All time favourite lens ?

[Peter Jones]

Have you got a favourite lens ? If so, what are the reasons behind this ?



(I'm just being nosey)

 

[Markok765]

55 1.8 super takumar, sharp, fast and contrasty

 

[Ole]

Since it's in the 35mm subforum, I'll say yes. My favorite is the Cosina-Voigtländer 21mm Color-Skopar which sits on my Bessa-L. It's a wonderful little superwide lens, and well worth the small additional price of a Bessa-L if you haven't got a Leica thread-mount camera already.

 

[John McCallum]

Under 35mm category, would be the Summicron-m 35mm. When I first bought it, it took a while to get used the massively increased contrast compared to (all) the other lenses I've owned. Esp on B&W. Colour is just unreal.

And sharp as Kevin Spacey in 'The Usual Suspects'.

To have all that on a lens this versatile is great. And it's fast enough for me, on a rangefinder.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

Pentax Super-Multi-Coated 50mm f/1.3 screw mount (M42). Sharpest lens I've ever owned. The glass has a slight tea coloring to it now, but it does not seem to matter. I'm a Canon fan - but no matter, the Pentax is sharper than any of my Canon FD or FL mount glass.

 

[roteague]

Actually, a lens that I just bought three months ago. It is a Nikkor 24-120mm F3.5-5.6D AF-S VR Zoom Lens. It's a great Vibration Reduction lens. The only thing irritating about it is that it is that the hood is a pain - when mounted, it is difficult to rotate a polarizing filter, when mounted in the storage position (that is backwards), it is difficult to zoom. You pretty well have to take the hood and leave it in your pack when it isn't in use. From my initial uses, it is very sharp, great contrast. Also, being a G lens, there is no aperature ring.

 

[firecracker]

I tend to like Canon NFD 28mm F2.8 lens a lot. It's compact and light-weight, and sold dirt-cheap, but optically excellent. It's very high-res with good contrast and sharpness, and there's no apparent distortion on the images produced by it.

 

[bob01721]

"... Nikkor 24-120mm F3.5-5.6D AF-S VR Zoom Lens..."

Very interesting choice. I would have assumed that any "serious" photographer would choose a prime lens. Nice to see that all aren't so pedantic.

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

Nikon 105mm f2.5 AIS. This lenses keeps me in Nikon SLR gear.

Ciao!

Gordon

 

[roteague]

Very interesting choice. I would have assumed that any "serious" photographer would choose a prime lens. Nice to see that all aren't so pedantic.

In my case, it is more that 35mm isn't my primary format, and I don't want to be bogged down with equipment for it; especially when traveling. Although, I have always used a zoom lens of some type, even before I started doing LF.

 

[roteague]

Nikon 105mm f2.5 AIS. This lenses keeps me in Nikon SLR gear.

Ciao!

Gordon

Nikon has a new version of this lens which interests me. It's a 105mm 2.8 AF-S VR. I've read good things about this lens.

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

Nikon has a new version of this lens which interests me. It's a 105mm 2.8 AF-S VR. I've read good things about this lens.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of autofocus. The old 105mm is not perfect, but the flaws give the resulting images a look I like quite a bit. I tend to like the manual focus feel of the older lenses more than the manual focus feel of the autofocus lenses. I guess if I wanted to get a brand new lens for one of my Nikon bodies, I would go for that new Zeiss ZF 50mm f1.4.

Ciao!

Gordon

P.S. - I tend to use what some would call vintage gear. However, I did buy a brand new 4x5 early this year.

 

[smieglitz]

My favorite 35mm lens had to be the Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 macro. Fast, sharp and a great focal length for portraits as well as close-up stuff. Went to 1:2 with its helical focus and 1:1 with the matched macro extension.

Joe

 

[Jim Jones]

Over many years a couple of 50mm Summicron M mount. Several other normal lenses come close enough.

 

[unohuu]

my 85mm f/1.7 Rokkor

 

[Wigwam Jones]

My favorite 35mm lens had to be the Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 macro. Fast, sharp and a great focal length for portraits as well as close-up stuff. Went to 1:2 with its helical focus and 1:1 with the matched macro extension.

Joe

I have to admit that mine is excellent as well (in Canon FD mount). Sturdy, too! But I still would have to go with my Pentax S-M-C 50mm f/1.4 for being more of an 'all around' lens - I take that thing everywhere.

 

[Curt]

In 35mm it's my 55mm Micro Nikkor lens. Very sharp, easy to use, easy to carry; when Im not using a zoom lens.

Curt

 

[DBP]

Nothing exotic, just an LTM Jupiter 8 (50/2) I picked up for 8 bucks, but nice and sharp.

 

[ricksplace]

Two favs actually,

50/1.4 smc Takumar (the 50/2 is good too)

50/2.0 Schneider Kreuznach Xenon on my Retina IIIc.

 

[JBrunner]

Can't leave out Canon 85mm 1.2 SSC. The portrait lens of the FD family.

 

[BradS]

I'm surprised that no mention has yet been made of the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AIS Nikkor. For me, it's a tossup between this lens and the oft mentioned S-M-C Takumar 50/1.4

 

[Pete H]

In 35 mm, the Zeiss 21 mm Biogon for the Contax G2 - Wicked !

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Since it's in the 35mm subforum, I'll say yes. My favorite is the Cosina-Voigtländer 21mm Color-Skopar which sits on my Bessa-L. It's a wonderful little superwide lens, and well worth the small additional price of a Bessa-L if you haven't got a Leica thread-mount camera already.

Another vote for the Cosina-Voigtländer 21mm Color-Skopar. Mine is currently mounted on my Bessa-T.

 

[tony lockerbie]

It all depends on which week you are talking about! This week it is my Canon 50mm 1.2L, next week who knows? Back to the SMC Takumar 1.4, this truly is a great low light lens and so cheap too. I have two and they both have gone a yellow colour as noted somewhere else in this thread.

This is no problem as I use them for B&W mostly, but I was wondering what causes this as it seems to be a common problem.

Tony.

 

[Peter Jones]

Radioactive lens elements ? These can yellow over time, as per early Zuiko 55mmf/1.2 (?)