BEST WORST vintage lenses. My Top 5 picks! What are yours?

In this video I nominate my Top 5 Best Worst lenses. Lenses that are poor performers (for various reasons), but actually produce beautiful and sometimes crazy images, full of character.

Please comment below with your picks too!

[johnchedsey]

The Helios is a great "not great" lens. It took me a little while to get used to it, but for portrait shots, it can result in outstanding photos that I can't quite pull off with any other lens

[terencelaubach]

A couple of years ago bought a 50mm f1.4 Takumar attached to an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic in practically brand new condition. A fine lens I occasionally attach to a crop sensor Fuji or to a full frame Leica. There is a sad story regarding the camera as it was originally purchased in Hong Kong by a young man who was serving in the US Army infantry in Vietnam. After leave and returning to the war he was badly wounded and blinded. The camera went to his brother and I bought it from him fifty years later. The lens qualifies as my personal BEST WORST!
Thank you for your fascinating videos.

[scottlarson]

Although it's not a really old lens, the Sigma 17-35mm f2.8-f4 for EF Canon is a lens that I got new about twenty years ago. It has a distinctive brown bubble front element and the brown coating is definitely visible in the photos if you don't correct the color. What makes it interesting is that the images have an odd polarized look that makes the clouds in the sky stand out, similar to a polarized filter. Naturally it has plenty of distortion and vignetting on the wide end.

I use this lens on my remote camera behind the goal in soccer because I won't mind if a soccer ball destroys it.

[Mad_Snow]

ive built my own "vintage lens" out of an old Leitz projector glass and some metal printed mounts :) looks absolutely crazy

[worldadventuretravel]

It's neat to know that you can get these kinds of effects with lenses other than just the Lensbaby line. I love my Lensbaby Optic Swap system for all the cool creative things I can do to my images for sure, but unless I want to purchase a ton of lens bodies I can only do them at 50mm (they do have a 35mm, 56mm and 85mm option for certain of their lenses and optics- depending on which one). A longer lens that can match the soft, dreamy glow of my Lensbaby Soft Focus optic would be awesome to get the same look at different focal lengths. And these images are gorgeous to watch. Thanks!

[miguellozanofinez]

Great video! For me good-bad old lenses are what makes this real fun. My vote goes to the Vivitar Series 1 28 1.9. Wide open it is a catalogue of aberrations: spherical aberration, soap-bubble bokeh and flares with a hint of sun. I love it, though.

[HaraldEngels]

I owned and tested 160+ vintage lenses before I moved to Asia. I kept only 12 lenses. The worst/best of all is the Auto Revuenon MCF 50mm EF F1:1.4 (SN 19156) with a ZE mount (the lens was produced by Mamiya I guess). Wide open this lens creates an effect like the painting of an impressionist. Not the typical bubbles, a more substantial deviation from reality. Crazy but intriguing. Great saturation and good sharpness otherwise.

[irishlostboy]

I can add my Soligor 21mm f3.8 Wide-Auto. It is a bit soft, it can butcher deep shadows, and it flares, often in wild contrasting colours. I rarely get to use it, but when the stars align it paints another world.

[KingGameReview]

I think the entire range of Pentax 110 lenses are great bad lenses. They cover the sensor of the APS-C Fuji cameras, and you can put all of them in your pocket. They aren't especially sharp, but they are so small and weird.

[marcbeebe]

Interesting that you started out with the Primoplan: I've had two, and they gave quite different results despite being the 'same' lens. My 'best worst' is a third-party special: Vivitar 135mm f2.8 which looks and feels quite cheap and unpromising, but performs almost as good as the 135mm Super Takumar that I couldn't afford at the time I bought the former. Over 50 years of photography I've had so many lenses I can't remember them all, but there are some that just stick in your mind. Only one do I regret letting go of: the Meyer Primoplan 58mm f1.9. Try and get one of those if you can find/afford it.

[timosalola]

I've tried perhaps 20 to 30 vintage lenses and there are a few that have stood out. Zeiss pancolar 50 1.8 m42, yashica 50 1.9 dsb, tokina bokina 90 2.5 and zeiss jena 180 2.8 pentagon six. I got some great shots with the 50 and 90mm lenses and I could see myself using them regularly but that can't really be said about the 180 2.8.

