I’ve been following you for years and I’m always so thrilled when you post another video. Your voice is calming and your work is informative and inspiring. Thanks for the years of zen!
I have to agree about the Rollei 50mm f1.8 Plannar HFT. I have the full metal version and its honestly one of the besy f1.8 lenses I have ever used. I got mine at a yard sale back in the OO's atached to a broken camera and had some front element scratches for $5CAD. Found it my dads basement when he was selling his house and just kept as a display camera. Then... mirrorless. And wow! Its amazing! And honestly lighting stikes twice. Found a mint version (and older) of this lens in 2023 for $20 at a thrift store. Sold ny original for much more and this lens is one of my forever lenses now. Just love it and I have between 30 to 50 50mm lenses.
Wonderful video. Have you ever thought about narrating books? You have a very natural and I would imagine, highly sought after speaking voice, with a perfect tone and timbre. It takes me back to BBC2 in the early weekend mornings of the late eighties with the Open University, which broadcast some excellent content that you would never see nowadays. Anyway, to lenses, I’ve purchased about £3000 of old vintage Minolta glass over the recent years, they are not copies of anything pre-existing but I have found them to be extremely reliable on modern mirrorless cameras with superb results.
@ Have a go with the 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8 & 2.8, 50mm 1.2 & 1.4, 85mm 1.7 & 2, 100mm 2.5, 135mm 2.8, 200mm 2.8 & 3.5. There are many good zooms too including 35-70mm, 28-85mm, 35-135mm. Many good reviews online to help guide your buying. Often equivalent autofocus lenses are £2000 plus.
I have the 'pauper Rikenon' and I have to admit it's probably the sharpest 50mm lens I have. It's really good when stopped down. But wide open it's not that spectacular.
I am currently using on the canon m mount a Canon FD 50 1.8, Helios 44 and 7Artisans 35 1.2 and for the R mount a set of Minolta 28, 50 and 135. Also setup to use the Helios on the R. I have adapters on the way that will allow me to use my grandfathers Zeiss 50 2.0, that is on his Contax III, on both mounts. Really excited about the use of vintage lenses on these bodies.
Category 3 has been one I've been focusing on recently; there seem to be a couple of cases where manufacturers re-issued the same optical formula on a different camera system at a vastly different price, knowing it wouldn't eat their profits since adapting between systems wasn't always particularly feasible before the modern mirroless age. Really fascinating stuff, great video.
Wonderful video - I really enjoyed how your organized the various categories and developed the narrative. It was very informative and leads to some deep questions about how “good” is “good enough.”
Greetings from a Californian photographer. Regards the Tomioka 55 1.4, I have 2 branded versions, the Cosino auto as well as the Sears auto. Lovely lenses and identical in every way except the look of the aperture ring. Like wise with images made. Neither expensive at around $100 each when I found them. A distinctive feature of this lens is that the rear element is absolutely flat. So that is how you can distinguish other versions of this lens. Another superb inexpensive and fantastic lens is the fujinon 55 1.8. 6/4 probably double Gauss design $70, A very straightforward very precise lens. I have a Leicacl 40mm and Elmatie M 90mm and often travel with this lens as the middle one with similar results across the line.
Just a bit of trivia for my fellow Gear Heads- Francis Ford Coppola's newest film- Megalopolis used a Helios lens for some of the filming! The main camera used for filming is an Arriflex 65 digital camera. Other lenses used- Panavision Primo Artiste, Sphero 65, Panaspeed, Helios and Lensbaby Lenses
Yet another wonderfully informative and engaging video. Thank you! The history of the industry is fascinating as are the relationships between brands and manufacturers. I recently purchased an auction lot specifically for a Canon FT with 50mm f1.4. As an appendage it was accompanied by a Ricoh KR-5 Super which I cast to one side. After your discussion of the Rikenon KR f2.0 lens I reexamined the lens on the KR-5 and it is the XR Fujinon 50mm f1.7 which seems to be a sister lens of the f2 and again rumoured to be made by Tomioka. I’m excited to investigate it further!
