8 Vintage Lenses you've Never Heard of

[@undeadcatman]

You should check out the takumar 35mm 2.3f. The 35mm f2 is legendary but the 2.3 is a very unknown bokeh monster

[@plasticpaddy5278]

the first version of 35mm f2 (70mm filter) is legendary, the 2nd version isnt that great. 2ndversion also has same problem as the 50 1.4 with yellowing.

[@yargnad]

@@plasticpaddy5278 You can eliminate the yellowing by leaving them in the sunlight or using a UV flashlight. Works really well.

[@ImperfectWeapons]

As a collector of old Soviets, the Helios 33 is probably my favorite lens. I use it for films on the Pocket 4K and it gets beautifully tasteful results. I've never been to a screening it contributed to without being chased down and questioned about my lenses.

[@VintageLensCorner]

I love mine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aV6aiH6gf7pmh5I Any of the LOMO OKS lenses from a decade later are amazing BTW.😊

[@DSLRguide]

The Helios 33mm looks fascinating, what a quirky aperture control haha

[@MathieuStern]

Yes ! I think it could be interesting to test it with the Blazar 1.5x to get some crazy flares

[@VintageLensCorner]

That’s a pretty unusual aperture control, most copies (including mine) have a normal aperture control ring on the tiny lens block

[@bpelectric]

Nice job with the fisheye! I usually dislike shots with this kind of lens but the stuff you did here was fun!

[@heroaomedia]

amazing video as usual Mathieu. Are you able to start uploading in 4k? It's a shame to see your unique collection in only 1080 due to KZbin's horrible compression.

[@MathieuStern]

Sure, I will try to post it in 4K for the next episode

[@unbroken1010]

You can't tell a difference from the phone anyway. Plenty of amazing stuff has been done on 1080p and will continue to do so. You need way more memory than you think for 4kk

[@heroaomedia]

@@unbroken1010 why on earth would I watch a lens review on my phone? 1080 isn't the issue - it's the KZbin compression. 1080 on Vimeo is perfect, but 1080 on KZbin is probably equal to 540p.

[@unbroken1010]

@@heroaomedia 80 percent at least watch on phones. Just reality btw the earth is not flat 🤣

[@heroaomedia]

@@unbroken1010 the whole point of a lens review is to see the quality of a lens. Mathieu does amazing work and many of us would love to see the actual details. But sure, keep watching it on your phone 480p...

[@kevlarnegative]

The Helios 33 only covers APS-C if I'm not mistaken. I'm not 100% sure though. Excelent video!

[@MathieuStern]

85% of full frame, you are right !

[@unbroken1010]

Just crop 🤷

[@VintageLensCorner]

Some footage on full frame and APS-C here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aV6aiH6gf7pmh5I It covers close to full frame, more than LOMO OKS 1-35-1 for instance. As it was a cine lens, the intended format is Super-35 (APS-C)

[@RealGengarTV]

Great video footage of Norway here. Also if you're Norwegian and read this; god 17'tende Mai hipp hipp hurra 😊 🇳🇴

[@innstikk]

Gratulere med dagen! 17mai 😊 🇳🇴 (Our national day)

[@madcomrade121]

I think I have something extremely similar to the bower 135mm, down to it being the exact same shape and characteristics (possibly), but the name on the front os welt blick. I got it at a flea market for like 7-8 euros, and it's been one of, if not my absolute favourite m42 lens! The sharpness and colours, as you said, are great, as you yourself said. The only problem I initially had with it was that the apeture leafs were not opening/closing properly, and one was even bending at a weird angle, but with two days of intermittent tinkering and some patience, I got it to work just fine, so it's relatively easy to take apart and repair. Fantastic lens, I'd 210% recommend it to anyone looking for an ultra-cheap and light telephoto lens!

[@NickGranville]

You must be in New Zealand? The tui bird is only found here (I’m pretty sure). If so, are you in Wellington at all?

