Cosina 100mm F3.5 Macro

I just won an auction for one of these on Ebay as it seemed worth a punt at £37, even if it only does 1:2 without an apaptor.

I've seen a few reviews which say these (and the Pentax badged version) are decent optically but not the best mechanically - anyone got one that they could comment on?

Very decent optically but a bit rough-and-ready mechanically. I had a Pentax one once, and have had some superb results from it.

Cheers John - it also means I won't be bidding on any other macro lenses in the near future...

That's good...

I saw the lens at 37 GB pounds and was very tempted to bid...;=) however the Voigtlander still serves me extremely well
Congratulations and let us know the results.

The lens has arrived and even came in the original box and, most importantly, with the 1:1 adaptor (which wasn't mentioned in the listing). I've only had a quick play with it however so far I'm quite impressed. The build quality isn't as bad as I'd expected and the lens certainly seems pretty sharp - even wide open. The noise when using AF at macro distances is somewhat brutal - but I prefer MF for that anyway. It seems to work fine in P-TTL mode and the extra working distance compared to my 55m Vivitar means that having the flashgun camera mounted works pretty well even at 1:1 magnification.

I've had a few plays with the lens now so I thought I'd post a few images in case anyone else is interested in one of these (I've see a few on Ebay recently).



Bee on a flower in the garden



Playing around with the technique Prieni used in the "Water" competition



Small insect on a flower in my garden



Snapshot of a flower at Edinburgh zoo

So far I'm pleased with it. I don't think it's as sharp as my old Vivitar 55mm F2.8 Macro but it's a lot more convenient given it has AF and works in all metering & flash modes.