I Have A Small Problem

Last time I did a count on my f1.4 “standard” lenses, I found 13 (actually 14 as one eluded the tally). I had a day off last week, so I decided to do a more comprehensive inventory of all my lenses with focal length between 40mm and 58mm.  The result astonished me.  Before that, I estimated I had about 40 to 50 of them.  I was way off, by a large margin.  All the lenses, including the projection, enlarging, and lenses from rangefinder/folder cameras, totalled 123, or thereabouts; just between the focal length of 40-58mm.

I felt really, really bad, and guilty.  Perhaps I purposely underestimated my collection, so that I could continue buying them without too much guilt.  In any case, I broke down the lenses by groups and found that the most duplicated lens was the Pentacon 50mm f1.8, with 5 copies (6 if includes the Meyer-Optik Orestor, essentially the same lens).  Perhaps, reviewing and writing this would help me stop and think the next time I see another normal lens.

The German Origin -- 45 count:

     Row one, from left to right:

• Pentacon Multi Coated 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Pentacon Multi Coated 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Pentacon Multi Coated 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Pentacon Multi Coated 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Orestor 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Pentacon 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Schneider-Kreuznach Exida-Xenar 50mm f2.8 -- M42
• Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f2 -- M42  

    Row two, from left to right:

• Domiplan 50mm f2.8 -- M42
• Domiplan 50mm f2.8 -- M42
• Domiplan 50mm f2.8 -- M42
• Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Primotar 50mm f3.5 -- EXA
• Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm f2 -- EXA
• Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm f2 -- EXA
• Kilfitt Makro Kilar D 40mm f2.8 - EXA

    Row Three, from left to right:

• Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.4 HFT -- QBM
• Rollei Planar 50mm f1.8 HFT -- QBM
• Rollei Planar 50mm f1.8 -- QBM
• Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenon 50mm f1.9 -- DKL
• Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 -- DKL
• Contax Carl Zeiss Tessar 45mm f2.8 -- CY
• Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 -- Leica-M

    Row four, from left to right:

• Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Primoplan 58mm f1.9 -- M42
• Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Primoplan 58mm f1.9 -- M42
• Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm f2.8 -- M42
• Carl Zeiss Tessar 5cm f3.5 -- EXA
• Carl Zeiss Tessar 5cm f3.5 -- EXA
• Carl Zeiss Tessar 45mm f2.8 -- Fixed from Contaflex
• Staeble-Kata 45mm f2.8 -- L39 (non-standard)
• Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 5cm f2 -- EXA

    Row five, from left to right:

• Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenon 50mm f2 -- Fixed from Kodak Retina
• Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenon 50mm f2 -- Fixed from Kodak Retina
• Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f2 -- From Diax IIb
• Rodenstock Heligon 50mm f2 -- From Balda folder camera
• Leidolf Weztlar Triplon 5cm f2.8 -- Fixed from folder camera
• Steinheil Munich Cassar VL 50mm f2.8 -- From folder camera
• Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar 5cm f2.9 -- From folder camera
• Rodenstock Trinar 45mm f2.8 -- From folder camera

    Row six, from left to right:

• Voitlander Color-Lanthar 42mm f2.8 -- Fixed from Voigtlander rangerfinder camera
• Voitlander Lanthar 50mm f2.8 -- Fixed from Voigtlander rangerfinder camera
• Voitlander Color-Skopar 50mm f2.8 -- DKL
• Schneider-Kreuznach 50mm f4.5 -- Enlarging Lens
• Rodenstock Omegaron 50mm f3.5 -- Enlarging Lens
• Rodenstock 50mm f2.8 -- Enlarging Lens
• Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 50mm f4.5 -- Enlarging Lens
• Leitz Wetzlar 5cm f3.5 -- Enlarging Lens

The Fast and the Curious -- 9 count:

    Row one, from left to right:

• Canon EF 50mm f1.2L -- EF
• Canon nFD 50mm f1.2L -- nFD
• Canon FD 55mm f1.2 S.S.C -- FD
• Canon FL 55mm f1.2 -- FL

    Row two, from left to right:

• JML TV Lens 50mm f0.95 -- C-Mount converted to E-Mount
• Canon FL 58mm f1.2 -- FL
• Kowa 50mm f1.2 -- Projection Lens
• Kodak Ektagraphic 50mm f1.2 -- Projection Lens
• Lomo 50mm f1.2 -- Projection Lens

