what LENS(es) are you lusting for - and why..

[locutus]

I have been looking for the rectilinear 15mm Rolleiflex SL3003 lens since the 1980s. So long that I for got why I want it....

The Leica R version pops up often enough. It's a decent enough lens but only from f/5.6

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Although there's no lust involved I'd like to have a Nikon 15MM f3.5 Ais rectilinear.

 

[4season]

50/1.9 Kern Macro-Switar

 

[tomkatf]

Early version (metal focusing collar) of the Nikkor 35mm f/1.4. Trying to get together a small collection of very good-excellent, user level Non-AI Nikon lenses. No special reason, I just like the classic looks and feel of the earlier F series Nikkors...

 

[Arthurwg]

Hasselblad 500mm CF tele. No good reason, just want it.

 

[Arthurwg]

I have the SWC, the Hasselblad 100mm lens and the Hasselblad 500mm lens so I really can not get stirred up enough to buy the Hasselblad fisheye lens even when offered one at a very good price.

SWC is the best camera ever made.

 

[Nokton48]

I have the Hasselblad 30mm T* Distagon. Need to use it more. I have a few ideas ahead................ Also have the 40mm and I have no need for the Superwide. The 500mm is very elusive, so many of them have bad shutters, I know from experience! Not easily fixable. The 350mm is so much more useful to me.

What I really, really want to find, is a 150mm Apo Lanthar, in a Plaubel Makiflex automatic iris mount. I have only seen one on the internet, in forty years. Ken Ruth kindly told me he once worked on one (came all the way from Italy!) BUT the elements were badly separated, so not really usuable. An uber expensive paperweight. So, one in good condition at a reasonable price. You never know.............

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have the SWC, the Hasselblad 100mm lens and the Hasselblad 500mm lens so I really can not get stirred up enough to buy the Hasselblad fisheye lens even when offered one at a very good price.

Someone finally made such low offer that I could not refuse it. Now that I have used the Fisheye, I see that the SWC and Fisheye have very different uses.

 

[ic-racer]

The Leica R version pops up often enough. It's a decent enough lens but only from f/5.6

I read the Leica version is based on the Zeiss lens but I think it is a different lens. I did consider getting the Leica and an R body (cost of the body would be inconsequential). I also could use the Contax mount version (which is identical to the Rollei version) on my Yashica. Once I rented the Nikkor 14mm lens for vacation a few years ago and actually found it too wide for my tastes. So I have been happy with the Rectilinear Rollei 18mm that I already have.

 

[jwd722]

I have always (since the 80's anyway) wanted the Pentax-A* 300 f4 lens. It's not only highly rated but I think it's one of the best looking 300's. Somewhat hard to find and pricey. Switched to Nikon in the early 2000's but now shoot mostly medium format, 6x6, 645 and 6x7 but if I find a decent 300 for a decent price I will dust off my MX and give it a whirl.

 

[fdonadio]

When you can, please tell us more about the lens. I never saw the inside of Charlie's camera ...

The inside of the camera is crazy. Lots of old electronics, motors and sprockets. The shutter is a curtain with a slit on it and the aperture mechanism is just like the one in an Olympus Trip 35!

I took the camera apart just enough to get the lens out. Since the aperture mechanism enters the lens from the side (through a slit, like the ones for Waterhouse stops), there are some dust specks inside.

Here are some photos for you to check it out:

I can see no scratches or fungus. There seems to be a light Ilexitis, but I am not sure.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks for the news and photos. A side view of the lens would be nice. I'd leave unscrewing the cells to the machinist, who'll need to know the lens' total length to get the cell spacing right when he puts the cells in a shutter.

 

[lobitar]

I have the Hasselblad 30mm T* Distagon. Need to use it more. I have a few ideas ahead................ Also have the 40mm and I have no need for the Superwide. The 500mm is very elusive, so many of them have bad shutters, I know from experience! Not easily fixable. The 350mm is so much more useful to me.

What I really, really want to find, is a 150mm Apo Lanthar, in a Plaubel Makiflex automatic iris mount. I have only seen one on the internet, in forty years. Ken Ruth kindly told me he once worked on one (came all the way from Italy!) BUT the elements were badly separated, so not really usuable. An uber expensive paperweight. So, one in good condition at a reasonable price. You never know.............

I you sure the automatic aperture mount for the Apo Lanthar isn't identical to the mount for the Xenar? I'm asking as I only own one automatic aperture lens for my Makiflexes, and as I haven't seen it for some time I simply don't remember the looks. (I think mine is a 210 Xenar, by the way)

 

[Nokton48]

I you sure the automatic aperture mount for the Apo Lanthar isn't identical to the mount for the Xenar?

