Another beautiful Miranda lens that can be had for next to nothing. Before making their lenses in-house, Miranda had other optical manufacturers make the lenses for their SLR cameras. The Miranda Soligor is actually made by Kowa, and is the Kowa Prominar by another name. After seeing the beautiful character of the Auto Miranda 50mm f1.8, I immediately bought an old Miranda camera with the Soligor attached. The first surprise was the mechanics. It is a solid and well made all metal construction, with a silky-smooth focusing helicoid that would do a Takumar proud. Nor do the optics disappoint. This is one of the sharpest normal lenses for any 35mm SLR system, not only in the center, where it is stunning, but good all the way out to the extreme edges, even wide open. The microcontrast is second to none, without any of the usual highlight blooming common in fast fifties. The bokeh is also unusual, the circles of confusion somewhat reminiscent of the Pancolar 55mm as one moves away from the center. I can see that this lens will be in my bag often.