The Russian Connection -- 11 count:

Row one, from left to right:

• Zenith Helios-44M-4 58mm f2 -- M42
• Helios-44M 58mm f2 -- M42
• Helios-44M 58mm f2 -- M42
• Helios-44-2 58mm f2 -- M42

Row two, from left to right:

• Arsat 50mm f2 -- Nikon F
• Helios-103 53mm f1.8 -- Kiev/Contax 
• Helios-103 53mm f1.8 -- Kiev/Contax 
• Jupiter-3 5cm f1.5 -- L39

Row three, from left to right:

• Jupiter-8M 5mm f2 -- Kiev/Contax
• Jupiter-8M 5mm f2 -- Kiev/Contax
• Industar-2 50mm f3.5 -- M42

Canon Legacy -- 8 count:

Row one, from left to right:

• Canon FD 50mm f1.4 S.S.C -- FD
• Canon FD 50mm f1.4 S.S.C -- FD
• Canon nFD 50mm f1.4 -- nFD
• Canon FL 50mm f1.4 -- FL

Row two, from left to right:

• Canon FD 50mm f1.8 -- FD
• Canon FD 50mm f1.8 -- FD
• canon FL 50mm f1.8 -- FL
• Canon EF STM 40mm f2.8 -- EF

Pentax Love -- 7 count:

Row one, from left to right:

• Macro-Takumar S-M-C 50mm f4 (1:2) -- M42
• Macro-Takumar 50mm f4 (1:1) -- M42
• SMC Pentax-A 50mm f2 -- K-Mount

Row two, from left to right:

• SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 -- M42
• SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 -- M42
• Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 55mm f1.8 -- M42

Row three:

• SMC Pentax-M 45mm f2.8 Pancake -- K-Mount

The [Mostly] Japanese Club -- 15 count:

Row one, from left to right:

• Auto Chinon Multi-Coated 55mm f1.4 -- M42
• GAF 55mm f1.4 -- M42
• Auto Chinon 55mm f1.4 -- M42
• Auto Chinon 55mm f1.7 -- M42
• Auto Chinon 55mm f1.7 -- M42

Row two, from left to right:

• Vivitar 50mm f1.9 -- M42
• Vivitar VMC 50mm f1.7 -- M42
• Olympus F.Zuiko 50mm f1.8 -- M42
• Mamiya-Sekor 55mm f1.4 -- M42
• Sony 50mm f1.8 -- E-Mount

Row three, from left to right:

• Yashica Yashinon 50mm f1.9 -- M42
• Yashica ML 50mm f1.9 -- CY
• Nikon Series E 50mm f1.8 -- F-Mount
• Auto Topcor 5.8cm f1.8 -- Topcor/EXA
• Haiou-64 (Seagull) 58mm f2 -- MD

The Minoltas -- 8 count:

Row one, from left to right:

• Minolta Rokkor-X PG 50mm f1.4 -- MC/MD
• Minolta Rokkor-PG 58mm f1.4 -- MC/MD
• Minolta Rokkor-X 50mm f1.4 -- MD

Row two, from left to right:

• Minolta Rokkor-PF 55mm f1.7 -- MC/MD
• Minolta Rokkor-PF 55mm f1.7 -- MC/MD
• Minolta Rokkor-PF 55mm f1.7 -- MC/MD

Row three, from left to right:

• Minolta Rokkor-QF 50mm f3.5 macro -- MC/MD
• Minolta Rokkor-X 45mm f2 -- MD

The Family Portrait -- 123 count:

This picture includes some of the lenses not in any of the group pictures above.  This does not include 2 Xenar 45mm f2.8 DKL and a Leica-R 50mm f2 which I couldn't find (and possibly others as well).  Also some 50mm lenses still mounted to the cameras.

Haiou-64 (Seagull) 58mm f2 Biotar Clone

China is certainly not known for producing photographic equipment.  A little while ago, I saw a 58mm f2 lens that was made in China, I was partly fascinated, and partly because it was very cheap (probably something like $10) so I bought it. Definitely not a common lens in North America, as I don't think this lens and the camera it came with was for export to the West.  This lens is a Biotar 58mm f2 clone (or it could be a clone of a clone, the Helio-44) in Minolta MD mount, and was probably made in the 70s and 80s.  It's optically clean, but something is not quite right, because as soon as I start focusing, I can feel the there is some play, like something is loose inside.  Very annoying.   But then again, this lens is a few decades old.  It might have been abused before.

