Here are some new toys that were waiting for me upon my arrival in Australia.  Now i just the time to play with them!

Soligor C/D 135mm f/2.8

Brand new, and boxed with original packaging.  I’ve owned a Soligor before and wasn’t too impressed with it’s quality but supposedly their C/D (Computer Designed) lenses were of a much higher production standard.  This 135mm lens is of solid, all metal construction and is easy to focus and control.  I wasn’t too impressed with some initial tests at f/2.8 as they lacked contrast, saturation and sharpness but I’ll blame the contrast and saturation on my notebook monitor and the sharpness on the photographer because later tests showed some good results. Unfortunately in my kit, it’s competitor is the Pentax DA* 50-135 and the Soligor doesn’t really compare although it will be great for my film cameras.  More results and tests with lens soon.

Check out the Soligor Manual Focus group at flickr.

Pentax ME Super + Winder II

I bought the ME Super + the Pentax M 50mm f/2 lens from ebay for a good price (I recently saw it in Melbourne for over $400) and am impressed with the feel of it.  It’s built very well, has a hotshoe which works with my wireless flash setup, can use my Pentax M lenses as well as my M42 lenses (with adapter) and is really small.  I bought the Winder II from a Pentaxforums.com member and like the feel of the MX Super with or without the winder on.  I guess for street shooting = no winder, flash/studio  = winder for extra support.

Pentax SF7

This is my Father’s camera which I left lensless a few years ago when I stole his lenses, tele converter and filters.  Now back in Aus, I dug it up to see what it can produce (there’s still film in it).  I loaded up some new 2CR5 batteries (which I found new for $3.99) and tried a few different lenses including the Pentax M 50mm f/2, Soligor C/D 135mm f/2.8, the S-M-C Takumar 28mm f/3.5 (via adapter) and I also tested the Pentax DA 18-55 (K10D kit lens) and surprisingly it works fine, although I’m not sure how to change the aperture   Scanned photos coming soon.

Pentax M 50mm f/2

This lens came with the Pentax ME Super and is almost exactly the same as my Pentax M 50mm f/1.7.  I doubt I’ll use it often but it never hurts to have a few 50’s lying around.  Cosmetically it came in great shape although the attached skylight filter was riddled with fungus, let’s hope it didn’t spread to the lens.

Super Takumar 150mm f/4

Another ebay purchase, this lens was more of a whim buy (aren’t they all) and doesn’t really serve any purpose as I don’t really shoot anything past 135mm but for $20 I just wanted to try it out.  Unfortunately, it looks like it was dropped and the barrel near filter is damaged but filters are still able to be attached.