Great used manual focus lenses

[Alice Morrison]

List your favorite flea-market specials here. Which are the best overlooked old, used lenses?

[deluco]

Coincidentally I have a Tamron 300mm 2.8 lens that I'm selling. Completely manual. Comes with a 1.4 and 2x extenders, bringing it to 600mm (film) and 900 (digital). It's a great wildlife lens. $1000 complete. The reason I'm selling it is that it is not autofocus, and it will not pass data to my new electronic camera bodies. I replaced it with a 300 f4 Nikon lens which is considerably smaller and a stop slower but does the job.

[sigmasd10]

I have'nt yet found any lenses in flea markets but I find lots of bargains on ebay.
The Pentacon 50mm f1.8 was a great buy and they ofetn go for peanuts on ebay....I paid just £6 for mine and that was including the postage!
My Taylor-Hobson 12" (304.8mm) f4 was another steal at just £36 inc postage, and I bought a Minolta Rokkor-PF 58mm f1.4 the other day for just £14 inc postage.
My Enna Tele-Ennalyt 400mm f4.5 was a bargain too at just £40 inc postage.
My Helios-40 85mm f1.5 cost me £56, my MTO 1100mm f10.5 cost me £60, and my Vivitar 35-200mm f3-f4.5 macro was £18.
I also have a 24mm f2.8, 28mm f2.8 macro and 35mm f2.8, and 200mm f3.3 which were all less than £10 each.
My most expensive lens to date was one of my Mamiya 645 medium format lenses, I cant remember which one, but it was about £130 inc postage.
However my sharpest Mamiya lens, the 80mm f2.8 cost only £59 and that was from a camera shop!
So all in all I have probably spent about £700 on all my lenses which is less than I'd have to pay for a single Sigma EX zoom lens!!!

[Narsuitus]

Tokina 400mm F5.6 ATX

This discontinued auto focus lens is only available on the used market.

It is slower than the F/2.8 auto focus telephotos but it is less bulky and much less expensive.

[deluco]

Originally Posted by Narsuitus

Tokina 400mm F5.6 ATX

This discontinued auto focus lens is only available on the used market.

It is slower than the F/2.8 auto focus telephotos but it is less bulky and much less expensive.

I was looking for this or the Sigma..couldn't find it new. Nobody makes the 400 5.6 anymore new. I ended up with the Nikon 300 f4. Very pleased with it anyway.

[badpickev]

i was at the flea market and for a 135 f2.8 fujica AX mount lens for $5. box was still sealed.

[rpcrowe]

The Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 (not the f/2.8 model which was in all respects inferior) Series-One Macro Lens. It was heavy and bulky but, built like a tank and one of the sharpest lenses I ever had. If it had been a Canon Manual mount, I would have purchased an EF adapter and used this lens manually on my 10D (which is really the best way to focus macro images).

I will echo the above sentiments about the Auto Focus Tokina 400mm f/5.6 ATX SD. This lens is remarkably light and sharp and contrasty. It also has a built-in lens hood which is a joy to use compared with the Canon monsters.

[ellette]

Ooh, that sounds nifty. Too bad I don't have an extra $1000.00 to throw around. *sigh* That's about what we just spent on my husband's surgery (AFTER dental insurance paid 60%). That and the fact that I'm now down to two pairs of pants total and have to go get some clothes means I'm not in the market to do anything but drool.

I WILL be getting my camera soon, but any flea market finds or other nifty things have to wait for at least a year. Best of luck selling it though.

Sara

Originally Posted by Jim DeLuco

Coincidentally I have a Tamron 300mm 2.8 lens that I'm selling.* Completely manual.* Comes with a 1.4 and 2x extenders, bringing it to 600mm (film) and 900 (digital).* *It's a great wildlife lens.* $1000 complete.* The reason I'm selling it is that it is not autofocus, and it will not pass data to my new electronic camera bodies.* I replaced it with a 300 f4 Nikon lens which is considerably smaller and a stop slower but does the job.

