Reccomend me m42 glass!!!!

[j-dogg]

Got a Sankyo Koki 135 f3.5 on a whim at a pawn shop for 10 bucks.....turns out it has a 16-blade aperture. Not bad, but it adapts wonderfully to my 5D digital and my EOS film system

I had my eyes on some Carl Zeiss Jena glass, specifically the 50 2.8. What other diamonds in the rough am I looking for?

 

[tony lockerbie]

You are in the right area as there are squillions of nice M42 lenses about. The CZ Tessar is quite good as are the Pancolor and Helios from the Zenits. If you want top class though, aim for any Super Takumar, especially the 50mm 1.4.

 

[Tony-S]

No Super Tak 50mm f/1.4 on a 5D digital. The mirror will strike the lens.

 

[eSPhotos]

CZJ lenses are very good lenses.
Flektogon 35mm F2.5 MC, Pancolar 50mm f1.8 MC and Sonnar 135mm f3.5 MC are known as Holy Trinity of Carl Zeiss Jena Lenses.
Unfortunately some Pancolar MC will interfere with the EOS mirror.
The Flektogon and the Sonnar have no issues.
Don't bother with single coated silver/Zebra version of Flektogon or Pancolar - won't fit.

There are also plenty of russian lenses with characters ... but you only asked for CZJ ...

 

[eSPhotos]

Check this site before you buy any M42 lenses...
EOS 5D and Film cameras have similar mirror construction if not same.
http://www.panoramaplanet.de/comp/

 

[j-dogg]

Those too, was looking at the Industar 50-2 f3.5, heard a lot of good reviews, always wanted to try some commie glass

I've also heard very good things about the Tair-11.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

105/2.8 Super Takumar. The 35/2 is something too, but big.

 

[j-dogg]

Apparently any m42 glass I get has to be preset aperture and not auto like later m42, unless there is a way around this?

 

[Hatchetman]

100mm f4 macro
55mm f1.8
28mm f3.5 !! (great/cheap)
silly fun 300mm f6.3

50mm f1.4 and 35mm f2 don't work on 5D

 

[tony lockerbie]

No Super Tak 50mm f/1.4 on a 5D digital. The mirror will strike the lens.

Best to just buy a Spotmatic then!

 

[j-dogg]

I already have many of the FL's listed in Nikon mount, for now. I'll probably never part with my 105/2.5 it stays on my Nikkormat when I'm not doing portrait work on my d*****l.

I do like the industars, they're compact, and that is a plus for my 5d. For that price I might just wait for one from Ukraine.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Zeiss Biotar 75/1,5 (quite rare), Biotar 58/2, Sonnar 180/2,8 (big!) and the mentioned Tessar 50/2,8.

 

[Matthew Wagg]

Some awesome glass to look out for and is relatively cheap.
Industar 50-2-50
Helios 44/2 or 44/4
Pentacon 50mm 1.8
Jupiter 9 85mm

I have all of these apart from the Juptier which is on my list to buy.
Don't worry about the stop down. Its only a small extra step before taking the shot.

 

[Bill Burk]

105/2.8 Super Takumar. The 35/2 is something too, but big.

The 35mm f/2 lens you (I) want is the one with the 67mm filter size on the front. There's an SMCT 35mm f/2 that had a 49mm filter size that doesn't have the same qualities.

I used to call it a "Rectilinear" lens because I think that's what made it special. I could look through the finder at interiors and the lines at the ceiling and corners would appear straight. Of course close-up portraits would give you "clown noses" but it was one of my all-time favorite lenses.

Value of the lens (used to be)... around $133 US

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

The 35mm f/2 lens you (I) want is the one with the 67mm filter size on the front. There's an SMCT 35mm f/2 that had a 49mm filter size that doesn't have the same qualities.

I used to call it a "Rectilinear" lens because I think that's what made it special. I could look through the finder at interiors and the lines at the ceiling and corners would appear straight. Of course close-up portraits would give you "clown noses" but it was one of my all-time favorite lenses.

Value of the lens (used to be)... around $133 US

That's the one. I paid slightly more for mine about 5-6 years ago but it came with the original hood and case. Great bargain still!

 

[Dali]

M42 lens prices being somewhat high these days, I would stick with Japanese lenses like Pentax Takumar or Mamiya Sekor. IMO German (CZJ, Meyer, Pentacon) or Soviet (KMZ and al.) lenses are way too expensive for risk you take buying one of these, the original QC being all over the place and some being butchered by unscupulous "repairmen".

 

[Ian Grant]

If you're using an M42 lens with an adaptor it's important to ensure it has an Auto/Manual aperture switch. I have quite a few Tamron Adaptall lenses mostly SP and have M42 Pentax ES mounts and Pentax K mounts however they don't have that switch so you're stuck at full aperture with an EOS adapter on a Pentax mount.

