• Members 1662 posts
    May 17, 2023, 7:30 a.m.

    Inspired by the topic "What's your oldest camera?" in the Film Photography Talk section by @Maoby and because of the fact that I don't really own any (interesting) old cameras myself, I wanted to ask everyone:

    What are your oldest lenses?

    Because not all lenses are easily dated (and perhaps also because your third oldest lens may be the most interesting,) I kept lens in plural form intentionally, so you can choose. And if you have any pictures of the lens or taken with the lens - no matter if on film or adapted to digital - please share them here as well!

  • Members 598 posts
    May 17, 2023, 7:43 a.m.

    Not very old compaired to others that will follow, but just like my oldest camera (Canon Eos 1000F) it's an Canon
    Canon EF 50 mm F/1.8 mk1(the original canon nifty fifty) and one of the first that were produced back than for the Eos range.
    Datecode: UB0200 which means produced in 02-1987 at their Utsunomiya factory in Japan and introduced worldwide in March 1987
    Bought this one after getting the Eos 1000F back in the 90s

  • Members 65 posts
    May 17, 2023, 7:58 a.m.

    For me the 200 f4 macro I bought in 1999 when I switched to Nikon.

    It is now manual focus only I have only Z bodies. Even so as yet I have found nothing better with such a narrow angle of view.

    My next oldest are the TC 17E from 2007 and the 60mm macro from 2008.

    Digressing I use mainly more recent lenses as things like nano coating have much greater flare resistance and the optical quality of some Z Mount lenses is in excess of what was possible with some F Mount lenses.

  • Members 1662 posts
    May 17, 2023, 8:05 a.m.
  • Members 1662 posts
    May 18, 2023, 9:10 p.m.
  • Members 1555 posts
    May 18, 2023, 9:44 p.m.
  • Removed user
    May 18, 2023, 9:50 p.m.

    Like many, I bought some M42s, mainly pre-1980 models. M42 is good - there being adapters available for most cameras new or old.

    Asahi Lens Co (Takumar) and a couple Helios 44s (sorta copies of a Zeiss-Jena classic)

    Test of Takumar 24mm

    SDIM0373.X3F.jpg

    I have adapters for Sigma SA mount and micro-four-thirds.

    Most notable IMHO is my 400mm Super-Takumar which becomes 800mm on micro-four-thirds.

  • Members 1662 posts
    May 19, 2023, 7:30 a.m.

    Taking an extended look at your album I totally get why you love that lens and it shows! I'm particularly impressed by this one:
    live.staticflickr.com/3761/9479731948_5339338972_c.jpg
    flic.kr/p/frG73h

    Just excellent.

    I think you might be able to take way better use than me of the next lens I'm going to show...

    Very interesting - thanks a lot! A good 800 mm lens is certainly nice to have... I don't have many long vintage lenses, the longest probably being a 360 mm Tele-Xenar. I also don't have much in terms of really wide angle, because most of the enlarging/repro and macro lenses (which I mainly go for) don't cover a significant enough image circle at distance. Your Takumar 24 mm looks nice. The whole Takumar line is certainly a big blind spot for me... there seem to be great lenses there across the whole range.

  • Members 1662 posts
    May 19, 2023, 7:41 a.m.

    Here's another (at least in my opinion) interesting and quite old lens from a lesser known manufacturer from Munich:

    Friedrich Doppelanastigmat Coronar 15 cm f/3.5
    live.staticflickr.com/65535/52904156181_3c08ea213a_b.jpg

    I've been told it's similar to a Xenar Typ-D (can't compare that myself) and great for portraits... not that I can show many, but here's something in the vein at least:
    live.staticflickr.com/65535/52697637322_26613be862_b.jpg
    It's just light... don't let it take your breath away!
    by simple.joy, on Flickr

  • Members 143 posts
    May 19, 2023, 9:08 a.m.

    Olympus 12-100mm f/4 was the first lens I ever bought. I got on Boxing Day in 2019 and I still use it a lot.

  • Members 208 posts
    May 19, 2023, 11:02 a.m.

    I have quite a few I've been unable to date, of these the Petzval style projector lens may be the oldest I think it's from the late 1800s - However there is no labelling of any sort on this, so even the manufacturer is a complete mystery.

    Of those I have some sort of age information available
    A contender is my Bausch & Lomb F-8 series II rapid symmetrical (roughly a 190mm/8) which dates from between 1866 & 1920.
    Nearly forgot the lens on my VPK (my oldest camera) would presumably be next, but it's not available to mount on other cameras..
    I suspect my Taylor Hobson series II Cooke Astigmat 6"/4.5 from around 1925 might be next, but it might be the Zeiss Novar 135/6.3 triplet from 1926 too...

    Some of the lenses I have I've owned since the 1980's but I don't think any of those are older than me.

  • Members 13 posts
    Nov. 4, 2023, 11:02 a.m.

    My oldest lens could be this Ross Petzval wet plate lens:

    On the other hand, this Dallmeyer Rapid Landscape, which was made between 1860 to 1880, could be as old. Unfortunately, I was not able to determine its actual year.
    Dallmeyer Rapid Landscape

    I have an article (in Traditional Chinese) here: Dallmeyer Rapid Landscape

    I have a 19 century Zeiss Planar made by B&L which could be a little bit later.

    CK

    Ross-CF-s.jpg

    JPG, 242.0 KB, uploaded by ckshene on Nov. 4, 2023.

  • Members 1662 posts
    Nov. 4, 2023, 11:14 a.m.

    Wonderful looking lens and a really fascinating article - looks like a great amount of work (and love for the matter) went into that! Thanks a lot for sharing!