• 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

What's your favorite MANUAL-FOCUS wide-to-normal zoom lens?

xkaes

Subscriber
Joined
Mar 25, 2006
Messages
5,268
Location
Colorado
Format
Multi Format
Let me start off by saying I'm not talking about wide only zooms, like 18-28mm or 24-35mm, or wide-to-tele zooms, like 28-70mm -- just wide to normal.


The Minolta 24-50mm f4 is a super lens, but out of my price range, so a long time ago I decided on the Vivitar Series 1 24-48mm f3.8 -- even though it is a BIG, heavy lens with a 77mm filter.

I've seen bad reviews of the Makina 24-50mm f3.3 -- who knows who made it? -- but good things about the Tamron 25-50mm f4. And Tokina made a 24-40mm f2.8 -- which ALMOST meets this criteria.

I just ran across a Osawa 24-43mm f3.5/4.5. It was such a deal I couldn't pass it up. Who made it? Maybe SEKOR/Setagaya? I don't know. But it seems well made and even has a macro mode (at 43mm) to 1:3 -- unlike my Vivitar. I've had good luck with my Osawa 60-300mm f5.6 -- and combined with a wide to normal zoom I can cover just about everything with two lenses.

What other gems have people found in the wide-to-normal zoom arena?
 
NIkon 20mm to 35mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor zoom
 
Thanks, but that AF and a wide-to-wide zoom.


What's your favorite MANUAL-FOCUS wide-to-normal zoom lens?​

 
As long as I’ve been reading, there are many who think 35mm is normal.
 
I shoot more primes these days, but if I take my Nikons on a hiking or backpack trip I'll grab the Nikkor 25-50/4.0 AI, along with a 75-150/3.5 Nikon Series E. Both great performers and the 25-50 covers 80% of what I shoot and is great for landscapes. I like 24 and 25mm wide primes, and this lens gives me that range. I rarely use lenses wider than that.
 
waynecrider said:
As long as I’ve been reading, there are many who think 35mm is normal.
Click to expand...

While I know that plenty of shutterbugs use a 35mm lens as their "normal" lens, just about every lens manufacxturer's catalog I've ever seen starts their Wide-angle section with their 35mm optics.
 
Leica Vario-something-R 35-70mm f/4. Not fast, but beautifully sharp.
 
Nice shot'

ONE more reason NOT to "get people out of the picture".

I suspect that she was good for 1/15th -- maybe longer.

BUT, it looks like a of digital manipulation to me.

You can plug in any "beach bay" on the sun of the moooon.
 
Last edited:
no digital manipulation other than tone curve and maybe a bit of cropping. TMAX 100 with the Leica lens probably stopped down pretty far for a slow shutter speed, tripod. I was actually waiting for her to move out of the frame, and then this is by far the one I liked best.
 
I don't use it much, but the Funinon-Z 43-75mm f3.5-4.5 is pretty nice. Does not do well on a digital camera, but works well with film. Zeiss Icarex 35S; Fuji Superia XTRA 400. Probably actually normal to portrait.


plant by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
I like the Olympus S-Zuiko AUTO-Zoom 28-48mm f/4.0. I got a copy quite inexpensively from KEH, as it was rated Ugly, but it cleaned up nicely. It is a small zoom lens (49mm filters, like most OM-1 lenses). I use it with adapters on my Olympus Pen FT and Fujifilm X-E1.
 
Pentax 35 to 70, in K and KA, sharp not too expensive, same with Chinon 35 to 70 3.5 to 4.5 in KA mount. The sharpest I have in manual mount is the Konica 35 to 70 3.5 one touch, sharp at 35, best at around F8 to 11.
 
I rarely use zoom lenses in 35mm but if I do it is typically my Vivitar Series 1 24-48mm lens. I have one in Pentax K mount and a second for my Minolta SRT cameras.
 
xkaes said:
The Minolta 24-50mm f4 is a super lens, but out of my price range.
Click to expand...

With a bit patience, these are not really expensive? I see in ebay Canada (just checked there because I am in Canada) sold items some around CAD 60, and on Yahoo Auctions Japan they sell often for much less then that.
I got mine about 10 years ago in Europe, in a box with a XD5 and a bunch of other lenses for €100.
But of course I don't know your budget. Just don't get shocked by the price wishes by random ebay vendors...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register