The pentagon six mount lens is absolutely massive and even the not so flashy all black version of it I had was really impressive. It looks like a serious piece of kit and it's perhaps the lens that I'd like to get a picture of me using. Carrying it around is a bit bothersome but it often sparks curiosity and awe in those who notice it. And with the parameters of 180mm and f2.8 you'd assume that the results from the lens would be impressive. However at least the copy I had was way too soft even at f8 to be usable. So much so that I got better shots by using the tokina and then cropping in to 180mm.

[thelightslide]

loved this! fantastic idea for a video. my best-worst lens is a ludwig meritar, and it’s a rather dirty one… a clean copy might not qualify as “worst” but with the dirt inside, it’s so dreamy and hazy in a way that i actually love. i got it as a freebie with the adapter (the lens itself marked as Ugly condition).

[giklab]

I have three which spring to mind:

- Takumar 50mm 1.4, 8-element. Supposed to be very good, but mine really, really isn't. However, it's just the right blend of sharp and soft for dreamy portraits.

- Vivitar 28mm 2.8, a frankly worthless lens wide open which sharpens up well on stopping down, and produces some really wacky colours on bright days.

- Jena Biotar 58mm f2. Damaged coatings, damaged glass, and knackered housing. Still quite sharp, and the shitty coatings (+lack thereof) make for interesting colours, contrast and flares.


My copy of the Domiplan is, somehow, incredibly sharp even wide open.

Oh! Also, a 50mm 1.2 soviet projector lens. I still haven't quite made a proper adapter for it, but the results I did get from it are some kind of magic.

[rodcummings]

Really enjoyed your best worst vintage lens review. I'm pleased that I have 3 of the 5. I never enjoyed my Domiplan. Sure enough the blades are now stuck open. Not a big issue. Though it's also not very sharp wide-open. My copy looks like it has been disassembled more than once.
I have an early silver Helios 44. A worth contender. A thrill when the conditions are right the magic swirls appear. Frustrating when they don't.
Finally, thanks to the gentleman from Warickshire and for the gorgeous bubble Bokeh images that you posted on Flickr - I made a quick decision to purchase a Primotar from a local seller. Collected yesterday and the lens is surprisingly sharp wide open. Yes any bright objects in the scene do flare. However, many other vintage lenses do the same. I have other vintage lenses that are much more controlled. However, it is these imperfect designs that bring out the real character of each lens.

[Soundbrigade]

Good video! Many people, I think, expect photos be like snapshots (sic!) of reality, showing a perfect rendition of nature. But a "good bad" lens adds something to the images making the photos more or (I hate the word) artistic.
At the moment I have just two good bad lenses for my EOS M50 - the 50mm lens from the Soviet CTAPT (Start) camera (with adapter) and just recently I got a RISESPRAY 25mm F1.8 lens from China which I struggle with somewhat and are expecting any week a Brightin Star 10mm F5.6 fisheye lens. Both dirt cheap.

[robertwalter]

My best worst lens definitely is the Porst Color Reflex 55mm f/1.4. It's a Tomioka produced lens and it gives swirly bokeh of the finest quality, yet nailing the focus can be a right pain in the arse.

[GrahamAtDesk]

I love the K-01. I had three (in different colour schemes, including "the panda"/"the smurf") at one point. Lovely images, and a great sensor. I only have manual glass though so didn't use them that much out and about...

[FrankyFeedler]

Meyer Domiron 50 / Oreston 50, which by the way perform *exactly* the same in a (my) pixel-peeping side-by-side test, apart from a slight temperature difference due to coatings. To me, it sits between a Helios and Trioplan in terms of painterly bokeh and that is a great compromise of character and performance. Nothing looks quite like it. Bonus points for the amazing rainbow flares you get on digital sensors.

[FunkyDeez]

Yay! Thank you Simon, you've reinvigorated the love for my vintage lenses.

The concept of 'best worst lens' will keep me occupied for a while, without spending any more money!

As most were bought for reasons of variety and cheapness, there is bound to be competition for the top, or should it be bottom, spot.

Watching your own assessment might shift my perception of good, bad and sometimes downright ugly amongst my own collection. You've got me thinking ... hmm 🤔 fun times ahead!

[mtnphot]

I had the Tair 300 f.4.5 photo sniper. It was quite suscepable to flare. With a t mount you can fit it to any camera. I still have the Tamron adaptall 90mm f2.5 macro. One of the sharpest lenses I own. Looking at film through a microscope you could see bark peeling of a tree a mile away on a ridge.