May 2024 Part 1 — This Month Through Your Adapted Lens

It looks like Alan hasn't returned yet or is busy with other things... so I hope it's okay if I fill in for this month's adapted lens thread.

Here's the usual guidelines:

AlanWF said:

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

Continued from the April 2024 thread .

Regards,

Alan

Click to expand...

I sincerely hope Alan is well and able to resume the tradition soon!

I'm looking forward to seeing some great shots with your adapted lenses!

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.


Materialized light



How long is a peace of string?



My Minimal Mind



Whispers of color


--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.

simple-joy said:

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.

How long is a peace of string?

https://flic.kr/p/2pNasMG

My Minimal Mind

https://flic.kr/p/2pNfbFr

Click to expand...

These are my favorites... I admit the colors in the other flower pics aren't my thing.

Love the red and the focal play in the first pic here, and the minimalism in the second is beautiful.

--
Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_prof67/ Warning: Heavy Learning in progress.

simple-joy said:

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.

Materialized light

https://flic.kr/p/2pNsDLK

How long is a peace of string?

https://flic.kr/p/2pNasMG

My Minimal Mind

https://flic.kr/p/2pNfbFr

Whispers of color

https://flic.kr/p/2oYH8fn

--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/simple_joy/

Click to expand...

Great shots! Love the colors - are these out of the Canon? Did you do anything special to process these somehow?


Both flower images just radiate calm and happiness, the string one is great both compositionally and technically, really cool setup. The colors on the last picture are just so great, I mostly use Velvia simulation which pushes the colors and contrasts and sometimes these subtle yet still bright but subtle colors create a great atmosphere.



I did look at the lens - it is a very nice vintage build, looks super appealing, it is quite pricey though but certainly worth looking for a bargain.



cheers!

mark

--

Lumix S5, MD W.Rokkor 24/2.8

When I went to the Cosmosphere a couple of visits ago, in 2021, I used the OM Zuiko 24/2.8; last year, I used the Vivitar (Kiron) 28/2.5. This time I thought I'd use the Minolta MD 24/2.8 instead.

They're in the middle of a large renovation, which is one reason I visited; I was hoping to catch a last shot of some of the old displays before they were taken down. Unfortunately, they had a lot more of the museum closed off than I was expecting.


In 2021 - Lumix S5, OM Zuiko 24/2.8


2024 - Lumix S5, MD Rokkor 24/2.8


2021 - OM Zuiko 24/2.8


2024 - MD 24/2.8

The Apollo 13 Command Module is listed as still 'on display'; technically, I suppose you could call it that...







Some of the newly finished exhibit space.

I'll admit, the prior dark interior made the place something of a photographer's nightmare:


2023 - Lumix S5, Vivitar (Kiron) 28/2.5

...but while the new look is easier to shoot, it just feels... more antiseptic, somehow.





Another old display, and the work-in-progress:


2023, Vivitar (Kiron) 28/2.5



--
Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_prof67/ Warning: Heavy Learning in progress.

Travis Butler said:

When I went to the Cosmosphere a couple of visits ago, in 2021, I used the OM Zuiko 24/2.8; last year, I used the Vivitar (Kiron) 28/2.5. This time I thought I'd use the Minolta MD 24/2.8 instead.

They're in the middle of a large renovation, which is one reason I visited; I was hoping to catch a last shot of some of the old displays before they were taken down. Unfortunately, they had a lot more of the museum closed off than I was expecting.


In 2021 - Lumix S5, OM Zuiko 24/2.8


2021 - OM Zuiko 24/2.8

Click to expand...

The 24 mm shots you made make a great case for that focal length - very nice compositions and it still looks "natural" (something I rarely feel by any lens wider than that...)!

--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.

Canon FD 50mm 1/4a

A fountain that was draped in Wisteria. I tried shooting straight on to capture all of the floweres but it was so boring that way. Stepping to the side for a little depth made it more interesting.

Jones

--

Travis Butler said:

simple-joy said:

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.

How long is a peace of string?

https://flic.kr/p/2pNasMG

My Minimal Mind

https://flic.kr/p/2pNfbFr

Click to expand...

These are my favorites... I admit the colors in the other flower pics aren't my thing.

Love the red and the focal play in the first pic here, and the minimalism in the second is beautiful.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot - I'm glad you like those!

It's very interesting that you don't like the colors of the flower images... I've adjusted the colors slightly in the one with the daisy in the grass, but not much. The second one is SOOC as far as color is concerned. And I felt like it actually looked exactly like that in real life (which is why I didn't adjust anything).

