Playing With Lenses: September 2017

Wednesday, 27 September 2017

They should have sticked to selling kitchen appliances: Auto Sears Multicoated 1:2.8 28mm

Cost: 14$

I expected more from this lens after reading some of the online reviews. Nothing spectacular, but how hard is it to screw up a wide-angle prime lens? Well, they succeeded beyond expectations... This was one bad puppy.

The lens itself does have the looks, and the heavy feel of quality. Nice lettering with even a handy marking for the macro achievements. The aperture and focus rings worked smooth but sharpness was severely lacking, and so was the resolving resolution. This on top of severe chromatic aberration. Trust me, image quality was pretty bad...

It is therefore a mystery why this lens was rebranded by so many companies. I found this lens under "Albinar", "Vivitar", "Sirius", and even actual lens manufacturers such as "CPC", "Sigma", "Minolta"and even "Canon". Are these all the same lens, or clones with some differences in quality and build?

In any case, it's not a keeper. To bad, I could have use for another 28mm.

Multi Coated stands for a multiple of chemical coatings for lens surfaces with minimum light loss. The result is a dramatic improvement in both color fidelity and brightness and the elimination of flare and ghost images.

Auto, in the world of manual lenses, stands for the ability to communicate the aperture, via a mechanical way, from the lens to the camera.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 28mm

Maximum Aperture: F2.8

Minimum Aperture: F22

Image Format: 35mm

Lens Mount: PK

Optics: 7 elements, 7 groups

Blades: 6

Focussing: Manual

Minimum Focus: 25cm

Maximum Magnification: 1:4

Filter Size: 52mm

Weight: 230g

Length: 40-50mm

Production: 1980's

Serial Number: 840217648

Made in: Korea (Samyang?)

More information on Sears

Samples:

1/40s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/60s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/50s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/25s - ISO100 - Handheld

Sources:
Camera Wiki: Sears
Pentaxforums

Friday, 15 September 2017

Part 2: the RMC Tokina 80-200 1:4 (model SZ820)

Cost: 18.99$ (average market price $43.79)

I actually reviewed this lens model before. But I unknowingly bought the lens a second time (and actually a 3rd time with a different lens mount). So for a more complete review, please read the earlier review.

There is however a difference, as small as it is. The first lens I reviewed has a small red marking on the front, that could mean "TL" or simple a roman "II". The real meaning is being discussed online, and it could actually mean nothing, but some believe that the lens with the marking is a newer version with slightly improved performance, or sign of a higher quality release. We might never know...

So, in this test I might have taken the earlier version, or lower quality version. It does look and feel absolutely the same, made from metal and with a good solid feel to it. Smooth one-touch focus and zoom design without any focus or zoom creep when used in a downwards angle. Aperture ring works great, with full stops.

Image quality was again great for an older zoom of this wide of a range. I thought it was a little less in quality than the first lens I reviewed, but maybe I just got a little more critical know I hand many more old lenses going trough my hands.

This time, I used a plain adapter, so what you see is the real quality of the lens. Still a great lens to add to your collection at an awesome price. And easy to find!

RMC, or Rainbow Multi Coated, stands for a multiple of chemical coatings for lens surfaces with minimum light loss. The result is a dramatic improvement in both color fidelity and brightness and the elimination of flare and ghost images.

Lens Specification:
Focal Length: 80-200mm
Maximum Aperture: F4
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: PK
Optics: 12 elements in 9 groups
Blades: 6
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 190cm
Maximum Magnification: unknown
Filter Size: 55mm
Weight: 575g
Length: 131mm
Production: unknown
Serial Number: 82211158

More information on: Tokino Co., Ltd

Samples:

1/2000s - ISO800 - Handheld

1/320s - ISO1600 - Handheld

1/640s - ISO1600 - Handheld

1/800s - ISO1600 - Handheld

1/320s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/100s - ISO100 - Handheld

1/2500s - ISO800 - Handheld

1/1600s - ISO800 - Handheld

Sources:

Camera Wiki: Tokina
Wikipedia Tokina
Pentaxforums

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

King of the (mole-)hill: Rexatar Auto Zoom MC 75-150mm 1: 3.8

Cost: 10.00$ (average market price unknown)

This lens was likely made for a local importer, such as Ritz, by a manufacturer such as Tokina or Hoya as both have lenses with the same spec and look.

Although a slow lens, it has constant aperture throughout the zoom range, and a nice build-in plastic lens hood. It does feel cheap, with a aperture ring that works well, but lacks smoothness. The lens looks good, with a simple push'n turn zoom and focus.

The zoom-focus ring on this specific lens had a lot of resistance, making accurate focus a little harder. But it was capable of taking sharp pictures. It had the potential to be a great lens, with smooth 8-blade bokeh, but many of the pictures showed some color fringing, especially on the edges of the frame. Nice colors that requires little post processing..

Conclusion... again not a bad lens, not a good lens. With sharpness, it could be king, but do the bad performance on the edges, with sometimes significant aberration, it will only be king of a mole-hill.

MC stands for Multi Coated, a multi-layer lens coating process that cuts the reflection ratio down with as result a dramatic improvement in both color fidelity and brightness and the elimination of flare and ghost images.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 75-150mm
Maximum Aperture: F3.8
Minimum Aperture: F22
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: PK
Optics: unknown
Blades: 8
Focussing: Manual
Minimum Focus: 150cm
Filter Size: 49mm
Weight: 479g
Length: 103-112mm
Production: 1980's?
Serial Number: 808406
Made In: unknown

More information on Rexatar

Samples:
All pictures were taken with the Lens Turbo II adapter