It is the last manual focus lens I bought, just over a year ago – I found it in one of my on-line hunting grounds – Facebook Market Place. An older lens from the film era, my copy was made for Minolta SR mount, the lens itself is heavy and feels very substantial. Minolta used the MD and MC mount for lenses with different features, the mount however is common to both – SR.
With the use of an adaptor, I use the lens on my Fuji bodies, but because of the size and weight, I prefer to use it on my X-T3, which has the battery grip attached which makes handling the lens easier – and it’s not an easy lens to handle feeling over balanced and front heavy on a body without a grip.
I don’t believe that I did much research on the lens before, or after buying it, it was the price that attracted me – I bought it locally, from a young lady who had been dabbling with film, for C$30.00. She didn’t say too much about it, the lens itself was/is in fine condition, however I suspect that whilst using it, she found it a real handful – and it really can be!!
From previous posts I written, some of my manual focus lenses are a real treat to use and I’ll mention here my Olympus 28mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.8 – they are stellar! Using them on any of my Fuji bodies is a real joy, focusing is quick and easy, aided by good focus peaking – the whole experience, you feel like picking them up and going out to shoot. I did try an Olympus 24mm f2.8, an early version of the lens – I didn’t enjoy it at all and focusing was not great, peaking too was not good. Not all manual focus lens on digital bodies work as well as others – and some of mine fall into the “not so great” category.
The Soligor is not too bad in use, focusing, although extremely smooth is a chore, long turns of the focusing ring (which I can live with), however it’s the pretty bad focus peaking that gets me – it can be a lot of work. Coupled with this is the fact though it has the same aperture of f2.8 as my Olympus, it seems a lot dimmer – I prefer to use my EVF whilst shooting and I can never really tell what results I’m getting with the Soligor. I explain this point further on, but for now, I’ll continue with its feel and handling.
If you were to pick it up, it does feel substantial, it has great build quality all metal and glass, really solid – it feels very good in the hand, that’s until you mount it on a camera body and go out to shoot. Man, this lens is a conundrum. They colours seem dull and muted – on the cool side, the image, in the viewfinder, itself seems a little dark (as previously mentioned), the lens is not so sharp (stopping down helps) and lacks a little contrast – on the whole it can seem somewhat lifeless, along with the slow handling. Because of these factors, I’ll usually pick another one of my manual focus lenses to go out and shoot with one of them. All of this made me begin to think that I should sell the lens, but then I edited a few of the images and my feelings towards the lens changed!
One of the observations I made of the lens was that it works better is bright sunlight, this was after a couple of trips out and was confirmed after I edited a few frames. This lens can do something that none of my other lens can do…it can produce ninja stars (when stopped down a bit)! It can also render bokeh really well – the condition and light need to be just right. None of this is obvious whilst shooting, at least not to me, I can’t see it. It’s when I am home editing, then suddenly, with not too much effort, images spring to life – not all of them…as I say you need to pick the right subjects and the light need to be right. Images rendered with the Soligor lean towards the cool side and lack punch – I adjust the colour temperature to warm them slightly, add some contract, they then take on a very different quality, with much more pop. Likewise, the bokeh, ninja stars appear, where looking through the EVF, they are not apparent. Shooting this lens purposefully out-of-focus also can yield very beautiful images, something that I have playing with for a good while. Holding the lens in hand and stopping it down, reveal the aperture blades forming the ninja star, something I didn’t realize initially.
This lens is certainly worthy of a little time and effort, it is unlike any other lens I own, and it really does have a personality of its own. Taking the RAW files into post, working with them, adding a small amount of creativity has given me a measure of satisfaction and images that I am pleased with. I use the lens within its limitations and conditions that suit it – I also need to be in the right frame of mind!
All the images in this post have been shot on my Fuji X-T3 and X-T20 with the Soligor over the past year – it’s not the sort of lens I would use for street photography, perhaps some urban photography. For my purposes, walking around the woods, it’s fine and I’ve had good results with it…keeping in mind the factors mentioned already.
The Soligor is not an expensive lens, this lens in good condition can be picked up for a little more than the price I paid and I certainly feel it’s worth the price I paid and I am very happy to have it in my collection…to think that I contemplated selling it! You know that I’m not about gear, I am more about creating good images, however this lens allows me, through its distinct personality, to create images of a more surreal and painterly fashion. I always have an eye open for a good bargain, but I doubt that I’ll find anything like this, especially for the price. This is a keeper!