Please recommend lenses with interesting “character”

All my lenses are solid contemporary designs, meaning they draw well-corrected, almost sterile images – and this is great for my landscape and macro photography.
I would like, however, to experiment with some older and/or adapted lenses that may create some interesting effects. I am considering Helios 44 for it’s swirly bokeh, for example.
I would appreciate other suggestions, maybe some samples. Thank you!

If you enjoy macro and don’t mind adapting lenses, I have an Irix 150mm Macro lens in the classifieds, I think page 2 or 3.
Terry

Petzval 85.

Sigma 150 / 2.8 macro (non-IS):

When framed with a bright light source, you get this clear circle in the middle and a dense "flare fog" outside the circle. Made for a cool shot (in my opinion) when combined with the "rainbow flare" that, as luck would have it, was at the end of the hang glider. But that kind of flare might be illegal in some states, so, fair warning. : )

There are so many - it really depends on what you want to go for... So I'll just mention some of my personal favorites.There are a number of different lenses from Meyer Optic Görlitz, which are known for their unique rendering:

Meyer Domiron 50 mm f/2
It has a very unique (often somewhat busy, but interesting) rendering and excellent 3D pop

Then there's the Primoplan 58 mm f/1.9
Extremely smooth and pleasant rendering with a round aperture

If you're not opposed to adapting lenses via a helicoid + an adapter/clamp there are also a couple of fantastic projection lenses out there:

Meyer Kinon Superior 5 cm f/1.8
Fantastic for images with focus on the center.

Isco-Optic Ultra Star HD Plus 75 mm f/2.1
Ultra-smooth.

and finally some of the longer focal length projection lenses offer a lot of flexibility for bokeh experiments, like that:

Braun Ultralit PL 85-150 mm f/4

If you're into close-up/macro photography some enlarging lenses offer very interesting possibilities as well. You may or may not like distinct bokeh shapes, but I personally love experimenting with that and there are some great ones among enlarging lenses:

Steinheil V-Cassarit 50 mm f/3.5

Meopta Belar 50/75 mm f/4.5

Excellent use of that effect! I find it quite interesting and have never seen that... really looks like it's covered by fog. It certainly still is a pretty great lens in general.

Beautiful images and such creative ways of using lens character as a feature.

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Got an Eiki 50mm f/1.2 projection lens long ago, improvised an e-mount adapter and I will never part with it. Allthough I can only shoot it wide open the middle is tacksharp, the bokeh as buttery smooth as they come while it virtually doesnt exhibit any ca's or other color abberations. The colors are also great by the way, kinda resembles the Canon L series colors, really that good. If your looking for quality, character and challenges try to find any converted to mount copy or improvise it yourself. The downside of any such conversion would the very minimal distance to the sensor but it can be done and is really worth it.

Came here to say just about anything from Lomography is full of "character". I'm a fan of the warmth Takumar's produce in sunlight. Anything F0.95 from the third party manufacturers is gonna be "fun" at 0.95. Mikaton makes some crazy macro that's like $200, but I am unaware of what mount it comes in besides EF.

As a side note, make your lenses more interesting by sticking things in front of them to distort the image. Tons of stuff to make cool magic with.

Looks great! Does it cover full-frame at close-up distance? It seems to be a 16 mm format lens...

I got a JML Optical 56 mm f/1.2 lens (supposedly a successor to the CRT-Nikkor, which was used for capturing CRT traces on oscilloscopes - so very specialized.) which has somewhat similar characteristics. It covers full-frame but only as a macro lens and it also shows quite a bit of CAs, so the Eiki might be a great alternative, apart from the missing aperture mechanism.

Thanks.

Dont think that it does as it is indeed quite narrow at the back of the lens, also couldnt verify as I never owned any FF cam.

Source ebay:

(Indeed, but please don't quote lengthy posts like this in full - it makes for a frustrating scrolling experience, especially with no threaded view yet...)

Try a +10 close-up lens mounted on a bellows. You can cut a diaphragm out of black paper if you want a slightly sharper image.

Don

Does the photographer's talent come with the proposed lenses?

All very nice pictures 👍🏻

The Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.4 ZF or ZE lens is very moody wide open but becomes very sharp stopped down. A dual purpose lens.