Soligor lens quality?

Rainman · May 20, 2004

I have been browsing around for an inexpensive 400 mm lens to play around with and wound up picking up an old Minolta SRT 101 body, 55 mm lens, AND Soligor 400 mm lens, all in excellent condition, for a price I would have been willing to pay for either the body or the 400 mm lens alone. I wasn't really in need of another SRT body, but what the heck? Is Soligor considered pretty decent quality? I haven't been doing much 35mm photography for quite a few years, but I seem to recall Soligor having a pretty good rep.
Thanks,
Raymond

terri · May 20, 2004

Hi Rainman, welcome to the forum!

Your thread here will be moved, just so you'll know when you look for it later. Your lens subject is considered "on topic" and a moderator will snatch it away from "general off topic". :wink:

Rainman · May 20, 2004

My bad. I meant to post it in General Photography and Camera. Guess I saw "General" and clicked without realizing it was the wrong forum.

drlynn · May 21, 2004

I'd say take it out for a test run. Try to find some situations where you can test edge sharpness, how it handles straight lines (ie pincushion, etc).

When it all boils down, what matters is how it performs. I've known people to get cheapo lenses that rocked, and I've known people to plunk down serious cash for brand-name crap.

In general, though, best I recall Soligor had a pretty good rep. I haven't heard anything from them in a while, tho.

Rainman · May 21, 2004

Thanks for the note drlynn. I plan to wring it out a bit as soon as I get it. I look at it as a test run, anyway. If I find that I use it enough, I will invest in a better lens if necessary.

drlynn · May 21, 2004

One of my favorite lenses is an Elicar 135mm f/2.8 I got for $25 from eBay. It takes great portraits, good sharpness on the subject, good, shallow dof for blurring backgrounds.

I had never heard of Elicar, but I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price. Unfortunately, my eyesight kinda hinders my ability to manually focus, so I'm gonna eventually have to give up my manual camera.