Manual Lens Database

[OzRay]

Does anyone know of a reasonably comprehensive lens database of older manual lenses, or if such doesn't exist, would it be worthwhile to compile such a list? For example, I currently have three 50mm manual lenses, Voigtlander f1.1, Pentax f2 and Minolta f1.4; I haven't yet compared the quality of these lenses on m4/3s, but intend to do so in the near future, as well as for the other lenses that I have.

If a database doesn't exist, I was thinking about creating one, listed by FL and brand, and then including all the ones that people have and giving some form of simple rating that would help others to look for and purchase similar lenses. It woldn't be difficult and a simple spreadsheet could be used and updated with user views on each lens. There are so many lens brands about, especially, ones that date back to the 60s and 70s, like Komura, that are supposed to be excellent, but there's no one place to find out first hand information.

This is what I had in mind:

Manual Lens Database

Cheers

Ray

 

[BillN]

Ray,

you can find a list by brand and there are sites devoted to various brands,

i.e.
all the Nikkors

all the Canon FDs

All the Pentax, Taks

etc., etc.

I can list a few links which may be the easiest as other have done all the work pretty well

Cheers

 

[kai.e.g.]

For C-Mount lenses, there is this:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p9kkgjwEQQQ-HJwvNDobeEw

... it seems to be in limbo, as I've seen no updates to it in many months.

Cheers,
Kai

 

[McDuff]

adapted

It would really be nice to know what legacy lenses will work and how hard the adapter is to apply. There has to be alot of older "state of the art" glass setting in camera bags. Manual focus is a pain but......... the new lenses are out of my price range. Throw away world needs a step back.

 

[OzRay]

Ray,

you can find a list by brand and there are sites devoted to various brands,

i.e.
all the Nikkors

all the Canon FDs

All the Pentax, Taks

etc., etc.

I can list a few links which may be the easiest as other have done all the work pretty well

Cheers

Problem with that is, you have to wade through tons of stuff that simply isn't relevant and it's not always easy to find things. There are also a lot of gaps when it come to vintage etc lenses, just hunting for info on a KOMURA 35mm f2.5 Sankyo Kohki lens, took a lot of effort. And how much info is there avialble on the Russian lenses?

I just thought that this would be a way to build up a specifc database based on lenses actually owned by m4/3s users, not something to cover anything and everything. I was aware of the C mount lens database, so didn't intend to cover these.

It was just a thought.

Cheers

Ray

 

[f6cvalkyrie]

Hi,

I found this overview in a post on another forum.
I don't know if I can name the forum, or post a link.

Here's a C&P of the info

" MF Lenses: new life in digital age
Our Attila's web site exclusively dedicated to manual lenses:
http://www.mflenses.com

Povlab
The largest web site dedicated to manual lenses with M42 mount:
http://m42.povlab.org/ -> Server change -> new address http://m42.artlimited.net/index.php

Lens Survey And Subjective Evaluations
by Bj?rn R?rslett, the largest online resource of Nikkor lenses evaluations:
http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html

Veijo Vilva's Retro Photography
A very competent website section with evaluations and samples of many manual focus lenses:
http://www.galactinus.net/vilva/retro/index.html

Using Manual Focus Lenses on Canon EOS bodies
by Bob Atkins:
http://forum.mflenses.com/posting.php?mode=reply&t=5

Using manual lenses and telescopes with EOS cameras
by Photonotes.org:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-manual-lenses/

Alfred's Camera Page
A good resource on Russian film cameras (especially the FED, LOMO, Zenit and Zorki series):
http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/

Russian Logos and Factories
On the same site as above, it is worth to link separately to this very useful page on Russian Logos and Factories - all in English:
http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/logos/

Russian Logos
This page is more complete, but it's in Russian:
http://www.zenitcamera.com/qa/qa-logos.html

Zenitcamera.com
The largest resource on Russian Zenit cameras (alas, in Russian language!):
http://www.zenitcamera.com/

Radioactive Lenses
A long and quite comprehensive forum message (Italian Language)
http://www.photo4u.it
English translation

Pebble Place
This very useful web site has just recently got back online after a period of absence.
Here's the direct links to the resources:
Contax (Zeiss) lenses on EOS cameras compatibility database:
http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_Lens_db.html
Leica-R lenses on EOS cameras compatibility database:
http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Leica_01.html "

Big thanks to Orio for gathering these links !

