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The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories



 
 
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  #11  
Old January 23rd 06, 11:24 PM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

Matt Clara wrote:

[Snipped Text]

There were two qualities of Miranda here though, up to the early
eighties they were a manufacturer of good quality camera equipment. Then
they got bought by Dixons, and were just branded cheap stuff from the
far east. Unfortunately I bought the latter quality.

Mind you, the actual quality of a picture is going to be controlled by
the quality of the lens anyway. If the lens is going to produce a ****e
image, then the rest doesn't really matter.


Some folks with Holgas tend to disprove that. Jennifer Shaw's "Railroad
Ties" is a good example: http://www.shotsmag.com/shots89-07.jpg


Well, yes, but the applications are somewhat limited. It's a bit like a
one trick filter.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://andyhewitt.webhop.net/
(updated Jan 2006)
  #12  
Old January 23rd 06, 11:34 PM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

Andy Hewitt wrote:


Some folks with Holgas tend to disprove that. Jennifer Shaw's "Railroad
Ties" is a good example: http://www.shotsmag.com/shots89-07.jpg


Well, yes, but the applications are somewhat limited. It's a bit like a
one trick filter.


I've a feeling it would look better to my eyes if it were a bit sharper and
less vignetted. At least if it were on a camera with a barely decent lens
you could add your one trick filter or remove it at will.

Pete

--
http://www.petezilla.co.uk
  #13  
Old January 23rd 06, 11:35 PM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

Sigma 135/1.8 but there are times when you need the speed, awful build
quality, glass fair.

Nikon 43-86, early, non-AI. Traded it to some sucker for at 85/1.8! (So I
guess it was a great lens since it got me just what I wanted.

No name 35-70 in Canon mount (actually it had a name, but I had never heard
of it!). Came with a Canon A-1 I bought at a pawn shop for $135 (this with
motor MA). Lens so bad I did the Billie Joe McAllister thing a dropped it
off a bridge (really!).

--
darkroommike
"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
ink.net...
The best and worst of anything are ultimately matters of
taste and experience. As there is no accounting for
taste and experience is what life deals you we should
not argue about someone's nomination.

What is/are the worst lens/es you every took a picture with?
Leaving out the plastic-fantastics: Dianas, Empire Babies and
their cousins.

My picks:

o Cambridge 135mm f2.8 pre-set T-Mount. Uniformly fuzzy at all
f-stops, could only be focused to a 'least fuzzy'. I bought
it second hand, it was in like-new condition, now I am wary
of 'mint' lenses.

o Cambridge 400mm f6.3 {?} pre-set T-Mount. You would figure
after one Cambridge, who would buy another ...

o Schneider Xenar 150/5.6 of 70's vintage. This was, I am
sure, a bad example but I went nuts trying to figure out why
the pics were all bad, depth gauges - micrometers - pictures of
newspaper pages, until I remembered:

o Agfa Apotar/Solina, purchased with many months saving at age
nine. The lens wasn't bad, but the focusing helix
was frozen; new camera packed in orange tissue with a factory
seal and the famous green-gunk disease had already hit --
the focusing ring turned but nothing happened. After a year
of fuzzy pictures it hits - it's not my fault, it is the camera's.
After I fixed it I obsessively kept re-checking the focus and
adjusting the lens my microns until the screw threads stripped,
then it was epoxy time and leave the lens alone.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm



  #14  
Old January 24th 06, 01:55 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
ink.net...
The best and worst of anything are ultimately matters of
taste and experience. As there is no accounting for
taste and experience is what life deals you we should
not argue about someone's nomination.

What is/are the worst lens/es you every took a picture with?
Leaving out the plastic-fantastics: Dianas, Empire Babies and
their cousins.


I think the Russians/Ukrainians have that market sown up (with Chinese
closing fast). One of the first SLRs I owned was a Zenit with some atrocious
58mm lens (whose name now mercifully escapes me) my father smuggled from
Poland back in the early 70s. Well, it was great for portraits. It was the
first in a series of Eastern European gems he brought back over the years
including Kiev & Leningrad (or was it Stalingrad?) so I got to be pretty
familiar with their "quality" which later helped me appreciate real quality.

Natural Light Black and White Photography
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze76ane/
-George-


  #15  
Old January 24th 06, 01:56 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:


What is/are the worst lens/es you every took a picture with?


Maxxum 28-80xi

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.
  #16  
Old January 24th 06, 02:17 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
ink.net...
The best and worst of anything are ultimately matters of
taste and experience. As there is no accounting for
taste and experience is what life deals you we should
not argue about someone's nomination.

What is/are the worst lens/es you every took a picture with?
Leaving out the plastic-fantastics: Dianas, Empire Babies and
their cousins.

