So Many Lenses... M42 Suggestions Please

Carl Hall

Carl Hall

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Carl
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Hi all,

I’ve been using my recently acquired Praktica L for the last week with an Optimax 35mm f.3.5 and Pentacon 50mm f/1.8. I find myself wanting to acquire more M42 lenses, but having spent a few hours on t’internet I am totally bemused. There seems to be hundreds of manufacturers with about a billion and a half lenses to pick from. Prices seem to vary hugely, and there are loads of versions of each lens, so I’ve no clue what’s a good price for what. Can see why I’m lost haha?

Has anyone got any suggestions what would be a good place to start? I’d like a fast general use lens (50-85mm at around f/1.8-2.8), but the price is a big limiting factor ( < £50 if possible), as I’ve just bought a B&W dev kit and two 35mm slrs, so I need to lay off the pennies for a bit lol. If anyone has any suggestions then I’d be grateful, then I’ll either stick an ad in the wanted section or have a gander on fleabay/gumtree etc.

Thanks,

Carl
 
Well Carl 85 mm lenses in m42 or other mounts are not cheap...in fact I have plenty of lenses but don't have a 85mm prime, well I get by with a good zoom say 80-200mm or 70-150mm or 35-70mm etc...the original zooms are inferior to the later ones, but some later ones did make them for m42.
 
As Brian says 85mm in m42 is a rare beast, the 135mm is much more common although may be a bit long for your style of photography. As most m42 lenses were made during the early years of SLR development there wasn't an enormous choice of lens focal lengths but as you've discovered there is an almost inexhaustible choice when it comes to manufacturers of the standard sizes. The pre K mount Pentax lenses from the 60's and 70's are very nice and do still crop up at reasonable prices occasionally and are worth keeping a look out for.
 
Fujinon Super EBC lenses are multi-coated and have a strong reputation for both sharpness and contrast, they're appreciating in price now. Or you could try Vivitar, you might get lucky and find a Series 1 lens in M42 fit, I'm sure there was a coveted Komine version of the 70-210mm with an M42 mount on ebay recently (see here for why that's a good thing).
 
The Pentax pre-K lenses are generally Takumars, very nice but not multi-coated. There are some excellent Carl Zeiss jena M42 lenses as well, generally for peanuts. I sold a lovely 85-310 Jenazoom on here including a lovely leather case, for £25!
 
Nice sharp shot Steve....the Russians and East Germans produced some excellent lenses but the problem is copy variation i.e. quality control was inferior to Japanese lenses and all were inferior to Zeiss. In the old days, a pro would go to his friendly camera shop and choose say three lenses that were the same, test them and chose the best one for results....They might still do it today with plastic fantastic digi lenses.
So it can be a gamble on the bay for any lens and if you can, best to buy from someone who is reliable and can vouch that the lens gives very good results. Someone said "If you have an excellent lens you would keep it not sell it for auction" h'mm all lenses on the bay are inferior? well there is some truth in what he said.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone! Sorry I've taken a few days to reply, I've been doing a lot of research on the interweb. I wasn't actually aware that 85mm wasn't a normal length (that's my digital side poking through! 85mm is common), but it was just a ballpark sort of range for me to be aiming with. I'm now almost certain that I want a nifty fifty, and have found some great reviews and write ups for the Helios 44M 58mm f/2, and the Takamur 50mm f/1.4. I know the Takamur is quite an expensive lens compared to what I wanted to spend, but I can't resist the lure of a 1.4!! There seems to be a huge variation in price for the Takamur, with prices on here being a massive amount cheaper than eBay, where they can go for over £130. They seem to pop up on here once in a while so I might keep an eye out and pounce if one is listed.

In the mean time I'm going to keep looking out on eBay, and seeing which lenses suit my needs and go for a decent-ish price. Then I can give them a Google and find out a bit more about them before making a purchase.

