No name lenses

[Melvin J Bramley]

Gear acquisition syndrome often revolves around collecting the best one can afford.

What no name lenses do you use without embarrassment on your uber camera?

Lenses such as the Nikon 75-150 are well regarded but were not designed and perhaps not even built by Nikon.
Is it possible that Minoltas 75-150 shares the same design and manufacturer?
Many 90mm macro lenses seem to be well regarded.

What about those Vivitars, Soligors, Tamrons , Kitstars, Pheonix , and who of the ancients will remember Spiratone! to name but a few?

 

[Paul Howell]

Vivitar's S1 were among the best of the 70s and 80s, computer designed, made by various makers with good quality control. Soligor CD, some say the CD stood for compact design, others computer design, I have a 35 to 70 3.5 in Konica AR, not compact at all but very sharp. Sigma made good glass, Although not indepdent lens makers, Rioch, Chinon, and Consina made really good lens in M42 and K mount. I also have Kino, a 28 to 70 3.5 in Konica mount, very good glass. For the most part the standared Vitiar's and Soligor's were pretty much hit and miss, wide range of quaility, from poor to very good. But at least here in the U.S I can get Nikon, Minolta, Konica, and Pentax lens for not much more than a 3rd party lens.

 

[Chuck1]

Tokina has some nice ones too

 

[chuckroast]

Color Skopars on Leica Thread Mount are a favorite here.

 

[bluechromis]

Tokina has some nice ones too

My Tokina (Bokina) AT-X 90 mm f/2.5 macro has perhaps the best image quality of any of my lenses. It is sharp even when wide open. Tokina made a similar lens for Vivitar. One benefit of a lens not from a major camera maker is that Tokina offered lenses with various mounts. I was happy to find a Bokina with a Minolta SR mount. You won't find that variety with Nikon or Leica lenses.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/tokina-90mm-f2-5-x-macro.html

 

[bluechromis]

What about Meyer Gorlitz lenses? These seem to be uneven, with the Domiplan having lousy sharpness compared to Prioplan, which some people praise.