Spring Cleaning.

Now that Zeiss has Come out with yet another batch of lenses covering

the same(as if we needed it) 35mm and 50mm maybe it is time for

gearheads to recycle gear to eliminate even more duplication in the

closet of 4 50mm and 3 35mm lenses. I know that since rangefinders

don't use real zoom lenses there are less types of lenses to collect

so some spring cleaning should eliminate those lenses that just

collect dust and tie up money that could be used for other purposes.

If M ragefinder owners had an occasional spring cleaning lens prices

would come down to what slr lenses sell for used. Maybe when a really

good digital M is available we would actually have sold off dust

collectors to buy it.

Great idea -- why don't you start? :-).

So... what is it, exactly, that you want?

Harvey, I'll give you twenty-five bucks apiece for those extra M lenses you've got cluttering up your closet. With hoods & caps of course!

Dialog, on acquisition an hording equipment that is duplicative. Really, how many are tempted to by Zeiss lenses just to see if it really looks different to their present gear that already superb. Do we own our things or do they own us, and after we have excellence are we ever satisfied enough not to go shopping again.

Hmmm.

 

I don't know.

 

Who really cares?

I'm satisfied NOT to go shopping again ... I could care less what's "NEW" ...

I'll be going shopping for a newish Leica M4-P soon. The only Summer cleaning I'll be doing is getting rid of my last mirror slapping device. I all ready gave away my OM1 and 3 OM lenses; and I'm glad it's gone. Rangefinders are the only way to go when they're working. ;*)

No such thing as too many lenses as long as they have a purpose and get used, even just occasionally.

 

I am guilty of having two 50mm f/1.4 lenses at present (for different systems, film & DSLR) and am contemplating a 45mm f/2.8 and a 30mm f/1.4 (or 35/2) in the future. They will all get used.

<I>Really, how many are tempted to by Zeiss lenses just to see if it really looks different

to their present gear that already superb. </I><P>Uh, it hadn't even occurred to me. I

don't usually buy lenses because they might <I>look different</I> but I suppose we all

have different reasons.

I was once tempted to buy a new Zeiss Hologon in M mount about 30 years ago, but $1,200 was a lot of money back then. Now I have this fantastic 15mm Voigtlander Heliar that l picked up 4 years ago for a fraction of that amount and shoot with just about nothing else.

<i>Really, how many are tempted to by Zeiss lenses just to see if it really looks different to their present gear that already superb.</i><P>

Hasn't crossed my mind, either, but if you're really itching to clear out your closet, I'm willing to try out a few different looks. I'll even give you $30 each for your old glass . . .

$31.00 ;-)

When I want something that looks different, and also has the "heft" for whose lack the Bessa is so often poohpoohed, I simply plug my 85/1.2 into my old F-1 and away I go. The results look different too. And by Cosina/Zeiss (let alone Leica) standards, it's fairly cheap. Yet it's vastly more expensive than the Holga and its "Optical Lens", with which Sam Liu gets much more interesting results than I do.

The only lenses I own that I'm not currently using are my screwmount SMC Takumars. If I sold all of them I'd scrape enough together to maybe get a 1GB CF card. OTOH by keeping them I'll have great primes to use on my eventual Canon DSLR.

Ben, the Takumars turn the "wrong" way to focus. You could pick up a set of Zeiss Jena glass, which focus in the "right" direction, in the same 41mm thread mount for a song these days, all the way from 20 and 25mm Flektagons to 180/2.8 and 300/4 Sonnars. The later production was all multi-coated. Then you could brag about the great Zeiss glass on your DSLR.

Al, after 37 years with them, everything else turns the wrong way : ) What's probably the best reason (after "I already own them and can't sell them for peanuts") for using the Takumars on another camera is that they have stopdown tabs which make dealing with the un-coupled diaphragms less of a pain. I suppose Exakta lenses would be even easier, as they have external diaphragm actuator buttons.