Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 85mm f1.7 - First Impression

Rusty old Dodge Suspension -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC Rokkor-pf 85mm f1.7. Click for larger.

Bought this lens few weeks ago at the camera show, along with a Carsen-Polaris 85mm f1.7, which has a stuck aperture.  These two lenses share some similarities: same maximum aperture, same great build quality, about the same size, similar coating, similar minimum focusing distance.

Generally, 85mm lenses have a pretty long minimum focusing distance at around a meter (or 3 ft), so it's not really a good lens for close ups, but this focal length is not intended to be used for this purpose.  After all, it's a portrait lens.  The sad thing is that none of my kids wants me to take their pictures any more, so I haven't taken any pictures of people.  I will have to snick a picture or two later on when they don't notice.

Broken -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC 85mm f1.7 @ f1.7. Click for larger.

Image quality -- so far I am quite happy with it.  Usable wide open and as with most lenses, sharpness and contrast improve with the aperture stopping down a little.  I am no longer a pixel peeper; there is more to image quality than just sharpness.  It's the sum of all aspects that makes the lens unique, not just sharpness.  This lens has only six aperture blades, but the bokeh looks quite nice, even when shot at f2.8 or smaller.

Bokeh -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC 85mm f1.7. Click for larger.

Personally, I don't think there is too much difference between this lens, and the Takumar SMC 85mm f1.8, except the Takumar feels nicer both focusing and holding in hand, and more expensive than the Minolta.  Will do a comparison if time permits.

Wheel -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC 85mm f1.7.

Lift It Up

Reflection -- NEX-5 & Angenieux 75mm f2.5.

I have never seen so much building constructions around Toronto.  Everywhere you look, especially downtown Toronto, huge cranes are everywhere.  Everyone is saying the economy  is not doing well, but buildings keep getting built.  I sure hope things are better what everyone says.

The Bargain that Rewards You

Quite often, we are blindsided by the promises of great optical quality by expensive lenses, and overlooked the bargains under our noses that are almost as good.  I am not saying more expensive lenses are not better, they often are, but do you get 100% better quality at 3 times the price?  I don't think so.  I am not a lens snob.  I use whatever that makes me happy.  In fact, I use more cheap lenses more often than expensive lenses.

Wide Open -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 55mm f1.7. Click to see larger.

So what bargain are we talking about?  The Minolta MC Rokkor 55mm f1.7.  Truly this lens can be had for the cost of a lunch, very often at around $10 to $15.  This lens is all metal made, like the MC Rokkor-PF 58mm f1.2, MC Rokkor-PF 85mm f1.7, all of the MC Rokkors share the same great built quality.

Sharp as a knife @ f5.6 -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 55mm f1.7. Click to see larger.

These Minolta manual focus 50mm f1.7 lenses are often over looked.  Partly because they really can't be used on other DSLRs without special mount adapters to make them focus to infinity.  But it's not a problem for Micro 4/3 and Sony NEX (and Samsung NX series) cameras.  I am sure they will go up in price once people find out how good they are.

Woman in red -- NEX-5 & Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 55mm f1.7 @ f8.

Really, optically, this lens is no worse than a modern 50mm f1.8, maybe except the flare control is not as good as the modern counterpart, but the built quality more than makes up for that.  If you have a Micro 4/3 or Sony NEX camera, try one.  Guaranteed you won't be disappointed.

The Three Brewers

The 3 Brewers -- NEX-5 & Meyer-Optik Primoplan 58mm f1.9. 

The best thing about working downtown, is that there are so many photo opportunities.  I could take a walk in my lunch hours, and come back with at least a couple of view-able images.  I ventured out further than normal this afternoon, to Dundas Square.  Very busy place.  A transformation that's much more lively than those old run-downs stores at the corner of Yonge & Dundas a decade ago.  Very good move on the part of the government to revitalize downtown Toronto.

The Cost of Mistakes

Photography is expensive in many ways.  Not the least is the cost of mistakes.  I have my share of costly mistakes, and most of them were made because of not knowing enough.  Case in point, Kern-Paillard (Bolex) c-mount lenses.  Obviously, there are at least two versions of their lenses that I didn't know of: the AR and RX.  I have two AR lenses which won't focus to infinity.

