Gear Porn

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Eight Minolta Chiyoko Leica mount lenses from the 1940s and 1950s. The little 3.5cm F3.5 is very rare, all of the lenses are uncommon- especially outside of Japan. Thet are all good. This closes off the collection. The rear lens cap of the 3.5cm lens is unique- I've never seen another translucent rear cap for Leica. This Minolta 3.5cm F3.5 lens is from ~1957, is double-coated. I thought Pentax was the first to multicoat lenses in the 1960s. This lens is multicoated. Minolta called it "Achromatic Coating".

Shiny! Beautiful set. :cool:
 
Wow. Nothing even anywhere close to yours Brian but I did this the other day of the manual focus Nikkors I've bought since I joined here:

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All have a - letter and the scalloped focus ring. What can I say, I like the aesthetics of the older lenses.
 
+1 on the aesthetics of the older Nikkors. Nice set you have there.

Just for grins, have you seen the newest Voigtlander F-mount 40mm and 58mm? Same design as the old Nikkors.

Pic thread - old shot of the Df I once had, and an NKJ Nikkor-S 35/2.8
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Nice! I think about a Df and the lenses right up until I look at the price tags... :eek-54: (ok, not _that_ bad but my toy budget is pretty nonexistent so...)

I do plan to get a Nikkor - N 24/2.8 to get a 35 e to complete my set. And someday a D750 might happen depending on their prices but for now I'm very happy with my D7100. Let's see photo thread so here's my ax with that new to me 35/2 on it. Factory AI'd from a gentleman in Japan.

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Nice! I think about a Df and the lenses right up until I look at the price tags... :eek-54: (ok, not _that_ bad but my toy budget is pretty nonexistent so...)

I do plan to get a Nikkor - N 24/2.8 to get a 35 e to complete my set. And someday a D750 might happen depending on their prices but for now I'm very happy with my D7100. Let's see photo thread so here's my ax with that new to me 35/2 on it. Factory AI'd from a gentleman in Japan.

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Yeah the Df prices are a bit "wow". Would have still had mine but it didn't play well with my eyes - massive eyestrain and migraine-type headaches when using it for anything other than the occasional snapshot.

I see you have the Nikkor-Q 135/3.5 - wonderful lens IMHO. It was the most used on my Df.
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Loved the rendering.
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Five Nikkor lenses and the viewfinder, all from the late 1940s. David Douglas Duncan and Horace Bristol visited the Nikon factory, these are the lenses that were in production at that time. DDD bought a 5cm F1.5 and 13.5cm F4, mine are from the same small batch.
 
I know what you are thinking.

"Brian has something against Canon"...

You would be wrong...

Not shown- the Canon 50/0.95 as it is not LTM. Nor any of my Canon Telephoto lenses... Just the 50s here.

What's crazy- only the 50/1.4 and 50/1.2 were more than $100. Canon lenses in Leica mount are bargains- but be sure to have an inspect and return period. Haze build-up in Canon lenses is common as with Leica, but the type of glass used in many Canon lenses becomes etched and cannot be cleaned.
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I have a couple of lenses hacked into Leica mount using Canon focus mounts from lenses that could not be cleaned. Went through a couple of 50/1.2's to get a really good one. Same with the 50/1.4 and Black 50/1.8. Clean glass on all of these.
 
Your're probably thinking that I have ignored a particular lens manufacturer. I have not bought any Leica lenses in a while. You used to be able to walk into a camera show and get a Summar for $60, Summitar for $60, Summicron Collapsible for $90, Summarit for $125, etc.

I'm glad I bought most of these back then. This collection was under $1500. You can't buy a newer Summicron 50/2 for that now. The IIIf with the Elmar was $50 at a camera store in 1993.

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Summar, Summitar, Summicron-M 50/2 collapsible,
Summicron Collapsible 50/2 Hot-Glass, Xenon 5cm F1.5, Summarit-M 5cm F1.5, (another) Summarit-M 5cm F1.5, Type 1 Rigid Summicron-M,
Early Collapsible Summicron Hot-Glass on the IIIf, and post-war coated 5cm F3.5 Elmar on the Leica III.
 
Your're probably thinking that I have ignored a particular lens manufacturer. I have not bought any Leica lenses in a while. You used to be able to walk into a camera show and get a Summar for $60, Summitar for $60, Summicron Collapsible for $90, Summarit for $125, etc.

I'm glad I bought most of these back then. This collection was under $1500. You can't buy a newer Summicron 50/2 for that now. The IIIf with the Elmar was $50 at a camera store in 1993.

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Summar, Summitar, Summicron-M 50/2 collapsible,
Summicron Collapsible 50/2 Hot-Glass, Xenon 5cm F1.5, Summarit-M 5cm F1.5, (another) Summarit-M 5cm F1.5, Type 1 Rigid Summicron-M,
Early Collapsible Summicron Hot-Glass on the IIIf, and post-war coated 5cm F3.5 Elmar on the Leica III.

Another beautiful set.

The days of less-expensive film gear have mostly passed I'm afraid.

