You can only choose one lens…

boojum said:
For which camera? M mount, Skyllaney Bertele Sonnar. X2D, XCD 55V.
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boojum said:
The Sonnars are also wonderful lenses. I have a few that are really good. I have three disparate ones; a '43 CZJ f/1.5, a '57 Jupiter 8 and a recent Skyllaney Bertele Sonnar. They all have their charms. A rare, common and very rare. All shoot well but none the same.

So, just among the Sonnars I am at a loss. For me it is like asking a mother to name a favorite child.
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So the Bertele is actually the favorite child! 😉
 
splitimageview said:
So the Bertele is actually the favorite child! 😉
Click to expand...

Because of the newer coatings and refinements in design it is sharper with more solid color. Skin tones are crazy good. I can always make it less but making it more is more difficult. These are three fine lenses. The SBS is the rarest so there is some pride of place. The color and definition of the old CZJ are amazing and the '57 J8 is just great.

So for all around, yeah, maybe the SBS. For a little more subtle the '41 CZJ. The J8 just does image description so well. So each has something a little better than the other. Tomorrow it might be the CZJ.

And there is that damned Amotal which is really lovely and does soft colors and soft images so very well. And does this while still being sharp, very sharp. Maybe I should just go back to that box Baby Brownie. ;o) Yeah, that seems a real good idea, Baby Brownie. Can I get one with a digital back?

I have some nice lenses. This is so because I have hung around here and read what folks with experience have written and posted. I would never have known which plums to pick. And I have had some real good luck shopping. So I am still more lucky than smart. And that's OK, it works just fine.
 
I quickly counted 33 lenses in my cupboard which are fully working - I also have many broken ones in the garage for spare parts.

Out of the 33, two are zoom lenses, the rest are mostly nikkor, zuiko, canon, Minoltas, Pentax (k and Takumars), a variety of M42, an elmar, etc...

The difficulty answering this question is that the lenses I like the most are not the most suitable for the type of photography I enjoy the most. If I had to choose to keep one that has my favourite character, that would be the silvernose Zuiko 50f/1.4 (although the new pancolar seems quite promising).

If I had to keep one lens that makes taking pictures I like easier, that would be the AF Nikkor 50f/1.4.
 
Yokosuka Mike said:
These days I'm primarily using 35mm and 50mm lenses but if I can only have one I'll go with something in-between.

Voigtländer 40mm f1.4 Nokton Classic SC VM lens.

All the best,
Mike
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I had this lens as well, Mike. It is a great lens. I sold it along with my last film camera, a Bessa R3A, to finance my move to digital. I still miss it.
 
p.giannakis said:
... The difficulty answering this question is that the lenses I like the most are not the most suitable for the type of photography I enjoy the most. If I had to choose to keep one that has my favourite character, that would be the silvernose Zuiko 50f/1.4 (although the new pancolar seems quite promising).

If I had to keep one lens that makes taking pictures I like easier, that would be the AF Nikkor 50f/1.4.
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This could be me...

I'm not especially into the nifty fifty. Yet the lens I used least, and now regret most having sold, is (was) the Contax G 45/2.0 Planar. I let it go when a buyer from Japan offered me more for it than I had paid (bought new) in 2005. So off it went to Kyoto. Being me, I missed it the moment it went off the desk and into the Posted bag at our post office. I've even hunted for a replacement but none has yet come my way at a price I can afford. So - my loss.

I have two Nikon AF 50/1.4s, one made in Japan and one from China. Oddly, the newer (and cheaper) China-made one is sharper than the (older, pre-D version) Japan made '50. So far I've made little use of these as I prefer the Nikon 60/2.8 micro, the older, heavier version. Mine was an ex-Victoria Police lens and has a small dent in the front, so the shop seller from offered me a $100 discount and I couldn't resist it. It's great for those (admittedly rare) occasions I want to get really close to something but in 16 years I doubt I've made use of it that many times. It's now on my partner's D90 and gets good if infrequent use for cat portraits, even here I find it renders too 'sharp' for me. Every bit of fur on our house felines is rendered like the Rock of Gibraltar, which isn't my preferred look.

Movin' on, recently someone loaned me a 35/2.0 Fujinon which I now have on my Xpro2. An amazing lens, if a little too rock-sharp form view of the world. I'm not especially a HCB street photography type. So I struggle a little with it as I tend to do with so-called 'standard' lenses. Slowly, I'm getting there. I like what that Fuji does but if I had to live with only one lens, it (also the Nikons and even the Contax G '45) wouldn't be my choice. To (mis)quote an old saying, if we think "horses for courses" for me a '50 would be a three-legged nag.
 
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Miles and I met today in Portland, OR, for camera geek. It was great, lie swapping and BS'ing. The lens topic came up for rehash. Miles was returning the Cooke Amotal of mine and he kind of liked it and it started me to thinking. I really like the Amotal "magic" of the "Cooke Look" that was cooked - unpardonable pun, yes, forgive me - into that lens. It has that magic glow, especially at larger f-stops but still retains sharpness. And has a subtlety with color. I might just opt for the Amotal.
 
The Cooke Amotal 50mm f2 is a great lens, I prefer it over the first Summicron 50mm f2 rigid. However, the lens is not available in a Leica mount. The lens head of mine is somehow glued on a collapsible Summicron or Summitar focusing mount. It works, but ...

gelatin silver print (cooke amotal 50mm f2) leica mp

Amsterdam, 2022

1740901608744.png
 
Erik van Straten said:
The Cooke Amotal 50mm f2 is a great lens, I prefer it over the first Summicron 50mm f2 rigid. However, the lens is not available in a Leica mount. The lens head of mine is somehow glued on a collapsible Summicron or Summitar focusing mount. It works, but ...

gelatin silver print (cooke amotal 50mm f2) leica mp

Amsterdam, 2022

View attachment 4857442
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Erik, mine is LTM and I have the adapter for bayonet mount for Leica. Am I missing something here?
 
And just because you are such a nice guy, here is the back end of it. Proost.

PS. I did not know this type existed but after seeing your work with one and that of furcafe I searched eBay for months and found this fellow. Shortly after I bought it Skyllaney was offering one all CLA'ed by them and up to snuff for ~30% less. Market vagaries. I am grateful to have this one and as much as I like the sweet Sonnars this English lens is sort of magic.

Amotal Back.jpg​

​
 
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Wow Boojum, thank you very much! I would buy it in a hartbeat. Beautiful.

The number of mine is 301114. I also have a shade that looks like yours, but the brand is Chess United. Took me a long time to find a well fitting one because the filter thread is so small. Inside it has black velvet.

If you ever want to sell it, please first ask me!
 
Erik van Straten said:
gelatin silver print (cooke amotal 50mm f2) leica mp

Utrecht, 2019


View attachment 4857445
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I think that is one of yours that pushed me over the line. I do not have the technical "chops" to describe what it is about the Amotal that I like. I just think of it as artistic. The lens prescription adds something to the image it captures. I almost always use the Rhodies I photographed where they are almost fully white but some blush of early red remains. The Amotal captures it subtly with its "Cooke Look" glow while still keeping the flower pistils sharp. You and furcafe pushed me into a lovely lens.

I was in Utrecht when staying in Linschoten. I enjoyed The Netherlands very much. The Dutch were very nice, very civil and mostly all spoke English. My Dutch is solely, "Kann nit verstan". Dutch modesty is standard. OTOH, all agree with, "We built this nation and if we have to we can build another." That's being tough. ;o)

OK, same old photo. I really like it and it was made possible by that Amotal. Proost.

L1002835 by West Phalia, on Flickr​
 
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