I love this lens! Also love how the BnW images look taken with this lens (on on Fuji). I am told that it is due to the excellent microcontrast qualities of the lens :-)
Yes the Flek is a great lens. Loved the video from the cool music (reminded me of the Prisoner), titles font to your calm voice and beautiful sample nature photos. If it was my video I might try to share a bit more research and share more about the variants of the lens. Thanks though. Just subscribed and looking forward to enjoying more. Aloha
I've got one of the old Flektogons 35mm f2.8 and find that one quite agreeable, too. The 35mm 2.4 is on my list, too but I find it quite expensive in comparison.
I am sure the old Flektogon is a very good performer as well. It's true that the later f2.4 Flektogon has gotten way too expensive (unfortunately), but it's a great lens and I can see why so many people want to get their hands on it. I hope you can find one for a good price so you can try it. Take care.
one thing that doesn't get mentioned...the Zebra and im guessing earler Fleks, 18cm min focus drops to nearly f4 at closest focus. Its not the same as the MC 2.4s. I love them both, but the MC is superior optically.
Though this might be an older vid, I value your channel as a resource - thank you. I would love to own the CJZ (the close focusing distance is a dream), but currently I am shooting the Topcor 35mm f2.8. With a MFD of 23cm it is a very close 2nd to the CJZ. I love this lens. I would say the one 'flaw' I am not so wild about is the hexagonal bokeh balls/flare when stopped down even a little. I"d reaaaally like a 35mm with a few more aperture blades that can focus as close. I have the Takumar 35mm f2.3 (10 aperture blades) but I have yet to de-yellow it and the MFD isn't so great. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions you may have, or options I should consider.
Thank you! Btw, what camera are using to adapt your lenses? I’m only asking because if you are like me and have Sony mirrorless you can greatly reduce the minimum focusing distance on many of your lenses by using helicoid adapters. For example the Takumar 35mm f2.3 you mentioned can be used with an M42 to NEX helicoid adapter and you can greatly reduce the minimum focusing distance by extending the helicoid. I’m a huge fan of these helicoid adapters and I made a whole video on them. Just a suggestion.
@@VintageOptiks I use the Sony A7RIII and I do have a helicoid adapter for M42 lenses and of course I watched your video - you're the reason I have one! What I'm interested in is a good vintage 35mm lens with inherently good properties, a few of which cannot be adapted with a helicoid to my knowledge (exakta) with plenty of aperture blades for stopping down. The CZJ you made a vid on might be the ticket!
That’s great that you got the helicoid adapters! They are super useful with vintage lenses. Regarding 35mm lenses, unfortunately most of them have a pretty small number of blades. The CZJ Flektogon is probably your best bet. It is without a doubt one of the best 35mm lenses out there.
Hell yeah man! You got some great shots in this video. Keep up the great work! Do you have any old Vivitar zoom lenses? I would love to see what you have to say about one of those!
ARG_IM_PIRATE Thank you!!! Yes I have the Vivitar Series 1, 80-200mm zoom. I need to do more extensive testing on it before I’m ready to make a video on it but that will happen sometimes in the future. Have you tried any Vivitar zooms? Thank you again for the nice comment.
@@VintageOptiks I haven't tried one yet, but I just ordered a 70-210mm FD mount that should arrive next week. I'm pretty excited about it. Thanks for making these videos, I really enjoy them!
@@VintageOptiks got it today, it looked mint from the outside but was super blurry, so i took it apart and actually managed to fix it - stressful day but i guess now I have an amazing lens and I got it for an amazing price ;)
Congrats on getting the Flek and sorry to hear that your lens has an issue with the diaphragm. I hope you can fix it. A fantastic lens for sure! Enjoy it!
It means auto stopdown to the preferred aperture when the shutter is depressed in the appropriate Praktica film camera for which the Flektogon was made.The auto/manual lever should be left at the Manual setting when a M42 mount Flektogon is used in a DSLR, with the Auto setting, the aperture remains open at the widest setting, no matter how the aperture ring is set.
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying the music! I love funky beats from the good old days! I’m not sure who made the track you mentioned. I found it on internet archive and it has no label.
Yes, there are definitely differences. The 2.8 version is an older design from 1950. The 2.8 version has lower contrast compared to the f2.4 version and it flares a lot more in bright conditions. It’s also not as sharp in the corners as the later 2.4 version. It also suffers from chromatic aberrations. If you want a lens that has a lot of vintage character than the f2.8 will be good for you, but if you want a more reliable and better performing lens, than the f2.4 version is the better choice.
Hey! Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. Somehow RU-vid didn't notify me about your comment until now. I know my opinion might differ from what most people will choose between these two lenses, but I would definitely recommend the Minolta MD W Rokkor 35mm f2.8. I love that lens, and it's also cheaper than the Flektogon. Cheers!
Should I assume you shot this on a crop sensor Sony? I only know Fuji X, so am not sure or the difference in crop. I own the Fuji 23mm 2.0, and although I'm very interested in this 35, I don't want lens redundancy. This 35, however, would give me about a 52mm look on Fuji, which isn't the most interesting.
Hello, and thank you! There is no difference in quality between the electric and the non electric. That is just an indicator that the lens has pins on the back that communicate with the camera. But that was for film cameras back in the day and if you are adapting it to digital these pins are of no use to you.
Thank you! “Electric” means that there are 3 connectors on the back of the lens. They were meant to connect to old Praktica camera bodies, but for modern digital cameras they make no difference. Electric or not, the lens doesn’t perform any different.
Yeah it's a very nice lens as well, but it definitely shows it's age when compared to the updated f2.4 version. Its issues are - some softness along the edges of the frame, chromatic aberrations and not as contrasty as the f2.4 version. It can also flare quite a bit which is not everyone's cup of tea. Overall it produces less contrasty images compared to the later f2.4 version. But it can still serve you well as long as you are aware of its limitations.
It’s up to you. You can definitely use it on APSC but you won’t get to experience the full field of view. This lens will become a 50mm equivalent on APSC due to the crop factor.
Владимир Ленин Yes I do have the Konica 40mm f1.8. I love that lens. It’s sharp wide open and there is very little CA. It’s also still quite cheap on EBay which makes it an amazing bargain.
I just bought this lens and it's amazing! I just noticed that my copy has ninja star shaped bokeh between f2.8 and f4, is it a common characteristic of this lens? I have the impression that my leafs are not perfectly in the right position and therefore produce this shape, but maybe is just normal... anyone can confirm me that issue/characteristic?
So glad to hear that you love the Flektogon! It's truly special! Regarding the bokeh, there is some ninja star effect at f2.8, but then goes away. Enjoy!
First of the 2.4 was the flektogon mc, 2nd version mc electric and 3rd the auto mc. Electric is for the automatic exposure setting and "auto" lens is for automatic pressure aperture. Its very hard to find a good flektogon. Most are decentered and therefore too soft in the corners, for my flektogon i have 3 other flektogon' s disassembled. Sry for shitty english 🤭 greetings from Germany