[Dubesor]

I like to organize my images into sets by lens ... so if you're curious to see the images behind my regrets or not-regrets, check out the links.

Over time, I've tried, experimented, and sold lots of lenses I decided I didn't absolutely need in the end. I try to stay pragmatic and not hoard something I'm not actively using. But sometimes I get really attached.

Two lenses I frequently regret selling: Pentax 645 A 55/2.8. That was just plain dumb. Now I really need that focal length again and it's not that easy to find. I hope the new owner is taking good care of my baby.
The other one is my very first copy of the Pentax-M 50/1.7, a lens that has now passed through my hands a bunch of times. I remember that feeling of owning my first 'real' lens and how it produced wow factor shots for me in the early days of teaching myself photography.

I will never ever sell: my beat up SMC Takumar 50/1.4 , someone would have to pry it from my cold dead hands. Tremendous image quality, character to boot (coupled with some ratty duct tape, makes my equipment look worthless when I need it to), and sentimental reasons: one of the key 3-4 lenses I taught myself photography with and my first ever f1.4 lens. Here's a picture of this dear old friend:



Some more primes I won't be selling because their images look quite unique and their 'life stories' are dear to me:
Meyer-Optik Görlitz Primoplan V 58mm f1.9 (M42)
Rikenon P 50mm f2.0 (K mount)
EBC Fujinon 55mm f1.8 (DIY-modified M42)

I regret someone stealing: my Pentax M 100/2.8 - I loved that lens and felt like I was just getting started with it.

I might regret: I have my FA 50/1.4 up for sale since I'm a medium format shooter at this point; also because the DA 35/2.4 will replace it for me on digital with a much more useful FOV at a lower cost. This line of thinking is one I might really come to regret later. But money doesn't grow on trees either I also might regret losing the rare S-M-C Takumar 85/1.8 (just sold it in the Marketplace here), but it will finance a whole trip to Korea for me and I really need to go. I bet I'll return with lots of great images from my other lenses.

Here's what I don't regret: Selling a bunch of Takumars I already had in different coatings/eras, selling the bulky Sigma 10-20, selling a bunch of 80-200 and 70-200 zooms, selling various M42 telephoto primes, selling the F 35-70, breaking the FA 28-90, selling my kit lenses, yada yada. No real regrets there.

There's a few more I sort-of kind-of regret. And a few I would regret letting go if I didn't "bequeath" them into the hands of friends who were eager to learn and to use them a lot.

But I've already written enough ...

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Last edited by Dubesor; 03-22-2011 at 05:05 AM.

[8540tomg]

Here's a slightly different spin on this topic - the lens I most regret selling. I've

actually only sold one lens ever and the was the SMC Pentax M 100/2.8.

It was a great little portrait lens on film and sadly long gone before I went digital.

Sold it when I got the A 100/2.8 macro and thought I really couldn't afford the

duplication in focal lengths. Duhhh!

Tom G

[kacansas03]

It Was a Tamron 70-210mm f/3.5 52A. The 2 ring zoom was nice but I really missed the macro function where you could be 3 feet from your very enlarged subject! So I bought another, implusively on Ebay and didn't realize it was coming from overseas. Now I hope it is not too damaged. Sigh....................

[cooltouch]

I've sold quite a few lenses over the years that I've regretted, although I don't believe any of them were made by Pentax.

Probably the lens I regret selling the most -- that can be found in Pentax K mount -- is the Tamron 180mm f/2.5 LDIF. A superb lens. This was some 25 years ago or so. Back then it was worth about $300. Now it sells for more than twice that.

Another one I regret selling that goes for big money nowadays is the Vivitar Series 1 90-180mm Flat Field Macro. I was a camera dealer back then. I bought it at a show and a customer spotted it and literally harassed me until I sold it to him. I wanted to keep it and play around with it some, but it was not to be. I got good money for it, though, since he wanted it so bad.

I regret selling my 1984-made (or so) Sigma 600mm f/8 mirror lens. That thing was amazingly sharp. I sold it when I switched systems from Canon to Nikon. Recently I bought another in the uncommon EOS mount. It isn't nearly as sharp as that old one was. Sad.