I'm furiously making notes and checking ebay before more prices sky-rocket! 😂 Seriously though, thanks my new LBA! I stumbled in your channel 6 weeks ago and after some binge watching i now own 3 Takumar 55s and a mint early model super multi coated 50mm 1.4 with the super radioactive glass and it gorgeous 😍
The first camera I owned, was a Yashica TL-Electro, with the Yashinon DS-M 50 mm f/1.7 I still own that lens and it's a wonderful objective with superb sharpness in the center of the image, but not bad in the corners as well. I am not saying you should have included that lens, but I should mention that one - probably a Tomioka design, I think.
CZJ 50mm f1.8 pancolar , super takumar 50mm f1.4, zenitar 50mm f1.7, me encantan tambien su desenfoque y color, gracias Simon por tu video que nos da mas luz sobre estos maravillosos cristalitos!!
Ha! Did not expect to see a Petri f/2 here. 😍 got mine from my aunt and uncle as gift from the attic. Still lens and the Petri camera work fine and I dedicated a video for the lens as well. Very well made video. There is so much background nerd knowledge in it. I definitely like it 😊
I have a few Petri lenses as well. Their 35mm f/2.8 is quite nice. I only wish they had used less plastic, as I have had 2 lens irises fail from brittle plastic.
The most famous Petri 50mm f/2 is the Orikkor Kuribayashi in M42 mount from 1959. More a prince than a pauper I would say, also price wise, but very much worth it.
My favorite paupers are the *Leitz Colorplan 2.5/90* (which supposedly shares its optical formula with the Elmarit 2.8/90) and the *Yashica ML 1.4/50* (which was produced alongside and shared the optical formula of the Contax Zeiss Planar 1.4/50, just with different coatings).
Picked up a Prakticar 50/2.4 the other week and it took about five minutes to realise how good a bit of glass it is. For a tenner, as well! The down side to the PB lenses is that they're often not amazing mechanically. However, as nobody seems to want them, or the PB bodies, they're all super cheap. I can also recommend the PB-fit Carl Zeiss Jena 28/2.8, though I have no idea what its design is. Absolutely brilliant lens for monochrome.
I currently have a Summicron-R 50, Elmarit-macro-R 60, Summicron-R 90 and Elmarit-R 135 in my kit. I use them for video adapted on my Lumix S5 and I love them. I'm still saving up to round out my set with either a 28mm or 35mm, but in the mean time I also have an M42 adapter and a Canon FD adapter. I would like to build out a few other vintage sets based on these other adapters. Can you recommend exact lenses to pick up? If I could build out a super cheap but full of character and good for video use lens set that would obviously be ideal. Thanks!
15:30 I have the Argus branded 1:2.0 55mm on the Argus CR-1 made by Chinon. Although it might be a bit slower, I have never had a lens as sharp for the $45 usd I payed for the camera body and lens.
As far as I know, Petri lenses were made in M 42 mount, Pentax K mount and a Petri/Kuribayashi breech lock mounted . The lens referred to in this video is a Pentax K mount. The breech lock mount won’t work with K mount cameras (I’ve tried).
Petri's breech-lock mount lenses can be adapted to mirrorless, but I had to find a custom-made adapter on ebay to do it (was about $50 usd). Because adapters are hard to find, and because Petri used a lot of plastic in the lens mechanisms, which gets brittle with age, Petri breech-lock lenses can be a bargain - many collectors avoid them entirely. I have several, but it took me a while to find 55mm f/1.8 with a still functional aperture - the mechanisms in the failed ones had plastic parts that broke and cannot easily be fixed.
@@Skipsul People who avoid Petri will miss out on the fabulous 55mm f1.4 (a.k.a. the poor man's Pancolar 55/1.4) and the beautiful (Orikkor) Kuribayashi 50mm f2.
Another nice Petri for swirl is the hard to find 55mm f/1.4. They're not expensive (usually no more than $100usd), and adapting their breech-lock mount requires hunting on ebay.