The lens mount and barrel is made of metal, and the focusing is still relatively smooth with a tiny bit of coarseness.  The aperture has 6 blades, like most old East German lenses from the same era.  I really shouldn't complain too much for such a cheap lens.

I am quite surprised the lens is optically quite good.  Very sharp even wide open, and by f8, sharp across the frame on the A7.  In terms of characteristics, no surprises here.  It's similar to the pictures rendered by the Helios-44 or the Biotar 58mm f2, and this is a good thing!  These lenses are known to produce creamy smooth bokeh.

At the end of the day, it's good value for the money.

Grafitti & Wildflower - Sony A7 & Haiou-64 58mm f2. Click for larger.

Port of Toronto - Sony A7 & Haiou-64 58mm f2. Click for larger.

Milkweed Pots - Sony A7 & Haiou-64 58mm f2. Click for larger.

Haiou-64

Milkweed Pots - Sony A7 & Haiou-64 58mm f2. Click for larger.

Signs that You Are Addicted to Gear and May Have G.A.S

G.A.S = Gear Acquisition Syndrome.  A disease that affects mostly men.  It infects the central reasoning area of the brain and makes men vulnerable into thinking more gear make them better photographers, and thus buying gear that they don't need.  There is no known cure, but there is a silver lining; some men are able to recover as the photographs they make shift from pictures of cameras, lenses, brick walls, and resolution charts to other form of pictures.

I just realized I have a lot of "normal" lenses between 40mm and 58mm, probably in the 40 to 50 in total, so I decided to see how many of them are f1.4.  The tally?  13.  Just the f1.4 lenses.  I thought I should write down some of the things that might be signs of gear addiction, and was very surprised how quickly the list came out.  Duh!  Of course it's quick.  Most of these apply to me!  Without further ado, here is the list.  Feel free to add your own in the comments:

• You buy printed photo magazines just to look at the ads
• You have a copy of A Lens Collector's Vade Meccum
• You know exactly what a "normal" lens is
• You have all 5 versions of the same lens
• Words like Noctilux and Otus motivate you to make more money so that you can buy them
• You name your daughter Tessar, and your son's name Nokton is not misspelled, and your dog's name is Skopar
• You think Hologon is the most beautiful word in the world
• You scare your partner at night uttering words like "Fisheye", "Bigma", in your sleep
• You justify all your gear purchases as investment
• You buy similar looking cameras so that your significant other can't tell the one that you use is not the same as the 4 others in the locked closet that only you have the key to
• You tell your wife it's worth the expense of the 85mm f1.2L because it would make her look more beautiful in the picture
• You convince yourself that the purchase of a Leica Summilux will one day make you as good as Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Every time you see a red band, or gold band, it reminds you of your favourite lens
• You are a Pentaxian, and you know the word "Limited" is not a disadvantage
• You have been buying K-Mount lenses for the last ten years, because you believe one day, there will be a full frame Pentax camera, like you believe in Santa Claus
• You get excited when you hear words like Holly Trinity, Magic Drainpipe, The Dust Pump, Sigmarit, and you know exactly what they refer to
• You use Ikea shelves to store your cameras/lenses because you can't afford better shelves since you spent all your money on cameras/lenses
• Decimal numbers like 0.95, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4 bring tears to your eyes
• You just realized that the lens you bought yesterday is exactly the same as 2 others that you didn't know you had
• You take pictures with enlarging, projection, and printing cell lenses on your mirrorless camera
• You have many lenses without apertures
• You have many lenses without focus mechanism
• You have drawers full of lens adapters
• You have a large bin of lens hoods, and most of them don't fit your lenses, but you tell yourself one day, you will get the lenses that will fit the hoods
• You can't understand why anyone needs to use the aperture on the lens, since you always shoot wide open
• You feel no shame when others look at your ugly self-made lens contraption in disgust
• 100% of your pictures contains 99% bokeh, and 1% subject that's in focus.
• Your favourite pastime is to browse antique/flea market for vintage cameras/lenses
• You never miss a single camera show
• You created an app with a SQL database to catalogue and keep track of your cameras/lenses because a spreadsheet has reached its capacity
• You remember the minute details of a lens, but forget your kids birthdays
• Your wife is annoyed that you spend more time with your gear than with the kids, or with her
• You blog about your favourite lens in length, and the only picture that accompanies the blog entry is the picture of the lens
• You have 9 camera bags, and all of them are full of gear
• You have 8 different tripod heads, and each one has a specific purpose, and each one is used exactly once
• You fondle your cameras/lenses and talk to them like they are your lover
• You spend more time on Flickr and online forums than taking pictures
• You carry your camera with you everywhere you go, but you hardly take any pictures
• You can't understand why anyone would read whatever Ken Rockwell has to say, and you visit Michael Johnston's theonlinephotographer blog religiously
• You tell your wife you paid $20 for the very beat-up Speed Panchro that you actually paid $2000 for and she believed you
• 80% of the photo in your Flickr stream is picture of cameras and lenses
• Your wife thinks your planar is something to organize your daily tasks
• Your wife can not understand why all your lenses do not zoom or focus themselves
• You made your kids call you Prime Master
• You have a RAID 10 storage setup to protect the terabytes of pictures you took of your cameras and lenses
• You have another RAID 10 storage setup to protect the setup above
• You drove 4 hours to photograph a sunrise, only to find out you shot everything wide open out of habit, and all the pictures are overexposed
• You made penholders out of broken lenses
• You have a box you call treasure that's full of parts from dismantled cameras and lenses. 
• You hope that you can use them to repair lenses/cameras, but deep down you know that will never happen because that's why they became parts in the first place
• You use a stack of filter rings in place of a hood
• You have a dozen rolls of exposed film in the drawer from 1998, but never developed
• You get bored of the auto focus lenses you spent tens of thousands of dollar buying, and are having a blast with a $20 enlarging lens taking pictures of your AF lenses
• You know by heart the first two digits of a Vivitar lens serial number corresponds to which manufacturer who made the lens
• You love pictures in RAW, and hate those cooked in jpeg
• You have thousands of tiny screws harvested from dead cameras/lenses

