Who made the best manual focus SLR lenses of each focal length?

+1 on the Yashinon lenses, particularly the DX 50/1.7, which is superb. I really haven't tried near enough lenses other than 50mm to form an opinion on them, but other favorite 50's include the Pentacon 50/1.8, the Nikon "E" 50/1.8, and the very common and dime a dozen Canon FD 50/1.8, there is a reason that they sold millions of them. A real sleeper is the Yashica ML 50/2, it is a little gem.
 
Nikkor 28/2.8(0.2), 105/2.5 "Gauss", 45/2.8 GN Nikkor-C, 20/3.5 UD
Contax G 45/2.0
VC 15/4.5 Heliar
Contax RF CZ 45/3.5 rigid tessar
CZ jena (all black) 50/4.0 T* Flektogon - hassy mount
Leits Leica R 3-cam 50/2.0 Summicron
Contarex 85/2.0 Sonnar
 
For 50mm lenses, I'd probably say either the Kern Macro Switar 50/1.9 or any of the Kinoptik 50's. The Contarex Zeiss lenses from Oberkochen were also considered to be tops in almost any of their focal lengths.
 
My favorites that I've owned and used:

35/2 "O" Nikkor
105/2.5 P*C Nikkor
55/3.5 Ai Micro-Nikkor
60/3.5 Distagon Hasselblad V mount
150/4 Sonnar Hasselblad V mount
28/2.8 SMC A Pentax
 
I just made a huge list of only ~50mm lenses with 4 tiers with nearly 30 lenses and that didn't even get into a lot of popular lenses. FWIW tier 1 had only 3 lenses and tier 2 only 6; 2 slr lenses made it, both in tier 2. They were the CZ 50mm f2.0 Makro-Planar and the Leica Summilux-R E60.

anyway here would be my greatest hits of SLR lenses:

15 : Zeiss 15mm f2.8
18 : Olympus 18mm f3.5
19 : Leica 19mm Elmarit
21 : Zeiss 21mm f2.8 Distagon
24 : Olympus 24mm f2.0
25 : Zeiss 25mm f2.0 Distagon
28 : Contax 28mm f2.0 Hollywood
35 : Zeiss 35mm f2.0 Distagon (exceptionally high large structure contrast, in general I find 35mm to be the weakest lenses in the 35mm slr repetoire, very disappointing compared to excellent RF lenses such as Biogon 35/2, 35/1.4 ASPH, etc, 8 element cron, etc)
40 : Voigtlander SL II
50 : tie - Zeiss 50mm f2.0 Makro-Planar or Summilux-R E60
55 : Canon 55m f1.2 FL
58 : Minolta 58mm f1.2
60 : Coastal Optics 60mm f4.0
80 : Leica 80mm Summilux
85 : Zeiss 85mm f1.4 Planar
90 : Leica 90 Summicron-R ASPH
100 : Zeiss 100mm f2.0 Makro-Planar
125 : Voigtlander 125mm APO
135 : Zeiss 135mm f2.0 Sonnar
Above 135 : Pick the best Leica-R or Canon L
Zoom : Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II

In my opinion 2 SLR lenses stand out above the rest, both of which are currently made by Carl Zeiss. They are the 21mm f2.8 Distagon and the 100mm f2.0 Makro-Planar.
 
Have never owned one, but from images and reviews, for 125mm, the Cosina 125/2.5 would be something I'd like to try someday.

Have had great images from old Vivitar 35/2 Japanese M42 lens, as well as an M42 18mm 3.4, and hard to find a bad old Japanese 50mm lens, but not sure which one is "best"
 
In 35mm I've had/have some minolta rokkor, leica M, leica R (60 and 35 elmarit), and nikkors. My favourite primes for SLR : nikkor 20/3.5, 28/2.8 AIS, 45/2.8, 105/2.5; 180/2.8 AF-d
35 elmarit-r, 45 rokkor.

BUT, I have to say the camera body makes a significant difference in terms if getting the picture : reliabilit and ergonomics.
 
Leica with Nikon a close second. Unless you get into the latest versions of the R glass and the APO lenses which are not exceeded even today.

Zeiss made good glass in the 1980`s also. Although my preference was Leica.
 
Tamron made a 180/2.5 SP that was spectacular in its day! Also, you could mount it on nearly any SLR.

