Kuribayashi Petri Orikkor C.C. 50 mm f/ 2 Lens

The lens has a solid build and the glass is exceptional, employing rare earth elements but less prone to the yellowing of similar lenses such as the Takumars of the late 50s and early 60s.  It is sharp wide open with only minimal softening at the edge of the image.  The bokeh is truly stunning - very soft, bright and with the superb contrast of the lens, is a joy in bright light.  Kuribayashi certainly knew their stuff and even provided a 'preset and forget' series of markings - align the green pyramid marking with the green mark on the aperture ring, set the focus to the red 5 meter mark and your ready to go...

Weaknesses:

There are very few considering that the lens is over years in age.  Focusing can be quite stiff ( I have 3 of the lenses and this is common to them all) and for someone used to Contax Zeiss lenses, it is in the wrong direction.

Under very extreme bright light, it can have flare problems.

Comments:

This lens is a tiny joy to shoot with, producing vibrant, contrasty photos that will rarely be bettered by much more modern glass.  If you can find one (they are increasingly hard to find as the word's got out about their quality), grab it - you won't regret it!