For the benefit of folks who haven't browsed that wonderful site maintained
by Jeff Albro and Robert Monaghan (and why haven't you!), don't be put off
or mislead by those prices.
What Robert has done here is to show what a bargain third party lenses are
in today's economy by showing the effect of inflation on the original retail
prices. No one in his right mind is going to pay a thousand bucks for a
preset 135mm.
However you can routinely buy these lenses for $10-$25, a pittance, and well
worth the risk. My Lentar 135/3.5 preset T-mount is one of the finest
lenses of any kind I've ever had the privelege of using. Cost - a mere $15.
I normally use it with my Can-not-an-OM-on T70s, which lack DOF preview,
for portrait and even macro work, where it shines when combined with a
generic 2x teleconverter stripped of optical elements to make an extension
tube.
I also plan to buy a preset wide angle and experiment with incorporating it
into a homebrewed shift adaptor mount, using plans adapted from those found
elsewhere on the Albro/Monaghan site. The advantage to such lenses is that
lacking projecting levers for automatic diaphragm control, adapting such
lenses to various bodies is easier.
And if the project flops, well, I'm only out $10 or so.
Another project (i.e., lens butchering exercise) I'm currently working on
involves stripping a crummy third party zoom of everything but the focusing
and zoom helical tubes. I plan to install a Vivitar 10x close up diopter
lens in the front as use this contraption as a single element soft focus
portrait lens, similar to that used decades ago and one currently sold by
Spiratone for $90. I figure I now have $15 worth of parts and $300 worth of
aggravation invested in the project. I've discovered time passes more
quickly and pleasantly if I work on the project only while watching bad
horror movies and WCW Smackdown.
Lex
===
From: "Tom Trottier" <TomATrottier@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [OM] Response to question on third party lenses - further
thoughts
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 22:43:15 -0400
[snip] ... from http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/third/table3.txt
3rd party lenses:
Make FL f/ year price present-value type notes
vivitar 135 1.5 68 $390 $1,853 preset tele (T-
mount)
soligor 135 1.5 77 $400 $1,108 preset tele (T-2 mount)
vivitar 135 1.8 68 $230 $1,093 preset tele (T-mount)
spiratone 135 1.8 70 $100 $429 preset tele
soligor 135 1.8 70 $300 $1,286 preset tele (T-2 mount)
spiratone 135 1.8 73 $135 $513 auto tele
soligor 135 1.8 73 $330 $1,255 auto tele
sigma 135 1.8 74 $230 $800 auto tele
rokunar 135 1.8 75 $180 $560 auto tele
samigon 135 1.8 75 $260 $808 auto tele
sigma 135 1.8 76 $250 $728 auto tele (XQ)
spiratone 135 1.8 77 $100 $277 auto tele (MC)
formula 5 135 1.8 77 $225 $623 auto tele
kyvyx cor 135 2 68 $209 $993 preset tele komura
soligor 135 2 76 $280 $816 auto tele
The "present value" is the original price, inflation adjusted to
1998.
If you're willing to go a little longer, how about:
http://www.cameraquest.com/zoomar13.htm
------------
Tom Trottier <TomATrottier@xxxxxxxx> ICQ: 57647974
Abacurial Information Technology Consulting
400 Slater St. Suite 415, Ottawa ON Canada K1R 7S7
__o +1 613 291-1168 fax:594-5412 (877)247-8796
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