This alt lens forum isn't the wide informative source it used to be
The Rokkors dominate much more than they should. Some of them (like the 24/2.8, 35/1.8, 85/1.7,...) are nothing special, and a pain to convert, but get a lot of spin here.
An adapter hack forum would be good.
ISO1600 wrote:
should we change the name of the Alt forum to just "The Rokkor Club"?
It seems 90% of the talk here lately is "Rokkor this, Rokkor that"... "Subtractive conversion", "stuck aperture", "ebay listing", "pile of lenses", how many 58's do you have?", and the like....
just wanted to point out the hysteria, and see if i'm the only one who thinks it's a little bit off the deep end.
Many would say that most of the posts are about Zeiss, or Leica. I think the Rokkor "craze" will settle down and we'll be back to other brands (in another year or so.) Kinda depends on what else new comes along. I'm thinking ZE I guess.
it comes and goes. Sometimes it's big Zeiss stuff or others, now it seems to be big on Rokkor stuff. Whatever the current trend is, the forum will reflect that
i'm hoping ZE winds up doing better than some of the initial reports, because in theory, ZE is a great thing.
The Oly craze is still pumping along, although it seems to have a little less steam than this time last year.
Zeiss C/Y is always a strong player in the scene, because of lenses like the 28/2.8, 85/2.8, and obviously the wider lenses (18, 21).
M42, i'm glad to say, is seeming to lose some glimmer. This is my least favorite of the alt mounts, because most of the (once) cheap lenses have inflated in value nearly 10X (or more?!) in recent years. I STRONGLY disagree as to the average Takumar's value in real world use.
Nikon F is my favorite system. Has been for a while, even when i was a strong Canon shooter. They might not have the best lenses in most applications, but they are strong (enough) performers very often, and the availability is there. I am very happy with the Nikkors i can afford, and this is the main reason i am going to the D700. I -CAN- build a good Nikkor system on my budget, and have native F mount. I am more excited about this than anything gear-related i've experienced in the past few years, photographically.
Leica R, as always, has very strong proponents for many lenses. Some, if not most, of the R lenses are great- but priced out of the average alt user's range. This pretty much limits the discussion of the R's in here i think.
The Rokkors, i believe, are so damned popular right now for a few reasons-
the 58, for all intensive purposes, -is- a great lens. I am not denying this.
up until recently, they were largely unknown to the DSLR crowd.
up until recently, most Rokkors could be bought for next to nothing- only now is the value really starting to climb on some of them.
I agree with PDMphoto that some of the rokkors are nothing special, for all the trouble of converting them.
ISO1600 wrote:
... The Oly craze ...
... Zeiss C/Y is always a strong player ...
... M42, i'm glad to say, is seeming to lose some glimmer...
... Nikon F is my favorite system...
... The Rokkors, i believe, are so damned popular ...
Each one has his/her own truth. That's the beauty of these forums.
Well from what I have seen there were the Zuiko craze, the Super Tak craze, the Carl Zeiss craze, the Leica craze, The Rokkor craze and the Canon FD craze. Most of them are the lenses adaptable or convertible to the EOS bodies.
Partly is because the EOS body has a 44 mm flange to sensor distance and it is easier to adapt or convert other lenses.
I kept on being amazed at what has been done by just normal photographers out there. In days converting and adapting a lens was left up to a few people.
The performance of most Rokkors on digital bodies was unknown. Some lenses are certainly nothing special on digital or film. But it is hard to know if a lens is special without converting it first. Conversion is a struggle sometimes which adds a disproportionate amount of activity to the lens itself.
Also, a lens can be overlooked for years before being newly found useful and cost effective. The Olympus 28/3.5 would fall into that category.
Also, if the forum is discussing something that is not someone's cup of tea, either move on or start your own thread.
If this thread really was a Rokkor Forum thread, for and by the people who actually use and like this lens I know I would check in here regularly.
Disregarding all the optical qualities of the lens, I think the Rokkor 58 is also a perfect lens when it comes to handling. The focus throw, size and gripability is so much higher on this lens than most if not all of my 30+ other alts that it certainly deserves the credit it gets for those reasons alone. Very recently I got a 9-blade 50 SMC takumar and I am sure it is a nice lens, but the handling is so much worse than on the Rokkor, that it will never be seen on my 5D again.
Lets not forget that Minolta went to alot of trouble to ensure that from one lens to the next, they all had similar drawing styles. This set minolta apart from any other lens maker, even to this day. It also means though, some sacrifces were made. Some lenses may be more prone to flare, etc. To bad the FM boards are not broken down even further, so when you enter into this ALT area, we could have sub forums on various brands plus a few others like general etc.
