i got several og these,, the vivitar is nice, the helios is wonderful, but the konica is another league,, a perfect balnce of colour, blur, bokeh and sharpness,, i have owned about 100 vintage lenses in a period of 10 years or more,, but the konica keeps my heart forever
Really love the Konica, i use it on an ASP-C fuji - I paid the equivalent of 3£ in a charity shop. The Minolta Rokkor 45mm f2 is another good one at "slightlly wider than 50mm" that can be found at very reasonable prices.
One of my favorite lenses on my D700 is my late 60s Nikkor Auto H 50mm F2. It's the earlier body style with the knurled focus ring, and a single coating in blue. The rendering, especially in black and white is down right Leica like. That lens has actually been referred to as the japanese summicron.
I've got that lens which I use on my Nikkormat FT. I've also used it on my Fujifilm cameras but obviously that chops off the outer third. It was introduced in 1959 and is remarkably good for the era.
Oh, a new scenery, looks much more, for the lack of better word, UA-camy and vloggery... In a good way, of course ;) Thanks for all the great recommendations, I was about to look for 35-40mm m42 on your channel and I saw a new video
The Miranda 50mm f2 in K mount was made by Petri/Cosina and sold with a Miranda body as a kit at Dixon's UK. I only looked it up because I have the same lens from Yashica in the Contax/Yashica mount (also made by Cosina). It looks exactly the same 😮 and it makes beautiful colors and sort of swirly bokeh. A real treasure of a lens and cheap - $25 with a body
yes, some of these Dixons Miranda brand cameras and lenses were produced by Cosina, who are still in the market and bought the Voigtländer brand name, issuing a wide range of brillant lenses. They produced one analogue SLR type for a vast number of other brands based on their cameradesign with built-in lightmeter and fast mechanic shutter which was featured even as viewfinder cameras like the bessa R2 type. I just found a Dixons Miranda in my new old stock and locking forward shooting the lenses included in the set. The primelenses are for shure worth a look and shouldn't be to expensive. By the way, and you know that, 2.0 in the fifties and sixties was a wonderful wide open standard lens and my father was right shoping upmarket when he bought his second Retina with the 2.0 50mm Heligon. These were expensive because of the complex lens design. You would more likely find 6 elements of high quality in these than in a 2.8 lens, which usually gets along with four lenses in three groups like the tessar type and that already was a step up from three lens triotar type lenses which usually were only corrected up to 3.5 (talking of 35mm standard lenses). Thank you so much for the video and I would have just ignored the 28/2.0, if it wasn't on your video right now. I'll keep my eyes open and one never knows, one day might find one too. Cheers Albrecht
Perhaps you might do a video comparing vintage lenses to modern budget lenses like the TTartisans lens? Also, are there lenses which are good/bad for BW vs colour photography?
I love my Nikkor 50 F2. It's an early single coated non-AI. I think I payed $30 for it a couple of yrs ago. If you're shooting adapted I'd go for a non AI version usually a fair bit cheaper than the AIS version, they also come in a multi coated version. You might also find a decent deal on an AI version.
Nice, realistic reviews as always. Need to dig into your content - I like a 35mm but shooting on an A6000 I need to look out for, what? 24 to 28mm’s? Did Helios do anything nice in that sector?
"Helios" is not the name of a producer, it's the name of a range of lenses. They were produced by many factories in the USSR, the best being Krasnogorsk (a.k.a. KMZ). As for wide-angle Soviet lenses... nothing much was produced for photographers. Wider than 35 mm, I can only think of Mir-10A 3.5/28 mm, Mir-20(M or H) 3.5/20 mm, and a very quirky Russar 5.6/20 mm.
As far as Vivitar are concerned: these seem pretty specific cost wise to lens mount. Pentax K seems a good option , canon pricier and Olympus versions £80…..
you 50mm f2 Nikkor features the same optics as the original 50mm f2 Nikkor-H released in 1965, what was changed over the years was the early version only featured 1 or 2 layer coatings and the lenses made after 1974 were all multi coated. Of interest a "sister" lens was released by Leica as the 50mm f2 Summicron and the optical diagram for both lenses were identical. This led to rumors that this was a shared design and the fact that both were so similar in performance just fed those rumors. Personally I think it was all a coincidence but who knows, maybe Leica and Nikon worked together on this design. It was a period when the available selection of optical glass was limited.
Are you sure Hexanon refers to the blades? I suspect it's more likely to refer to the number of elements but I'm only guessing and stand to be corrected.
Yes, you're right about your version of the Nikon being the last f2. It was made from 74 to 79 and then replaced with the 1.8. Edit: the colours correspond to the lines by the focus mark and are supposed to give an indication of dof. Pinch of salt territory . . .
@@princeharbinger For cinematographer yes and maybe more depend on demand and supply. There are manufacturer making copies of similar lens today thats are over £100.
i got several og these,, the vivitar is nice, the helios is wonderful, but the konica is another league,, a perfect balnce of colour, blur, bokeh and sharpness,, i have owned about 100 vintage lenses in a period of 10 years or more,, but the konica keeps my heart forever
Really love the Konica, i use it on an ASP-C fuji - I paid the equivalent of 3£ in a charity shop.
The Minolta Rokkor 45mm f2 is another good one at "slightlly wider than 50mm" that can be found at very reasonable prices.
Great video! You must try / review the Minolta rokkor 45mm f/2. For me one of the most spectacular lens, at any price.
