Having acquired several of the "off-brand" lenses in the past few months, I decided to finally take them out of the closet and see just what they could do.
To date, I have:
1. Osawa MC, f:4.5, 100-200mm.
2. Hanimex MC, f:4.5, 75-200mm macro zoom,
3. Soligor MC-CD, f:3.5, 28-80mm macro zoom.
4. Albinar-ADG, f:3.9, 28-80mm macro zoom.
5. CPC-CCT, f:2.8, 28mm macro.
6. Auto Chinon MC, f:3.5, 35-70mm macro zoom.
7. Tuo/Five Star MC, f:4.5, 75-200mm macro zoom.
I think the first thing that occurred to me when I assembled the lenses on my desk was the amazing solid construction of them. The only one that would appear to be "cheaply made," was the Albinar... and that solely because of the glossy black finish. It is a very sound lens, but for some reason, the glossy finish smacked of patent leather shoes to me!
As you might surmise I tend to do a lot of close-focus shooting, hence my overwhelming leanings toward lenses of that sort. These are all "inexpensive," not necessarily cheap, per se'. Solid, very smooth focus/zoom rings and positive aperture settings, the lot. Zoom creep is present in the Tuo/Five star and Hanimex, albeit very slight. The other two "one touch zooms," the Soligor and the Albinar are creep-free.
I took the Osawa out for a stroll around the neighborhood, shooting various scenes, hoping to get a feel for what it was capable of. The limitations of the 100-200mm FL was apparent, right from the get-go. I can't see this lens ever being one of my favorites because of this.... but I DID discover one of it's redeeming qualities. It has a very useful close-focus ability. This would be very handy when photographing flowers and such. A pleasant surprise, indeed. Also, the lens appears to render very good contrast. The photos shown were all shot (using a monopod) at 200mm, are all full-frame and have had no PP whatsoever. However, the contrast was bumped up two notches in-camera, as well as a little saturation. They were shot with an ISO of 400 @ f:8 - f:11. The depth of focus seemed to me to be very shallow for the given f factor.
The sharpness is good, but not great. It's at it's best near the center of the frame, but falls off considerably the farther out you go. Color saturation is quite good. Focal length is a real bastard in the lens world - neither fish nor fowl. The lens was an impulse buy, more because of curiosity and cost than anything else. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 7.5 overall. Very well made, solid & smooth, with the close-focus ability being it's strong point. Would I recommend this lens? If you need a decent close-focus lens and can find one for $10.00, sure. Otherwise, I'd pass.... unless you're like me and just can't seem to kick this LBA virus! :o
Dewman
SW Idaho, USA