Helios 44 and others was made on same machines and same optical designs. Also some of them in first years was even made with zeiss glass. Markings ЗК, БК...
in the first years, later they were recalculated for soviet glass and or slightly modd. And dont tell me you see a difference in sonnar / jupiter 135 3,5
Interesting to read comments here and elsewhere about Chinese made lenses. One often hear the ubiquitous refrain about "oh those cheap chinese knockoffs". But when it suits one's budget and performance, it's called budget value whatever. Better buy them up before your Trump impose tariffs. Don't forget the other cheap but value items like baseball hats, t shirts, flags and of course the bibles too. Yup all made in good old Chainah.
Stopped watching when after claiming to present the most expensive copied lenses the Trioplan was named. Doubt I could gain something from a guy not knowing that the Trioplan was a very cheap lens, when in production. So I decided not to waste my time.
Quite right. But I’m talking about cost of buying the original MOG Trioplan now. There are plenty of examples where cheap to produce products are now worth a lot of money.
I’ve been following you for years and I’m always so thrilled when you post another video. Your voice is calming and your work is informative and inspiring. Thanks for the years of zen!
I have to agree about the Rollei 50mm f1.8 Plannar HFT. I have the full metal version and its honestly one of the besy f1.8 lenses I have ever used. I got mine at a yard sale back in the OO's atached to a broken camera and had some front element scratches for $5CAD. Found it my dads basement when he was selling his house and just kept as a display camera.
Then... mirrorless. And wow! Its amazing! And honestly lighting stikes twice. Found a mint version (and older) of this lens in 2023 for $20 at a thrift store. Sold ny original for much more and this lens is one of my forever lenses now. Just love it and I have between 30 to 50 50mm lenses.
My eBay search list will grow this weekend. Thank you. 😂
Funny, I have already openend some tabs in the background while viewing this video - 🙂
Wonderful video. Have you ever thought about narrating books? You have a very natural and I would imagine, highly sought after speaking voice, with a perfect tone and timbre. It takes me back to BBC2 in the early weekend mornings of the late eighties with the Open University, which broadcast some excellent content that you would never see nowadays. Anyway, to lenses, I’ve purchased about £3000 of old vintage Minolta glass over the recent years, they are not copies of anything pre-existing but I have found them to be extremely reliable on modern mirrorless cameras with superb results.
Which Minolta lenses are notable? I have a LA-EA4 adapter.
@ Have a go with the 24mm 2.8, 35mm 1.8 & 2.8, 50mm 1.2 & 1.4, 85mm 1.7 & 2, 100mm 2.5, 135mm 2.8, 200mm 2.8 & 3.5. There are many good zooms too including 35-70mm, 28-85mm, 35-135mm. Many good reviews online to help guide your buying. Often equivalent autofocus lenses are £2000 plus.
@@grahamhiggins1 So these are all Minolta A-mount AF?
@@grahamhiggins1 Are these AF Minolta A-mount lenses?
@@saganandroid4175 MD manual, try them. I’ve never used the later autofocus ones.
I have the 'pauper Rikenon' and I have to admit it's probably the sharpest 50mm lens I have. It's really good when stopped down. But wide open it's not that spectacular.
I am currently using on the canon m mount a Canon FD 50 1.8, Helios 44 and 7Artisans 35 1.2 and for the R mount a set of Minolta 28, 50 and 135. Also setup to use the Helios on the R. I have adapters on the way that will allow me to use my grandfathers Zeiss 50 2.0, that is on his Contax III, on both mounts. Really excited about the use of vintage lenses on these bodies.
Category 3 has been one I've been focusing on recently; there seem to be a couple of cases where manufacturers re-issued the same optical formula on a different camera system at a vastly different price, knowing it wouldn't eat their profits since adapting between systems wasn't always particularly feasible before the modern mirroless age. Really fascinating stuff, great video.
Wonderful video - I really enjoyed how your organized the various categories and developed the narrative. It was very informative and leads to some deep questions about how “good” is “good enough.”