Fabulous Fifty f1.4s 

Sony A7 After 48,000 Images

When I bought my A7 from the Sony store as a demo unit, I didn't know how many actuations it had, and it turned out to be quite a bit. 13,505 to be exact.  Yesterday I did a shutter count check and the current count is more than 61,000.  I shot more than 48,000 pictures in 16 months.  That's quite a bit for someone who only uses the camera for leisure.  I guess it's a good time to follow up on my initial review of the camera.

The Build
Other than some brassing on the edges of the top plate, the camera is physically in very good shape.  I bring a camera with me to work each day, or whenever I go out, without fail, and the camera is either the Sony A7, Olympus E-M5, or very rarely the Canon 20D Infrared camera, and a few times the Nikon D810.  I would say 99% of the time, the A7 was in my bag.  That means the camera is in my backpack (not a camera bag), enduring the sometimes rough biking trips, and it has held up extremely well.  The camera has worked flawlessly without fail so far.

The Annoyances
1.  the proximity sensor that switches between LCD screen and EVF is far too sensitive.  One fix for this, devised by Matt, is to cut a thin piece of black electrical tape and put in the middle of the IR LEDs window on top of the viewfinder.  This works well most of the time, but sometimes the sensitivity goes a bit wonky, probably because the tape moved, so at the end, I just removed it and reverted it back to its virgin state.

2.  Sensor dust.  Compared to the Olympus E-M5, or the Nikon D810, the Sony sensor-shake dust reduction system, like the Canon version, isn't as effective.  It's a royal pain to clean.  Luckily, most of the pictures I shoot are wide open and this is not a big deal, but when a slow lens is used, say f5.6 or slower, the pictures will have many dust specks.

3.  Image Magnify button.  In early NEX cameras, the magnify button is the OK button, which is within the reach of the thumb when the camera is held. Pressing it after the image is taken instantly magnifies the image.  But in the A7, the &#$%@#  magnify button has its dedicated button, located next to the EVF.  To press this button, I have hold the camera with my left hand loosen the grip of the right hand to press it.  As far as I know, this function could not be re-programmed.  Still drive me crazy after 16 months.

4.  I miss the fully articulated swivel LCD screen on the Panasonic G1, Canon T2i, and even the original 3.2 MP Canon G1 that I used.  This is especially useful for vertical shots when not using the EVF.  A minor annoyance.

