Marco Aries

In my opinion, the Pentacon 50mm 1.8 is one of the most versatile vintage lenses and one of my favorites. I’ve shot multiple rolls of film on it and used it countless times on digital and because of it I’ve been curious to try more lenses from the brand. Unfortunately, the 29mm didn't hold up to 50 and the 135 kept eluding me; until now. There are three versions of this lens that I know of: the first and most sought after has fifteen blades in the iris and it is a copy of the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestor. The second version is the one we're testing today and the third is the Praktica version with a Praktica mount. So let's take a closer look. The lens is made of metal, it weighs around 460g, it is 89 to 101mm long and it has an external diameter of 65mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built-in sunhood. The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 with half steps. It has an auto/manual switch near the bottom. The focusing ring is textured, i...

  Some of you might remember that I was putting together a set of Konica Hexanon lenses, but unfortunately I had to sell them to pay the bills. I was sad to let them go, not only because they were all in great shape but also because I really like Konica Hexanon lenses as they have that vintage look without an overpowering character. There are at least three versions of the 135mm: the big and heavy 2.5 I showed you a few years ago, the highly praised 3.2 and today’s subject the 3.5. So let's take a closer look. The lens is made of metal, it weighs 315g, it is 83 to 99mm long and it has an external diameter of 63mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built-in sunhood. The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f3.5 to f22 without half steps, plus auto. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1.5cm. It has a Konica AR mount. The lens itself is well built, compact and balanced. The controls turn smoothly and are ea...

If you have a camera, at some point you have tried to shoot macro, maybe by holding a magnifying glass in front of the lens or maybe with some extension tubes. I know because I’ve done the same. But this time I have a proper 1:1 macro lens to show you. Let’s take a closer look. The lens is made mostly of plastic, it weighs around 420g, it is 74 to 100mm long and it has an external diameter of 72mm, with a 62mm front thread. The iris has 7 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f32 without half steps. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 21.9cm, granting a 1 to 1 reproduction. It uses a screw drive autofocus, it has a manual auto selector and a switch to limit the focus range from 30cm to infinity. It has a Nikon F mount. Get your adapter here: Global: https://amzn.to/4gi9OR7 ITA: https://amzn.to/4f5smST (As an Amazon affiliate I earn a commission from eligible purchases) The lens is well balanced when focused to in...

At a first glance you would think this is a vintage lens but technically it’s not and you can buy it right now from the Zenit store. Specifically, the original Zenitar-1K was released in 1988 but the 1N and 1C were released in 2016 with an updated optical design. The lens is made of metal, it weighs 580g, it is 59 to 70mm long and it has an external diameter of 78mm, with a 72mm front thread. The iris has 8 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f1.4 to f21 with half steps. The focusing ring is textured, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 85cm. It comes with either Canon Ef or a Nikon F mount. The lens is definitely chunky and well balanced, the controls turn smoothly but the focus ring is a bit stiff. Wide open it can be quite soft even in the center with visible blooming. By f2.8 it gets much sharper, with more detail and only falling off a bit in the corners. By f8 it gets very sharp all over the frame, picking up even more detail. And here’s a sampl...

  The lens is made of metal, it weighs around 420g, it is 83 to 100mm long and it has an external diameter of 64mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built in sunhood lined with opaque material. The iris has 8 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 with half steps. Below the aperture ring there’s an auto aperture switch for compatible cameras. The focusing ring is textured, it turns 280 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1.4m. This copy has an M42 mount with a flange distance of 45,46mm. The lens feels very premium: solid and smooth. The aperture clicks are soft but with good resistance and I would have preferred the ring itself to be a little wider. The lens itself is front heavy so it can be a little uncomfortable on small cameras. Sharpness wide open is good with plenty of detail, only falling off a little bit in the corners. By f8 it gets a little sharper. I can’t see any distortion. Chromatic aberration is present wide open, along with some blo...

The Asahi Pentax M are probably my favorite vintage lenses, but one kept eluding me: the 40mm, today’s subject. I had never seen one in the flesh and the couple I saw online were three or four times more expensive than other M lenses, so I basically gave up. Until around a year ago when I stumbled upon two of them; one was in bad shape and overpriced while the other was cheaper, pretty clean and the seller was willing to trade with another lens I had, so we sealed the deal. The lens is made of metal, it weighs around 80g, it is 18 to 22mm long and it has an external diameter of 63mm, with a 49mm front thread. The iris has 5 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 with half steps. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 90 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 60cm. The Pentax K mount has a flange distance of 45,46mm. The one complaint I have about this lens is the stupidly narrow focus ring. I mean, it works, but it is pretty silly. As you would expect, it...