July 2023 Part 1 — This Month Through Your Adapted Lens

Alan WF · Jun 30, 2023

Can we exhale now?

An invitation to dust off your precious (or not so precious) glass and head out to make some photographs: the real reason for the existence of all our lenses.

Here are the guidelines:

Images with a removable adapter between lens and camera
Images with the lens mount permanently modified to fit a different camera
Images with the lens held by hand without an adapter (freelensing)
Including metadata (camera, lens, aperture, shutter speed) is encouraged but not required.
Comments are encouraged, but please keep them friendly and constructive.

Continued from June 2023 Part 1.

Regards,

Alan

Alan WF · Jun 30, 2023

No, I don’t mean chicken enchiladas.

I spent a couple of weeks working day and night at our observatory on the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir in Baja California. My mental-health self-care routine was to wander out with a coffee and a 350 mm lens most mornings.

Originals on Flickr here and here.

Regards,

Alan

Dark-eyed Junco. Canon M50 Mark II with Canon EF to EF-M adaptor, Kenko TELEPLUS-HD 1.4x DGX extender, and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM at 350 mm (cropped to 650 mm), f/8, 1/1000 second, and ISO 1000.

Western Bluebird. Canon M50 Mark II with Canon EF to EF-M adaptor, Kenko TELEPLUS-HD 1.4x DGX extender, and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM at 350 mm (cropped to 520 mm), f/8, 1/1000 second, and ISO 250.

tonybelding · Jul 1, 2023

The ultimate nostalgia lens for me is the AUTO SEARS MC 50mm f1.7.

I'd only used plastic Kodak point-and-shoot 110 pocket cameras until I saw the KS-2 in the Sears wish book. Somehow I talked the folks into getting me one. I didn't know at the time that it was the Sears-branded version of the Ricoh XR-7 or that it used Pentax K-mount lenses.

After I got the camera, I was overwhelmed with fear. It was covered with buttons and dials and numbers that didn't mean anything to me. I only knew how to point-and-shoot. I shoved it into the back of my closet for probably six months, until I got my hands on The Complete Kodak Book Of Photography. That changed everything.

There's nothing special about the lens. It's pretty good in the sense that most 50mm kit lenses from that era were pretty good. But this is what I learned on, and it was a huge step up from anything I'd had before. I'll always regard it fondly.

Diacyclops81 · Jul 1, 2023

Something different. 135mm f3.5 Mamiya C. Both at 5.6

Diacyclops81 · Jul 1, 2023

Ooops, 150mm f3.5 not 135……BTW, best keep shutter speed up with lenses longer than 135 on the X-H1 as the image stabilization isn’t terribly effective on long lenses.

Tango 55 · Jul 1, 2023

A favorite lens of mine, with a focal length that works very well for shots like this:

Amazing giant soap bubbles, shot at f/8 on the A7IV

Pacific Beach, San Diego, California.

zoomo · Jul 2, 2023

Taken with the Carl Zeiss 60mm/f2.8 S-Planar (Contax) with the Novoflex adapter

--
Some of my photos: https://www.zeissimages.com/member-photos/718

Northontguy · Jul 2, 2023

I received a lot of help deciding on which 35-70 lens to buy. I decided on the Carl Zeiss Vario 35-70 3.4. I'm just posting a couple pics with this lens.

This one has some funky colours in the sky due to smoke from numerous forest fires north of us. Both photos taken with the Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar & Sony A7rII

GnarlydogOZ · Jul 2, 2023

Wide open and the image is rather soft, but just stopped down to f2 and I find it acceptable.

The yellow cast (Thoriated glass) was rather strong and I had to correct the white-balance in post

Nikon Z5 with SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 (@f2.8)

--
no longer slave to the elusive sharpness mistress

guitarjeff · Jul 2, 2023

Some classic Chrome film sims from the camera in these. I am getting into Kodachrome look and really I am smitten by it. I wish i could find a film sim pack that can really come close to the Camera Classic Chrome film sim but none seem to. I have Capture 1, and DXO film pack, but the one that comes closest is the Classic Chrome in On1 2023, and another that is close is in Exposure X7.

thayes15 · Jul 4, 2023

GnarlydogOZ said:
Wide open and the image is rather soft, but just stopped down to f2 and I find it acceptable.

The yellow cast (Thoriated glass) was rather strong and I had to correct the white-balance in post

Nikon Z5 with SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 (@f2.8)

Love this image and I cant say why. I know people talk about rendering etc but I don't how to talk about such things. I just know I really like this image. Well done. I have this same lens and I agree it's a bit `meh' wide open. But this image is lovely

Alan WF · Jul 4, 2023

Every few months I travel to Marseille for work. The airport is an hour from the city and my usual flight back to Mexico leaves at 6 in the morning, so I typically spend the last night of each trip at a budget hotel at the airport.

The airport is on the banks of the Étang de Berre lagoon and is next to the Salins de Lion nature reserve, so I try to find time to wander out for some birding. It’s easier in summer, with the late nights.

On my last trip in May, I caught this beautiful Black-winged Stilt, and have made three photos into a triptych. It’s probably best to look at the full-sized version. In order to get the flow from left to right, I had to flip the images horizontally, but that’s okay, isn’t it?

Regards,

Alan

Black-winged stilt. Canon M50 Mark II with Canon EF to EF-M adaptor, Kenko TELEPLUS-HD 1.4x DGX extender, and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM at 350 mm (cropped to 560, 725, and 725 mm, from left to right), f/8, 1/1000, 1/1000, and 1/160 second, and ISO 1250, 640, and 125.