Storage and Computer Issues
As the resolution of the cameras increased, so is the storage and computing requirements.  It's true that storage is cheap, but after losing 250GB of pictures, I now store my pictures with at least two copies on magnetic hard drive, plus one copy on BluRay disc, which triples the storage requirement.  At the moment, I have roughly 18TB of hard drive storage, and it's almost near capacity, and I am way behind on BluRay backup.  The computer I am using is a 7-year old Dell XPS Studio with an Intel Core i7-920, and 18GB of RAM.  Adequate at the moment, though painful when processing D810 images.  I can't even begin to fathom what it would be like if I ever get the 42MP A7R II.

Other Thoughts
I thought the lack of an external charger would be an big issue for me, but it turns out not so, for the kind of shooting I do.  I hardly spend more than 45 minutes per shooting session, since 90% of my shooting is done during my lunch time, or on my way to or from work.  I do not need an extra battery (although I do have one).  Once charged, it's good for at least a couple of days.  I actually find it convenient to be able to charge the battery in-camera, because more than a few occasions, I found the battery almost depleted, but was able to charge it at work through the computer before heading out.

The lossy RAW format that Sony employs ticked off more than a few people.  It bothers me a little, but not to the point where I find it a show stopper.  In most cases, this does not affect the image quality, at least not something clearly visible.  I don't see why Sony would not allow the user an option to use compressed or losslessly compressed RAW.

What I like most about this camera is that it's a very balanced camera.  Obviously, it's not an action camera.  Focus speed, especially focus tracking, leaves much to be desired, but you would be buying a wrong camera if the majority of your shoot is action based.  A DSLR is a better tool in that case.  The small size with a full frame sensor and very short flange distance, coupled with excellent image quality, is a dream tool for legacy lens addicts like me.  I thank Sony for making an affordable camera like this, that no one cared to make.  It's by far the best camera I have used for my shooting style.  I look forward to the A7R II.

Anchor - Sony A7 & Minolta RF 250mm f5.6 Mirror Lens

Why I hesitate to buy E-Mount AF Lenses

The introduction of high quality lenses, like the Batis series from Zeiss, makes buying E-Mount lenses very tempting.  The thought of selling all my Canon AF lenses and buy Sony equivalent (or close to) lenses crossed my mind a few times, but I always resisted.  What's holding me back?  One experience taught me something about selling gear in the used market.  As many of you know, I was a Canon shooter for more than a decade, and more if counting the film days, and I have amassed quite a few Canon lenses.  My Canon camera bodies are gone, but the lenses remained (except the 16-35mm f2.8L II, and the 70-200mm f4L IS, which I sold to buy the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR).  All this time, I never had trouble selling any Canon equipment, because there are such a huge Canon user base and finding a buyer is relatively easy.  While "sampling" other cameras, I bought a Sony A-Mount camera and a few AF lenses, Minolta 50mm f1.7, Sigma 28-300mm and Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro to try.  At the end of the sampling period, I found that it was hugely difficult to sell Sony gear.  Eventually, they were sold rather cheaply and took a long time, compared to the Canon equivalent.  One example is the Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro lens.  I sold the Sony version at about half the price of the Canon version; there were simply not many Sony Alpha-Mount users out there, especially for a relatively specialized lens like a macro.

The introduction of the A7R II makes the decision even harder for me.  The advanced phase-detect AF capabilities in the A7R II allows Canon auto focus lenses to AF much faster with a smart adapter, to a point where it's actually usable.  Previous Sony E-mount cameras AF very slowly with smart adapters, that's practically useless.

For the time being, I am going to keep the Canon lenses and wait for the A7R II to become more affordable to buy one.  If the AF is actually good enough, the Canon lenses will become my main lenses to be used on Sony whenever AF is required.

Blue Dreams - Meyer-Optik Primoplan 58mm f1.9 & Sony A7.

Muskoka Bike Ride

Dillon, Megan and I signed up for the Muskoka bike ride organized by MEC, and lead by Michael and Dede Berry.  This was our first organized group ride and it has been a great experience.  The ride started and finished in Gravenhurst, a town in the Muskoka region, and the birthplace of Dr. Henry Normal Bethune, a doctor who gave his life in helping others. The ride was divided into two course, one for 90KM and the other was 160KM.  Megan and I did the 90K while Dillon did the 160K.

