The Mystery Lens

I have a few lenses, naked, without any barrels.  I don't remember what the reason was for their unfortunate treatment, possibly due to mechanical issues.  One of them really caught my eye with its very nice coating, so I put it on a focus helicoid and gave it a try.

Short conclusion: average lens for bokeh, but very sharp stopped down.

The lens has very clean optics, and judging from the relatively large rear element, it's pretty certain the focal length is 50mm, with an aperture between f1.7 to f2.0.

It's too bad the bokeh doesn't excite me.  I was hoping for a better lens.  Oh well, at least it drove me out to take pictures :)

Lighting Fixture - wide open

Bokeh #1

Bokeh #2

View between two buildings - possibly f5.6

Voigtlander Voigtar 7.5cm f6.3 from Voigtlander Brilliant 6x6

I have been going to the St. Lawrence Antique Market for the last few Sundays. Some days, there is nothing interesting, but sometimes there are interesting stuff to be had, for a relatively cheap price. For someone like me, who likes to tinker with old stuff, it's a great pass time. From last week, the Voigtlander Brilliant 6x6cm "TLR" for $20.

The finder of the camera is very bright, hence "Brilliant" in the name, but I am more interested in the lens, which is easy to remove by unscrewing the retention ring; it can be put back just as easy. I found some parts that I can put together and mounted the lens on my Yeenon Helicoid.  Looks ridiculous, but works :)

Naturally, for a small aperture lens, it's only suitable for daytime picture taking, if you want to shoot handheld. The lens has its own focusing mechanism, and because I put the lens on a focusing helicoid, which allows me to focus very close if I use both focusing rings.

The lens turns out to be quite brilliant. Very pleasing rendering of pictures and nice bokeh, and it's also very sharp. The most surprising thing of all, especially when compared to its sister lens, the 8.3cm f4.5 Skopar, flare is well controlled if being careful. In fact, I didn't even use a hood for all the pictures below.

The greatest fun is making the lens to work with a modern digital camera, and the quality did not disappoint. Even if I only use this lens just once, it's worth the $20. How much fun can you buy for $20 these days :)

Love Lock - Sony A7 & Voigtlander Voigtar 7.5cm f6.3. Click for larger.

Art on spokes - Sony A7 & Voigtlander Voigtar 7.5cm f6.3. Click for larger.

Lunch Time - Sony A7 & Voigtlander Voigtar 7.5cm f6.3. Click for larger.

Marriage of old and new. Click for larger.

Canon FD 50mm f3.5 Macro

The 50mm f3.5 Macro lens is THE most popular macro lens ever made. It's cheap, and can double as a standard 50mm lens so a lot of people buy one of these to replace their 50mm f1.8/f2.0 lens that came with the camera. Practically all of them has a 1:2 magnification ratio and they usually came with an extension tube to make the lens capable of 1:1 (life-size) macro shots. Perhaps because of the abundance of these lenses in the used market, they are extremely cheap, usually in the $50-$80 range for a very good condition copy. Naturally, when some people look at it with such low price, they automatically discount the lens as of low quality, or lens snobs who wouldn't look at lenses with an aperture of slower than f2, especially for a 50mm lens :)

I looked at the Minolta version of this lens here, and here, and I liked it a lot, especially when it's so cheap. Last week I got my hands on a like-new Canon nFD 50mm f3.5 Macro, complete with 1:1 matching tube. Leica Guru Erwin Puts has good things to say about this particular lens (can't find the article on his site anymore), so I was itching to try it myself. I was not disappointed.

If you are not a fast lens freak, you will love this lens. Extremely sharp even from maximum aperture of f3.5, and stopping down a little the sharpness will make your eye bleed :) and it's sharp across the whole frame. Very high resolution.  At infinity, the sharpness drops a bit, but still excellent.

I find this a very versatile lens to have around. The focal length is comfortable to shoot with, and because it's usable wide open, there really is no restriction except if you need very shallow depth of field. It's worthy of a spot on your lens shelf.

All pictures below were taken with the Sony A7 and Canon nFD 50mm f3.5.

Air Ministry 5 Inch f4 Shoots Distillery District

One of the nice things about working downtown Toronto is that there are lots of interesting places within a few minutes of biking. The Distillery District is one of the more interesting places, which I visit once in a while. I rode my bike there this afternoon during lunch time and had lots of fun shooting with one of my favourite lenses: Air Ministry 5 Inch f4 on the Sony A7. This lens was used on the 5D Mark II a couple of times, but it was such a hassle focusing through the optical viewfinder, and the Live-View wasn't as easy to use as mirrorless cameras so I gave up on the 5D II.

The lens works great on the Sony A7. I simply adore how it renders the pictures. Amazing for a lens that's more than half a century old and without coating on the glass. The pictures look smooth as silk and none of the harshness of most modern lenses. The bokeh is simply delicious and pleasing.

