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

[xkaes]

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?

 

[Sirius Glass]

NIkon 20mm to 35mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor zoom

 

[xkaes]

Thanks, but that AF and a wide-to-wide zoom.

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

 

[waynecrider]

As long as I’ve been reading, there are many who think 35mm is normal.

 

[jimjm]

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.

 

[xkaes]

As long as I’ve been reading, there are many who think 35mm is normal.

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.

 

[mrosenlof]

Leica Vario-something-R 35-70mm f/4. Not fast, but beautifully sharp.

 

[xkaes]

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.

 

[mrosenlof]

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.

 

[markjwyatt]

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

 

[r_a_feldman]

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.

 

[Paul Howell]

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.

 

[beemermark]

My Nikkor 24-50mm /4 AIS.

 

[Pioneer]

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.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Nikon 25-50 f4.

 

[tokam]

Canon nFD 35-70 f2.8-3.5 SSC

 

[bags27]

Any of my wider primes...and my feet.

 

[ant!]

The Minolta 24-50mm f4 is a super lens, but out of my price range.

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...