Dock in Lake Muskoka in the morning.  E-M5 & Panasonic 14-45mm OIS

Being the first time in a group ride, I never saw so many nice bikes in one place!  There were many Cervélos, especially in the group that rode the 160K route, a testament to great bikes made by a Canadian company.  Of course, there were many high end Specialized, Trek, Colnago, Ridley and other nice bikes.  One brave soul was there with a Supercycle mountain bike with big tires.  If he could finish the course in that bike, my hats off to him.

Getting Ready for the ride.  Picture taken with a cell phone.

I am not going to lie, even for the 90KM (actually it was slight longer than 100K as measured by my, and other's bike computers), it was extremely tough for me.  It was relatively easy for the first 50KM, as we started fresh in the morning with full strength, but as the ride went on, we faced lots of steep hills, and this proved to be too much for Megan, who was feeling dizzy and I was concerned that she might faint.  At about 60KM, she had to be picked up by the MEC staff and driven back to the base.  Understandably, she wasn't happy that she couldn't finish the ride, but it's better safe than sorry.

Break at one of the Pit Stops at Port Carling (50KM mark).  This is the cut off point for the 160K ride.  Any rider who didn't make it here by 11:30AM would be directed to the 90K route.  You can see a police car in the background.  They were directing traffic at a few points of the ride.  

Here I must say that the ride was extremely well organized.  The routes were well marked with signs, and at critical turning points, staff were there to direct riders to ensure they didn't turn to the wrong route.  There was medical units with patrols cars.  One of the cars stopped by when they saw we were walking up the hill, and Megan was picked up and driven back.  There were four Pit Stops along the way, and they were stocked with complimentary energy gels and bars and water, with bike mechanics there in case anyone's bike needs service.  It really ensured a peace of mind and made the ride much more enjoyable.

I finished in 5 and a half  hours, with breaks and some walking with Megan.  The last 20K was brutally difficult with lots of hills.  Near the end of the 90KM, I kept telling myself it was almost there, but it wasn't.  The route was about 102KM long.  

Dillon finished the 160K route in 6 and a half hours, only one hour behind me for almost twice the distance, which was amazing, considering he was riding a heavier bike.

At the end, I was very tired, especially the neck and the leg muscles.  I felt shamefully and utterly out of shape, though I was happy to finish the ride.

Finished at last.

New Flickr Group for the Die-Hard Gear-Head

Matt on Flickr has created a new group called Fixed Lens Group (Refit for Digital).  Basically the group will showcase pictures, tutorials, techniques, tip, and other useful information for users or to-be users who use lenses taken from rangefinders or folder cameras that weren't meant to be used on other cameras.  I have been doing this for a while and I did a few tutorials on my blog as well, but I think a Flickr group is a lot more interactive and flexible.  Matt has been great and adapting weird and wonderful lenses to use on his many cameras with great results.  If you are interested, or have experience in adapting non-standard lenses, please join the group.

Autumn Colours in Summer - Enna Werk Correlar 8cm f2.9 & Sony A7

Chinon 55mm f1.7 VS Chinon 55mm f1.4 - Part III

Part II is here.

Last time we looked at the sharpness of both the Chinon 55mm f1.7 and the 55mm f1.4 multi-coated. This time it's the bokeh of the two lenses we are going to compare.  I will let you decide which one you prefer.

Bokeh - Chinon 55mm f1.4 @ f1.4. Click for larger version.

Bokeh - Chinon 55mm f1.7 @ f1.7. Click for larger version.

Bokeh - Chinon 55mm f1.4 @ f1.4. Click for larger version. 

Bokeh - Chinon 55mm f1.7 @ f1.7. Click for larger version.

Chinon 55mm f1.7 VS Chinon 55mm f1.4 - Part II

Part I is here.

In today's used market, the Chinon 55mm f1.7 lens simply don't get no respect, to para quote Rodney Dangerfield; the f1.4 version is far better known but still quite inexpensive.  Does the f1.4 version justify two to three times the price of the 55mm f1.7 for half a stop of more light?  Would you be missing out much by using the cheaper f1.7 lens?  The short answer is no.  The Chinon (and many other makes with the same design) 55mm f1.7 is simply a superb lens for the price.   In fact, I think the f1.7 version is a better lens in terms of sharpness across the frame in larger apertures.

