I have always had a soft spot for manual lenses, so I finally decided to purchase some (and to not tell the wife about it). I got these off of ebay and already received a few and some are still sailing the seven seas: Kiron 28 mm f/2 Pentax Super Takumar 35 mm f/2 Konica Hexanon 40 mm f/1.8 Minolta MD Rokkor 45 mm f/2 Rikoh Rikenon XR 55 mm f/1.2 Konica Hexanon 57 mm f/1.4 Tamron SP 90 mm f/2.5 Macro Cambron MC 135 mm f/2.8 Pentacon 135 mm f/2.8 (15 blades version) Can't wait to test all of these! So far I have only shot with the 45 mm Minolta and I really like it. Focusing on E-M5 is surprisingly easy with the art filter focus peaking trick. But the question is: What else cool is out there? Nothing too expensive, but fun, special and useful at least in some way. I'm especially interested in something 300 mmish, but I welcome all hints.
You can find copies of the Canon FD 135mm f/2 for $300 or so. Sometimes less. It's a brilliant lens and super sharp. It makes a suprisingly useable excellent poor man's alternative to the Olympus 150mm f/2 SWD.
The Kiron / Lester-Dine 105mm macros are worth keeping an eye out for (they were made in many mounts). 50/55mm macros from any of the manufacturers are all pretty sharp and compact - worth checking out. I like the Pen F Zuikos because they're compact and speedy (the 40 & 38mm's are pretty easy to track down). For ultra-cheap fun, try the Russian Industar & Jupiter Leica-Thread-Mount (often abbreviated to LTM or M39) lenses.
I want to echo the other posters - you can get cheap Russian made lenses that are based on German technology. http://slrlensreview.com/web/entry/a-guide-to-russian-ltm-lenses-part-2 http://subliminalwhispers.blogspot.com/2012/07/6-good-manual-focus-m42-russian-lenses.html http://vashivisuals.com/4-best-low-budget-lenses-camera-flare/ http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51145904
Thanks for the tips guys. I have already had an eye on the 50 mm macros. Maybe these could also be used for stitching. Does any of these have an especially nice reputation? I'm also interested in the russian stuff, but I'm a bit worried about the sample variations, though. That might be just a part of the game I guess. Anything else out there? Share your favourites.
I love MF lenses as well. Purple fringing can be a bit nagging. 57/1.4 and 90 macro should be excellent. I have a Hexanon 57/1.4 - a very good lens! I also like new FD lenses - whenever I had a chance to test them vs others they did well. I waited patiently on ebay 2-3 years ago to get some... FD 135/2.8 is excellent and very cheap, much cheaper than 135/2, got mine for $35 witha tiny scratch. 50/3.5 macro is excellent and also cheap, mine was <$40. 200/2.8 is great but usually more expensive. I got lucky, seller was not a photographer and the lens had an awfully scratch filter on. It turned out to be mint BTW, it got some use last week in Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, NY The pictures are very much cropped but the results are still much better than I could get with several cheap-ish 300mm legacy primes. The good telephotos are expensive. {} Another excellent lens is Nikon 28/2.8 AIS, but it's very popular with SLR folks as well (apparently) and the cheap ones are hard to find. I've had it for years since my Canon days and just cannot sell it . 28/2.8 makes little sense for m43, but I still use it sometimes, especially as a close-up lens.
If you want some cheap lenses for effect you could look at the CCTV lenses which can be purchased new on ebay for around $30 25mm f1.4, 35mm f1.7, 50mm f1.4 --- Fujian is one brand
Try a Metabones Speedbooster for a mount in which you have a few lenses. The results are kinda revolutionary
I own a couple of the Russian Helios jobs - 44/2 and the 44M - well worth the purchase price of between £5-£10 on the bay. I'd also recommend the Vivitar (Bokina) Series 1 90/2.5. Not sure if the Tamron you already purchased is just a re-badged version of this lens. I also have a host of Soligor lenses - 135 in 2.8 and 3.5, 28/2.8, 35/2.8. I also enjoy my Sigma mini and super-wides (28/24mm respectively) oh, and my Tamron 28/2.5. There are so many different legacy glass names that I haven't even mentioned either the Pentax 50/1.7 or f2, or my Canon (FD) 50/1.4. I use 'em all.
This I will definitely try at some point! It's just too bad that I have a lot of different mounts. Edit: Damn I missed the quote. This was for RnR's message about the metabones.
The russian lenses are getting so many recommendations now that I guess I'll look in to those next.. How about all the Jena's out there? Are they worth checking out?
Anything with the CZJ name on it seems to go for silly money. I can't even get close to one over here in the UK - they've been popular since my film days. If you can grab a Helios 58/44-2 then you should.
