Koristka Salex Anastigmat 5 2/5 Inch f4.5 - Weird and Wonderous

I did some search on the web, but couldn't really find much information on this particular lens.  A lot of references of Koristka are on microscopes and binoculars.  In any case, it was quite easy to mount this lens on some tubes and focusing helicoid (two in fact, I will have a post on this later) to get the lens to focus to about 0.5 meters.  Normally, lenses like this have very long minimum focus distance.

When I first tested this lens, my first impression was that it's very soft, so soft in fact, that I think it might have been designed as a soft focus lens.  But I decided to go to Allen Garden to give it a go yesterday.  Unfortunately I was there about 35 minutes before it was closed and the light was fading fast, I had to shoot at high ISOs.

Koristka Salex Anastigmat 5 2/5 inch f4.5 with its own shutter and in exceptionally good shape.

As it turned out, this old Italian lens, though soft, has its charms.  It renders pictures with some very unique characters.  Yes, it's soft wide open, but it's so pleasing to look at, unlike the soft focus lenses that use uncorrected lens aberrations to achieve softness, which in most cases make the colours go wonky; this lens produces some of the most beautiful colours I have seen in an old lens. I think it will make a wonderful portrait lens.  Hopefully I will be able to take some portraits with it soon.

Blue, Pink and Yellow - Sony A7 & Koristka Salex Anastigmat 5 2/5 inch f4.5

Soft and Pretty  - Sony A7 & Koristka Salex Anastigmat 5 2/5 inch f4.5

Pomelo, shot through a pane of glass  - Sony A7 & Koristka Salex Anastigmat 5 2/5 inch f4.5

Canon nFD 50mm f1.2 - A Couple of Low Light Samples

There are many versions of the Canon manual focus lenses that have the f1.2 maximum aperture.  I have the FL 58mm f1.2, FL 55mm f1.2, FD 55mm f1.2 and the New FD 50mm f1.2.  The later versions of the lens are optically better.  The nFD 50mm f1.2 is slightly better than the old FD 55mm f1.2 S.S.C in wide apertures, but the nFD version is much smaller and lighter with a 52mm filter thread versus the FD 55mm f1.2's 58mm.

The nFD 50mm f1.2 is what I have been using.  Love its superb optics and the small size and well built quality.  It's a lens great in day time but designed for, and excels at, low light situations.  Of the couple dozen or so lenses in the 50mm focal length, this is the lens I like to use the most in recent times.  Wish I could get my hands on a nFD 50mm f1.2L or the 55mm f1.2 Aspherical.  Those two should be even better optically, but I have never used them, unfortunately.  

Allen Gardens at night - NEX-6 & Canon nFD 50mm f1.2 @ f1.4, ISO 3200. Click for larger.

Lamp Post - NEX-6 & nFD 50mm f1.2 @ f1.4, ISO 1600

Allen Gardens -- Winter 2012

Bugs -- NEX-5N & Kodak Anastigmat 50mm f1.6 Cine Lens.

Sally bought brand new Canon T3i for Christmas.  I must say it's a really nice camera.  The swivel screen is probably the best improvement from the T2i that I had last year.  I thought it was time to see some colours instead of all the gray and bare tree branches outside. Along with Dillon, we went to Allen Gardens and did some shooting.  I brought my 1D III with the EF 180mm f3.5 macro lens, as well as the NEX-5N and a few lenses.  Ended up shooting mostly with the NEX-5N.  If it was not for the occasional fast action shots for my kids' sports, I wouldn't even need this camera.  A light full frame and the small pocketable camera like the NEX will probably satisfy me.

Unknown Flower -- Sony NEX-5N & Kifitt 90mm f2.8 Makro

I find it more fun and relaxing using small and light gear.  The Kodak Anastigmat 50mm f1.6 Cine lens and the Zoomar Kilfitt 90mm f2.8 Makro were two lenses that I used.  Strictly speaking, the Kodak is not really a macro lens, but has the close focusing feature which I really like.  It's insanely sharp, but unfortunately has the swirling effects when shot wide open at moderate distance.  At macro range, the swirling is not really visible.  The Zoomar Kilfitt 90mm f2.8 Makro is one of my favourite macro lenses.  It's very low contrast at large apertures renders the pictures with dreamy but not unsharp quality, but when stopped down, it's very sharp.  The wide apertures are perfect for portraiture.  The Kilfitt is one of those lenses that I likely will never sell.

Communication -- NEX-5N & Kodak Anastigmat 50mm f1.6 Cine Lens.