Cost: 24.99$ (average market price $45)
I had high expectations of this massive and nice looking lens. Full metal, high quality build, oozing a sense of craftiness and mastery. Down to the details with a slick sliding button for manual or auto use. And how hard is it to mess up a prime lens? There are various versions of this lens, multi-coated or not, slightly different layout, etc... you can recognize the different lenses by the coloring of the letters inside the barrel. Mine is colored orange, and I expect to be one of the older variations (due to the lack or lack of mentioning any coating). And truth to be told, I found some good reviews online.
So very disappointed and surprised that it did not meet expectations. Usage is nice and smooth, but focussing was hard and almost requires a tripod for all use (heavy lens). And image quality was lacking. Not to bad when doing close-up, or midrange... but when going to infinity, the lens lacks sharpness and had some serious chromatic aberration when not fully stepped down. Definitely not a lens for pixel peepers.
I might try this lens again some day on a tripod, or find a later variation, but for now, I would advice against looking for this lens. There are better and lighter manual 200mm lenses out there.
Lens Specification: Focal Length: 200mm
Maximum Aperture: F3.5
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: M42
Optics: ?
Blades: 6
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 270cm
Filter Size: 62mm
Weight: 540g
Length: 131mm - 151mm
Production: ?
Serial Number: 507709
Made in: Japan
Hi, good review! I have this lens at the moment and perhaps I find it somewhat sharper than these pictures (copy variance?). For me the rather long minimum focal distance is a drawback. Can I add also that I have three K&F adaptors for m4/3: Konica, MD minolta and M42 and I find the quality just fine! Regards ///
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, various copies might differ. It wasn't a bad lens, I just had some sharper ones in the past.
ReplyDeleteI have 3 of these lenses, two Which look like the first models, are incredibly sharp from 5.6 and even 3.5 is very good (here a light CA appears). one of my lenses (newer version) is like You say, very poor copy
ReplyDeleteI have just looked at Your lens, it looks exactly like mine - this weaker copy, here the Auto Chinon inscription is orange but passing through yellow, these better copies have this inscription clearly orange and also all white markings on the body are creamy and not white as in worse copy
ReplyDeleteGood to know there are better copies out there!
ReplyDeleteUp. How to recognize bad copies ?? I can see several ones between 80$ and 150$ in 2023 ! Far too much.They seem to be all white, not creamy... What about agfa color similar model ?
ReplyDelete