Please keep in mind that I am shooting with one copy of each of these lenses.  They are at least 30 years old and who knows what kind of abuse they went through before I got them.  So, take the test images with a grain of salt, and test them yourself if possible.

Shooting side by side, the two lenses behaved very similarly in terms of bokeh, but the f1.7 version has a lead on the edges from the wide open on.  Strangely, the 55mm f1.4 lens seems a tiny bit shorter than the 55mm f1.7.  This is more apparent when flipping between the pictures taken by both lenses.

Note the colour temperatures of the images from the two lenses.  The f1.4 version is warmer than the f1.7 version, but the colour changes slightly to the cooler side as the lens is stopped down on the Chinon 55mm f1.4.  These images were converted from RAW but with no adjustments for the white balance, or sharpness.

A note of Auto White Balance.  I have used digital cameras long enough to not to trust the consistency of automatic white balance.  The colours sometimes change seemingly without any change in ambient temperature.  This happens with Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony, in my experience. I always shoot RAW and if necessary, adjust colour before the RAW conversion, but NOT in this test.

Wide Open

Wide open, both lenses are very good in the centre, with the f1.7 version slightly better at the edges.  On both lenses, the left side is less sharp than the right side, a possible cause of the adapter that I use is not perfectly flat.  Not shown in the crops, but the Chinon 55mm f1.4 vignettes quite a bit more than the 55mm f1.7.  You can see the left edge of both lenses are quite poor wide open, but on the 55mm f1.7, it's quite a bit sharper on the right side.  Both lenses show good sharpness at the center but contrast is a bit low.

Wide Open.  Click on the picture to see a 100% crop.

At f2.8

By f2.8, both lenses sharpened up quite a bit more at the center, but the left edges are still poor on both lenses.  Contrast has improved markedly and the right edge has become very good on the 55mm f1.7 but remains blurry on the f1.4.

f2.8.  Click on the picture to see a 100% crop.

At f5.6

At this aperture, both lenses are quite sharp across the frame.  Note the 55mm f1.4's left edge.  The change is like day and night, though the right edge is still no match for the 55mm f1.7, which by this time, is as sharp as the center.

f5.6.  Click on the picture to see a 100% crop.

At f11

This is probably the optimum aperture for sharpness across the frame for both lenses.  A very slight softness caused by diffraction can be seen in the center of the frame, but not enough to cause concern.  Even at f11, the 55mm f1.4's right edge is still out performed by the 55mm f1.7.  Note the colour of the 55mm f1.4 is approaching that of the 55mm f1.7.  Strange how aperture affects white balance.

f11.  Click on the picture to see a 100% crop.

In Part III, we will compare the bokeh of both lenses.

Chinon 55mm f1.7 VS Chinon 55mm f1.4 - Part I

Chinon, founded in 1948, as a maker of lenses, was quite uninteresting and ordinary.  As far as I know, they didn't make any lenses consider exotic, or highly sought after, perhaps, with the exception of the Tomioka made Chinon 55mm f1.2.  It was one of the players in the universal (M42) mount market, dominated mostly by Pentax at the time.  They later switched to K-Mount and produced a lot of consumer grade cameras and lenses.  Chinon became a subsidiary of Kodak Japan in 2004 and I believe they still produce digital cameras/camcorders, amount other stuff. Two of the lenses they made (or marketed) was the 55mm f1.7, and the 55mm f1.4 that we are going to look at today.

There are at least 3 versions of the Chinon 55mm f1.4 in M42 mount.  One was originally marked Auto Chinon Tomioka 55mm f1.4, and later simply called Auto Chinon 55mm f1.4, and the last version had multi-coating applied.  All of these version were either made by Tomioka or designed by them.  I believe this lens also came in Pentax K-Mount.  A 55mm f1.4 Tomioka lens will fetch two to three times the amount of money then a lens simply called Auto Chinon 55mm f1.4, being the exact same lens.  To a lens collector, this might make a difference, but if you are just buying the lens to make photographs, it makes no sense to pay more.

The Chinon Brothers

For the Chinon 55mm f1.7, there are also multiple versions.  The original M42 version did not have multi-coating, and later ones did.  This lens also came in Pentax K-Mount.

In Part II, we will compare the images from the two lenses.