Lenses: The Deserted Island List

[chuckroast]

80 mm Xenotar on my 2.8F. 355 red dot artar on my 8x10. 60 mm 2,8 Micro for my F100. But how am I going to buy and process film?

No one can find you to rescue you, but somehow film, chemistry, and paper can be delivered.

 

[Mogens]

80 mm Xenotar on my 2.8F. 355 red dot artar on my 8x10. 60 mm 2,8 Micro for my F100. But how am I going to buy and process film?

You can process film with your urine. You're on your own for film though.

 

[Pieter12]

No photography. Just make art with whatever is at hand.

 

[GregY]

No one can find you to rescue you, but somehow film, chemistry, and paper can be delivered.

It's a dream world....all things are possible. In the real world there are those who own "desert' islands....;-) ....on the upside deliveries would be convenient

 

[Don_ih]

You can process film with your urine.

You just need to eat enough metol and sodium sulfite. You end up with P23.

 

[Arthurwg]

My choices:

A Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH because it's one of the most versatile lenses I own.
(It just nudged out the Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AI-S.)

A Hasselblad 60mm f/3.5 Distagon which is just stupid sharp, contrasty, and versatile.

Yikes! We agree. The Summicron and the Distagon are my two favorite lenses.

 

[Chrismat]

Pentax 6X7 105mm 2.4 for starters.

I might take the SMC 55mm. Both are great lenses.

 

[Chuck1]

And there's fresh water to wash the film and the fiber prints

 

[bags27]

No one can find you to rescue you, but somehow film, chemistry, and paper can be delivered.

Don't forget Wilson!

 

[choiliefan]

He reminds me of one of the guys who used to work the counter at Freestyle.

 

[loccdor]

If we interpret the "desert island" less literally and take it to mean you get only 3 lenses to use the rest of your life, which can be spent anywhere:

Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 or Volna-3 80mm f/2.8 in Pentacon Six mount
Tamron 85mm f/1.8 (image stabilized, weather sealed) in Canon EF mount
Tamron 45mm f/1.8 (image stabilized, weather sealed, near macro) in Canon EF mount

but I'd occasionally miss not having a 28mm f/2.8, or the painterly backgrounds produced by the Helios 58mm f/2 or Jupiter-8 50mm f/2. And the Canon FD 135mm f/2.5 sure is a sweet one, as is the Canon EF 100mm f/2.

 

[Don_ih]

All anyone really needs is a 50mm Optical Color Lens on a Time Magazine camera...

 

[chuckroast]

And there's fresh water to wash the film and the fiber prints

The prints will will wash just fine in salt water - it's the original hypo clear.

 

[Sanug]

Despite the facts about other issues on a desert island I would take with me:

Zeiss Jena Flektogon 4/20 mm
Zeiss Jena Pancolar 1.8/50 mm
Meyer Orestor 2.8/100 mm

and my fully mechanical Praktica MTL 5.

Other option:

Canon 7s
Jupiter-12 2.8/35 mm
Jupiter-9 2/85 mm

The second option is nowadays my favourite for daily use.

 

[BAC1967]

Coincidentally, I just spent 9 days on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I brought an Olympus OM-1 with a 35-70 zoom lens and an Olympus Stylus Epic 170 as a backup. I put some thought into this before going. I considered the conditions on the island, wind, sand, bright sun, rain, saltwater… The reason I took the Olympus OM-1 is it’s reliable, and it’s a great camera. I also have 3 other bodies and this was my worst one, no big deal if it gets damaged. I choose the zoom lens because it gave me the focal lengths I wanted without having to pack another lens or risk getting stuff inside the camera changing lenses.

I brought the Stylus as a backup. It’s also weather sealed, compact and takes pretty good pictures.

I considered taking a Leica IIIc but didn’t want to risk damaging my lenses.

my only regret, I wish a had a faster lens than the f/4 zoom for a few shots, but I got by ok.

If I hadn’t known a boat would pick me up in 9 days I may have chosen something different, and brought more film.

 

[Laurent]

Does not look good for street, so I guess the 35mm wold stay home.

Most likely my 21 Color Skopar on one of the Leicas (most likely the IIIa)
And the 50 macro, FD 300 2.8 for a F1. Do converters count? If they can be included then the 1.4 and 2x converters for the 300mm