Car Dealership at Night

Car Dealership -- NEX-5 & Vivitar 24mm f2.0. Click to see larger.

I have always had a soft spot for old Vivitar lenses.  They designed some of the more unique lenses.  Some of them, like the Series-1 28mm f1.9, and 35-85mm f2.8 variable focusing, are one of a kind at that time.  It also produced at least two versions of the 24mm f2.0.  One was produced by Kiron with a 55mm filter size, and the other with a 49mm filter size, probably was made by Komine.  I have used both of them and prefer the Kiron version.  You can see some of the pictures I took with the Olympus OM mount Kiron 24mm f2 on the 5D here, and the 49mm filter size version here.

Sunset in the City

Sunset -- Panasonic G1 & Cine Kodak 3 inch f4.5

I think the one feature I missed the most in the NEX-5 is the view finder.  It just does not feel natural to me taking pictures without the view finder, not to mention very hard to get critical focus.  The G1 series of cameras are still one of the best for manual focus lens.

Tried out the tiny Cine Kodak 3 inch (75mm) f4.5 c-mount lens.  I mean it's really small for a 75mm lens but, like all the Kodak cine lenses I have, it never disappoints in the optical department.  On the G1 it has a bit of vignette with the hood on at infinity.  Not a low light lens, but a good lens.

The Home Show

Direct Energy Center -- NEX-5 & Vivitar 24mm f2.0. click to see larger.

Went to the home show yesterday for the first time and it was one huge sales floor of all kinds of stuff.  Not what I had expected.  Our real estate agent sent us couple of passes so we didn't have to pay.  I don't know why would pay $16 to get in there just to buy stuff.

Having fun with the DIY Lens

It's amazing how much fun you could have using a simple yet weird home made lens, both making it, and using it.  It's liberating, because you don't have to worry about scratching it, dropping it, or damaging it in any way.  The results is weird and unpredictable at times, but 100% fun.

3D balls? - NEX-5 & Reflex Zoom 9-28mm f1.1 Front element. Click to see larger.

Antique Table -- NEX-5 & Reflex Zoom 9-28mm f1.1 Front Element. Click to see larger.

Taylor Hobson Ortal 3 inch 75mm f2 TV Lens Sample

This lens, without modification, can not be used on DSLRs and achieve infinity focus, even on the Sony NEX, it's tough to get it to work, because the flange is so short.  It was designed as a TV lens with fixed mount.  I have been dying to to try it, but without much success.

I was tinkering with adding aperture control to the projection lens, and looking for some adapters, and found that I had a Series 8 to Series 7 step down ring.  This ring fits almost perfectly to the mount of the Ortal 75mm f2 lens.  Eventually, the ring was fixed to the mount, and with a Series 7 to 55mm stop-down ring, I was able to add four 55mm filter rings to make an extension tube that allows me to focus the lens to about five feet, just long enough for some portraiture samples.  I could add/remove rings to make it focus further/closer.  This is the best solution so far until I get my hands on a very thin focusing helicoid.

A word about the C-Mount to NEX adapter I got.  Whoever designed this put a lot of though into it.  The center of the adapter has a 42mm thread size.  This has many uses.  You can attach an M42 lens directly to the adapter, or, I guess the original purpose, is to allow one to attach a focusing helicoid with M42 mount on it.  The surprise, is that the outer ring of the adapter.  It has a 55mm thread size.  I don't know what the reason for this was, but it was perfect for me, as I can attach the Ortal 75mm f2 lens with the filter rings directly on it.

All this means that I can take pictures with the lens with a fixed focus range, and I have to move the camera back and forth to focus.  Pain in the neck, but pictures can be taken.

Taylor-Hobson Ortal 75mm f2 TV Lens mounted on the NEX-5. Click to see larger.

The ugly beast

Megan, my favourite model - NEX-5 & Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens. @ f2.8 

Jesse Ashbridge House

Jesse Ashbridge House, built in 1854 -- NEX-5 & Pentax-K 28mm f3.5. Click to see larger.

I think I wrote many times that I love the small and beautiful early Pentax lenses, especially their screw mount version.  This bayonet K-mount 28mm f3.5, probably inherits the same design as the M42 SMC Takumar 28mm f3.5, but has a 52mm filter size, versus the 49mm of the M42 version.  It's also quite a bit larger.  Both of them have exceptionally sharp optics.  I also used the SMC-A version of the 28mm f2.8, but prefer this lens.  It's sharper, better made, focuses silky smooth like the M42 Takumars.

