Omnitar Brother Found

Birns & Sawyer Omnitar 200mm f3.2 (left), 150mm f3 (right) Movie Lenses

While waiting for the wife, I strolled around the pawnshop strip on Queen & Church.  I saw a Canon EF 50mm f1.8 Mark I (metal mount) on the window of one of the shops for $60, and thought that's a pretty good price.  Went inside and took a look, but didn't bring my Canon body to test, but bought it anyway.  While paying, I noticed this black, odd looking lens strikingly similar to my Birns & Sawyer Omnitar 150mm f3, which I write about it here, and asked to have a look. Sure enough, it's an Omnitar 200mm f3.2, in gorgeous condition.  Ended up buying the pair for a $100, which I think is a pretty good deal.  Not sure what mount the Omnitar 200mm f3.2 is, but it doesn't matter.  I will have to modify it anyway, somehow, like I did with the 150mm f3 (Nikon mount).

After I got home and put the 50mm f1.8 on my 1D III, and it didn't auto focus.  Turned out the contacts were a bit dirty.  Cleaned it up and it now works beautifully.  This lens is also in excellent shape.  I will give this lens to Dillon, who has been using my Sigma 50mm f1.4 and he didn't feel comfortable using an expensive lens.  Now he can take the lens/camera anywhere without worrying about it.

If the Omnitar 200mm f3.2 turns out to be as good as the 150mm f3, I will be extremely happy, especially if the edges are better, which I think it will be since the focal length is longer.  These lenses were designed for 16mm movies and have some unique looks to the pictures.  Wonder who actually made them, though.

[Updated]: It turns out the lenses were made by Tewe, a German company that made long lenses for motion picture.  On the lens barrel of the 200mm f3.2, it has the Tewe logo.

Olympus OM-D E-M5: The Best M4/3 Camera Yet?

Ever since the rumor mill churned out the news of the Olympus OM-D E-M5, the Micro 4/3 crowd has gone gaga over its capabilities.  Even many people who currently don't own any M4/3 stuff got their interest on it.  Will it live up to the hype?

The specs certainly looks pretty good: world's faster AF, claimed Olympus.  That's a big claim especially for contrast detect AF.  From the promotional video, it really does look impressive.  For me, though, this will be less important than for others, simply because I would be using manual focus lenses on it most of the time! Among the many features of the E-M5, which I don't care much, the 5-axis image stabilization interests me the most.  I am happy with the NEX-5N, except the lack of a built-in viewfinder, and no body IS.  If it is as effective as Olympus claims, I would be VERY interested and may even get one, so far the image quality is also as good as claimed, or close the what the NEX-5N is.

But, the long waited 5D II replacement will be announced early next week, and the specs are also impressive, but the price is more than three times higher than the E-M5.  I have been patiently waiting for the full frame body (Canon) to come down in price, so that I can  buy one and  be done with body upgrade for the next few years with my 1D III and 5D II/III.  Choices are painful, especially when you can't go wrong with any of them.  I eagerly await Canon's new affordable full frame.  Exciting times when there are so many new cameras being announced, and also painful times when my upgrade fund is limited.

Tilted Lamp -- NEX-5N & Minolta RF Rokkor-X 250mm f5.6.

Graffiti Alley Toronto

Just a couple of blocks away from my work place, is the [in]famous Graffiti Alley in Toronto.  Basically, pretty much all of the walls in that alley is covered by graffiti.  No, it is not vandalism.  Graffiti artists are actually encouraged to do their art there.

Will you marry me -- NEX-5N & Vivitar 24mm f2 OM Mount.

I have been there a few times, but I find that most of them are not sufficiently different to be interesting.  In other words, there aren't that many interesting ones that I like, possibly because I don't know graffiti art, but that's my opinion.  But, if you have never been there, it's quite an intriguing place to visit for the first time.

Graffiti building -- NEX-5N & Vivitar 24mm f2 OM Mount

One thing I didn't mention about the Vivitar/Kiron 24mm f2 lens, is that the bokeh is not very nice, at least not to my liking.  In some ways, it slightly resembles the Vivitar 35mm f1.9 wide open.  But, this lens is definitely very sharp when stopped down to around f4 to f11.  Even at f2.8 it's excellent.

