it does, there is no way to remove the combination from the body other than to unscrew the lens and then use the tool to remove the adapter from the body. This makes changing back and forth between M42 and K-mount lenses somewhat slow. This is not an issue with the M42>m42, et. al., adapters.

 

[jarski]

David, I think you are right, possibly becuase they are not easily adapted to full frame Nikon or Canon and therefore do not get the pixel peeping reviews of other lenses. I have found all Pentax SMC-M lenses to be good to excellent except some of the later consumer zooms. ...

because of this thread, went look on eBay aforementioned lenses (K-mount vs. M42) and saw the same. strange.. been always dismissing bayonet, assuming them more expensive (because latest digital bodies can be used) than screw. if full frame Pentax realizes one day (never ending topic on pentaxforums), old bayonet lenses probably get little bump in their prices.

thx Dwig for reminding about stop down switch on 3rd party lenses. remember also reading similar things.

 

[David Hughes]

Silly story, I bought a case dirt cheap and it had a branded M42 135 lens in it that had all the aperture blades removed and so was permanently wide open.

But it works nicely for soft portraits and nothing else.

Regards, David

 

[oftheherd]

...

Japanese lenses are commonly overlooked. Fujinons and Yashinons - Mamiya Sekors... just watch out for the ones that were designed to couple to camera meters with a proprietary linkage, some of the Fujinons and Mamiyas will not work with adapters.

Fujinons and Yashinons are indeed great lenses. The Fujinons are harder to find and/or cost more. I think they are better than the Yashinons, but that said, the Yashinons will never disappoint you. I think the Fujinons have a better multi-coating. IRRC there was a Yashinon 50mm, or 55mm (or both) f/1.2, but it costs an arm and a leg and a first born male child.

There are other brands with M42 lens mounts. I have been happy with Sigma, Vivitar, and other M42 mount brands. I even had a couple of Sun lenses, one a 135mm pre-set that was sharp as a tack. I don't know if they made it or if it was a rebrand. My point being, don't be too quick to decide only famous brand name lenses will give you good to excellent results. I would say you just need to be willing to get the occassional less that stellar lens, and choose carefully.