All Fixed, I think

Loving the green -- NEX-5 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 75mm f2 TV Lens, at F2.

My first try to fix the mount of the Taylor & Hobson 75mm F2 to a focusing helicoid, the mount was not seated properly.  Consequently, one side of the picture is blurry.  This was most pronounced when shot at infinity.  The mount was fixed with Gorilla Glue.  Tried as I might, I could not get the ^@#$@& mount off the lens.  Eventually, I had to cut the Series 8 filter ring that I used to fix the mount, and then pried it loose with a screw driver.  This darn glue is as strong at they claim.

With another series 8 filter ring I bought from the last photo show, I did it more carefully this time to ensure the mount is as even as possible.  So far, it looks good, as least much better than what it used to be.  This is one of the problems with home brew modifications, that most of us do not have machines or tools for precision fit and finish.  Hopefully, it will be good enough for general use.

I do love this lens.  Aside from its tank like built quality, the colour and tonal transition are excellent.  More pictures to come in May.  I am hoping (at least trying) to use it extensively next month, if I don't get distracted with other lenses.

Spring at Last

Spring has sprung -- NEX-5 & Canon FL 50mm f1.4. Click to see larger.

We are finally seeing buds and leaves coming out of the trees, and the flowers are starting to show up everywhere.  Love this time of the year when everything is so alive.  The long and bitterly winter made me appreciate spring much more than say, some lucky people who probably don't know what cold is in the winter.  Each year in the early spring, I take a lot of pictures, mostly flowers, buds, and anything that shows sign of life.

Don River & DVP at Dusk

Don River/DVP at Dusk -- NEX-5 & Fuji 75mm f1.8 c-mount lens. click to see larger.

The rumored new firmware update for the NEX cameras sounds interesting.  I especially like the manual focus assist (Peak Level) feature.  I find that the Panasonic G1 is much more accurate with manual focus without magnification, and I think it's because the edges are enhanced.  You can tell when the scene is in focus.  This is not so for the NEX, unfortunately.  I am hoping this new feature will change this.  When you need to focus fast, magnifying the focus point will slow you down.  Good to see Sony is adding features to existing cameras.

Outing with an Old Friend

Fallen Petals -- 1D IIn & EF 100mm f2.8L Macro. Click to enlarge.

Chester emailed me that he just got a 1D III the other day and I immediately felt so guilty.  I have not used my 1D IIn for a l ong time except the swim meet in March of this year.  I did invest a lot of money into the Canon system, especially the lenses, but I found myself not using it much, and instead, prefer the lightweight and small NEX-5 with manual focus lenses.  Anyway, I decided to take the 1D IIn and the 100mm f2.8L macro lens, since we have finally got some colour and the weather is quite a bit warmer as we go deeper into spring.  For macro work, nothing beats a swivel screen, or even a tilt screen, for ground level shooting.  Shooting at low angle through the viewfinder is just awkward.

The EF 100mm f2.8L macro lens is one heck of a lens.  I may have to get rid of my 100mm f2, as the Image Stablization (IS) proves to be invaluable at low shutter speeds.  I meant to do a comparison of the two lenses, but never had the drive to do it.  Perhaps I have been waiting for the full frame camera to do it :)

Another Bicycle Sign

Bike Sign -- NEX-5 & Leitz Hector 135mm f4.5. Click to see larger.

I guess it's only natural to use a bike as part of a sign for your business.  Come to think of it, there are couple more stores that I know also has a bike as part of their signs.

House Number 2137

House #2137, Stouffville -- NEX-5 & Wollensak 75mm f1.9. Click to see larger.

We drove by this house in Stouffville that sells a huge number of used bicycles.  The house number was decorated with a yellow trike on a metal pole.  Very striking and is hard to miss if you are looking for this house number!

Federal 55mm f4.5 Anastigmat Enlarging Lens - Samples

Vacant House -- NEX-5 & Federal 55mm f4.5 Enlarging Lens.

If I tell you this picture was taken with a lens that's probably 80 years old, with no coating on the lens elements, and costs as much as a Happy Meal, you probably would be skeptical.  But it's true.  Dug out a few more goodies from the box marked as useless miscellaneous items.  This Federal 55mm f4.5 Anastigmat was one of them, and the other was a Federal Fedar 3.5 inch f6.3.  The 55mm is a very tiny lens, making it a difficult chord to mount it on the focusing helicoid. I finally found a name ring from the old Yashica 50mm f2 and glued it on the lens, and the name ring is then glued on to a 55 to 49mm step-down ring.  With another 52-49mm step-up ring, I was able to use it on the focusing helicoid.