Ian

 

[Slixtiesix]

M42 lens prices being somewhat high these days

I noticed that too. Back in 2003/2004 I was regularly looking for nice Zeiss M42 lenses on Ebay in Germany and they were comparably cheap. Some prices demanded today are outright crazy. Usually lenses go for 3-4 times the price they were back then. Some even more. A 50mm Tessar could be had for 10 Euro back then, today people want 50 Euro. 75mm Biotar was about 300-400 Euro then (I even considered this price too high back in the days), today it fetches 1500 Euro. These lenses were quite nice in my view, but nothing outstandig neither in picture nor build quality. Today many of them are overpriced.

 

[j-dogg]

I noticed that too. Back in 2003/2004 I was regularly looking for nice Zeiss M42 lenses on Ebay in Germany and they were comparably cheap. Some prices demanded today are outright crazy. Usually lenses go for 3-4 times the price they were back then. Some even more. A 50mm Tessar could be had for 10 Euro back then, today people want 50 Euro. 75mm Biotar was about 300-400 Euro then (I even considered this price too high back in the days), today it fetches 1500 Euro. These lenses were quite nice in my view, but nothing outstandig neither in picture nor build quality. Today many of them are overpriced.

You can blame this on guys like me who put these lenses on dSLR's.

Almost all of my film era lenses are used on their respective cameras but adapters are 5-15 dollars and lenses were made better back then.

 

[dehk]

TAIR 135 2.8, I also like my Pentax M42 SMC 55 1.8.

 

[Dennis S]

Vivitar makes some nice M-42 glass. I have a 135mm f/2.8 and also the Chrome Nose that do very nice photographs

 

[Paul Howell]

As noted by many others M 42 glass as really gone up in the last couple of years. Just last week I was shooting at the Phoenix Zoo and someone offered me way too much money for my Super Tak 120mm, almost took it but I hate to sell off any part of my kit. Chinon made some nice basic M 42 that does not appear to have gone up all that much as Pentax, 28mm 2.8 35mm 2.8 50mm 1.7 135mm 2.8, Vivitar and Soligiar seem to hit and miss, some were very sharp others not so much. Yashica also make some sharp lens as did Fuji. Fuji line up was very good, I think they made as many M 42s as pentex.

 

[PentaxBronica]

Super Takumar/SMC Takumar 28mm f3.5 - one of the finest 28mm lenses out there on any system.

Super Takumar/SMC Takumar 35mm f3.5, there is an Auto Takumar version but those are harder to use on non-M42 bodies due to the way in which they stop down. Basically they're semi-auto - you pull a lever down to cock the aperture, then when you press the shutter the paddle in the lens mount stops the aperture down, you then have to re-cock it manually. The Super Takumar and later lenses have an instant return diaphragm, so you can set the aperture you want and then use the auto/manual switch to stop down to your preset.

The Super Tak/SMC Tak 55mm lenses are sharp and lovely, don't worry too much about f1.8 or f2 as they're the same lens, the f2 just has a baffle to stop the aperture opening as much. There was an oddball 55mm f1.8 badged as an Auto Takumar but with the instant return diaphragm of the Super Tak, it also has an aperture ring which rotates in the opposite direction to that of later models. It's a bit rare and performs well, so if you see one cheap then go for it. Mine has a 2mm gouge in the front element and still takes perfectly acceptable photos.

SMC Takumar 120mm f2.8 - I have the K version of this and it's brilliant. Relatively tiny with a good reach, you can go down to 1/125 without worrying too much about shake and thanks to the f2.8 part it often allows you to shoot distant subjects in poor light.

 

[RobertoMiglioli]

CZJ Flektogon 35mm f/2.4 and Takumar 17mm f/4 are the best M42 lenses I ever had.

Edit: forgot to mention CZJ Sonnar 180mm f/2.8. It´s a Pentacon Six lens but there is an adapter to M42. It´s HUGE and HEAVY but delivers fantastic results.

 

[Yashinoff]

The Yashinon 2/50 and Mamiya 2/50 are both really great lenses. People usually overlook them for the faster lenses, so they sell for under $20 all the time. The Meyer Orseston/Pentacon 1.8/50 is also a good performer and usually cheap.

I frankly would steer clear of west German lenses, their prices have sky-rocketed as many under-informed buyers assume that all German lenses are wonderful. Some of the worst lenses I've owned have been German, and come from reputable companies like Steinheil et al. The problem is the bad ones sell for prices approaching those of the best. The few m42 lenses made in west Germany that may be worth their prices are the Xenon 1.9/50 and the Icarex Ultron 1.8/50 - both of which are expensive these days, but also among the best normals ever offered in M42.

Mamiya's 28mm lens is excellent, and the CZJ Flektogon 4/20 is also excellent.