Cosina Ai-S lenses, Any good?

PGraham3 · Oct 20, 2018

A friend offered to sell a few of these to me for a bargain. Anyone ever use them? Any good?
-Paul

Toyo · Oct 20, 2018

Cosina made some good lenses back when they were producing only for film cameras, but also some that were nothing special.
Any prime lenses should be quite reasonable and there were some creditable zooms as well. I had a 24-70 made by Cosina under the Vivitar Series 1 brand which was quite good without being exceptional.
If they are very cheap, then you could get some excellent value optics
T

PS Here is a shot with the 24-70

chriscrawfordphoto · Oct 20, 2018

Its probably sharp enough, but that background is incredibly jarring! Some truly ugly bokeh!

Toyo · Oct 20, 2018

chriscrawfordphoto said:
Its probably sharp enough, but that background is incredibly jarring! Some truly ugly bokeh!

Quite.
I used this lens on holiday in Vietnam with film, and it gave very pleasing results, but these were mostly shot at f8 or so.
Bokeh isn't its forte
T

PGraham3 · Oct 20, 2018

I’m interested in my buddy’s COSINA Ai-S 24mm f/2.8 lens. However, there is not much info about this lens out there. Primes like this are usually pretty solid and hard to produce sorry ones, but has anyone ever used or know about this specific lens?
Thanks!
-Paul

Toyo · Oct 20, 2018

PGraham3 said:
I’m interested in my buddy’s COSINA Ai-S 24mm f/2.8 lens. However, there is not much info about this lens out there. Primes like this are usually pretty solid and hard to produce sorry ones, but has anyone ever used or know about this specific lens?
Thanks!
-Paul

If it is the same lens as this one then it gets good reviews:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/cosina-24mm-f-2-8-mc-macro.html

anfenglin · Oct 20, 2018

Cosina also makes the ZF.2 and ZE lenses under the name of Carl Zeiss, these are really good.
Others? Can they be that bad?

Chan Tran · Oct 20, 2018

anfenglin said:
Cosina also makes the ZF.2 and ZE lenses under the name of Carl Zeiss, these are really good.
Others? Can they be that bad?

I think Cosina is a good manufacturer that is capable of very high quality products. They would make lenses and cameras that would meet the specs and price point. So for Cosina product I think you get what you pay for.

Pentode · Oct 20, 2018

anfenglin said:
Cosina also makes the ZF.2 and ZE lenses under the name of Carl Zeiss, these are really good.
Others? Can they be that bad?

Exactly. Cosina has made products for other brands - and to their specs - for decades. It's a company with a lot of experience with optics and they are capable of building extremely high-quality lenses but, because they build for other brands, they build to a price point and that always comes with compromises. They quality of their lenses depends entirely upon what price point they were building to. Zeiss and Voigtlander branded Cosinas are very good. Cosina branded lenses run the gamut but can be very good as well.

Paul Howell · Oct 20, 2018

Look up the Pentax forum and find the 3rd party lens group, you might find the lens in Pentax K mount, if enough reviews might get a sense of how good the lens are. As already noted by others Cosina made some really good glass and some not so good glass. If labeled Cosina might better than lens made to order by Sears or other re-banded sellers. If the lens was offered as a Vivitar Series 1 or Soligoar CD lineup likely a very good lens.

jim10219 · Oct 20, 2018

I recently bought a Cosina (Vivitar branded) 24mm 2.8, Sigma 24mm 2.8 macro, and Nikon E series 28mm 2.8 lens in the same set, all with Nikon mounts. I compared all of them and the Cosina was far superior in both contrast and sharpness. It wasn’t even close. That was good with me, as it was the least valuable of the bunch! I sold the other two and kept the Cosina and made a bit of profit.

I think it comes down to the individual lens, but I think my experience proves that Cosina did make at least a few good lenses, especially if you consider price. Still, I probably wouldn’t buy one outright without a bit of research, or the ability to try it out first. I’m sure there are a few duds out there as well.

PGraham3 · Oct 21, 2018

I’m also considering getting a m42 Auto Cosinon 55mm f1.4 lens. From what I can tell, there are a few variations out here, but been reading only good things. Appears to be of Tomioka design as well, is that right? Kinda hard to come by these days, anyone ever use one? Is one variation a little better than the others?
-Paul

Cosina Ai-S lenses, Any good?

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