The Off-Brand Club!!

[stevebrot]

Ok...We have the "M Club" and the "K Club" and someone started a thread celebrating the M-42 Zeiss Jena lenses. How about a club for the common man! How about a club for the little guys! How about a club for the Cosmicars, the Cambrons, the Focals, the Industrars, the Rexatars, and all the other off-brand, house-brand, little-known, and frankly weird lenses of the world!!

So if you have a shot that truly shows off what your lens can do in the hands of a master (you), post it here. If the lens is truly offbeat, post a picture of the lens as well. Even the lowly Holga (yes Ben, even the Holga...) is welcome here.

So to start things off, I have two shots (both taken yesterday evening) to show off two of my weird lenses...

First my Auto-Rikenon 50/1.7 (m-42, circa 1969)




Next my KZOS MC Jupiter-9 85/2 (m-42, bought new this year from Russia)


(yeah, I know, the EXIF says 50mm...I forgot to update the shake control setting...)

Bring em' on...

[Stratman]

A few from my oily aperture bladed Chinar 135 MM F 2.8...

[jsherman999]

Love this idea!

Jupiter-9!

[praxxis]

taken by my Yashica M42 50/1.9 Yashinon DS lens...

[stevebrot]

Great bunch of shots! If you know something about the lens (how old, who made it, where you got it, etc.) share the knowledge! I got my Rikenon along with an almost 30 year-old Ricoh Singlex TLS on eBay...both for a mere $25.

Steve

[ddhytz]

From Tamron 28 f/2.5, first 2 wide open.

[fearview]

@thread starter

LOL.

hey i like the color of KZOS MC Jupiter-9 produce

[Arjay Bee]

I was wondering where I would post some of my odd lens images. i just put this lens up in the bokeh thread but will add a couple of examples here:
Isco Gottingen Tele Westanar 135/3.5 15 aperture blades - a relative of the Schneider-Kreuznach company - bought on Pentax H2 mounted on bellows all in good working order from Eekbay for a song. It is a bit soft at all apertures but I like it!

Constant manual preset aperture.

An example image

[georgweb]

Great idea and really good quality shots!

Here's my suggestion of a cumbersome ghetto-tele-lens:



This is a russian Tair 3 MC 300/4.5 on a Kenko Teleplus MC7 (2xconverter).

This combo is a handful on any tripod (looks like a baseball bat), but really useable at f/5.6 (better than f/8) on a K100D. So you have a useable 600mm at f/11 which does work allright in daylight conditions. Both lens and converter are in the 10-X Euro category and that's why I thought they'd fit here :-)

All the best,
Georg (the other)

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by fearview

@thread starter

LOL.

hey i like the color of KZOS MC Jupiter-9 produce

Yes, the Jupe has great color and great bokeh. I have been very happy with the results I have gotten, but have not done nearly as well as jsherman999 or hinman. They have both done beautiful work with their J-9s.

The nice thing is that the lens is inexpensive and readily available new (if you are willing to wait several weeks for shipping from Russia) or used on fleaBay (usually also from somewhere in the former Soviet Union).

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by georgweb

Great idea and really good quality shots!

Here's my suggestion of a cumbersome ghetto-tele-lens:



This is a russian Tair 3 MC 300/4.5 on a Kenko Teleplus MC7 (2xconverter).

This combo is a handful on any tripod (looks like a baseball bat), but really useable at f/5.6 (better than f/8) on a K100D. So you have a useable 600mm at f/11 which does work allright in daylight conditions. Both lens and converter are in the 10-X Euro category and that's why I thought they'd fit here :-)

All the best,
Georg (the other)

Yes, that combo definitely fits here!!!

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by Arjay Bee

I was wondering where I would post some of my odd lens images. i just put this lens up in the bokeh thread but will add a couple of examples here:
Isco Gottingen Tele Westanar 135/3.5 15 aperture blades - a relative of the Schneider-Kreuznach company - bought on Pentax H2 mounted on bellows all in good working order from Eekbay for a song. It is a bit soft at all apertures but I like it!

Thanks for the picture of the lens and the example picture. Yes, it is a little soft, but I like the way it rendered the pods.

Steve

[WJW]

Originally Posted by stevebrot

Great bunch of shots! If you know something about the lens (how old, who made it, where you got it, etc.) share the knowledge! I got my Rikenon along with an almost 30 year-old Ricoh Singlex TLS on eBay...both for a mere $25.

Steve

I'm surprised it didn't have the 55/1.4 as that seems to be the most common combination. I've had my TLS/1.4 combo (purchased used with a Vivitar 135/2.8) for..... damn, almost 30 years. Both still work great, although the meter switch on the TLS is getting touchy......

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by WJW

I'm surprised it didn't have the 55/1.4 as that seems to be the most common combination. I've had my TLS/1.4 combo (purchased used with a Vivitar 135/2.8) for..... damn, almost 30 years. Both still work great, although the meter switch on the TLS is getting touchy......

I bought the camera/lens on an nostalgic impulse about five years ago. My first SLR was a Singlex TLS bought new in 1970. Unfortunately, it was delivered with a Rexatar 50/1.8 (might have been f/1.7) instead of the Rikenon that I thought I was ordering. That camera had been long gone for almost 20 years when I saw this one on eBay with the lens I originally ordered. I could hardly believe it. It was delivered in the original box along with the original manual and packing materials. The leatherette case was disintegrating, but the body, lens, original camera strap and lens cap were in excellent condition (no brassing, no scratches, no obvious flaws except for rotten light seals and mirror damper). The meter is no longer in proper calibration, but the rest of the camera works quite well. There is a picture of the camera here with my Jupiter-9 attached as part of the Jupiter-9 review.

If I have the opportunity to get the f/1.4, I will probably buy it, but to date, I have not seen one for sale.

Steve

BTW...If I remember correctly, the standard kit lens on the TLS was a Rikenon 50/2.8. Both the f/1.7 and f/1.4 were optional upgrades with the f/1.7 giving the most bang for the buck.

[ftpaddict]

Would brand new sigma and tokina lenses be allowed?