I love your RUclips Channel as it keeps giving me 1960-1980 GDR Dresden Camera Industry vibes
Greetings from a Californian photographer. Regards the Tomioka 55 1.4, I have 2 branded versions, the Cosino auto as well as the Sears auto. Lovely lenses and identical in every way except the look of the aperture ring. Like wise with images made. Neither expensive at around $100 each when I found them. A distinctive feature of this lens is that the rear element is absolutely flat. So that is how you can distinguish other versions of this lens. Another superb inexpensive and fantastic lens is the fujinon 55 1.8. 6/4 probably double Gauss design $70, A very straightforward very precise lens. I have a Leicacl 40mm and Elmatie M 90mm and often travel with this lens as the middle one with similar results across the line.
You know your LBA is pretty bad when the only thing missing from your collection is a Zeiss Ultron 😢
(I have a problem)
Just a bit of trivia for my fellow Gear Heads- Francis Ford Coppola's newest film- Megalopolis used a Helios lens for some of the filming! The main camera used for filming is an Arriflex 65 digital camera. Other lenses used- Panavision Primo Artiste, Sphero 65, Panaspeed, Helios and Lensbaby Lenses
Yet another wonderfully informative and engaging video. Thank you!
The history of the industry is fascinating as are the relationships between brands and manufacturers. I recently purchased an auction lot specifically for a Canon FT with 50mm f1.4. As an appendage it was accompanied by a Ricoh KR-5 Super which I cast to one side. After your discussion of the Rikenon KR f2.0 lens I reexamined the lens on the KR-5 and it is the XR Fujinon 50mm f1.7 which seems to be a sister lens of the f2 and again rumoured to be made by Tomioka. I’m excited to investigate it further!
I'm furiously making notes and checking ebay before more prices sky-rocket! 😂
Seriously though, thanks my new LBA! I stumbled in your channel 6 weeks ago and after some binge watching i now own 3 Takumar 55s and a mint early model super multi coated 50mm 1.4 with the super radioactive glass and it gorgeous 😍
The first camera I owned, was a Yashica TL-Electro, with the Yashinon DS-M 50 mm f/1.7
I still own that lens and it's a wonderful objective with superb sharpness in the center of the image, but not bad in the corners as well.
I am not saying you should have included that lens, but I should mention that one - probably a Tomioka design, I think.
CZJ 50mm f1.8 pancolar , super takumar 50mm f1.4, zenitar 50mm f1.7, me encantan tambien su desenfoque y color, gracias Simon por tu video que nos da mas luz sobre estos maravillosos cristalitos!!
Ha! Did not expect to see a Petri f/2 here. 😍 got mine from my aunt and uncle as gift from the attic. Still lens and the Petri camera work fine and I dedicated a video for the lens as well.
Very well made video. There is so much background nerd knowledge in it. I definitely like it 😊
I have a few Petri lenses as well. Their 35mm f/2.8 is quite nice. I only wish they had used less plastic, as I have had 2 lens irises fail from brittle plastic.
The most famous Petri 50mm f/2 is the Orikkor Kuribayashi in M42 mount from 1959. More a prince than a pauper I would say, also price wise, but very much worth it.
My favorite paupers are the *Leitz Colorplan 2.5/90* (which supposedly shares its optical formula with the Elmarit 2.8/90) and the *Yashica ML 1.4/50* (which was produced alongside and shared the optical formula of the Contax Zeiss Planar 1.4/50, just with different coatings).
Another outstanding video! Thank you
Picked up a Prakticar 50/2.4 the other week and it took about five minutes to realise how good a bit of glass it is. For a tenner, as well! The down side to the PB lenses is that they're often not amazing mechanically. However, as nobody seems to want them, or the PB bodies, they're all super cheap. I can also recommend the PB-fit Carl Zeiss Jena 28/2.8, though I have no idea what its design is. Absolutely brilliant lens for monochrome.
I love my Pentacon 50f1.8. Beautiful colours and LR corrects it using the CZ Planar f2 setting.
I require only finest and expensivest lenses! 😅
You can't handle my finest lenses, Photographer. You need to find a lens seller that sells inferior quality lenses.
14:46 daaaang that's a cool photo! I need to start messing with lens flares. Thanks for the inspiration
The TTartisan 50mm 0.95 m mount copy of the Noctilux is my favorite.