GnarlydogOZ · Jul 4, 2023

thayes15 said:
GnarlydogOZ said:

Wide open and the image is rather soft, but just stopped down to f2 and I find it acceptable.

The yellow cast (Thoriated glass) was rather strong and I had to correct the white-balance in post

Nikon Z5 with SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 (@f2.8)

Click to expand...

Love this image and I cant say why. I know people talk about rendering etc but I don't how to talk about such things. I just know I really like this image. Well done. I have this same lens and I agree it's a bit `meh' wide open. But this image is lovely

Thank you.

If I had to analyze this image I would say maybe you are drawn to it by the subject (a motorcycle rider yourself?) and the soft light allowing for enough contrast without harshness. The blurred foreground tree trunk that draws the eyes to the central part of the subject? the unsharp background makes it pop and yet allows it to have environmental context. The almost monochrome warm hues might add to the feeling...

We often get lost in the technical aspect of lenses (the obsession of sharpness for example) and forget to actually enjoy them for what they are. And above all we need to go out and take some pictures, not just brick-wall tests

--
no longer slave to the elusive sharpness mistress

xtam667 · Jul 6, 2023

This is an early ISCO-Göttingen Westrocolor 1.9/50 from the 60's. It is an exceedingly sturdy and heavy lens with very good tactile feedback. Did you ever turn the aperture and focus rings just to feel the precision and smoothness? This is that kind of a lens. The heavy metallic clicking of the aperture ring and the shutter button is almost weapons grade, if that makes sense.

A looker of a lens

The good looks come with rather good imaging as well. Good central sharpness, well controlled chromatic aberrations, and interesting bokeh.

GnarlydogOZ · Jul 6, 2023

xtam667 said:
This is an early ISCO-Göttingen Westrocolor 1.9/50 from the 60's. It is an exceedingly sturdy and heavy lens with very good tactile feedback. Did you ever turn the aperture and focus rings just to feel the precision and smoothness? This is that kind of a lens. The heavy metallic clicking of the aperture ring and the shutter button is almost weapons grade, if that makes sense.

A looker of a lens

The good looks come with rather good imaging as well. Good central sharpness, well controlled chromatic aberrations, and interesting bokeh.

interesting bokeh indeed.

Often people focus way too much on sharpness (something modern lenses achieve most times better than vintage ones) and totally forego the rendering of the defocused areas

--
no longer slave to the elusive sharpness mistress

tonybelding · Jul 6, 2023

GnarlydogOZ said:
The yellow cast (Thoriated glass) was rather strong and I had to correct the white-balance in post

FWIW, I used a LED lamp to treat mine and greatly reduce the yellow tint, although I never got it 100% clear. If I don't want colors skewed at all, I can use a WhiBal card (which I usually have on me), or else I can go B&W of course.

GnarlydogOZ · Jul 6, 2023

tonybelding said:
GnarlydogOZ said:

The yellow cast (Thoriated glass) was rather strong and I had to correct the white-balance in post

Click to expand...

FWIW, I used a LED lamp to treat mine and greatly reduce the yellow tint, although I never got it 100% clear. If I don't want colors skewed at all, I can use a WhiBal card (which I usually have on me), or else I can go B&W of course.

Thank you.

I have previoulsy "bleached" that lens by exposing it to strong sunlight (plenty of it available in Australia) but there was still a bit of tint.

After this pic I did try the LED lamp and is now almost clear. If I was really concerned about the tint (now is too weak to worry) I could indeed white-balance the camera before the shoot, but by often swapping lenses requires too much futzing on my part, so I rather spend a few minutes longer in post-production

T-Rex Mark · Jul 7, 2023

Diacyclops81 said:
Ooops, 150mm f3.5 not 135……BTW, best keep shutter speed up with lenses longer than 135 on the X-H1 as the image stabilization isn’t terribly effective on long lenses.

Looks really great! I have several 135mm (still quite similar flto 150mm , and find them sort of not long enough or too long, need to get used to them more, these are really nice contrasty and well composed shots! My 135s are somewhat an odd set: x-kominar 135mm 2.8, CZ Jena triotar f4, konica hexanon f3.2. most of them i got as a second lens at pretty low cost, it seems that 135mm was a popular length in the 70s.

off the adapted topic, i had taken fuji's modern 70-300 on a few walks in London and it was absolutely great to have it in the city and inside large buildings. I think my new travel trio will be 16, 35 and 70-300 (on X-T3). Its not that much to carry around. (I am still getting to be bold enough to go to streets with vintage glass. one day!)

T-Rex Mark · Jul 7, 2023

Very nice outcomes indeed! Colors and rendering are great!

I think this is exacta mount with the thingy on the side that should be depressed by the adaptor - which camera / adaptor did you use? I have exacta adapter for fuji but it has no appendage pressing the side lever for aperture and i got scared off from looking at the lenses with such construction.

D Cox · Jul 8, 2023

T-Rex Mark said:
Very nice outcomes indeed! Colors and rendering are great!

I think this is exacta mount with the thingy on the side that should be depressed by the adaptor - which camera / adaptor did you use? I have exacta adapter for fuji but it has no appendage pressing the side lever for aperture and i got scared off from looking at the lenses with such construction.

For manual aperture operation, push in the thingy on the lens and turn it to lock.

Don

July 2023 Part 1 — This Month Through Your Adapted Lens

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