[@MathieuStern]

I was 4 years ago ! Loved every second of it

[@hahaahah7214]

I should note that SC coatings for canon FD lenses was the lowest end there is and others having SSC coatings, still not bad but not as impressive. Nice video as always

[@cypherdk85]

I'm not too sure about how rare the Bower 135mm is, I picked one up at a thrift shop for like 7€.

[@MathieuStern]

well, I saw just one and found nothing about online, so I would say it's rare. Great find if you found it for 7, I found it for 5 I think

[@cypherdk85]

@Mathieu Stern I found nothing about it either when I was checking for it, if it is rare then it's a pretty good price 😁

[@unbroken1010]

You lucked out. It happens

[@MattSchulze]

Talk about lenses that no one cares about! I bought the Vivitar 200mm f3.5 for a mere $5.00 (Five)! The front element was a little dirty so I took it out and cleaned it and that was all I had to do. I agree, it is very sharp and colors are good. It's a bit heavy though. I shoot almost exclusively with vintage lenses, they are a lot of fun.

[@0action847]

I had dismissed the pre ai Nikkor H 50mm f2 because i have the faster 50s, but recently picked one up for $20 and it's really nice.

[@serenaoldrati]

Cool video! I would also add the Konica hexanon 40mm 1.8 ☺

[@MathieuStern]

I was thinking about it , but because of my last video, the 40mm is not so " unknown " anymore"

[@unbroken1010]

They are fun definitely not rare

[@ESJack]

What is the blue adapter used at 0:19?

[@1979lucius]

My mind blowed away with the image you took with both vivitars!

[@DrWasim]

Impressive focusing skills with the 200mm 😊

[@Skipsul]

Another fun 35mm is the Minolta W. Rokkor-HH 35mm f/1.8. Very soft wide open, with strong halation. But at night you can take advantage of the halation with street lights and so forth. The Minolta 200mm Tele-Rokkor-QF f/3.5 is inexpensive and very sharp, with a lovely rendering. I did have the Vivitar 200mm, but gave it to a friend once I got the Minolta.

[@quiztasiarocks]

Wish it was easier to convert to EF more easily.

[@rustedfriend]

I just picked up the Kenko Fisheye at goodwill today on a whim. Now I'm even more excited to play with it.

[@michaelbruchas6663]

60 years ago - getting the Spiratone catalog by mail was a big thing for we photo nerds. Somewhere they and Miranda collaborated on lens building - or so we were told.

[@yargnad]

mamiya sekor 55mm f1.8 is one of my favorites in the 50mm-ish range. Lots of contrast and subject pop/separation. Quite good for the price.

[@pauliui78]

Music choice on your videos is something from another world. Can watch it just to hear the sound track 😅

[@NandaWidyatama]

The way you compose on fish eye lens mesmerise me... 😊

[@ЭтоДрючинский]

Bower... One more name in the line! :D Actually, it's really one of many names this lens series has, another are Prinzflex (I have exactly this one), Chinon and something else. As I know they are all made by Tomioka. I also have 200m 3.5, it has quite a bit of fringing, but very nice overall. Worth getting the whole line up

[@benni1015]

I'm a collector of tamron adaptall lenses and they got a lot of unexpected sleeper hits. The 70-210mm F3.5 19AH is a bit better known I think but still fantastically sharp for a zoom of this age. They also got the IMO king of versatility. The 60-300mm F3.8-5.4 is relatively lightweight, sharp if you stop down a bit and got a very nice macro mode down to 1:1.77. One of the quirkiest adaptalls is probably the 70-150mm F2.8 soft. It got a switch which lets you increase softness in the picture to get you very unique images. The only issue with this lens is cost. The cheapest i have seen it for was 500€. I'm still looking to find it.

[@johnherzel718]

Vivitar made many great lenses in their “1 Series” I found a pristine, almost unused FD mount 70-300 f4-5.6 that still had the original booklet. I also found a Nikon mount 135mm f2 “1 series” that is absolutely stunning. Both were less than $40 each. Even the old f3.5 Olympus lenses can be had for cheap. They are optically equal to their faster siblings, just slower. They are also tiny, which helps when adapted.