This lens is definitely an outdoor lens, and the NEX or Micro 4/3 cameras are perfect to use this kind of lenses, since the Electronic View Finder (or LCD screen) does not get dim as the aperture gets smaller, as an optical view finder would.

Like most enlarging lenses, the image, at least on the NEX-5, are sharp from corner to corner when stopped down to around f8.  Even wide open is quite respectable, as below:

Vacant House -- NEX-5 & Federal 55mm f4.5 @ f4.5. Click to see larger.

The lens becomes very sharp from f8 on.  It only goes down to f16, which might as well, since diffraction limit would kick in well below that.  Some softness wide open, but not unusable.  Stopped down, the lens is very contrasty and sharp.  One would not expect such optical performance from a  tiny lens.  I guess size is not everything.  Another shot wide open and shows the somewhat busy and weird bokeh, but remember this is an enlarging lens, and not designed with great bokeh in mind:

Barbwire Fence -- NEX-5 & Federal 55mm f4.5 @ f4.5. Click to see larger.

The diminutive size makes it look very weird on the NEX-5, but the cheaper the lens is, the bigger the surprise when what you get is inversely proportional to what you paid.  Who says you can't get good quality from cheap lenses.

On the NEX-5 with focusing helicoid. click to see larger.

Fast Lenses -- How Do You Use Yours?

Mike Johnston has written an interesting article on f1.4 lenses.  I agree with most of what he says, especially that using fast lenses at their maximum aperture at all times is just silly.

I like fast lenses because they give me options to shoot at low light when using slower lenses is not possible to get the pictures I want. Sure, you can crank up the ISO to compensate, but as the light dims, there is only so much headroom you can get from ISO.  We all know that as the ISO increases, the image quality decreases.  Fast lenses allows me to shoot at lower ISO and still maintain sharpness with fast enough shutter speed.

Fast lenses are also made better, especially with modern lenses.  This was not really an issue in the past, when lenses were all made with longevity in mind.  If you compare an FL 50mm f1.8 and the FL 50mm f1.4, you will notice that they were practically made identically, except the optics, but you can already tell there is a difference between a New FD 50mm f1.8 and the New FD 50mm f1.2.  

Freedom of depth of field control is another benefit for fast lenses.  For many people, this is the major reason to buy fast lenses, but like everything else, there are situations where thin depth of field is not appropriate, and there are situations where creative use of thin depth of field can make your pictures stand out from the norm.

If you read my previous posts, you will see many pictures with very thin depth of field.  I like to isolate my main subject from background.  Looking at the pictures with very thin depth of field immediately tells you where the main subject of interest is.  The most interesting bokeh is usually at the widest aperture, and unfortunately, I am an incurable bokeh addict.  That's why I have so many pictures with thin depth of field.

The question comes down to this:  does it matter how you use your lens?  Absolutely not!  A lens is a creative tool.  If your creative vision is best expressed at f32 with an f1.4 lens, who's to say that's wrong?  The softness from diffraction limit combined with huge depth of field may create interesting pictures.  Of course you would argue why not just buy a cheap slow lens, but what if you want to shoot at f1.4 the next minute?  See, fast lenses give you a choice that a slow lens can't.

I am addicted to fast lenses.  It really is an expensive and unhealthy addiction, but I enjoy it nonetheless.  Some like fast cars, and I like fast lenses, and I use them anyway I like.

Hands -- NEX-5 & JML 50mm f0.95 @ f0.95. Click to see larger.

Wheel

Skateboard Wheel -- NEX-5 & Kodak Enlarging Ektar 100mm f4.5. Click to see larger.

Like the Kodak cine lenses, this enlarging lens also finished in beautiful chrome.  I tried it before on the Canon, and found that the image quality was OK, but not spectacular.  Not as good as the Rodenstock or Schneider equivalent.  But, it's a nicely made lens.  One of the things about enlarging lenses is that they don't seem to be very good with flare or side lights.  Finding a hood for them is more difficult than you think.  Hope I will get to use it more often on the NEX-5 and see what it can do.

Enchanted Garden

Enchanted Garden -- NEX-5 & Ilex 80mm f1.3. Click to see larger.

Another sample of the Ilex lens from Allen Gardens.  I do think that for some situations, this lens is quite alright, as long as the pictures don't require accurate colour and sharpness.  It does have its strong points in the flawed sort of way.  In fact, if not over used, it provides a bit of fresh air from pictures of today's highly corrected lenses.  Sometimes, we do need to do something different.