super low-budget PL mount lenses

macgregor

macgregor

Veteran
HI all.
I'm getting ready to go back to Mauritania (Africa for those of you with low geography skills) this month to finish shooting the documentary I started last year. But like previous time, I don't want to ruin my "expensive" sony Cinealta PL mount lenses.
Last time I took my sony F35 with a Nikon mount so I could use Nikon and Samyang lenses. But my camera is back to PL mount so Nikon lenses are out of the question.
Therefore I'm looking for affordable PL mount lenses that I can take with me and not cry in the event of them getting damaged (last year all the lenses survived fine though).

So I've spent days researching for the best possible lenses for this production. I don't want to carry a ton of lenses, so I'm limiting myself to just 3-4 lenses: a wide angle (16mm), a medium (40mm ideally), and a telephoto (135mm). The ex-soviet union countries seem to be selling their lens arsenal for really cheap prices. Most lenses are pretty beat up, but sometimes you can find cool stuff. This is my research in case I help some fellow dvxuser:



- Rollei HFT Planar 50mm f/1.8 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arriflex-Ar...d=100011&prg=9834&rk=2&rkt=10&sd=111372490105

$_12.JPG


I wasn't able to find a better deal for a mid range lens than this. I did a bit or research on this lens and all I could find was that it was just a fine lens. After all, 50s seem to be the easiest to build. This is a rehoused still lens from Singapur/China. So I risked it and I ordered one. I've seen them on ebay for around $450. Hell yes, lets do it.
The lens arrived today. As expected is tiny, a bit smaller than a Zeiss Standard. It seems pretty solid. THe iris ring is not declicked. And being so small it's really hard to reach the iris ring. But I did a really quick comparison test against the Cinealta 50mm and I can't tell the difference between both. So performance seems surprisingly decent. Great for ultra low weight set ups?
EDIT. optics quality is good, construction is bad, they end up braking. Avoid.



- Helios 58mm 44-2 f2 with PL mount adapter

$_12.JPG


You all probably know about this lens. Old, crappy, and cheap. But it produces beautiful bokeh and amazing lens flares. So it's a must have (I have 3 units). Better to choose a mint unit otherwise they're all pretty much destroyed by now. This lens is great for artistic stuff but it doesn't have enough contrast and resolution for my project.


But what's great about the copy I recently purchased is that it came with a M42 to PL mount screw in adapter. Which means I could potentially attach the adapter to any M42 lens (they're cheap and easy to find) and voila! A new world of lenses for us.
Unfortunately it's not that simple because of size constrains. The taking lens must have a small rear size to fit inside the adapter. However I was able to find another M42 lens that can be "converted" to PL mount with the same adapter:



- Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 4/135mm.

$_57.JPG


I didn't know much about this lens until last week when I found out that it could be attached to the F35 with that same M42-PL mount adapter. I did some research and despite being suuuuper old, I read that it produces magnificent pictures. So I got one. It's tiny! I quickly tested it. Fantastic focus 340deg focus rotation. Declicked iris ring. And it's sharp and shows good contrast!!!
I'll check it out tomorrow with sunlight but I'm pretty excited about it. Also, compared against my Cinealta 135mm T2.0, the Jena seems to have a longer focal length than 135mm (more like a 150mm) or the sony is shorter than the claimed 135mm.



- TAIR-33 4.5/300mm
Again, another lens I hadn't heard in my life. But after doing some research, it seems to be also a decent performer. And for $200 and in PL mount, definitely worth checking it out. For documentary stuff, it's going to be handy to have a nice 300mm lens. I'll let you know how this thing works once I receive the unit.

$(KGrHqJHJCIFGrF3TuUCBR0-64n5i!~~60_12.JPG





As you can see I'm still missing a wide angle lens. And this is going to be hard since there aren't that many wide/good/cheap options. I think the cheapest option would be a tokina 11-16 with a PL mount. I've seen them on ebay for $1500-2000. But this lens has too much CA for my taste.
Any ideas?
 
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Ed- I have the GL Optics Sigma 18-35 t1.8 in PL, its really good for the price. They recently have rehoused the Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART lens and the new crazy high performance Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART lens (which I am tempted by!)
 
As far as *Super cheap* PL goes, there is the Lomo foton zoom, beautiful character, decent sharpness but slow (~T4.3) and limited CF- worth picking up though IMO ($699): http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOMO-zoom-l...063?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4621b0a77f

Additionally any old T-mount (threaded) lens will work- these are from the 60's and 70's. Some of these are super cheap, all of the ones I have tested are complete garbage optics, usually slow and soft but maybe thats the look that suits your project? They are insanely cheap and redly available:

First buy the adapter ($120): http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-T2-to-ARR...ens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item20e2221924

Then add any *threaded* T mount lens (NOT ADAPTALL OR T4!): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vivitar-Tel...88524360?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item20e573ca48


And if you want a 500mm on the cheap and are willing to have a fixed 8.0 aperture and doughnut bokeh, this should work with the T-PL adapter (YMMV! $20!): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Phoenix-500...28477178?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item4d1ec176fa

edited: wrong link
 
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Also, regarding the helios in m42. There is an 85mm 1.5 focal length as well, although you probably would need to shave a bit off around the back too fit your PL adapter ($420): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Helios-40-2...14597982?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item233b0d885e

The lens is pretty sharp but suffers from major Coma, check pictures taken with it on flickr.com first before buying.

Edit: and by shave I mean you'll need a dremel ; )

Edited again: found one already converted to PL for $650:http://www.ebay.com/itm/HELIOS-40-2...481?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e8a0d9f79
 
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I adapted one of these to PL by buying one of those T-Mount adapters, a bit of dremel shaving and some JB weld to permanently place the PL on the lens, It wasn't pretty but it works (28mm f2.5): Tamron28mmF251.jpg

There is also a 17mm 3.5 where you could use the same method:
48868d1259997663-tamron-17mm-f-3-5-adaptall-lens-tamron.jpg

Im embarrassed to post pictures of my hack job but can show you how to do it sometime.
 
Yeah you have to shave down the iris ring below where the adapt all mount usually goes. (in this case JBweld epoxy)- if you had more serious tools you could countersink some screws into a PL and by pass the epoxy.
 
I bought a few T2 and M42 adapters when I first got my F35, I wasn't brave enough to modify the lenses but I was running into lots of similar problems with any sort of wide lens bumping or unable to get to infinity focus. I know a friend who had his Zeiss ZF's converted to PL, I thought it was around $400 a lens, probably the best way to go but it will still cost a lot.

If you are interested, I just bought Keith's damaged CCD block and am having a tech fix the broken pin, once this is fixed, I'll have a PL block and a Nikon block, a lot easier to make the switch if you want to borrow the Nikon.
 
I just got a Schneider Kreuznach 75-150 f4.5 in PL mount on eBay. It's usually a pentacon six mount I believe. I've also heard that medium format lenses (which is what this is) actually let through more light than they let on (guessing that it's F stop vs T stop and the different between MF and S35).

It was very affordable for what it seems to be! I haven't heard much about this lens on film/video cameras. I'll let you guys know what it looks like!

John
 
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