New lens in the stable.

I was at the local second hand shop looking at the camera goods when I saw

something that caught my eye. It was a 2.8/28 mm Makinon lens. I already had a

2.8/28 mm Focal, but quite frankly, I found it to be lousy, especially soft in

the corners. I trotted back out to the car, picked up my rebranded Chinon,

threw the lens on, and fired off a shot out the door of the place. I gave them

the lens back, and I returned the next day to purchase this lens for the king's

ransom of $15.00. I took it down to the local park for a test run. This one

doesn't drop off in the corners. They both have a bit of distortion, but what

the hell?

Overall, the lens seems nice. The focus and diaphragm are quite smooth in operation. This lens has the option of being an auto stop or manual stop lens. It's heavy, but well built.

I was fortunate enough to get down to the creek before the last snow hit. I was lucky enough to turn around to see a fox behind me, but I didn't open the lens enough for it to turn out. As it is, I had to settle for these as test shots.

I didn't use the Focal 28 mm much as I wasn't impressed with its performance. This however may change my view on things a bit.

Well, Baby, it ain't no Summicron!

Looks like a great find for $15 dollars Rob. It may not be a Summicron, but then again, most of us can't afford a Summicron let alone the Leica to put it on.

No, granted, not quite a Summicron, but the scanner didn't help any either.

I'm honestly not sure you would have got better results with a Summicron, because (a) you were shooting handheld, and (b) these were test shots so your subject matter and light weren't the best.

 

Get up at sunrise, put it on a tripod, shoot at f/8-- see what it can really do.

the scans are soo lousy you couldn't distinguish it from a better lens here, so you should get some pritns and judge.

Makinon regularly featured in the budget lens reviews published in the UK 'Camera Weekly' magazines of the early 1980s (dozens of these are stuffed under my archair as I write). These were generic lenses similar to Itorex, Paragon, Panagor, Osawa, Ozeck and many store brands. They were never particularly good, often being outclassed by Vivitar, Sirius and Sun, and especially by Tamron, Sigma and Tokina lenses. In the UK Makinons were only available from a small independent mailorder photographic supplier (Polysales of Godalming) and a few minor 'side-street' retailers. In 1986 a new Makinon 28/2.8 would have cost under 30GBP compared to a Vivitar at 40GBP, Tamron at 50GBP and Olympus at 70GBP - a 28/2.8 AI Nikkor cost 180GBP! (CW 28 June '86).

 

At camera fairs nowadays Makinons (etc) sell for 5-8GBP, but personally I consider them to be a waste of money; rocks make better doorstops.

 

Still, there are always surprises, not least because a different batch of such independents' lenses could easily have been made by a firm like Kiron, etc, and may be rather good; but it's a lottery. AC