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M42 lenses
  • I think, can be found many good and cheap lenses for this mount.
    Now my favorite ASAHI-Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4.
    I also have several lenses made ​​in the USSR, they are not perfect but cheap.

    What M42 lenses are you using?
  • 3 Replies sorted by
  • Thanks for video.

    Generally I am using only one M42 lens now - cheap Focal (aka Soligor C/D and other brands) 80-200mm F3.5.
    I tested few of the lens in this video (but mostly for photo tasks), but realised that I do not need them.
  • Over the years I've accumulated more vintage lenses that I know what to do with them. One of the reasons I've never made a video about them is because like the video above says, awareness is bound to increase prices thus lowering the chances of finding bargains.

    But the main reason is research. After many years of buying vintage lenses, I've come to identify garbage brands, hidden jewels in garbage brands, over-rated brands, extremely awesome and dirt cheap lenses. There is something about learning this on your own and identifying why this lens is good and why that one is meh.

    Some vintage lenses are very easy to disassemble and clean, while I've ruined a few attempting to put them back together after cleaning. Incidentally, this is not mentioned in the video but based on this knowledge, that's how you score real bargains: buying "for repair" or lenses with fungus.

    Picking a vintage (or new) lens is simply about the end result, and about the individual user experience using it. There are way too many videos of people rambling wonders and specs about X or Y lenses, using dates, history, comparison against others, talking, talking, etc. Non-sense. It's all about the end visual result and how enjoyable/easy-to-use was for the operator.

    I can honestly say there is a huge on-going scam in the photo/video industry. I've shot short docs that were distributed nationwide, and was compensated well, using nothing but a full frame camera and a $30 Canon FD f1.4 for example. My only "zoom" was to aps-c crop or to physically move far/close to scenes. I've shot events using $20 manual zoom lenses and the footage inter-cuts easily with that of $3000 lenses from other cameras.

    Finally, screwing M42 lenses is like grinding your own coffee and using a drip system. Love them