• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

whats the nicest lens you have ( read more )

removed account4

Subscriber
Allowing Ads
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Messages
29,810
Format
Hybrid
whats the nicest lens you have, no, not the most expensive lens you have that is nice
but the nicest lens that you bought for very little money not knowing if it was going to be
good or bad, and you stuck it on whatever camera you use and it ended up being a lens
you use for "special" stuff because it gives a look you can't get with anything else.

have one, or is it a secret ?
 
Well, it's a 90mm Fuji, and it's attached to my 6x9!
As the 6x9 is so much like the dimensions of 35mm in a larger format, when I get that
special opportunity, I pull it out. It became my back-up to my Leica for street work and
I often use it for landscapes when the special moments present themselves. The look
of that lens, I've never been able to duplicate.
 
I'd have to say I have several.

35mm: Minolta 58mm f/1.4 PF (the only lens I have that I can focus and shoot with both eyes open! Really quite a unique experience.)
Nikon 75-150 f/3.5 Series E

MF: Mamiya 180mm for TLR
Mamiya 180mm KL for RB
Mamiya 50mm C for RB

If I could only pick one, it would probably be the Minolta 58mm - long enough for decent portraits, short enough to look normal though I have a hard time picking 35mm over MF.
 
10.75" Dagor in an Ilex shutter. I bought this more than 40 years ago for about $100. I use it on every camera when the need arises - 4x5,5x7, 8x10 and well stopped down on the 7x17. The old clockwork shutter never fails and the lens produces a "real world" look to the image, not the cut and paste of more modern ones.
 
When I was using 35mm definitely my 50mm Summicron. With LF I don't really have a special lens, well not for 5x4, maybe the 12" Goerz AM Opt lens on my 10x8 Agfa Ansco it's just such a nice old lens to use, made around 1940 but coated just after WWII and the results are always wonderful.

Ian
 
28-105 AF Nikkor--does 85% of what I want w/low distortion.
 
Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 55mm 1.7. It came attached to my granddad's old SRT102 because that is what he almost always used, but I took it off because he had a newer Rokkor-PG 50mm 1.4(which is really good as well) in the bag. Now I know why it was always on the camera after using it as a knock around lens on trails and waterways last year to keep the 'better' 50mm safe at home. A recent example of what it can do:

Quiet Resting Place

I think I like the look of this Arista 200.
 
I have a couple of favorites, but they weren't necessarily cheap. In particular, I'm fond of my collapsible Summicron on 35mm, and on 5x7, a 300mm/6.3 Ilex Paragon that's supremely sharp and creamy at the same time. Now that I think of it, that's what the Summicron does that I like, too, towards wide open: sharp plus creamy.
 
Probably the Canon 50mm 1.8 Serenar I had for my M3. I paid about £90 and it was superb. Was, because I sold it along with the M3.
 
Chip j - Your Nikkor zoom - how is it on sharpness? I ask, 'cause I used a 28-70 alot & the focal length worked fine, but almost all my other lens were noticeably more sharp. I'm leery of Nikkor zooms now.
 
jerrybro said:
This is asking me to choose my favorite child. I love them all.
Click to expand...

Yes, but some are more unruly than others. Some are sweeter than others. It doesn't make one less lovable... just less troublesome or more helpful.
 
Cheap lenses that were surprisingly good:

- Canon 50/1.8 EF II ("nifty fifty")
- Minolta AF 35-70 f/3.5-4.5 (amazing sharpness)

Expensive (at the time) and good:

- Hasselblad Carl Zeiss 50/4 CF FLE


I must have over 100 lenses for different camera systems and formats. None are really bad - which shows that modern (1950's onward) lenses are actually very good.
 
I don't recall the price (<$700 CDN?, used), but my 35mm Summicron M has been a pleasant surprise (Very sharp and nice contrast). I'm not sure which version (made in Canada, the lens hood is rectangular...), because I don't really care much about the technical end of things. Not cheap, by any means, both my 50mm F1.4 Summilux M ASPH and my 85mm F1.4 Ais Nikkor are stellar performers...but then that's another story...

The 100mm F3.5 Zeiss Planar is also an amazing performer. I have no idea what I paid for the lens; it was the fourth addition to my Hasselblad system (after I started with the 50-80-150 "kit").
 
In the past the Minolta Rokor f/2.8 21mm lens
Hasselblad 903 SWC 38mm lens
Hasselblad f/3.5 100mm lens
Nikon 20mm to 35mm AF zoom lens
Tamron 35mm to 300mm AF zoom lens
 
My Canon FD 35mm f2 Thorium lens that I had fully serviced a few years ago.
 
Last edited:
Going along with your "take a gamble" idea: Helios 44, I've had a lot over the past few years and they are all good but the 44-2 with lots of aperture blades is very nice, almost as good as Biotar 58/2.

Less of a gamble but still "secret sauce": Tamron 300/2.8 gamble on eBay, ended up having great glass and great results. C/Y mount Planar 50/1.4: better than the Canon EF 50/1.4 and a lot of other manual focus 50-55mms. Rokkor 58/1.2 but that's not much of a surprise, really.

Medium format: Super Takumar 105/2.4 for Pentax 67, first edition gives great results. Maybe the later ones would have less flare but I can't really see how else they would beat the early 105mm. Had a Yashica D with triotar, surprisingly good. Extremely trashed and rough operating 532/16 with lots of fungus in the Tessar 80/2.8 lens. Threw a test roll in just to see what happened and the results are quite good, especially taking into account the age and condition of the lens, never mind the rest of the camera.
 
In 1980 I bought a new 4x5/5x7 and lens kit -- a Rajah with a Computar Symmetrigon 210/6.8. The price was ~$525 for the kit. I had never heard the lens name before and I assumed it must be some cheap lens (but in a nice Copal 1). I did not appreciate how sharp that lens was until it got stolen -- since then I have replaced it and I use it for 5x7.
 
About 10-years ago, I found an old lens on eBay. It came in a non-working Conley shutter, and something in the description told me it would cover 8x10. F/stops were hand scratched into a plate. For $15 I thought I might get a lens for playing around with Sally Mann type photos.

When it arrived, I found the lens glass in remarkably good shape. Looking at the plate with the scratched on f/stops, I realized it fit too well to be anything but original. I took out two screws and turned the plate over, where I found the original US f/stops - 3 of them. I had bought a 12 1/2, 20, 28 inch triple convertible rapid rectilinear lens. I used the non-working shutter as a barrel for a year, then sent it off to be mounted in a modern one. It's my main lens now.
 
- CZJ Sonnar 180mm f/2.8
 
That would have to be my 15" Wollensak, I bought it on ebay not expecting much but the price was right, it seemed cool because it was so long, and it's a true telephoto so it will focus on my Arca Swiss or even my Crown Graphic. I stuck it on the Arca Swiss and am very pleased with it, wide open it's great, and stopped down it's the sharpest LF lens I own. Being so long and with I don't think it will be my most used lens, but it is definately my favorite.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register