[@andrei0525]

regarding that Bower lens: i think Samyang/Rokinon lenses were also sold as Bower in US (also as Walimex in some other regions) so maybe search in that direction...

[@The_CGA]

Very nice flares for night shooting and a kind of ambient coma effect to the tiny 33, I’d like to shoot something with a lot of camera movement at night with that one-skate or an outdoor wedding

[@TheOskaryn]

Grate video. Many thanks. There is just one problem for me. I use Sony A77 with A mount. Is no problem to adapt any M42 lenses but is very difficult to find adapter for other bayonets . However, I love the fun using vintage lenses and enjoy watching such videos.

[@andrewheki2257]

My Vivitar 200mm f/3.5 made by Komine lacks contrast, isn't very sharp, and has chromatic aberration. Glad you found a good copy, which appears to be a Tokina version. 135mm f/2.8 lenses are very common, and make a great telephoto option for APS-C & MFT. The Olympus 135mm f/2.8 OM is a very sharp and smooth focusing lens.

[@danienelphoto]

The Bower reminds me of a Hanimex 135 F2.8 I have... very similar. I also have the FD 28mm. Love love love that thing.

[@innstikk]

Beautiful footage of my country 🙂 Hope you enjoyed the stay. Really nice demonstration of the lenses. 👍 One question, what mounts where the different lenses? Especially interested in the Vivtar 24mm 2, was it FD or MD mount? Asking in case it is only the version for a particular mount that has the demonstrated qualities.

[@MathieuStern]

my visitor 24 is in FD mount, pretty useful !

[@Nikitinii]

Thank you very much for the work done! Useful frames

[@vanyakholodnikov]

please make more videos like this! so cool

[@MathieuStern]

I will !

hey do you have a recommendation for vintage wideangle with nice sun flares ? right now i am looking at MIR 10 and 20m lenses but idk

[@syrgregory]

what fisheye lenses is at 0:11 please ?

[@StephanHughes]

i mean, if i had heard of some of these lenses before now they would certainly be in my collection

[@lensineer]

Takumars are all quite great and working in cine lens development I have to say they have probably the smoothest focusing action of all lenses especially given their age. They will most probably be the next ones I will collect a set of (already have a 135 laying around). With the wider ones (50 and under) just be careful not to drop them 'cause you don't want radioactive thorium glass dust all around your house. My current go to old lenses are the contax zeiss, but some of them got crazy expensive (like the 100/2 or the 35/1.4) There are some old, rare bausch & lomb lenses that are quite unknown by many I would recommend you to check out.

[@yargnad]

I am pretty sure there are more thoriated Takumars at 50mm and up than the wide angle models. That being said, yeah, you should be careful with thoriated lenses.

[@KurniaLim]

isn't bower is other name from vivitar? afaik vivitar sells with different name depend on region.

[@Vibrance_Visuals]

can you put the fisheye lens on a longer focal length?

[@Jacquesali_wav]

Amazing video on these lenses! Thank you for always making quality videos on great & rare gear. I do have a question on the “Kenko Fisheye”, would you mount this to an existing lens with a 49mm thread?

[@MathieuStern]

Sure You can use step down rings anyway

[@Jacquesali_wav]

@@MathieuStern Ok, perfect. Thank you. Your channel is awesome.

[@andriimartynov83]

I’ve bought a vivitar 24mm 2.0 after watching your video about it. It’s a nice lens, I like it a lot.

[@tasteinparis7138]

In love with the Kenko

[@Ryan_Wiseman]

That Vivitar 24mm reminds me a bit of my Pre-AI 28mm f/2, particularly with how colors are handled for anything defocused. It is far more a character lens than clinical, which is great for those wide angle shots. I still do not get how these f/2 lenses aren't well over $1000, and yet people think lowest aperture means best lens option. Paying about $250 for my vintage lens, it hardly ever gets discussed. People are quick to talk about the AIS version and only the AI version for the sake of shitting on it. Maybe occasionally, you get someone mentioning that its a good lens on a forum, but that's about the extent to which people talk about the Pre-AI version Vivitar's 200mm was made alongside many of the 200mms from the 70-80s. It is an amazing lens, however, many of these lenses have chromatic aberrations in the most serious conditions (usually directed at the sun during sunset). I think because of the conditions you want for bird photography, the lens tames back well to being viable, and the focus throw is good for getting an incredible amount of sharpness. But because the character on this lens is far more experimental when you start pushing it (and can ruin shots if you don't know how to dial in exposure correctly, and its not the standard exposure you typically shoot in), they seem to get hardly the love they deserve.