Wide Open -- NEX-5 & Switar 50mm f1.4 @ f1.4.  Click for larger.

Both AR and RX are c-mount lenses.  You would think that a c-mount lens is a c-mount lens.  It's a standard, right?   Well, if everyone makes everything to the exact standard, the world will be a much nicer place.  Alas, the AR and RX lenses share the same mount, but different lens to film register.  My Switar 50mm f1.4 can focus to about 3 meters wide open, and the Switar 25mm f1.5 is about the same.  They are still usable, just not to infinity.  Until someone makes a special c-mount to accommodate the difference, these AR lenses will be much less useful than they really should be.

Another one wide open -- NEX-5 & Switar 50mm f1.4. Click to see larger.

I wouldn't feel so bad if these lenses are mediocre, but they are nice little lenses, especially the 50mm f1.4.  I really like the bokeh of this lens, although it may be a bit weird to some.  The image quality reminds me of the Switar 25mm f1.4 RX that I used to have, and still regret to this day that I sold it.  The 25mm f1.4 has very severe vignetting even on the Panasonic G1, but the 50mm f1.4 has only very slight vignetting on the NEX-5.

Re-post, because this is one of my fav -- NEX-5 & Switar 50mm f1.4. Click for larger.

I am sure I will continue to make this kinds of mistakes in the future.  There are just so much that I don't know.  Was it Socrates that said  "The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know"?  Well, that about sums it all up.

Green Car

Green car -- NEX-5 & Tokina 24mm f2.8 (M42). Click for larger.

I have been shooting almost everyday and my storage is becoming a problem.  Shooting RAW makes things worse.  So I decided to get another 2-Terabyte drive for my Drobo to release the pressing situation.  I took a walk to the computer shops on College & Spadina.  One of the best things about working and living downtown is that everything is so conveniently within close reach, even within walking distance.  On my way home, I went through Kensington Market, which is an interesting place favored by many bargain hunters and those looking unique stuff.  One thing is for sure, it's different!  Just look at the car in the picture.  It's used to grow trees and other plants.

Ontario Place

Ontario Place celebrates its 40th birthday this year (2011).  Opened to the public in 1971, Ontario Place was one of the largest tourist attractions in Ontario.  The trade mark Cinesphere which houses North America's first permanent installation of the IMAX theatre.  When I was in awe the first time I saw a film on it.  It was totally awesome.  Ontario Place attracted a lot of visitors in the first few years of operation.  But time matches on, and things changed.  Ontario Place hasn't kept up with the change of time and in 40 years except the price of entry which kept going up.  It basically looks the same and only minor changes in 40 years.  To celebrate it's 40th anniversary, Ontario Place has free admission all summer, but you still have to pay for all the rides.

Cinesphere with IMAX Theater -- NEX-5 with Kit zoom lens. Click to see larger

We visit Ontario Place pretty much each summer and last year we bought a summer pass for each member of the family.  We visited it again today, but the older boys already find it too boring. I don't believe we will be visiting it often unless there are major changes.  It's a shame, as I really do like it.  It's very well designed, just not enough to attract people back often.

Closing for the day -- NEX-5 & Kit zoom lens. Click to see larger.

As of today, many of the attractions, rides were removed or not working.  They are starting a face lift, but we will see how much.

View of Downtown Toronto. NEX-5 & Kit zoom Lens. Click to see larger.

In previous years, I would carry my 1D II or 5D or 30D or whatever current Canon camera I had, and a 70-200mm f2.8, 100-400mm zoom lens, plus a few primes.  It was murderous.  The last two years, I brought only a kid lens and a couple of small wide angle primes.  It was just as well.  Today, I used mostly the 18-55 kit lens, and occasionally the 16mm pancake, and only a few pictures with the Leica-R 35mm f2.  My only complain about the kit lens (and the 16mm pancake) is that the distortion is horrible, especially on the wide end for the zoom.  I find the sharpness quite acceptable for both lenses.  This is true for the Canon 18-55mm IS kit lens as well.  I guess we can not expect too much from a cheap lens.  What they offer is already pretty good for the price.