Thanks again :)
 
Well it's fun playing with lenses, but what's wrong with the Pentacon 50mm, Ok it's not the best in the world but why don't you try and get the best out of it and if you're disappointed then go from there. And unless you only want screw lenses and while the Helios 44-2 and 44m or CZJ 50mm Tessar are good lenses if you get a good copy, don't pay too much for them as you could get a Zuiko 50mm or Minolta MD 50mm f1.7 on a camera for similar prices or a bit more and overall are better lenses....of course this way your end up with loads of different cameras like me but it's all fun ;)
 
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The SMC Takumar 85 1.8 is an amazing lens. I keep it on my K-01 as a general walking-around lens, pretty much set at f8. It works great. I like the 2.5 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 135mm, as well. The 50mm 1.4 SMC Takumar has one less element, and is more contrasty, but you don't want to carry it in your pocket. The design was achieved with the use of thorium, and when I say it's a hot lens, I can back that claim up with a geiger counter.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well it's fun playing with lenses, but what's wrong with the Pentacon 50mm, Ok it's not the best in the world but why don't you try and get the best out of it and if you're disappointed then go from there. And unless you only want screw lenses and while the Helios 44-2 and 44m or CZJ 50mm Tessar are good lenses if you get a good copy, don't pay too much for them as you could get a Zuiko 50mm or Minolta MD 50mm f1.7 on a camera for similar prices or a bit more and overall are better lenses....of course this way your end up with loads of different cameras like me but it's all fun ;)
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Thanks Brian, that's probably what I'm going to do. I'll stick with the Pentacon and Optimax lenses and get some use out of them, and perhaps just wait until something special pops up at a good price. I'm not disappointed with the Pentacon as such, I'm just trying to get better photos from the Praktica and I figured buying a decent lens from the start would remove one variable (lens, film, film/dev combo, user error, user dev error etc).

Here's a couple of photos that I took with the Pentacon and Optimax lenses (Praktica L, HP5+, dev in Ilfosol 3)

View attachment 23959 View attachment 23960 View attachment 23961 View attachment 23962

As these were some of the first photos that I developed myself, I'm thinking my developing skills is the best thing to work on!

Barbarian said:
The SMC Takumar 85 1.8 is an amazing lens. I keep it on my K-01 as a general walking-around lens, pretty much set at f8. It works great. I like the 2.5 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 135mm, as well. The 50mm 1.4 SMC Takumar has one less element, and is more contrasty, but you don't want to carry it in your pocket. The design was achieved with the use of thorium, and when I say it's a hot lens, I can back that claim up with a geiger counter.
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I did see that some of the lenses were made with radioactive parts, and my initial thought on buying one was "nope!". But I've done a bit of reading and it seems the radiation that they give off is a tiny amount so there's no safety issues. Having said that, if I bought one I definitely wouldn't be keeping it in my jeans pocket! Perhaps in a lead lined box in the shed at the bottom of the garden??
 
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Well Carl your shots are a good start and you are right in that the general rule for most things is:- it's only as good as the weakest link. But as nifty fifty's were so common not many makers made a bad one...I have a quite a few 50mms from Hexanon 50mm f1.4 to a Yashica DSB and one of my lenses I like for colour shots is the M42 Pentax super Tak 55mm f1.8, I'm not saying it's the sharpest lens in the world but there is something about it they gives nice results esp more chance of getting pop in your shots. If you can get one cheap you wont be disappointed.....whether is worth the extra money and getting another 50mm when you have the Pentacon it's up to you, but hey it's a hobby and why not treat yourself to as many lenses as you want....I have ;)
 
I did see that some of the lenses were made with radioactive parts, and my initial thought on buying one was "nope!". But I've done a bit of reading and it seems the radiation that they give off is a tiny amount so there's no safety issues. Having said that, if I bought one I definitely wouldn't be keeping it in my jeans pocket! Perhaps in a lead lined box in the shed at the bottom of the garden??
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The estimate I saw was that with such a lens on your camera, used 180 hours, you'd get the equivalent of one X-ray. Not worth worrying about, I think. Still, not in the pocket.
 
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