Share your photos with legacy lenses

Jonathan-Mac · Mar 2, 2026

We had a brief stay in a rural hotel in Burgo de Osma, Spain, and the only native L-mount lens I took was the Sigma 35/2 and the rest was done with a Takumar 24mm f/3.5 and a Konica 57mm f/1.4. Here are a couple of pictures from the Takumar, which impressed me overall even though IQ falls off towards the edges even at f/8.

This is the central courtyard of the hotel (a refurbished 500-year-old university building)

Castilla Thermal by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

And this is in the cathedral

Spotlight by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

Travis Butler · Mar 10, 2026

The Minolta 58/1.2 is one of those cult classic fast lenses. I have a fairly old copy, but ran across a newer copy at an estate sale last week. Unfortunately, not only was the filter ring badly dented, but the rear element was badly stained. They let me have it for $40; I went ahead and grabbed it because I remembered another lens with similarly stained elements that gave some lovely images with appropriate post-processing:

20230328-P1000866 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Lumix S5, Kiron 75-150/4

Haven't had a chance to test it with those kind of photos yet, but I did get a chance to do some testing on exercise walks.

20260306-SDIM9521 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, MC Rokkor-PG 58/1.2

20260308-SDIM9599 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

20260308-SDIM9604 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
One for @Pete_W !

20260308-SDIM9625 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

20260308-SDIM9626 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The last is the only one so far that really shows signs of the rendering I was looking for, but it looks like it's still capable of some good images with some work. Hoping to try it out on the kind of subjects I was looking for sometime soon.

Jonathan-Mac · Mar 10, 2026

Travis Butler said:
The Minolta 58/1.2 is one of those cult classic fast lenses. I have a fairly old copy, but ran across a newer copy at an estate sale last week. Unfortunately, not only was the filter ring badly dented, but the rear element was badly stained. They let me have it for $40; I went ahead and grabbed it because I remembered another lens with similarly stained elements that gave some lovely images with appropriate post-processing

I have had my eye on a Minolta 58mm f/1.2 for a while but alas, at present I have to make do with the absurdly slow f/1.4 variant

I've never heard of a lens with a "stained" element - stained with what?

These were all taken with the S-M-C Takumar 24mm f/3.5

Burgo De Osma by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

White pots by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

Burgo De Osma by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

Travis Butler · Mar 10, 2026

Jonathan-Mac said:
I have had my eye on a Minolta 58mm f/1.2 for a while but alas, at present I have to make do with the absurdly slow f/1.4 variant

Hah.

Well, having owned both (the MC Rokkor-X and MD-III versions of the 50/1.4, as well as the 58/1.4 and MD 50/1.2), it's not about the speed; there really is a qualitative difference in the bokeh and rendering. Despite also being f/1.2, the 50/1.2 doesn't have it; neither does the 58/1.4, though both the 58/1.4 and the 50/1.4s have their own charm.

Aside from the pretty justified reputation as a bokeh monster, the 58/1.2 is just a good all-arounder. The 58/1.4 can be very nice at short-to-medium distances with a single subject (portrait or portrait-equivalent) but is mediocre at long-to-infinity and architectural/landscape, and can flare badly. The MC and MD 50/1.4s are good at landscape and close range, but can't match the 58/1.2 for bokeh effects. The 58/1.2 can do long-range, it can do close-up, and it can do the really artistic bokeh.

Jonathan-Mac said:
I've never heard of a lens with a "stained" element - stained with what?

Best I can describe it is looking something like the residue left behind after a liquid evaporates. The pattern follows the kind of rings you see in a region with hard water (or when you use regular water instead of distilled water in a CPAP humidifier); but instead of the white-ish film left by tap water minerals, it's darker, more like ink or oil.