The Marina -- NEX-5 & Kit zoom lens. 

Tommy Thompson Park - June 2011

Went to Tommy Thompson Park with Dillon and my good friend Cliff this morning for a shoot.  Unfortunately we didn't go early enough to catch the sunrise. But it was fun.  Decided to go light so didn't take my 1D IIn, and instead, took along the NEX-5 and a few manual focus lenses, including the Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8 which I have not touched for a little while now.

Lots of birds in Tommy Thompson Park, and we didn't even go to the spot was migratory birds reside. You can actually see more birds on trees than trees there.  Shot some random birds from the main road.  They don't seem to be afraid of people until you get really close.

NEX-5 & Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8. Click to see larger. 

I really like how the Kinoptik lens renders the pictures.  Very pleasing to look at.  But, is it really worth that much money that people are paying for Kinoptik lenses?  I have my doubts.  But, when it comes to lenses, especially niche cine lenses, people seems to become irrational.  I am happy I was able to get most of my lenses relatively cheap, before the crazy price that people now pay.  My motto is that fun is gone if your wallet hurts when it comes to photography.  Enjoy within your limits.

Wide Open -- NEX-5 & Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8. Click to see larger. 

Fortunately, there are so many alternatives to have fun with photography, and often you don't really need to spend too much money either.  Making your own lenses from projection and enlarging lenses certainly is one of the cheap but very rewarding hobbies, and you don't even need any specialized tools!  Seriously, if I could do it, anyone could.  I am not known to be very mechanically inclined and most often am all thumbs.  For people like me, we just need persistence to build up the skills.  Really, they don't even need to look nice, just need to be able to take pictures!

Reborn -- NEX-5 & Astro-Kino 65mm f1.5 Projection Lens. Click to see larger.

My suggestion is to go to used photo equipment shows.  There are at least two of them each year in Toronto and Montreal.  If you have nothing to do on the weekend, shop the second hand stores, sometimes you will be surprised what you can find.

Snail -- NEX-5 & Astro-Kino 65mm f1.5 Projection Lens. Click to see larger.

Birns & Sawyer Omintar 150mm f3 -- More Samples

Bokeh -- NEX-5 & Birns & Sawyer Omnitar 150mm f3. Click for larger.

For a relatively fast lens (150mm f3), the Birns & Sawyer Omnitar is actually quite lightweight and small.  Being able to cover 35mm full frame, this is pretty amazing.  But, I believe it was designed as a 16mm movie lens, as the corners are terrible, even stopped down.

Stopping down to around f5.6. Click to see larger

Even with the coating getting disintegrated and looks fuzzy on the glass, the sharpness and contrast is exceptional in the center.  I set out to try the bokeh as I didn't have any picture from it that shows the out of focus background in relatively large aperture.  I am quite happy to find that the bokeh is very pleasing.

This picture was taken at f4. Note the round aperture blades and sharpness. Click to see more details.

It does exhibit very strong purple fringing.  Totally expected from a lens this old.  Stopping down eliminates it though, or use software to get rid of it.

Abandoned Chair. Click to see the purple fringing on the wire rack.

I think this lens will be great for video, as it was meant for.  Too bad I don't do video, but I enjoy it for the still pictures.  A nice change from the garden variety Japanese lenses.

Glow

NEX-5 & Birns & Saywer 150mm f3 Cine lens.

Haven't used this Birns & Sawyer lens much.  It was originally in Arriflex mount and I converted it to Nikon F mount. It's usable on Nikon, Canon and of course NEX.  I actually like it quite a bit on full frame.  The soft edges give a surreal affect on the images.  The coating on this lens is very soft, so if you own this lens, care should be exercised not to clean it too hard, or the coating will come off, or worse, becomes smudge-like and doesn't come off.  Mine is like that -- the coat has integrated, but sharpness of the lens in the center is still amazing. It has quite nice bokeh too.  Most movie lenses do have very pleasing bokeh.  Not a common lens for sure.