Hi Pete:
There are a bunch of third-party lenses out there. I think a number of
them are actually the same lens, but sold under different trade names.
I have a 135mm f/2.8 Sakar, which is a typical made in Korea in the
1970's (1980's?) cheap lens. You can but these suckers dirt cheap, but
I wouldn't bother.
The only one I've heard good things about is the Vivitar Series 1. Here
is a quote from the Cult Classics web site:
QUOTE
Vivitar 135mm f/2.3 Series I
Similarly, Vivitar's Series I 135 mm f/2.3 lens ($220 list in 1977)
compared very favorably in everything but price with the slightly slower
135 mm f/2.5 lens (only $130 in 1976). But the Series I lens offered
close focusing to 3 feet (vs. 5 feet for f/2.5) and a reproduction ratio
of 1:4.5 versus 1:9 for the slightly slower f/2.5 lens. But that speed
and close focusing capability required a 72mm filter on the Series I,
versus only 55mm on the f/2.5. For only $60, you could get the TX mount
135mm f/2.8 lens using 52mm size filters. That's a 3600remium for
circa half a stop of extra speed!
I should mention that there were a few even faster 135mm f/1.8 and even
f/1.5 lenses made by Vivitar in 1968, using the preset T-mount. But
these lenses were much poorer performers optically than the later Series
I 135mm f/2.3 lenses. Avoid them! [see posting on 135mm f/1.5).
Today, all 135mm lenses are considered out-of-fashion, so you may again
be able to get a great buy on a really fast Series I 135mm f/2.3. Two
high quality 7 element Vivitar 1.4x and 2x teleconverters can help turn
this lens into a still very fast 190mm f/3.2 and 270mm f/4.6 lens. Wow!
UNQUOTE
Here is a link to the site:
http://people.smu.edu/rmonagha/third/cult.html
Bill Stanke
plp@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> Gary's tests don't include lots of non-Olympus telephoto
> lenses (heck, he couldn't test everything). So, does a
> general consensus exist on non-Olympus 135mm lenses?
> What about the Sigma, Hoya, Vivitar, JC Penney, etc? Any
> others worth mentioning?
>
> Pete
>
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