p.1 #1 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
Interesting copies of Ludvig Bertele designs from the 1930's and even use old Nikonos lenses--all for M Mount. Many other designs also exist, but in very limited quantities.
p.1 #2 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
I have a Omnar Bertele 50/2, I like it a great deal, the quality of the imagery is remarkable, the color rendition is great, The YouTubers have it mostly right, the construction is great, the quality of the lens fits the price, it might seem a little odd to use for some people, I am very adaptive to lenses so it took me a few minutes to be comfortable with it, that doesn't seem to be the case with others that seem locked into to Leica mechanics (ditto the LLL elcan irritated the same people- I love the lens). It is a lens that I think rewards finding a good scene for it. It is expensive, I am not sure whether they will make anymore. The lens is small E39 doesn't get in the way with a viewfinder. It will be my companion often.
p.1 #5 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
RoamingScott wrote:
The over-$1000-USD Barnack having an exposed helicoid immediately placed them in joke lens territory for me personally.
At first I assumed the hole was just a leftover from the prototype. I'm still not sure why they left it like this ... a simple screw would have covered it. The greased brass is open to dust and grit, so even if they thought showing the brass inside looked cool, it could become a real problem over the long haul. It also just looks like a screw fell off.
p.1 #7 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
Fred Miranda wrote:
At first I assumed the hole was just a leftover from the prototype. I'm still not sure why they left it like this ... a simple screw would have covered it. The greased brass is open to dust and grit, so even if they thought showing the brass inside looked cool, it could become a real problem over the long haul. It also just looks like a screw fell off.
I was all set to purchase one as I love the rendering but that exposed area ultimately is what stopped me from buying. The lens itself is expensive and the thought of almost definitely needing to have it serviced in the future and having to either ship overseas and back or finding someone in the US to service it seemed like a negative. Granted all lenses may need a servicing in the future but this design seems like it would lend to needing it sooner. One bad pickup of wind in a particularly dusty or sandy or pollen-y situation could cause some issues.
p.1 #8 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
I understand what all of you are saying about the risk of the lens with its exposed helicoid. In the end because of my age and sometimes health I decided I don't care, I will take my lens out and use it and hopefully preserve it as long as I can use it. I was much influenced in this attitude by a mentor of sorts who built beautiful fly rod reels to use on bamboo rods, people do collect them like Leicas, but as he insisted these are tools, he made them as nice and as well as he could engineer and do, but they are tools and so should be used and I do and I catch the big one on bamboo rods in his memory. I feel the same about my photo gear, I have a some nice stuff, some I have bought are old and well preserved and I use them. So I pay the entrance fee for something nice, I will use it, hopefully well, and I do think this is a great lens with the right subject, and not sorry about the downstream because I am doing what I want to be doing. If you buy an expensive sports car do you keep in a garage or do you drive it, of expensive watch, wear it or display it, if you collect one decision if you love these tools for that they can do then use it.
p.1 #9 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
Fred Miranda wrote:
At first I assumed the hole was just a leftover from the prototype. I'm still not sure why they left it like this ... a simple screw would have covered it. The greased brass is open to dust and grit, so even if they thought showing the brass inside looked cool, it could become a real problem over the long haul. It also just looks like a screw fell off.
Is that what everyone's talking about? That hole's likely there to adjust the focus grip, and isn't just an empty hole. I got curious about the holes like this on a 50 being talked about on the boards, and a designer acquaintance in Tokyo told me it's a kind of short-cut for lens adjustment. I thought the "exposed helicoid" was the front of the lens being pushed out when focusing closer, exposing the helicoid between the mount and the optical cell. Bastian posted a tech drawing in his review on PR that shows what the problem will be, though I'm not sure why he didn't post a photo of the lens at anything but infinity.
p.1 #10 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
It seems like an interesting lens, but I'm asking myself: Why the name? "Omnar" was a series of lenses by Emil Busch with a 4/4 design and seems to have nothing to do with with this 6/3 Sonnar design.
I don't mind resurrecting old lenses and paying homage to a good lens designer is fine as well... but using a completely unrelated name is somewhat irritating to me.
p.1 #12 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
sarkleshark wrote:
What is the hole being talked about? All the holes I can see have small screws in them.
I really like this lens.
I think they were talking about another lens called "Barnack". It doesn't even seem to be a unique lens made by "Omnar lenses" but rather an adapted old Leitz "Mikro-Summar".
EDIT: Can‘t link (since I‘m new here) but it indeed looks like the company purchased a good number of these tiny lenses and just adapts them, hence the 'prototype' look.
p.1 #13 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
sarkleshark wrote:
What is the hole being talked about? All the holes I can see have small screws in them.
I really like this lens.
I didn't realize that part was adjustable or perhaps sealed against dust and moisture. Is that actually the case? It still looks a bit odd in my opinion, but if it's at least functional, that's what matters.
p.1 #14 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
simplejoy wrote:
It seems like an interesting lens, but I'm asking myself: Why the name? "Omnar" was a series of lenses by Emil Busch with a 4/4 design and seems to have nothing to do with with this 6/3 Sonnar design.
I don't mind resurrecting old lenses and paying homage to a good lens designer is fine as well... but using a completely unrelated name is somewhat irritating to me.
The company is called Omnar Lenses. The 50mm lens in question is called the Bertele.
p.1 #15 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
What I like about this lens (50/2) is the way it picks up all the gradations of color tone in a sonnar view it is very nice glass. You are only seeing reduced size jpgs... it is much better with a better presentation. It is small, it does have its quirks which doesn't bother me unlike reviewers who do have to say something. I really only care about output, getting there is the price to pay for output, whether money to buy the lens or learning how to use it. I have my leica apo 50 as my "perfect lens" and then want a counter point, my two favs at this moment are this omnar lens and super 6 form LLL, but things do evolve to the next lens, and my poor elcan that I really like and had this role too often gets left behind.
p.1 #17 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
weatherproof wrote:
The company is called Omnar Lenses. The 50mm lens in question is called the Bertele
Yeah, you're right of course. Doesn't make a lot more sense though. It's like a company calling itself "Tessar". But perhaps it's some sort of coincidence and they just ended up with the same name for another reason.
p.1 #18 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
Fred Miranda wrote:
I didn't realize that part was adjustable or perhaps sealed against dust and moisture. Is that actually the case? It still looks a bit odd in my opinion, but if it's at least functional, that's what matters.
I believe there should be a hex head screw in there. The video screenshot above is what every talks about.
p.1 #19 · Has Anyone had experience with an Omnar lens?
RoamingScott wrote:
The over-$1000-USD Barnack having an exposed helicoid immediately placed them in joke lens territory for me personally.
It's not a Barnack, it's a Sonnar lens.
The price is off-putting but if you read about the work they have done to counteract focus shift for rangefinder users, which is an inherent problem with the Sonnar design, you will appreciate what they have accomplished. But it also means this is a niche solution with a very limited customer base. Their very low batch runs and high manufacturing quality pretty much dictates the price will be sky high.
I would definitely buy one of these at even $1k, but as it is, it's not a high enough priority for discretionary spending.
