Wanting to both streamline and diversify my lenses at once, I discovered this unusual 55/1.8 M42 from Petri. The yardstick for 55/1.8 lenses in M42 mount has to be the Asahi Takumars. I've had half a dozen, and the one that's endured is a very clean Super-Takumar. In the past I've also had a Fujinon… Continue reading Petri CC Auto 55mm f/1.8 M42 Lens – First Thoughts
Tag: lens
Lenses For The Long Term – Not Just To Love And Leave
Over the last eight years or so I've owned perhaps 100 lenses. Which is a conservative estimate, given when I start to think more I realise I've had at least five Takumar 55mm, five Pentax-M 50s, maybe eight different Pentacon 50/1.8s, and at least a dozen Helios 44s. Too often I've reached a point where… Continue reading Lenses For The Long Term – Not Just To Love And Leave
Asahi Pentax 200mm f/5.6 M42 Lens – First Thoughts
Being firmly in a DSLR phase currently, I've been using vintage M42 lenses like the Helios 44-2 and Jupiter-37A. But you can't talk about M42 without mentioning the greatest range of lenses ever made in that mount - Asahi Takumars. I've had perhaps 20 Takumars overall, and, foolish as it seems in retrospect, sold on… Continue reading Asahi Pentax 200mm f/5.6 M42 Lens – First Thoughts
Lens Love #6 – Jupiter-37A 135mm f/3.5 M42
Lens Love is an occasional series of posts about the vintage lenses I’ve used and loved most. The dry technical data and 100% corner crops of brick walls can be found elsewhere. What I’m more interested in is what specifically about a lens makes me love using it, and why I believe you should try… Continue reading Lens Love #6 – Jupiter-37A 135mm f/3.5 M42
Taming The Infinite Zoom Lens
My first experience of a zoom lens was on my Nikon Coolpix P300, the first "proper" camera I bought, back in 2011. But I shot thousands of photographs with it without touching the zoom rocker, just using it at the widest 24mm setting. I know now that 24mm is pretty wide, but back then it… Continue reading Taming The Infinite Zoom Lens