Old Window

Toy in old window - NEX-5 & Voigtlander Skopar 8.3cm f4.5 

The weather has finally turned warmer.  A nice balmy day above the freezing point!  Took my long neglected Voigtlander Anastigmat Skopar 8.3cm f4.5 around my workplace and took some snap shots.  Still have not resolved the hazy problem with the lens, but some pictures did turn out OK, like this one, which you don't see much of the hazy effect.  It still amazes me that a lens around 80 years old can still produce pictures like this.  

Anything Goes

Ever since I made my home brew focusing helicoid, I have been having a lot of fun.  The only problem is that finding ways to attach the weird, non-standard sized lenses to the helicoid.  After some experimentation and hair pulling, I found two things that help a lot.

Black electrical tape -- The purpose of the helicoid is to allow lenses to be attached to it for temporary use, so we don't want any permanent attachments.  Electrical tape seems to works really well.  It leaves no sticky glue/residue after you peel it off, and fixes lenses/tubes in place really well.  Due to its slightly flexible nature, the electrical tape may allow a small amount of play if it's not stretched tightly when applied.

Wide Elastic Bands -- The best ones I found are those from Broccoli bunches.  They are strong, and wide, not to mention that they come in different colours!  This is useful when you need to slightly enlarge the lens barrel so that it stays inside the focusing helicoid, as you can see from the picture below.  The front element of this Agfa Variogon 9-30mm f1.8 is too thin to be secured in the helicoid.  I wrap three bands on top of one another, and it fits like a glove and stays put.  If you want more security, you can put more electrical tapes on top. 

I know, these are stupid solutions and will likely degrade the optical quality of the lenses since centering as well as flatness to sensor can not be garranteed.  But it works well for non-critical stuff like soft focus lenses.  Sometimes, it's better to be able to take pictures than no pictures.  Besides, there is a big fun factor here to "create" your own lens.

If you have some good technics or ideas, I would love to hear from you.

The band-aid solution. Click to see larger.

 

Flying birds -- NEX-5 & Agfa Variogon 9-30mm f1.8 front element.

Streetcar -- NEX-5 & Agfa Variogon 9-30mm f1.8 front element. Click to see larger.

Happy Valentine Day

执子之手，与子偕老 -- NEX-5 & Konica AR 135mm f2.5. Click to enlarge.

Whenever I see old people seem so in love, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Living with someone day in and day out is not easy, since no one is perfect; living with someone all your life and still in love, takes courage, commitment, and the original promise to love each other until death do them apart.  Happy valentine's day!

Konica Hexanon AR 35mm f2.8

I wrote a bit about this lens in my LiveJournal blog before I switched to Bloger.  Haven't used it much after that because the 4/3 to Micro 4/3 adapter was sold and the Konica lense can no longer be used on the G1.  For those who may not know, the Konica AR lenses have about the same mount/lens register as the 4/3 mount.  If you remove the aperture lever, you can mount the lens directly on 4/3 cameras, though you need to shim it to make it tight.

Again, more yard sales trying to get rid of the Konica lenses have failed, so I am stuck with a dozen or so lenses in AR mount.  Perhaps it's a sign that I should keep them, because most of them are really good lenes, including the 35mm f2.8.

Like most older lenses, this one was made entirely of metal and glass.  Needless to say, it's well made and feels great in the hand.  The coating of the front element does not seem like it's multi-coated, so a hood should really be used to minimize flare and increase contrast.  I have a matching rectangular Konica metal hood that makes this lens look gorgeous.

Image quality does not disappoint.  No, it's not a Leia-R 35mm f2, but once you stop it down to f5.6-f8, you will be hard pressed to see a difference, though the Leica has nicer colour rendition and better micro contrast.  I doubt you can tell in print though.  Let's just say that it's a good lens that produces good results.  For a manual focus lens, the feel of the lens has a lot to do with the pleasure of taking pictures.  Sure it doesn't improve the optical quality, but the process of taking pictures is at least half of the fun, so the feel of quality is important.  This is not as nice as the Takumars, but darn close. What stands out, though, is the price.  Konica lenses are still undervalued and cheap.  In most cases, for the price of a good lunch, you could get this lens in great condition, but the matching hood is much harder to find.

There are still a lot of Konica lenses out there.  Adapters for the Micro 4/3 and NEX to Konica lenses are now very cheap.  It's a good time to get your hands on some before the prices go up.

Three is a crowd -- G1 & Konica 35mm f2.8. Click to see larger.

Megan -- NEX-5 & Konica 35mm f2.8 @ f2.8.