Hi Lorbitar,

I suspect that the 150mm Apo Lanthar front and rear cells could screw into the 150mm Xenar automatic Makiflex lens board. They are both F4.5 lenses. I have the 150mm Xenar, 180mm Xenar, 210mm Xenar, and 240mm Xenar in Makiflex Auto iris mount. Also the 150mm F2.8 Xenotar, 270mm Tele Arton, and the 360mm Tele Xenar in auto iris Makiflex mount. The only one from the US catalog I don't have is the 150 Apo Lanthar. I know they make Symmars and Heliars in auto Makiflex mounts, I have seen them on the internet, they seem to only be available in Europe. Nothing about those in the US Plaubel catalogs.

If I could ever find a pair of non-seperated clean Apo Lanthar 150mm cells, I would buy them!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Schneider 110XL

 

[lobitar]

Hi Lorbitar,

I suspect that the 150mm Apo Lanthar front and rear cells could screw into the 150mm Xenar automatic Makiflex lens board. They are both F4.5 lenses. I have the 150mm Xenar, 180mm Xenar, 210mm Xenar, and 240mm Xenar in Makiflex Auto iris mount. Also the 150mm F2.8 Xenotar, 270mm Tele Arton, and the 360mm Tele Xenar in auto iris Makiflex mount. The only one from the US catalog I don't have is the 150 Apo Lanthar. I know they make Symmars and Heliars in auto Makiflex mounts, I have seen them on the internet, they seem to only be available in Europe. Nothing about those in the US Plaubel catalogs.

If I could ever find a pair of non-seperated clean Apo Lanthar 150mm cells, I would buy them!

Hi Nokton,
Yes, a pair of nice Apo Lanthar cells once in a while would be nice, but you dont seem to see them these days here in Copenhagen. And lately I haven't been able to travel all over Europe to photo shows like I did (more or less) some years ago. Speaking of cells by the way, I had a chance to buy a wonderful set of Protar cells in their original case from a gentleman from NY abt. a decade ago at a show in Holland. Foolishly I sold him my Makina 3-lens outfit. Well used but otherwise working perfectly - I also rarely or never see the Makine here these days. One should think there were large dealers in downtown NY with ample stocks of rare lenses? But of course I'm just guessing.
By the way I also have a automatic iris mounted Xenar 210 on my Pecoflex. But cannot access it at present as still in store after our refurbishing. (Incidentally, its Lobitar - not Lorbitar - Lobitar was a 4-lens Dopp-Anastigmat from the small firm of L.O.Bittner before the war. A rather cheap lens, but quite uncommon, and was quite good (I don't seem to have it still).

 

[jimgalli]

The 210mm f2.8 Xenotar that the LGM's failed to bring me after the Roswell NM debacle. Other than that, I'm pretty well set.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Jimbo, according to my sources in the Elves, Leprechauns, and Little Men's Chowder & Marching Society the LGM never had a xenotar.

 

[jimgalli]

Jimbo, according to my sources in the Elves, Leprechauns, and Little Men's Chowder & Marching Society the LGM never had a xenotar.

(shhh....there were no xenotar's in 1947 anyways, but why spoil a good story)

 

[Pentode]

I’ve been hungry for short teles lately.

I’d like to get:
A Rokkor 85/2 for my Minolta stable.
A Nikkor 85/1.8 and 105/2.5 AI-S for the Nikons.
A Jupiter 9 in good shape for the Kiev
An 85 Nikkor for the Nikon RF

On the wider side of things, stumbling into a 20mm or 24mm Rokkor-X 2.8 wouldn’t hurt my feelings.

As for why; I like short teles when shooting people in the street. You don’t have to get quite so close to them. I like the wides for scenics. I don’t own anything as wide as a 20 and my Minolta-mount 24 is not such a great lens.

When I saw this thread pop up again I decided to go back and see what I was lusting after almost a year ago. It turns out I have gotten the 105/2.5 Ai-s taken care of and the Jupiter 9. I'm very happy with both.
I also stumbled upon a very cheap Soligor 20mm in M42 mount, which I've been enjoying and a 90mm LTM which I haven't used enough yet.

I'd still love to get those 85s for Nikon and Minolta and I'm now thinking I'd really like a Zeiss Flektogon 35mm for my Praktina and a 50mm Tessar for the Exakta.
I don't see this list getting shorter anytime soon....

 

[mshchem]

Latest version 35mm Summicron asph in chrome. But it will never happen, I picked up a new Cosina Zeiss Biogon 35 2.8 it does a great job of sitting on a shelf being used very rarely.
Hopefully I will be out more taking slides. I would be afraid to take the Summicron outside

 

[anfenglin]

I just want a non-scratched collapsible Summicron 2/50 for my M3.
I have a badly scratched one, a Summitar in M39 and a Summicron-M 2/50 but that one is so very heavy.

 

[jim10219]

Schneider 150/2.8 Xenotar and Aero Ektar 6"/2.5 or 12"/2.5.

 

[Arthurwg]

Just received the Hasselblad 500mm CF lens I've been lusting after and posted about here exactly one year ago. I recon I got a good price as the lens is in truly MINT condition and looks like it's never been on a camera.. No idea what I'm going to do with it.

 

[benjiboy]

I don't lust after any lenses I have all I will ever want ( 15 Canon FD lenses ).