Finally. I wished that FM had user reviews and ratings on old manual glass, and finally this seems like a reality. I would pretty much agree with Paul and everyone else here about what lenses to put on there.
Fred, since there are so many lenses, maybe you can just make the company categories (such as Zeiss, Pentax, Olympus, Nikkor, etc) and some of the elite Alternative lens members can add the lenses themselves with images, information, links to reviews (if they are out there) and user reviews and ratings. I personally only have a few alternative glasses, but I have been researching many for a while... so I too will be glad to help if you require it.
PS. From what I've personally seen, for the Zeiss glasses, the 20mm, 35mm, 50mm, and the 135mm are quite popular on this forum. Several of the distagons as wells as the infamous 21mm and 35-70mm are also quite popular here.
I don't know if it has been suggested yet or not, but I think it would be nice to have a table or something that shows which lens mounts are adaptable to which lens mounts using simple adapters. This could be near the top of an alternative lens faq/tutorial and would answer some of the first questions that people have when they are trying to get into alternative glass. Another option could be to put in an "Alternative Lens Resources" type of thing like what they have in the macro forum.
Sahid Limon wrote:
PS. From what I've personally seen, for the Zeiss glasses, the 20mm, 35mm, 50mm, and the 135mm are quite popular on this forum.
There is no 20mm lens in either Zeiss' Contax line or their current ZF/ZS line. You must mean the 21mm and the 28mm, and perhaps the 25mm for which some have quite an affection.
Sahid Limon wrote:
Several of the distagons as wells as the infamous 21mm and 35-70mm are also quite popular here.
"Infamous"?? Really? Justly "famous" is much more like it. ;-)
Is this a good start? Those who own lenses from the list above, could you please let me know the most popular ones? -- Also 'if' adapters are needed?
Fred
This is a fantastic start, and exactly where I would start too. (Oops, just realized the Zeiss lenses are the new ZF/ZA/ZS ones - Fred, get those Contax lenses in there too!)
I would probably start with the wider focal lengths, 50mm and wider, then do 135mm and down, and then midrange zooms. Then the telephoto primes, and lastly the telephoto zooms.
Most people interested in alternative lenses use Canon cameras, in which case you'll need either a C/Y-EF adapter (for Contax lenses), an R-EF adapter (for Leica), or a F-EF adapter (for Nikon).
StevenPA wrote:
Does that include the used market? The list is going to be cut down drastically if lenses that are out of production won't be part of the compendium. It might be a good idea to go with the lenses that are still for sale first and then tackle the out of production stuff.
Maybe it could be narrowed down to lenses that are still repairable? I.E. that still have a cache of spare parts lying on a shelf somewhere. -But who would be able to compile such a list?
To expand on Jim Colwell's spreadsheet idea, how about some info from users with regard to which adapters work well/don't work well with a particular lens/camera body combination? Might save others the trial and tribulations of adapter shopping.
Also, any type of minor mods (short of an in-depth mount conversion) that may be necessary to use a particular lens on a particular body (i.e. filing an aperture ring or aperture lever on a Takumar 50, for example).
(Oops, just realized the Zeiss lenses are the new ZF/ZA/ZS ones - Fred, get those Contax lenses in there too!)
The list is going to be cut down drastically if lenses that are out of production won't be part of the compendium. It might be a good idea to go with the lenses that are still for sale first and then tackle the out of production stuff.