What is your favourite budget M42 mount Lens?

Ian Grant · Mar 8, 2022

The sleeper, the 29mm CZJ Lydith, a superb les.

Ian

Javier González · Mar 8, 2022

I love my 7 elements Smc takumar but I would not consider it as a budget lens. My vote is for a helios 44, any version dirty cheap and sharp. The 44-7 is fantastic imho

Helge · Mar 8, 2022

Going for real budget here. A Takumar 50mm 1.4 is not budget in M42 land.

Chinon: 135mm 2.8, 50mm 1.7 and 50mm 1.9.
The last two are actually surprisingly different.
The first is as good as any Pentax lens with the same spec.

Pentax: Takumar 55mm 1.8. Feels noticeably better build than it’s K mount cousins. And delivers a wonderful, tiny bit lower contrast result. Can’t really see the difference between it and the 1.4 (Super) Takumar.

flavio81 · Mar 8, 2022

Helge said:
Going for real budget here. A Takumar 50mm 1.4 is not budget in M42 land.

Chinon: 135mm 2.8, 50mm 1.7, 50mm 1.9.
The last two are actually surprisingly different.
The first is as good as any Pentax lens with the same spec.

Pentax: Takumar 50mm 1.7. Feels noticeably better build than it’s K mount cousins. And delivers a wonderful, tiny bit lower contrast result. Can’t really see the difference between it and the 1.4 (Super) Takumar.

Hi Green Tentacle,

Takumar (SMCT) 50/1.4 can still get for reasonable prices if you shop in places elsewhere than eBay/etsy. It is very plentiful.

55/1.8 is also a great lens.

I'm not sure about the 50/1.7 Takumar you mention. I recall the Pentax-M 50/1.7 and the Pentax-A. Both great lenses and in K mount only.

Disco sucks!!

Kodachromeguy · Mar 8, 2022

The 28mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens is (or was up through 2021) a surprising bargain. It's especially cheap compared to any Leica M or ltm 28 lens. Beware, the correct Pentax rectangle hood can cost a bundle. Some examples:

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2020/11/old-railroad-machine-shop-levee-street.html

Helge · Mar 8, 2022

flavio81 said:
Hi Green Tentacle,

Takumar (SMCT) 50/1.4 can still get for reasonable prices if you shop in places elsewhere than eBay/etsy. It is very plentiful.

55/1.8 is also a great lens.

I'm not sure about the 50/1.7 Takumar you mention. I recall the Pentax-M 50/1.7 and the Pentax-A. Both great lenses and in K mount only.

Disco sucks!!

Sorry, meant the 55mm 1.8 of course.
Made a mental cut and paste from the (also excellent) Chinon I guess.

Mine is the late version, that came on an ES II (which is not a favorite).

Just superb. A real “do everything” lens. Reminds me a bit of Minoltas best 50s in fact.

Another very good M42 fifty kit prime is the Fujinon 55mm 1.6. Also came in a straight fifty version. Quite rare though. Very sharp lens. Better than the 1.4 Fujinon.

There is of course also 55mm versions of the Chinon 1.7, which are very close in characteristics to the 50 version.
Probably just different ratings of the same basic lens.

My avatar is of course from the moment in the game when Green Tentacle is guarding the darkroom, and the rest of the Mansion.
And is from the only real (first/lead) version of the game, the C64 one.

miha · Mar 9, 2022

I have fond memories of my YASHINON 50mm f/1.4 lens (along with the TL ELECTRO-X) I was using in the 90s.

flavio81 · Mar 9, 2022

Helge said:
Sorry, meant the 55mm 1.8 of course.
Made a mental cut and paste from the (also excellent) Chinon I guess.

Mine is the late version, that came on an ES II (which is not a favorite).(...)

Just superb. A real “do everything” lens. Reminds me a bit of Minoltas best 50s in fact.
(...)
My avatar is of course from the moment in the game when Green Tentacle is guarding the darkroom, and the rest of the Mansion.
And is from the only real (first/lead) version of the game, the C64 one.

Why you don't like the ES II too much? I am on the opposite camp -- sold almost all the spotmatics and kept the ES II which it even needs a bit of fixing to end up working fully ok. The electronics are fine, it's just the "mirror stuck up" syndome, which on the ES II is even more stubborn. But i think it's a really sweet camera.

As for the lens, on a Pop Photo test, "32 normal lenses tested", the 55/1.8 was clearly one of the best at wide open performance, equalling some of Leitz's offerings. Hush hush we don't want prices to raise.

Maniac Mansion is one of my favorite games of all time and I first played it on a monochrome monitor (hercules video card) on an IBM AT. Then i had the luxury of playing it on a VGA display with nice bright colors. And of course, Day of the Tentacle (DOTT). I never owned a C64, i was on the competing camp -- Atari (i had a lot of hardware: 400, 800XL, 1200XL, 130XE and a lot of peripherals).

Helge · Mar 9, 2022

flavio81 said:
Why you don't like the ES II too much? I am on the opposite camp -- sold almost all the spotmatics and kept the ES II which it even needs a bit of fixing to end up working fully ok. The electronics are fine, it's just the "mirror stuck up" syndome, which on the ES II is even more stubborn. But i think it's a really sweet camera.

As for the lens, on a Pop Photo test, "32 normal lenses tested", the 55/1.8 was clearly one of the best at wide open performance, equalling some of Leitz's offerings. Hush hush we don't want prices to raise.

Maniac Mansion is one of my favorite games of all time and I first played it on a monochrome monitor (hercules video card) on an IBM AT. Then i had the luxury of playing it on a VGA display with nice bright colors. And of course, Day of the Tentacle (DOTT). I never owned a C64, i was on the competing camp -- Atari (i had a lot of hardware: 400, 800XL, 1200XL, 130XE and a lot of peripherals).

I don’t hate the ES II. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky but I’ve never been a huge fan of the Pentax M42 bodies. They always seem to have been overused and creaky, and even in the few instances when I find a pretty pristine one it’s not too impressive.
I’m comparing them to Fujica ST901 and Icarex 35 S TM that are just wonderful feeling, looking and not least working.

If you’re a fan of Maniac Mansion you should really do yourself the favor of playing the original version at least once.
The game was made especially to the strengths and idiosyncrasies of the C64 and is the only version on which the original team worked on and put their heart into.
The rest of the versions and “improvements” is just gilding the lilly.
The recent Thimbleweed Park was initially initiated to capture that spirit, but feature creep and biggerism… liked it though.
Ron Gilbert is a genius when he wants to be.

Disappointed_Horse · Mar 9, 2022

My M42 experience is limited to Pentax Takumar lenses. I have about half a dozen of them and they are all great. Prices depend a lot on what kind of deals you can deal you can find (i.e., luck). For example, I have two 50mm f/1.4 Takumars, and paid $20 or less for each of them, and one of those even included a nice Spotmatic for that price!

AgX · Mar 9, 2022

You Americans relate M42 lenses typically with japanese lenses, when at least in West-Germany (which even is a special case) long before japanese lenses german M42 lenses were marketed, the mount actually being a german one. And when japanese lenses took the martket here the big time of M42 already was over with proprietary mounts prevailing, with mostly Pentacon holding on to the old.

What is your favourite budget M42 mount Lens?

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