Really looking forwars to Eureka collapsible lens review!
I currently have a Summicron-R 50, Elmarit-macro-R 60, Summicron-R 90 and Elmarit-R 135 in my kit. I use them for video adapted on my Lumix S5 and I love them. I'm still saving up to round out my set with either a 28mm or 35mm, but in the mean time I also have an M42 adapter and a Canon FD adapter. I would like to build out a few other vintage sets based on these other adapters. Can you recommend exact lenses to pick up? If I could build out a super cheap but full of character and good for video use lens set that would obviously be ideal. Thanks!
The Meyer Optik Gorlitz Biotar 58 f1.5 II and Biotar 75 f1.5 II are both on my list to acquire.
15:30 I have the Argus branded 1:2.0 55mm on the Argus CR-1 made by Chinon. Although it might be a bit slower, I have never had a lens as sharp for the $45 usd I payed for the camera body and lens.
Do Petri have two different mounts? Are you saying a petri mount lens will work on a Kmount?
As far as I know, Petri lenses were made in M 42 mount, Pentax K mount and a Petri/Kuribayashi breech lock mounted . The lens referred to in this video is a Pentax K mount. The breech lock mount won’t work with K mount cameras (I’ve tried).
@@Simonsutak Yeah thats all I have is the breach lock. Ah well maybe one day I will get a eMount Adapter if they exist for cheap.
Petri's breech-lock mount lenses can be adapted to mirrorless, but I had to find a custom-made adapter on ebay to do it (was about $50 usd). Because adapters are hard to find, and because Petri used a lot of plastic in the lens mechanisms, which gets brittle with age, Petri breech-lock lenses can be a bargain - many collectors avoid them entirely. I have several, but it took me a while to find 55mm f/1.8 with a still functional aperture - the mechanisms in the failed ones had plastic parts that broke and cannot easily be fixed.
@@Skipsul People who avoid Petri will miss out on the fabulous 55mm f1.4 (a.k.a. the poor man's Pancolar 55/1.4) and the beautiful (Orikkor) Kuribayashi 50mm f2.
Another nice Petri for swirl is the hard to find 55mm f/1.4. They're not expensive (usually no more than $100usd), and adapting their breech-lock mount requires hunting on ebay.
I had the roillie 50 1.8 and its great even in today standard，@ 2.8 its very mordern iq，only down side is flare control at night
Helios 44 and others was made on same machines and same optical designs. Also some of them in first years was even made with zeiss glass. Markings ЗК, БК...
in the first years, later they were recalculated for soviet glass and or slightly modd. And dont tell me you see a difference in sonnar / jupiter 135 3,5
13:28 my eyes widened at the Rikenon because I just got one from the thrift store for $5 but alas it's the "L" version with 0.60m MFD 😅
What lenses are manual yet the images produced are stunningly sharp and vibrant not muted and generic.
9:54 could you remove the insert?
My Prince* was stolen, alas I can only afford the Pauper… but it is actually a lot of fun
* Leitz Noctilux 50mm v1
Thank you
Hi
Very good
i can't think of a more english way of say it than Princes and Paupers.
thanks!
A warning about collapsible lenses: they may hit the sensor on mirrorless cameras.
For as many terrible things as they did, the Soviets made some beautiful cameras and lenses in massive quantities.
Interesting to read comments here and elsewhere about Chinese made lenses. One often hear the ubiquitous refrain about "oh those cheap chinese knockoffs". But when it suits one's budget and performance, it's called budget value whatever. Better buy them up before your Trump impose tariffs. Don't forget the other cheap but value items like baseball hats, t shirts, flags and of course the bibles too. Yup all made in good old Chainah.
Petri seems to have picked up on ebay it's definitely not that price
90% is enough, that 10% is hype....
Stopped watching when after claiming to present the most expensive copied lenses the Trioplan was named. Doubt I could gain something from a guy not knowing that the Trioplan was a very cheap lens, when in production. So I decided not to waste my time.
Quite right. But I’m talking about cost of buying the original MOG Trioplan now. There are plenty of examples where cheap to produce products are now worth a lot of money.