Pentax-mount lenses I own that I would regret selling:

100mm f/4 Macro SMC Takumar in mint condition with hood. Picked it up for $40, wouldn't sell it for three times that amount.
50mm f/1.8 SMC Takumar. Why should I sell it. I'd just have to find another fast SMCT lens for my Spotmatic F.
I have a large collection of Tamron lenses ranging from 17mm to 500mm, any of which I'd regret selling.
My first ever K-mount lens, a Kalimar 28-200mm f/4 (but not really an f/4. It's an f/4-5.6, but with a cheater label). It's big and heavy and actually does a decent job. Surprising. I bought one of these back when I was a camera dealer, over 25 years ago. Sold it. Bought my current copy about 5 or 6 years ago, shortly after I bought my KX. I missed it, what can I say? So if I sold it, I'd miss it again.

Hey, this is all about want, it doesn't have to make sense.

[teiki arii]

Hello,
as some of you know, I haven't any Pentax glasses because I switched from Nikon to Leica in 90's. So far so good, I kept them even when Leica stopped DSLR R&D, because it would have cost me too much to change all my second hand Leica optics for other brand digital "suitors" which were not so good. Besides, Leica-R lenses got increasingly expensive as Sony A7x came on market.
But the one I miss the most is the Leica Summilux-R 80/1.4 I had to sell to buy my first Leica-R8 camera that I still have. This lens as a few people know, is not only about bokeh but his propensity to absorb high contrasts at the era of slides... Unfortunately, I cannot afford it today as most of my collection that I bought when Leica company aborted DSLR R&D ...
Luckily, Pentax created IMHO the best OVF DSLR FF camera with Pentax K-1 at the good price doing justice to these marvellous Leica-R lenses I kept all over that years without being entirely satisfactory with Canon EOS 5D/6D...
So, here is my collection I do not want to sell:

- Leica-R 28/2.8 ROM
- Leica-R 35/2 ROM
- Leica-R 50/2 ROM
- Leica-R Macro 60/2.8 ROM
- Leica-R 90/2 AA ROM
- Leica-R Macro 100/2.8 ROM
- Leica-R 135/2.8 ver. II
- Leica-R 180/2.8 (non-Apo ver. II) I just bought (after trying Apo 180/2 20 years ago, selling Apo 180/3.4 & Apo 180/2.8)
- Leica-R 80-200/4 ROM
- Leica-R Apo-Telyt-Modular 280/2.8 ROM
- Leica-R Apo Extender 1.4x & 2x ROM

teiki.

[huibgeselschap]

I would regret selling any of the lenses I have, quite picky what I buy, so they're not going anywhere soon...
got a nice line-up of aluminium Zeiss Jena, 2.8/35, 2.0/58, 4.0/135, Pentacon 4.0/200 as well as the takumar 50 1.4 8 el. for when some extra light is needed or different color style. Then a helios 44M for the bokeh (fleamarket at about 10 bucks) and a A. Schacht travenar 4.5 135 which is just a daft lens, front part can be screwed off, the long tube behind it has no elements at all, the m39 can then probably be screwed into something else, but what? tried it on my bellows, but kinda defeats the idea... any other idea's why that might be? Meantime playing with the 20 blades in that little lens front...
Only lens I might consider selling is a Tessar 2.8/50, but usefull on my bellows and worth next to nothing, nice in my silver zeiss line up.

[Bladejunkie]

I have a reasonable collection of early postwar M42 normal primes (up to mid 1960s). Only a few are newer. The ones that I would try to avoid selling under any circumstance:

Steinheil Quinon 55/1.9: Easily the best lens ever made. Other lense might be able to do differently, but not better. The sharpest lens I own. Microcontrast incredible. Depth incredible. Color rendering - natural. Build quality - from a different planet - like a Duisenberg or Mercedes Benz SSK. Ergonomics (that's taste) - perfect because focus and aperture turn right to close in/stop down.

Takumar 58mm/2.4: There is something very special about this lens. It is very kind to people, hence good for portraits. It creates swirly, but also dreamy bokeh. Almost Disneyesque. It makes you feel special because you know you shoot the only/fastest Heliar design normal prime ever made for an SLR. Nonetheless, it is sharper and I prefer it over my copy of the Takumar 58/2 (Sonnar). And it's rather tiny and lightweight.

Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar electric 50/1.8: Imo, this is the best lens money can buy. Period. It is sharp (although slightly less sharp than the Quinon), might have the best, most agreeably creamy bokeh I have ever seen from any lens. It has incredible microcontrast, probably the most of any of my lenses. The color rendering is natural. I much prefer it to the yellow-tinging/overemphasizing of orange that I frequently see in Japenese lenses. It has decent build quality (although not 50/1.4 Takumar level). It doesn't burn your eyes out with radioactivity like the Takumar does. And based on my taste, it has perfect ergonomics with both rings turning right to close in/stop down. At anywhere from $60 to $100 for what often are virtually mint copies, I really think it is the best lens money can buy. You will not be disappointed. Only specular highlights might bother you, given that the aperture has only six blades, but that's common for lenses from around that time.

[huibgeselschap]

One more, the Zuiko 24mm 2.8, sharp sharp sharp... never gonna let it go, looks nice on my small canon 100D too

[Sandy Hancock]

There are three DA lenses which I will never sell, and constitute the only reason I still have a crop camera - the 15, 21 and 35 limiteds. They are beautiful, tiny, unique, and just have that magic.







I'll post again with my full frame keepers.

[aslyfox]

I don't have any great legacy glass to bragg about really:

Tamron 4-5.6 70 -300 macro zoom ld [1:2] af

_________________________
Vivitar Series 1 3.5 200 mm prime af in lens 67 f (Cosina)

Vivitar Series 1 2.8-3.8 1:28 - 105 mm macro zoom mf 67 f (Cosina)

Vivitar Series 1 2.8-4.0 70 - 210 mm macro zoom [1:25] mf 62 f ( ver. 3 ), Kosine)

but I don't really know how to price them for sale

and the small $ I would reasonably expect from any sale

I say the heck with it, I have storage room while I wait to win the lottery so I can think about getting a HD Pentax-D FA* 70-200mm F2.8 ED DC AW

last time I played I won - invested $5 and got $6 back

this method may take awhile

[redbirdpete]

I do regret my Pentax A 70-210. Was annoyed by the gradually increasing zoom creep and sold it only to discover afterwards it was easily fixable. I'd sold my Series 1 Vivitar to get it as well.

[Canada_Rockies]

I do regret my Pentax A 70-210. Was annoyed by the gradually increasing zoom creep and sold it only to discover afterwards it was easily fixable. I'd sold my Series 1 Vivitar to get it as well.

The A 70-210 I bought many years ago is still in use. I gave it to my daughter when I went digital in 2007 and purchased the DA* 50-135/2.8 that gave me an 85-230 with the AFA 1.7x. The last time the 70-210 was used was on a kayaking trip. She has a K200D, and wanted something with more oomph than her cell phone for a once in a lifetime trip.

The keeper lens that I miss is the DA* 50-135. The SDM gave up and I made a stupid decision to get rid of it. I'm now using a 55-300 and it's a fine consumer lens, but it just doesn't have the "snap" of the 50-135 on the sensor. I'm pretty sure, checking some of the shots taken on my K10D with the 50-135+1.7x that cropping from 230 to 300 would give at least as good a rendition. We all take the wrong road at the fork from time to time.

[vyoufinder]

Auto Takumar 35mm f2.3
Super-Takumar 200mm f3.5
K 50mm f1.2
M* 300mm f4

will never sell.

[cooltouch]

I just remembered a couple more lenses I sold and regretted it. Neither of them were Pentax. From opposite ends of the spectrum, a Canon FL 19mm f/3.5 and a Nikon AIs 200-400mm f/4 ED.

The Canon was an outstanding ultrawide lens that I used back when I shot Canon FD. The big Nikon zoom was a rare piece back when I owned it. I was a camera dealer back then and I bought it to resell it. Resell it, I did, but I sure did enjoy using it while I had it. And I've always wished I would have kept it. Certainly one of the sharpest zooms I've ever owned, and even one of the sharpest lenses I've owned, for that matter.

The Canon FL 19mm f/3.5


The Nikon AIs 200-400mm f/4 ED

[Kim Coxon]

How long a list do you want? lol

Voigtlander 125/2.5
Zeiss ZK 100/2
Pentax 43mm ltd in Leica mount
Pentax 20/2.8FA
Pentax 50/1.2 A "special"
Pentax 24/2 FA
Pentax 200/2.8 A
Pentax 300/4 A
Pentax 80-200/ 2.8 FA


And above all else. the 1.7 AF convertor.