C U
Rafael

 

[OzRay]

I guess not.:smile:

Cheers

Ray

 

[DeeJayK]

The collection of links that f6cvalkyrie posted above is a great resource for learning about legacy lenses.

Here are a couple I would add:

• Konica SLRs and Hexanon lenses: www.buhla.de - Konica start page
• In-depth info on Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Minolta, Pentax, Leica, Contax (and more) cameras and lenses (Photography in Malaysia): http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/photography.htm
• Rokkor Files (Minolta cameras and lenses): The Rokkor Files
• OrphanCameras.com - 3500+ instruction / user manuals for old cameras
• Camera Quest - lots of articles on old SLRs and rangefinders
• Manual focus lens database (the forum on the same site is a great resource, too)

I'm sure there are many other resources that I have yet to uncover. Anyone have any particularly useful sites to share?

 

[Gyles]

Perhaps we need a database of databases? Sticky'd with a list of a few good cheap lenses to give people a taste of legacy glass. Perhaps even a few recommendations per mount so the beginner could buy a single adapter and a couple of different lenses without breaking the bank or upsetting ones loved ones.

 

[DeeJayK]

Perhaps we need a database of databases? Sticky'd with a list of a few good cheap lenses to give people a taste of legacy glass. Perhaps even a few recommendations per mount so the beginner could buy a single adapter and a couple of different lenses without breaking the bank or upsetting ones loved ones.

Your idea to provide some quick "beginner" selections for each mount sounds like a good one. I'm just not sure that we'd be likely to find any consensus among the community. I think it might be possible if we set up some structure, e.g. what three lenses would you consider with a US$100 budget?

For example, with a Konica AR mount I would suggest the following three lenses:

• Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 pancake
• Hexanon 57mm f/1.4 (or Hexanon 50mm f/1.4)
• Hexanon 80-200mm f/3.5 zoom

While it might be a challenge to fit these three lenses into a US$100 budget, I feel that it can be done with a bit of diligence.

Anyone else care to throw out some suggestions?

 

[Gyles]

Ahem, Hexanon 50mm f1.7

I'm a newbie to m43 and I'm going down the Hexanon route. I purchased a gf1 used with a couple of nice Panny lenses plus the 40mm and 28mm f3.5 including an adapter. Just bagged a 50mm f1.7 off EBay France. Paid €30 posted to the UK. Comes with both caps and is the older version with half f stops and closer focusing, worth the extra. Can't wait to get it on. Hopefully I won't have the same issues with buying old glass from eBay as someone else has.

 

[DeeJayK]

...with a Konica AR mount I would suggest the following three lenses:

• Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 pancake
• Hexanon 57mm f/1.4 (or Hexanon 50mm f/1.4)
• Hexanon 80-200mm f/3.5 zoom

...

Ahem, Hexanon 50mm f1.7

See what I said about the difficulty in finding any consensus.

I'm a newbie to m43 and I'm going down the Hexanon route. I purchased a gf1 used with a couple of nice Panny lenses plus the 40mm and 28mm f3.5 including an adapter. Just bagged a 50mm f1.7 off EBay France. Paid €30 posted to the UK. Comes with both caps and is the older version with half f stops and closer focusing, worth the extra. Can't wait to get it on. Hopefully I won't have the same issues with buying old glass from eBay as someone else has.

The 50/1.7 is also a great place to start. Similar lenses are easily found in just about any mount and they generally are a very good choice for a first adapted lens. They are much lighter (and much cheaper) than any of the faster f/1.4 or f/1.2 offerings, but still provide good low light performance and reasonably shallow DOF (if you're going for that look) at the larger apertures. They're also generally very sharp, particularly when stopped down a stop or two.

As for running into issues with buying old lenses online, I've had very good luck so far (knock wood). I wrote a post that has some [post=225659]suggestions for how to avoid bad lenses[/post] that you might want to review.

 

[maxsoul]

Minolta md and mc lens database Manual Minolta Lens Index