What are your favorite old lens?

[gryffinwings]

I'm wondering what people's favorite old lens are. Manual focus only. I'm trying to see which lens are worth getting. I was looking at the Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 lens that I've heard is great. I've been doing a lot of research on the Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8 C and think that would be interesting to use.

 

[Patriot]

The vivitar series 1 70-210mm 3.5 is a great sharp lens. I would get the version made by Kiron with serial numbers starting with 22.

These sites has sample shots taken with it. If you google this lens you will find tons of reviews for this lens which is very cheap. It is very well built also and it weights a ton to.

Vivitar "Series1" 70-210 f/3.5 Test shots - PentaxForums.com
70-210mm f/3.5 Vivitar Series 1 (Kiron) - a set on Flickr
nex 5n and Vivitar series 1 (version 1) 70-210mm f3.5 macro lens: Sony NEX Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

 

[johncam]

The 135 2.8 Rokkor is capable of some really good shots. I have a few in my gallery on here of grandchildren, but I've done plenty more and some are truly good.

 

[Patriot]

The 135 2.8 Rokkor is capable of some really good shots. I have a few in my gallery on here of grandchildren, but I've done plenty more and some are truly good.

Do you have any pictures with the lens? I would to see them. I'm always looking for for great manual lens.

 

[shadowlands]

Not sure if this counts as old, but I love my Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8D!!!!

 

[JaronRH]

For me it's a Quantaray 28mm AI-S lens. I bought it with an old 35mm camera from a guy on Craiglist for a whopping $35. It's not the sharpest thing in the world and it is a horrible mess if you shoot into any light but when used right, it does work pretty well!

 

[Patrice]

Some old lenses I won't be getting rid of:

Kiron 28 f2
Tamron 135 f2.5
Nikkor 300 f4.5
Nikkor 28 f1.4

BTW, with respect to 500 mm catadioptric (mirror) lenses, don't bother. I've got one and with an eyepiece (with homemade adapter) it barely serves as a spotting scope.

 

[gryffinwings]

Some old lenses I won't be getting rid of:

Kiron 28 f2
Tamron 135 f2.5
Nikkor 300 f4.5
Nikkor 28 f1.4

BTW, with respect to 500 mm catadioptric (mirror) lenses, don't bother. I've got one and with an eyepiece (with homemade adapter) it barely serves as a spotting scope.

That's the comments I see a lot of the time, but from what I've read about people that have gotten good shots, it's good as long as you have the skill necessary to use it.

Some links for information and reviews for this particular lens, I already know about the drawbacks that you mention. Anyways thanks for your favorite list, I'll look into those too.

Nikon Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8 N | Jim Gamblin
Making the Reflex Nikkor sing | Photographs, Photographers and Photography
NikonJin » Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8 C Review
Reflex Nikkor 500mm f8
Sunset with Reflex Nikkor 500mm (Information that improves technique with this lens)
http://pindelski.org/Photography/2012/03/07/nikkor-50mm-f8n-ai-reflex/

 

[panblue]

I'm wondering what people's favorite old lens are. Manual focus only. I'm trying to see which lens are worth getting. I was looking at the Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 lens that I've heard is great. I've been doing a lot of research on the Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8 C and think that would be interesting to use.

For you, how old is 'old'?

 

[Helen B]

The 105 mm f/2.5 Nikkor is a great lens. There have been a few versions. The old Nikkor-Q version was the second Nikon lens I ever bought about 40 years ago. I'm now using one of the later AI-S versions, which I would recommend, and it produces excellent image quality with a D3.

 

[gryffinwings]

I'm wondering what people's favorite old lens are. Manual focus only. I'm trying to see which lens are worth getting. I was looking at the Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 lens that I've heard is great. I've been doing a lot of research on the Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8 C and think that would be interesting to use.

For you, how old is 'old'?

80s and older I think.

 

[leeroix]

nikon 55mm 1.2

 

[panblue]

I'm wondering what people's favorite old lens are. Manual focus only. I'm trying to see which lens are worth getting. I was looking at the Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 lens that I've heard is great. I've been doing a lot of research on the Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8 C and think that would be interesting to use.

For you, how old is 'old'?

80s and older I think.

Yea..I view it about the same. Generally 'Pre-AF'.
Twenty years isn't long enough ago for me to regard lenses as old.
Generally my faves are the chrome>zebra>black barrel progression, 1950s ~1980,
but also antique LF lenses and C-mount/cine lenses.

 

[gryffinwings]

The one thing I've noticed in a lot of older lens is the lack of distortion or very low amounts of distortion.

 

[gryffinwings]

View attachment 24691

What is that?

Same question for your previous post too, it said Pentax 18-55mm......

Also could you clarify some of the lens on your last post.