Ugly bokeh?  -- NEX-5N & Vivitar 24mm f2 @ f2

My Favourite Manual Focus Wide Primes - Part II

Yesterday I wrote about the wider lenses that I have used and like, and I forgot to mention that the Olympus 24mm f2.8, which is also an excellent lens worth considering. Today, we are going to talk about the 28mm and 35mm lenses.

28mm and 35mm are very common focal lengths in the olden days.  Partly because these are comfortable focal lengths for most people.  Anything wider and it becomes difficult to control.  Also, they are relatively easy and cheap to make, for most of them.

For the 28mm, my favourite is the Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit.  As with all Leica lenses, it's very well made.  The only concern I have with this lens, is that one version of it has the pins on the lens where the hood attaches to, and these two pins are easy to become loose and comes off with use.  I had one like that, and the hood can no longer be attached.  The do not remove the hood on the one I have now.  The lens is optically very good and I love the colours from this lens. The only complain about it is the pretty severe vignette wide open.  The other favourite 28mm is the Pentax original K-Mount 28mm f3.5, whose design was derived from the famous and popular Takumar 28mm f3.5.  Compact and sharp, and focuses so smoothly that in itself, is a joy.

The 35mm focal length is a bit tough, simply because I have so many of them and I also like many of them.  I wrote about them here before, and I will reuse the picture below:

Fast 35s

My favourite is still the Leica-R 35mm f2.  This is a lens that never fails me in giving me pictures that I like.  The colour and contrast of this lens is so pleasing to my eyes.  The other 35mm lenses I like a lot is the Minolta MC 35mm f1.8 and the Olympus 35mm f2, in that order.  I kind of regretted selling the MC 35mm f1.8.  Really should have kept it.  In the list above, I still have all of them except the Nikon 35mm f1.4. I got rid of it since I didn't like it much.  The first lens on the list is the Takumar SMC 35mm f2 which I traded for the OM 35mm f2 from Adam.  I like the OM better than the Tak, although the Takumar 35/2 is harder to find.

There are so many fine lenses in the 28mm and 35mm that are very good.  If you just started with manual focus lenses, I would suggest something cheap, like a Vivitar, Soligor, Minolta or even some less known third party marque like Makinon, which sells next to nothing, but many of them are surprisingly good.

My Favourite Manual Focus Wide Primes - Part I

A few of my readers have asked me to recommend lenses for their cameras, but unfortunately, lenses are like everything else: one man's junk lens is another's treasure, so it's kind of difficult to recommend lenses.  So, I have decided to write about my favourite manual focus lenses.  The ones that I commonly use, or not commonly use but I still like.  So, let's start with wide angle lenses.

The sad fact about cameras with crop sensors (1.5x, 1.6x, 2.0x, etc), is that equivalent wide angles are hard to find, or very expensive; often both hard to find AND expensive.  For Micro 4/3 system, a very wide 20mm lens on full frame becomes 40mm, which is not even considered wide angle any more.  The APS-C sensors fares slightly better.  The 20mm lens is equivalent to 30mm on 1.5x and 32mm on Canon APS-C cameras.  Still wide but no longer ultra wide.  Anyways, I will be talking about wide angles in full frame terms, or true focal lengths.  If you are looking for exotic lenses/focal lengths, sorry to disappoint you.  I don't have any, and can't afford anything like the Distagon 21mm f2.8 or the Olympus 21mm f2.0.  What you will see are readily available lenses that most of us can afford.

Tokina 17mm f3.5 -- I don't have any manual focus lenses wider than this, except the Takumar 17mm fish-eye. Truthfully, this is not a stellar lens, but is very cheap and more than good enough for everyday use.

Pentax-M 20mm f4 -- This lens is insanely sharp, but has some distortion.  Definitely not a good choice for architecture.  Under normal use, I don't find it objectionable.  This is the lens that I almost always use on my IR modified Canon 20D.

Vivitar/Kiron 24mm f2.0 -- Keep in mind that Vivitar has more than one version of this 24mm f2.  I used the 49mm filter size version before and found that wide open it has a lot of blooming and severely lack of contrast.  The Kiron (55mm filter size) is much better wide open, but still has a bit of blooming, which is gone by f2.8.  Very good optical performance, but do look out for sticky aperture blades.  My Kiron 24mm f2 is completely stuck open, and the Vivitar (made by Krion) 24mm f2 is starting to stick.  Also be sure to check de-centering.  My Vivitar seems to be slightly sharper on the left edge than the right edge.  These lenses have very good balance of value versus price.