My picks:

o Cambridge 135mm f2.8 pre-set T-Mount. Uniformly fuzzy at all
f-stops, could only be focused to a 'least fuzzy'. I bought
it second hand, it was in like-new condition, now I am wary
of 'mint' lenses.

o Cambridge 400mm f6.3 {?} pre-set T-Mount. You would figure
after one Cambridge, who would buy another ...

o Schneider Xenar 150/5.6 of 70's vintage. This was, I am
sure, a bad example but I went nuts trying to figure out why
the pics were all bad, depth gauges - micrometers - pictures of
newspaper pages, until I remembered:

o Agfa Apotar/Solina, purchased with many months saving at age
nine. The lens wasn't bad, but the focusing helix
was frozen; new camera packed in orange tissue with a factory
seal and the famous green-gunk disease had already hit --
the focusing ring turned but nothing happened. After a year
of fuzzy pictures it hits - it's not my fault, it is the camera's.
After I fixed it I obsessively kept re-checking the focus and
adjusting the lens my microns until the screw threads stripped,
then it was epoxy time and leave the lens alone.


The single worst lens I ever had contact with was a Sigma 28-105 f2.8-4 that
I bought my wife for Christmas, one year, on the recommendation of
Shutterbug magazine. It was the last time I ever took a camera mag report
seriously, and the last Sigma lens I ever bought.
Number two on the hit list was a 400mm f8 "baseball bat" from a mail order
house that age prevents me from remembering. It's probably the same lens as
your Cambridge 400mm, except mine was an Exacta t mount. But I expected it
to be awful, it was $60 new, and my wife bought it at a garage sale for $15.
(Notice a common thread, here? Bad lenses/gifts?)

--
Skip Middleton
http://www.shadowcatcherimagery.com


  #17  
Old January 24th 06, 03:35 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

"Skip M" wrote in message
news:RefBf.12413$sA3.1965@fed1read02...
[SNIP]

The single worst lens I ever had contact with was a Sigma 28-105
f2.8-4 that I bought my wife for Christmas, one year, on the
recommendation of Shutterbug magazine. It was the last time I ever
took a camera mag report seriously, and the last Sigma lens I ever
bought.
Number two on the hit list was a 400mm f8 "baseball bat" from a
mail order house that age prevents me from remembering. It's
probably the same lens as your Cambridge 400mm, except mine was
an Exacta t mount. But I expected it to be awful, it was $60 new,
and my wife bought it at a garage sale for $15.
(Notice a common thread, here? Bad lenses/gifts?)


I dunno Skip, I think she was just getting her revenge on you...


Peter


  #18  
Old January 24th 06, 03:36 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

In article . net,
Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:
What is/are the worst lens/es you every took a picture with?
Leaving out the plastic-fantastics: Dianas, Empire Babies and
their cousins.


Got hold of a Mamiya C3 *real* cheap back in the early 90s, and it had
an old-school Mamiya-Sekor 80mm, with the chrome bezel. We're talking
NO contrast. I had to develop the bejeezus out of b&w, and anything
color was a complete lost cause. It's amazing how much better the newer
black-bezeled lens I now have is.

Will

--
Will Wagner / / http://www.ymb.net/
"Keep it simple: as simple as possible, but no simpler." -- A. Einstein
  #19  
Old January 24th 06, 03:44 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories


"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
ink.net...

What is/are the worst lens/es you every took a picture with?
Leaving out the plastic-fantastics: Dianas, Empire Babies and
their cousins.



During much of my photo-hobby life, money was too dear to make
ill-considered lens purchases, but I got nailed twice.

1. I bought a package of used lenses getting into Pentax 6x7. In the
package was a Komura Telemore 2x doubler - so bad that you could see the
defects though the viewfinder, or so I thought. You got low contrast, loss
of sharpness, and color fringing all in one lens. I put a rock bottom price
on it at a swap meet table and carried the guilt of selling it for several
years.

2. A Yashica 635 MF TLR with the Yashinor [3 element] lens which preceded
the later Yashinon.. [And the Yashinon was nothing to get worked up over
either.] It may not have been any worse than any other 3-element lens, but
it was the only one I ever owned. You could watch a medium format negative
image fall apart when enlarged to a fill frame 11x14 print. Fortunately, I
bought it at a forgiving shop which took it back.


  #20  
Old January 24th 06, 03:52 AM posted to rec.photo.equipment.35mm,rec.photo.equipment.large-format,rec.photo.equipment.medium-format
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Default The worst lens you ever had ... a collection of stories

Since this group is for medium format, I can't say I've ever had a
crappy lens. I've used Hasselblads since 1971 and you don't have a
choice for lenses.

In 35mm...anybody remember Lentar?
 




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