If you find one cheap, take it and you won't regret it.

All pictures below were shot using the Sony A7 and A.M 5 Inch f4:

Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL - A Photo Set

It occurred to me today that the Distillery District is just about 5 minutes of bike ride from my work. Since I hadn't been there for many months, I thought it would be nice to visit it again. That was what I did on my lunch time. It was a nice departure from all the modern buildings and lake around the work area, and see something old and historical. I only had time to stroll through part of the place, and I will be going back to visit the rest next week to do some more shooting.

Around the bend - Sony NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL. Click for larger.

Wooden Wheel - Sony NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL. Click for larger.

Bokeh - Sony NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL. 

Back to school - Sony NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL.

The Guitar Player and His Fan

Faithful Listener -- NEX-5N & Meyer-Optik Primoplan 58mm f1.9 M42

This guitarist has been playing at the Distillery District for a number of years.  I don't think he does it for money.  I think he just likes player there for his own and other's enjoyment.  I first saw him in 2009 and took a picture of him with my 1D III and Carl Zeiss Contax 60mm f2.8 Makro.  He plays beautiful music.

One More Samples from Vivitar 28mm f2.5 [MD]

Shadows -- NEX-5N & Vivitar 28mm f2.5 [MD]

I think that quite often many people just ignore lenses that are priced very low in the market, thinking that low price equal low quality.  This is not always the case, especially with older manual focus lenses.  The Vivitars, Soligors, Hanimex, Spiratones, Makinons, etc, all have some quite competent lenses.  Of course, not all of them are great, but many are very good value for the money.

Vivitar 28mm f2.5 [MD] Sample Images

There are quite a few variations of the Vivitar 28mm f2.5, and from different OEMs for most mounts.  The common one is the Kiron version (serial starts with 22) with a 62mm filter size.  The one I have is all metal and quite large for a 28mm lens.  It's half a stop faster than the f2.8 version.  The lens is very well made and focuses very smoothly.

Art -- NEX-5N & Vivitar 28mm f2.5 [MD].  Click for larger.

The lens is a bit soft at f2.5, but sharpens up nicely after f4.  I find it very enjoyable to use, as the focusing ring is very large and easy to turn.  Definitely a consideration if you are looking for a mini-wide angle lens that doesn't cost you a lot of money.

Clocks at Distillery District -- NEX-5N & Vivitar 28mm f2.5 [MD]

Are We Spoiled?

A Walk at Distillery District -- Panasonic G1 & Kodak Anastigmat 102mm f2.7 Cine Lens.

Since my NEX-5 is still at Sony for LCD screen replacement, I have been using the Panny G1 that I have been neglected for a long while.  This is a love-hate camera for me.  Love the ergonomic of the G1; its flip screen, handling, and most of all, the EVF.  But, it's a relatively noisy camera above ISO 400, compared to the 5D, 1D II, or even the Sony NEX.  Perhaps, I have been spoiled.

More than ten years ago, when I got my first digital, the 3.2 MP Canon G1, it was hailed as the camera with the cleanest images in its class.  DPReview called it silky smooth noisy free at ISO 50.  But, when I look back at the RAW images I captured, ISO 50 on the G1 is at best as good as ISO 400 on my 1D III, and ISO 200 was barely usable.  Advancements in sensor technology just make us crave better and better image quality, forgetting what the images (noise) used to be like before.

So yes, I think I am spoiled.

Nuit Blanche 2010 Toronto

Today is the annual Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night) in Toronto.  Since 2006, the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche annual event has drawn hundreds of thousands of people from Toronto and surrounding cities each year.  It's a night of event that showcases artwork all around Toronto from dusk to dawn.  Most major art galleries, and art venues are open to the public, free of charge.

This event is perfect for photo opportunities.  Many photography buffs are out all night photographing.  This year is the first time that I actually headed out, partly because CubeWorks in the Distillery District was finishing up it's world's largest piece of artwork made of cubes, and Dillon, as well as few other speed cubers, had been helping to create this artwork for the last few weeks.  The Daily Planet show from Discovery Channel was there to film its completion.  In fact, they installed time-lapse cameras at the studio from the beginning.  The artwork, "The Hand of God" was made up of 12,090 cubes and took months by the speed cubers to complete.  It's an amazing feast, and hard to imagine until you see it.  It's being displayed at building #4 in the Distillery District if you are interested to see it.

The last panel completed -- 1D IIn & EF 16-35mm f2.8 II. Click to enlarge.

Completed "The Hand of God" -- 1D IIn & EF 16-35mm f2.8L II. Click to enlarge.

Part of Nuit Blanche -- 1D IIn & EF 16-35mm f2.8L II. Click to enlarge.

Saxophone Player -- 1D IIn & EF 16-35mm f2.8L II. click to enlarge.

Taking a Picture at the Distillery District

Picture taking at the Distillery District -- Canon T2i & Vivitar Series-1 28mm f1.9.