[sean_buerger]

My favourite MF lenses, as used on my SIGMA SD10:

- NIKKOR S 1,2 / 55mm
- NIKKOR MICRO AUTO 2,8 / 55
- NIKKOR Q 2,8 / 135

Sean.

[nsurit]

Originally Posted by Alice Morrison

List your favorite flea-market specials here. Which are the best overlooked old, used lenses?

I would probably stay away from the flea markets unless you know exactly what you are looking for and all the stars are properly aligned that day. Seriously, there are many good manual focus third party lenses from which to pick, assuming manual focus is acceptable to you. You might check this website out for information on third party lenses http://medfmt.8k.com/third/cult.html. As one who started out with pre-set lenses, manual focus is not a problem. My current 35mm cameras are the Olympus OM series. Although I have many of the Zuiko lenses, I also use both the Tamron SP and Tokina AT-X series. My current lenses from this group include Tamron SP, 24-48mm, 90mm f2.5 macro, 180mm f2.5, 300mm f2.8 & 400mm f4. I've also used the 17mm f3.5 SP, 80-200mm f2.8 and 60-300mm. I currently have the 80-200mm f2.8 Tokina AT-X. When looking for these lenses be sure to look at the SP and AT-X series as they are the pro-line for these two manufacturers. If you are like me and want the proper lenshood on your lenses, try to find lenses which have the hood with them. These can be very difficult and sometimes expensive to locate. Olympus Zuiko lenses are some of the best and each of the Tamron SP lenses replaced a Zuiko with the exception of the 90mm and in this case I have both the Taamron and the Zuiko. That Tamrons are all Adaptall 2 lens and can be used on most other cameras with the proper adapters. Try manual focus, you may like it. Bill Barber

[dougjgreen]

Originally Posted by rpcrowe

The Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 (not the f/2.8 model which was in all respects inferior) Series-One Macro Lens. It was heavy and bulky but, built like a tank and one of the sharpest lenses I ever had.

Ditto the Tamron 90mm f2.5 SP, which happens to be an optical copy of the aforementioned Vivitar 90mm f2.5 macro, and is equally spectacular. I used to own the Vivitar, but sold it in favor of the Tamron, because the Tamron can be used on all of my different manual focus cameras with different adapters.

Also, I just recently picked up a Tokina ATX 100-300mm f4.0 zoom on the bay for around $120 in Mint- condition. This lens is fast, and so sharp that I sold my 200mm f4 and 300mm f4.5 Nikkor manual focus primes after comparing results from the zoom with them. It's also mechanically top notch.

And, of course, the Nikkor 85mm f2, 105mm f2.5, and 180mm f2.8 ED lenses are all spectacular, legendary optics that can be gotten for a pittance nowadays.

[rpcrowe]

It is unbelieveable but, my sharpest lens (I have used all sorts of Canon, Nikon, Schneider and other lenses) was a 90mm f/2.5 Series One Vivitar Macro. Don't confused this with the 90mm f/2.8 Vivitar Nacro which was O.K. but, not great.

I wish I still had it - it would be worth getting a Canon EOS adapter for and using it as a manual focus macro lens. It was a heavy lens, built like a tank and capable of 1:2 inmagery alone and 1:1 with an adapter lens.

[dougjgreen]

Originally Posted by rpcrowe

It is unbelieveable but, my sharpest lens (I have used all sorts of Canon, Nikon, Schneider and other lenses) was a 90mm f/2.5 Series One Vivitar Macro.

It's not unbelieveable at all, This Vivitar Macro is rather legendary, and in fact, it was the sharpest lens EVER tested by the magazine Modern Photography. I used to own it, but I sold it in favor of the Tamron 90mm f2.5 SP, which is actually an optical copy of that Vivitar - and equally superb. The Tamron was better for me because it was useable on any manual focus camera with an adapter, and I own several different brands of classic older Manual focus cameras. You could actually get a Tamron Adaptall mount to use that lens with the Canon EOS, although I'm not sure how much of the automatic meter coupling is preserved - and obviously, focusing would have to be done manually.