Which 35mm legacy lenses for Nex7?

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wides? - om 21/2

 

[mugent]

I'm using a Pentax Super Takumar 50mm 1.4 on a NEX 7, it's pretty good, fairly sharp wide open, it's one of the 'classics' I suppose, and it cost me about £80 near mint.

Only downside is the adaptors for slr lenses are bigger than the M ones, but other than that, you get exceptional lenses for a fraction of the price of M glass.

 

[mrtoml]

I recently bought a 50mm 1.4 Canon FD and a 135mm FD. The 50mm is pretty nice. Both were extremely cheap.

 

[peterm1]

I have used a range of legacy lenses on my NEX. In the golden era of film SLRs (1960s -1980s) pretty well all major camera brands made extremely competent lenses in the 35mm, 50mm 85mm and 135mm ranges. These were stock in trade for 35mm film cameras. Stick to the slower (and hence cheaper) lenses and you will almost never go wrong as these otherwise unexciting lenses usually produced best image quality compared with the much more exotic fast lenses of that era. I am fortunate in that I have collected a range of older lenses over the past 20 years or more, so on my NEX I have used Takumar (Pentax screw mount) lenses, Nikon pre Ai, Ai and AIS lenses, Canon FL mount lenses (until m4/3 cameras came along these were available at give away prices as the register distance did not allow them to be used on any other digital camera including Olympus 4/3) and of course Leica M lenses. Any of these will serve you well but here are some particular "gooduns" based on my own experimenting...........................

Takumar

- 50mm f1.4
- 55mm f1.8 (or f2) (These ones are dirt cheap, produce sharp images and have lovely bokeh - however the f1.4 is the "king" of Takumar bokeh)
- 35mm f3.5
- 28mm f3.5
- 105mm f2.8
- 135mm f3.5

Canon FL

- 35mm f3.5
- 50mm f1.8
- 85mm f1.8
- 135mm f3.5 and f 2.8

Nikon (pre Ai/Ai/AIS or even AF)

- 28mm f3.5 and the AIS verison of the f2.8
- 35mm f2
- 50mm f1.4 and f2
- 105mm f 2.5
- 135mm f3.5 or f2.8

Any of the above produce excellent images.

A bit of fun using a Canon FL 58mm f1.2 shot deliberately out of focus.


City impressions by yoyomaoz, on Flickr

 

[uhoh7]

i think the OP was looking for inexpensive lenses, which rules out a bunch of stuff here.

28 is an unbeatable normal FL on the nex sensor---so the logical thing is to find a decent 28/2---they are all decent. Only the tokina is under 150USD--but it's a great lens.

as to the sony zeiss: great for social stuff, but useless for landscape.

next I would find a 20 or something in that range.

50s and 35s SLRs are a dime a dozen and hard to tell the dif between them.

Just know that the rangefinder glass is far more desirable--at least up to 100.

My normal is the 28 summicron. Flawless on the 5n---I would have to think its decent on the 7 too.

 

[Ken Ford]

I have NEX adapters for OM, NAI and M mount, but I've been so happy with my results with OM Zuikos that I haven't done more that simple mounting tests with the other two.

I've found the Zuiko 24/2.8 and 50/1.8 MIJ gove me exceptional results on my NEX7.

 

[mrtoml]

I have also had good results with a Nikon E series 28mm and a Nikkor 35mm f2 on the Nex 7.

 

[venchka]

Near the end of the Canon FD line, they made a nice little 24mm/2.8 lens. 52mm filters to match Nikon. Floating element to make close in work very nice. I think I paid $50 for mine. Can't tell it was ever used. That would be almost exactly a 35mm/2.8 lens on the NEX. I am equally fond of my earlier Canon manual focus lenses: 35/2.0 S.S.C., 35/3.5 S.C. (one of the sharpest lenses I own), and a quartet of 50mm/1.4/1.8 (2)/3.5 Macro.

ps: I am seriously pondering the NEX-7 as well. I have too many nice lenses that can't get near my hulking huge enormous heavy Canon DSLR not to consider the NEX line.

Wayne

 

[peter_n]

I'm mostly using Leica ASPH lenses on mine but I've also tried out two CZJ lenses; a 25mm Flektogon and 58mm Biotar both in Exakta bayonet. Very nice results.

ps: I am seriously pondering the NEX-7 as well. I have too many nice lenses that can't get near my hulking huge enormous heavy Canon DSLR not to consider the NEX line.

Exactly why I sold my DSLR and got a NEX-7.

 

[richardhkirkando]

As for inexpensive lenses, I'm really liking the M42 Pentax Super-Takumar 55/2 as my 85mm equivalent.

CV 35/1.2 is my normal, but I'd prefer something a bit wider and lighter if possible. The pre-AI Nikon 28/2 is pretty inexpensive, so I may give that a try.