It's how I was able to fund trying a lot of digital gear from multiple systems over the last decade. Once digital started, I had a bunch of my old film gear left, and people were almost giving away (and sometimes were) "useless" film gear. Ended up with a bookcase filled with mostly lenses. Should have snapped a photo of it when filled.

Now, I'm at the point of having to be much more careful with purchases.
 
Another beautiful set.

The days of less-expensive film gear have mostly passed I'm afraid.

It's how I was able to fund trying a lot of digital gear from multiple systems over the last decade. Once digital started, I had a bunch of my old film gear left, and people were almost giving away (and sometimes were) "useless" film gear. Ended up with a bookcase filled with mostly lenses. Should have snapped a photo of it when filled.

Now, I'm at the point of having to be much more careful with purchases.

Alas, this is so true. I churned through some serious classics, buying and selling without a care because even though I was relatively poor and had even less actual toy money than now ( and I haven't got much now!), I had some glorious cameras at different times:
Canon IVsb
Canon 7
Canon AE-1P
Canon T90
Canon A2E
Leica IIIf
Leica CL
Nikon F2
Kiev 4a
Kiev 5
Iskra
Moskva 5
Rolleicord III
and more...
and the lenses! I so miss my Canon Serenar 50/1.8 and even more the Summitar 50/2. I had a wonderful Voigtlander 35/2.5 in Contax rf mount and that was a blast on the big ugly but fun Kiev 5 with it's huge view finder.

Sigh. All gone except for my Canon 7 and Rolleicord III. Sometimes I regret the selling but if I hadn't sold something, I would have never played with something else and the experience is why I'm an adequate landscape photographer finally.

I'll admit there is still a temptation to get a Canon P and some of that lovely Serenar glass again. But when I do think about it,
I realize that I am thankful that I'm getting my set of Nikon together now; it is perhaps the best bang for buck available now.

Bigger plus? I'm having a boatload of fun again.
 
Alas, this is so true. I churned through some serious classics, buying and selling without a care because even though I was relatively poor and had even less actual toy money than now ( and I haven't got much now!), I had some glorious cameras at different times:
Canon IVsb
Canon 7
Canon AE-1P
Canon T90
Canon A2E
Leica IIIf
Leica CL
Nikon F2
Kiev 4a
Kiev 5
Iskra
Moskva 5
Rolleicord III
and more...
and the lenses! I so miss my Canon Serenar 50/1.8 and even more the Summitar 50/2. I had a wonderful Voigtlander 35/2.5 in Contax rf mount and that was a blast on the big ugly but fun Kiev 5 with it's huge view finder.

Sigh. All gone except for my Canon 7 and Rolleicord III. Sometimes I regret the selling but if I hadn't sold something, I would have never played with something else and the experience is why I'm an adequate landscape photographer finally.

I'll admit there is still a temptation to get a Canon P and some of that lovely Serenar glass again. But when I do think about it,
I realize that I am thankful that I'm getting my set of Nikon together now; it is perhaps the best bang for buck available now.

Bigger plus? I'm having a boatload of fun again.

Yup. I would not have been able to do what I did without being able to sell/ trade gear. Like you, I regret letting some of the gear go, but wouldn't had the experiences.

I've learned a lot about what works for me, what I like, and my photography has improved a bit. Best of all, the fun helped enhance my calm. Although I still produce more snapshots than photos.
 
I'm afraid if I started posting all my lens photos I would be accused of owning a large museum or being insane. :crying:

I have Canon lenses too, but I just have never formed an "emotional" attachment to Canon. I aways liked Nikon, since I was a kid. The same for Russian stuff and Leica. I have always bought things just for the reason that they "appeal" to me or "speak" to me, and have rarely gone wrong collecting that way. Some of my acquisitions bought for next to nothing are worth a fortune today. Not just cameras but watches, audio equipment and so on.

I also bought cheaply in the past, but I'll still drop some ridiculous money on something I just want.
 
I'm afraid if I started posting all my lens photos I would be accused of owning a large museum or being insane. :crying:

I can't think of anyone here that could possibly think such a thing...

I'll have to put some camera pictures up. I know how so many found there way here, find one at a good price that needs work and the lens is worth more than the combination. Surprising how some people pay more for a lens alone than a lens on a camera that does not work. Maybe they think the lens was broken along with the camera. Get a good lens, find instructions online for taking the camera apart. I have a $99 Contax IIIa Color-Dial with 5cm F3.5 Tessar, found the spot on the shutter to hit with camera oil all working now. So somehow, Ten Contax II, III, IIa, and IIIa camera bodies bought back when I was converting Sonnars to Leica mount.
 
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Nikkor-O 2.1cm F4, Nikkor-UD 20/3.5, and Nikkor AF-D 20/2.8.
The 21 is a mirror up lens, useful on Film only- the rear element goes WAY back.

I put the Nikon 21 finder on the F2S. I would normally lock up the mirror to mount that lens. The 20/3.5 is fine with through the lens viewing.
 
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