[@tomperry9034]

Hi Matthieu, thanks for the video, it is a quality piece of work. With regards to the Bower 135mm, I have seen various versions of this lens over the years in different guises. Anyone looking for a copy should try 135mm 3.5 pre-set - Soligor and Hanimex have versions in their name. Really enjoyed the Soligor one.

[@samtannernz]

Yooo I recognised some New Zealand photos in the Vivitar 200mm section! Hope you had a nice trip! If you ever come back drop me a line, always keen to shoot and meet other photogs!

[@michelphilippeLehaire]

Entre 1976 et 1980, j'ai beaucoup utilisé sur mon Canon FTb QL un zoom Vivitar 85-205mm f/3.8. Très bien fabriqué, tout métal, long et lourd, à deux bagues. La qualité d'image était excellente, même à 205 mm. Ensuite sont apparus, de la même marque, les f/4 80-200 mm à une seule bague ("à pompe", disait-on alors), beaucoup plus courts et légers, mais qui déformaient beaucoup plus et dont l'image était bien moins bonne...

[@vacuumandgaspressurecoexisting]

No love for the Schneider Kreuznach 50mm f2.8?

[@unbroken1010]

It's not rare

[@vacuumandgaspressurecoexisting]

@@unbroken1010 The 15 blade variety is.

[@DansEuropeVlog]

The price of all these lenses just sky rocketed on ebay

[@_guillermo]

The Vivitar 24 f2 is something special

[@MuhammadYousaf-yg6tw]

All lens are very great in past

[@MathieuStern]

not all, but many are amazing even today

[@serhiirudenko6183]

Basically, almost all vintage lenses are cool. And definitely have special look. Modern lenses are too perfect. Also pretty expensive. Among other lenses I have a MC Helios-81N- classic Helios, but with Nikon F mount. Because soviets copied theit mount, lol. And now I can use that Helios on a Nikon DSLR, or Nikon's older lenses(with aperture ring) with my film camera Kyiv-19.

[@beaubolieu]

Beautiful bokeh on the Bower

[@patrickmckeag3215]

Great video clip of the sheep.

[@MathieuStern]

thats what KZbin reviews is about !

[@Pibedron]

i have the canon 28mm 2.8! great lens! on mi a6000 is so good..

[@unbroken1010]

the 33mm freemason lens looks fun 😂 Great, now the prices going go up. I have kenko something around here. 😂. The bower looks fun. Fyi j have not seen a decent promaster ever. They all seem like they should just get recycled 😂

[@GlitteratiLive]

Vintage lense tastes are definitely shifting towards third party manufacturers, what bargain hunting is concerned. Original brand lenses seem to keep going strong price-wise. Have you seen the Nonikkor initiative? The outside look of vintage lenses is being copied, now.

[@unbroken1010]

Maybe but every promaster lens I ever tried is 🗑️

[@johnchedsey1306]

All I know is if I see a takumar lens I don't already have, I buy it.

[@asmrcuriositycabinet3143]

I want a canon 28mm

[@mitarristanovic2299]

I have bower 200mm

[@calebplaysgamesofficial]

hurry buy these before they get expensive

[@Veptis]

Isn't thr whole point of vitange lenses being unique? I even have some lenses with the same name... But they are different in quality, optics and condition. I can tell xou to go and try a Meopta Openar 40mm f/1.8 but you will not get the results that my serial number 103 gets. Or even my serial number 246

[@dalegend5924]

Helios-33 extended footage: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXiyi5l8qadsfNU

[@lukebusellato2542]

"until now"