Brothers -- Note the different coating. These two lenses could be made in different periods.

Twins -- Look identical except the mounts.  One is Olympus and the other is Nikon AI.

Next time will talk about my favourite 28mm and   35mm lenses.

A Lucky Find

Taking Shape -- Panasonic LX-2

Few weeks ago I picked up an LX-2 at the pawnshop.  It had no battery, no charger, and a pretty badly scratched LCD screen.  It was a risk because I had no idea if it works, but for $30, I decided to take it.  Ordered the battery and charger from eBay and they came today.  Put the battery in, and it worked!

This little gem is well made and feels quite nice in the hand.  The lens is not as nice as the one on the LX-3 or LX-5, but it has a decent range and reasonably fast maximum aperture of f2.8 on the wide end (28mm).  The sensor produces 10MP but only with the 16:9 aspect ratio, and 8.5MP for 3:2 and 7.5MP for 4:3 ratio.  To me, the only usable ISO is 100 and 200.  Anything over that is too noisy.  That's the reason I love the NEX-5N.  The bigger sensor has its advantages.  I like the size of the camera and it can easily go in a large pocket and easy to carry around.  I know it will stay in my backpack all the time, along with the NEX-5N.  A backup camera, if you will, for the NEX-5N.  Since it's so cheap, I don't worry about it being scratched or bumped.

Pomelos -- Panasonic LX-2

In terms of image quality, well, it has a tiny sensor, so even on base ISO, you will see noise but is completely OK if you don't view it at 100%.  I am sure it will print fine at 8x10 or even 13x19.  The best thing about this camera is that it can shoot RAW, but with one frame buffer (like the Sony R1 I briefly had until I couldn't stand it).  Of course you can't really buy a new LX-2, but if you encounter a used one at a low price, it will make a nice backup camera, or even your primary go anywhere camera.

Rogers HQ

Rogers Headquarters -- Sony NEX-5N & Canon nFD 28mm f2.8

Canada has one of the highest cell phone fees (voice and data) in the world, and this is mostly due to the near monopoly control by three major cell phone service providers.  One of these is Rogers, and the other two is Bell and Telus.  Although several new players have entered the cell phone market, it has not made much of a dent to the pricing, partly because the new cell phone service providers have limited area coverage, or are using old CDMA technology.  There are signs that we may see some real competition once the new players have expanded the area coverage and provide better phone options with lower price.

753 Stars of Love

753 stars in a jar -- Canon 1D Mark III & EF 135mm f2.8 Soft Focus

Two years after we started dating, Jessica gave me a jar filled with stars, 753 to be exact, with all sorts of colours and sizes. Many of them had Love written on them.  I had the jar in my hand and didn't know what to make of it until she told me that one star represented a day we had been together.  I found my eyes were becoming misty, and my heart warmed.  I was very touched by this gesture of love.  The fact that she counted each day we met, and remembered it with a star, made me realized how serious she was, and how much she valued our relationship.  I knew then, that she had completely captured my heart; that she was the one for me, and that we would spend the rest of our lives together.  Over the years, we went through some very rough times together, and our relationships never grew apart, but got stronger because of that.  Only death will do us part, as in our marriage vows.

Happy Valentine's Day, my love!

Dillon

Dillon -- 1D Mark III & EF 135mm f2 @ f2

I picked up a used Canon XS Rebel a little while back for Dillon, hoping that this time it will ignite the photography passion in him then the last time I got him the 30D, which I eventually sold as he wan't really into it. I am happy to say that he is somewhat more enthusiastic this time around, and we went out together once in a while for a shoot.  Perhaps the fact that his cousin Sally, who has caught the photography bug, has an influence on him.  In any case, it's a good thing.  Some of his pictures are quite good. Hope he will keep it up.

Ryan at Music Recital

Ryan on piano -- 1D Mark III & EF 50mm f1.2L @ f1.2, ISO 1600

My kid's music school had another recital today, and Ryan was asked to play.  I was awed by some of the very young but extremely talented players at the recital.  Few of them are younger than ten years old, but played complex pieces with ease.  Not only that, they played more than one instrument without breaking a sweat, not at the same time of course.  I think it was a great event for kids to learn from each other.