Joel
 
Among my SLR lenses, I like the Pentax SMC 85/1.8 a lot, and the 50/1.4
The Vivitar 90-180 was the best flat field zoom around. On the M8 or M9, it can do (digital) wonders.
I like also the Nikkor 105/2.5. I have the early version, a Sonnar.
Nikkor micro 55mm/3.5 is very sharp.
Canon 85mm/1.2L is amazing. The 50/1.2L is no slouch either.
Rollei mount Carl Zeiss 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 85/1.4. This trio is amazing.
Zeiss 50/1.4 for the Contarex.
Angenieux 70-210
 
sepiareverb said:
Optically speaking, the Nikkor AF 105/2 DC is without peer that I know in the 85-105 range. The Ai 28/2.0 was also always a favorite of mine.
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Ahem...
fd 85mm 1.2L is the lens Id consider to be without peer in that range of focal lengths.

fd 24mm f1.4L for 24mm, Leica and contax for 50mm, contax for ultrawides.
 
Second time trying to post this, must have messed up first time.

Of the lenses I've owned, two stand out:

Zeiss C/Y 50mm Planar f1.7
Pentax M42 Super Multi Coated Takumar 50mm f1.4

I've probably owned 15 or more 50s in the past 12 years. Possibly more. Those two stood out. I did have an R-mount 50mm Summicron, which I liked fine, but I still preferred the images from the Zeiss and the Pentax.

A less celebrated lens I liked a lot was an M42 Rikenon 50mm f1.7, which was an excellent reliable standard 50, and had good bokeh and contrast wide-open. I've had a few decent f1.7 or f2 50s in M42, and most of the Japanese ones were decent, but the Rikenon was the best.

Matt
 
Have only used Nikon for 35mm SLRs, but I really like for MF:

-20 f/4 AI
-24 f/2.8 AIS
-105 f/2 DC

The 20 is a sleeper and immensely fun to shoot with.
 
This is a loaded question, no doubt about it, but these are a few of my favorite things;
1. Vivitar Series One 28/1.9
2. Minolta MC Rokkor 28/2.8
3. Pentax FA 31/1.8 Limited
4. Carl Zeiss Distagon 35/4 for the Contarex.
5. Minolta MC Rokkor 58/1.2 (a wonderful portrait lens)
6. Pentax 50/1.4 in M42 guise through K-mount, at least through the M version. (The best walk around 50 ever built for an SLR.)
7. Pentax FA 77/1.8 Limited
8. Canon EF 85/1.2L (Uffda, what a lens!!)
9. Minolta MD Rokkor 135/2
10. Vivitar Series One 90-180/4.5 Macro Flat Field Zoom (the single best zoom I have every used, and a magnificent macro to boot.)
11. Carl Zeiss Olympia Sonnar 250/4. (Not the easiest lens to use but the pictures are wonderful.)

Of course, this is my list. Yours will almost certainly be different. At least I hope so.
 
21mm: gotta be the f/2 Olympus for the OM series.

Ok, it's not that sharp in the corners, and it's certainly not that bright at the edges, yet it costs a thousand dollars. And if you put any kind of filter on it's 55mm (what an odd size!) front end, it'll show in the picture. ... :confused:

None-the-less, it is pure magic from corner to corner. I can't explain it, but it is. Best wide angle ... ever!
 
35mm: f/1.7 Ultron Leica Thread Mount from Cosina-Voigtländer's recently cancelled series of a few years ago.

The latest 35mm CV lenses don't seem to do it, but the 35mm Ultron would lose contrast fast, for anything that was not in the focal plane, as long as that was within 10 meters. It made an ideal street, and full figure portrait lens, because the subject would be rendered sharp and contrasty, yet the foreground, and especially background would melt into a gray blur - at any aperture! Even at f/16, the background would flatten out, and disappear. ... Wow!
 
80mm: Mamiya's f/1.9 for the original M645. It was a natural 'beautifier'. I made rent throughout the 1980's and I credit this lens. Pretty much responsible for my crazed-80's style early adulthood as well. Now if only I could remember ...

It is that good of a lens!
 
43-86mm f.3.5, AI'd Nikkor. Now this lens has nothing to recommend it except that it's the perfect fun lens. When you don't give a rat's ass about anything except for entertaining yourself by shooting pictures, this is the lens to use. It is reasonably fast, small, and kinda ugly. But it works like a charm. What you get is what you wish you saw!
 
Chris101 said:
43-86mm f.3.5, AI'd Nikkor. Now this lens has nothing to recommend it except that it's the perfect fun lens. When you don't give a rat's ass about anything except for entertaining yourself by shooting pictures, this is the lens to use. It is reasonably fast, small, and kinda ugly. But it works like a charm. What you get is what you wish you saw!
Click to expand...

That is all true. It is the first lens I ever actually used as a door stop.

Joel
 
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