Old manual focus lenses for NX500

Hello,

I just picked up an NX500, and I took it out and a few lenses out for a test run. The 16mm pancake is a pretty poor performer, but the 30mm pancake and 45mm f1.8 looked good. I did seem to see some shutter shock with the 30mm, but I'll have to keep testing to confirm.

Anyway, what I was really blown away by was the performance of my old Nikon 55mm f3.5. Even focused to infinity it was the best performing lens. So of course now I'm thinking... Anyone have recommendations for manual focus lenses (Nikon or otherwise) in the wide to normal range that you have seen outperform Samsung's own lens lineup? I have no problem manual focusing so I'd love to pick up some fun, sharp lenses on the cheap.

Thanks!

Nathan

I bought my economically-priced second-hand NX5 purely as a platform for my old Russian rangefinder lenses. The Orion-15 28mm is beautifully compact, albeit slow, at f/6 maximum aperture, the Jupiter-8 50mm f/2 and the Jupiter-9 85mm f/2 are all bitingly sharp and none of the various Tessar-derived Industars will disappoint.

I use several Fujinon 42mm-screw mount lenses and am always pleased with the results.

I acquired  most of my old lenses long before there was a collector market for them. Everyone wanted bayonet-mount autofocus zooms 20-30 years ago, screw-mount primes were almost given away! Times have changed and prices have sky-rocketed, for some examples.

Good luck, and enjoy

Thanks for the reply!  I'll have to look into the Jupiter lenses.  I actually just found several Minolta lenses that I already have a MFT adapter for, so I'll test them out on my OMD EM-10ii and get an adapter for NX if any are worthy.

kypfer wrote:

I bought my economically-priced second-hand NX5 purely as a platform for my old Russian rangefinder lenses. The Orion-15 28mm is beautifully compact, albeit slow, at f/6 maximum aperture, the Jupiter-8 50mm f/2 and the Jupiter-9 85mm f/2 are all bitingly sharp and none of the various Tessar-derived Industars will disappoint.

I use several Fujinon 42mm-screw mount lenses and am always pleased with the results.

I acquired most of my old lenses long before there was a collector market for them. Everyone wanted bayonet-mount autofocus zooms 20-30 years ago, screw-mount primes were almost given away! Times have changed and prices have sky-rocketed, for some examples.

Good luck, and enjoy

Nate8833 wrote:

Hello,

I just picked up an NX500, and I took it out and a few lenses out for a test run. The 16mm pancake is a pretty poor performer, but the 30mm pancake and 45mm f1.8 looked good. I did seem to see some shutter shock with the 30mm, but I'll have to keep testing to confirm.

The 16mm pancake is my most used lens - damn fine performer for street. AF not great but I zone focus anyway..

Anyway, what I was really blown away by was the performance of my old Nikon 55mm f3.5. Even focused to infinity it was the best performing lens. So of course now I'm thinking... Anyone have recommendations for manual focus lenses (Nikon or otherwise) in the wide to normal range that you have seen outperform Samsung's own lens lineup? I have no problem manual focusing so I'd love to pick up some fun, sharp lenses on the cheap.

Personally I'd go easy on adapting legacy glass for NX500 - it's not nearly as practical as it would be on a camera with an EVF and APS-C crop means the lenses will not perform as they were designed ie; for FF. Focus magnify in centre only is also a pain. If you are only using lenses you already own then and I guess lenses that will give you greater than 200mm will broaden NX500 use-age but big/heavy glass is not the best match for NX500.

Most of my legacy lenses sat in the cupboard until I got a Sony A7R2. I did initially use them on m43 and APS-C but found OEM lenses and AF worked better.

This is my set of inexpensive manual lenses I've used on my NX500 and photo sets for each:

Rokinon 12mm f/2 manual-focus lens w/Samsung mount. - pictures taken

SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 manual-focus lens (Pentax mount+adapter) - pictures taken

Sears 135mm F/2.8 manual-focus lens (Pentax mount+adapter) - pictures taken

Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 (Pentax mount+adapter) - pictures taken

Opteka 85mm f/1.8 manual-focus lens (Cannon mount+adapter) - pictures taken

Just an update, I have an OM 200mm f4 on the way!  We'll see how that goes.

Here's a Flickr album of my manual lenses on an NX100.  
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjD68BJo

I got into Minolta by chance, but it was a fortunate thing as they make great lenses.  Their MD lenses are the most modern, with good coatings, etc.  They have also been optimized for small size and light weight, with most lenses using a 49mm filter thread vs 55mm on the older MC lenses.

Their 50mm f/2 is cheap/plentiful, but a fantastic performer.  Same for the 45mm f/2.  28mm f/2.8 is good, but not perfect wide open.  (Still good tho...)  135mm f/2.8 & f3.5 and 200mm f/4 are all cheap and great!

I use cheap Ebay adapters, but have occasionally had to return one for tight/loose fit.