One of my favorite lenses on my D700 is my late 60s Nikkor Auto H 50mm F2. It's the earlier body style with the knurled focus ring, and a single coating in blue. The rendering, especially in black and white is down right Leica like. That lens has actually been referred to as the japanese summicron.
I've got that lens which I use on my Nikkormat FT. I've also used it on my Fujifilm cameras but obviously that chops off the outer third.
It was introduced in 1959 and is remarkably good for the era.
@caw25sha agreed. It's sharp, even wide open.
Nice video! Do you boost saturation or apply any post processing to the images shown here? What camera are these images shot on? Pretty cool colors!
Oh, a new scenery, looks much more, for the lack of better word, UA-camy and vloggery... In a good way, of course ;) Thanks for all the great recommendations, I was about to look for 35-40mm m42 on your channel and I saw a new video
The Miranda 50mm f2 in K mount was made by Petri/Cosina and sold with a Miranda body as a kit at Dixon's UK. I only looked it up because I have the same lens from Yashica in the Contax/Yashica mount (also made by Cosina). It looks exactly the same 😮 and it makes beautiful colors and sort of swirly bokeh. A real treasure of a lens and cheap - $25 with a body
Helios is a great lens. Those Konica's are very nice. After that, my favorites are the Takumar 55mm. Vivitar can be quite the sleepers.
yes, some of these Dixons Miranda brand cameras and lenses were produced by Cosina, who are still in the market and bought the Voigtländer brand name, issuing a wide range of brillant lenses. They produced one analogue SLR type for a vast number of other brands based on their cameradesign with built-in lightmeter and fast mechanic shutter which was featured even as viewfinder cameras like the bessa R2 type. I just found a Dixons Miranda in my new old stock and locking forward shooting the lenses included in the set. The primelenses are for shure worth a look and shouldn't be to expensive. By the way, and you know that, 2.0 in the fifties and sixties was a wonderful wide open standard lens and my father was right shoping upmarket when he bought his second Retina with the 2.0 50mm Heligon. These were expensive because of the complex lens design. You would more likely find 6 elements of high quality in these than in a 2.8 lens, which usually gets along with four lenses in three groups like the tessar type and that already was a step up from three lens triotar type lenses which usually were only corrected up to 3.5 (talking of 35mm standard lenses). Thank you so much for the video and I would have just ignored the 28/2.0, if it wasn't on your video right now. I'll keep my eyes open and one never knows, one day might find one too.
Cheers Albrecht
Perhaps you might do a video comparing vintage lenses to modern budget lenses like the TTartisans lens?
Also, are there lenses which are good/bad for BW vs colour photography?
I love my Nikkor 50 F2. It's an early single coated non-AI. I think I payed $30 for it a couple of yrs ago. If you're shooting adapted I'd go for a non AI version usually a fair bit cheaper than the AIS version, they also come in a multi coated version. You might also find a decent deal on an AI version.
Love the updated camera work lad!
Forget about the Pancolar, Helios etc, the Nikkor 50mm F/2 is regarded as one of their best manual focus lenses ever.
Nice, realistic reviews as always. Need to dig into your content - I like a 35mm but shooting on an A6000 I need to look out for, what? 24 to 28mm’s? Did Helios do anything nice in that sector?
The crop factor is 1.5 so you need a 24 to get 35mm equivalent.
"Helios" is not the name of a producer, it's the name of a range of lenses. They were produced by many factories in the USSR, the best being Krasnogorsk (a.k.a. KMZ). As for wide-angle Soviet lenses... nothing much was produced for photographers. Wider than 35 mm, I can only think of Mir-10A 3.5/28 mm, Mir-20(M or H) 3.5/20 mm, and a very quirky Russar 5.6/20 mm.
As far as Vivitar are concerned: these seem pretty specific cost wise to lens mount. Pentax K seems a good option , canon pricier and Olympus versions £80…..
you 50mm f2 Nikkor features the same optics as the original 50mm f2 Nikkor-H released in 1965, what was changed over the years was the early version only featured 1 or 2 layer coatings and the lenses made after 1974 were all multi coated. Of interest a "sister" lens was released by Leica as the 50mm f2 Summicron and the optical diagram for both lenses were identical. This led to rumors that this was a shared design and the fact that both were so similar in performance just fed those rumors. Personally I think it was all a coincidence but who knows, maybe Leica and Nikon worked together on this design. It was a period when the available selection of optical glass was limited.
Isn't that Vivitar 28mm f2.0 the one you said you didn't like?
Are you sure Hexanon refers to the blades? I suspect it's more likely to refer to the number of elements but I'm only guessing and stand to be corrected.
lol. The Helios 44-2s are $150 and up, sometimes way up, now. I got one, but it has totally stifled me to get infinity focus. 😢
Yes, you're right about your version of the Nikon being the last f2. It was made from 74 to 79 and then replaced with the 1.8.
Edit: the colours correspond to the lines by the focus mark and are supposed to give an indication of dof. Pinch of salt territory . . .
Strong deja vu...
The Helios 44 13 blades you won't find these for sale at £50 anymore unless its needed servicing or the seller don't know whats its worth.
Do you actually think they are worth the current asking prices?😬
@@princeharbingerMaybe if it can be fixed to do infinity focus, but I have totally failed on mine.
Looking for a camera with one on it is worth doing, especially a parts only camera.
@@princeharbinger For cinematographer yes and maybe more depend on demand and supply. There are manufacturer making copies of similar lens today thats are over £100.