As expected from such an old (uncoated) lens it does produce quite muted colors in many situations, but I really like the tones as they are in-camera in a majority of cases. Here are a couple of shots (all SOOC in terms of colors):









Yes, certainly not bright and contrasty... but that's actually the last thing I need in any of those scenes. Here are two (just for fun) heavily processed shots, where I've used the lens for something it clearly isn't well-suited for:









--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.

All images on the Lumix S1. Close shots are using a set of old Tiffen close up filters on the FL 55/1.2.



























































--
/404/
If Caesar was alive today I would be chained to an oar.

All images on Lumix S1 using M42 macro adapter.
















The lines are a bee flying upward captured with a slow shutter speed













And here are a few captured with the Pentacon on a Vivitar 2x Macro Tele converter.























--
/404/
If Caesar was alive today I would be chained to an oar.

T-Rex Mark said:

simple-joy said:

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.

Materialized light

https://flic.kr/p/2pNsDLK

How long is a peace of string?

https://flic.kr/p/2pNasMG

My Minimal Mind

https://flic.kr/p/2pNfbFr

Whispers of color

https://flic.kr/p/2oYH8fn

Click to expand...

Great shots! Love the colors - are these out of the Canon? Did you do anything special to process these somehow?

Both flower images just radiate calm and happiness, the string one is great both compositionally and technically, really cool setup. The colors on the last picture are just so great, I mostly use Velvia simulation which pushes the colors and contrasts and sometimes these subtle yet still bright but subtle colors create a great atmosphere.

I did look at the lens - it is a very nice vintage build, looks super appealing, it is quite pricey though but certainly worth looking for a bargain.

cheers!

mark

Click to expand...

Thank you very much! In terms of processing, there isn't much in any of these. The main thing I do with the images made with the Voort is a slight increase in contrast (usually only in the areas which are in focus however, to not mess with the beautiful blur it produces) and no sharpening (unless in cases, where I use the lens for something it clearly isn't up to, like the two water shots I posted before).

It's different with any lens though... there are cases, where I apply more processing, because I want something different out of the image or am not yet familiar with a lens to use it effectively, or the lens has some limitations to consider.

You're right - the Voort is sometimes offered for very high prices. I actually don't think it ever sells for anything close to that though. I wouldn't recommend buying it for more than what you can buy a 9 cm Elmar for, as that will be pretty close in terms of rendering etc. and it even gives you a focusing helicoid. I bought mine together with a 5 cm Varob (another old Leitz EL) for what I would consider a decent price. The Voort is my favorite of the two though...

In terms of image quality and sharpness I might prefer the Summar 12 cm though, as far as very old Leitz lenses are concerned. That's an awesome lens and certainly another one to keep in mind to realize it, when it appears for a reasonable price, not only suitable for the Leitz collectors crowd...


Leaves me satisfied


--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.

404_image_not_found said:

All images on the Lumix S1. Close shots are using a set of old Tiffen close up filters on the FL 55/1.2.

Click to expand...

Wow - awesome work! The whole series is great, but these are absolutely standout shots to me. Love your compositions, the effective use of perspective/POV and processing as well. Fantastic work!

Are you on flickr or any similar platform btw.?

--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.

simple-joy said:

Travis Butler said:

simple-joy said:

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.

Click to expand...

These are my favorites... I admit the colors in the other flower pics aren't my thing.

Love the red and the focal play in the first pic here, and the minimalism in the second is beautiful.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot - I'm glad you like those!

It's very interesting that you don't like the colors of the flower images... I've adjusted the colors slightly in the one with the daisy in the grass, but not much. The second one is SOOC as far as color is concerned. And I felt like it actually looked exactly like that in real life (which is why I didn't adjust anything).

Click to expand...

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I know the colors on the second one were accurate; I've seen very similar ones myself, and they were indeed that color! ^^;; I was trying to say that the only reason it wasn't a favorite is that as a personal thing I don't really care for that flower variety's color, not that the pic itself was bad.

simple-joy said:

As expected from such an old (uncoated) lens it does produce quite muted colors in many situations, but I really like the tones as they are in-camera in a majority of cases. Here are a couple of shots (all SOOC in terms of colors):

Click to expand...

I do generally prefer more vivid colors, but that's not really the issue here; again, it's more a personal thing for me, but I don't really like shades of yellow-green like this. It reminds me of the color cast on a couple of old Olympus lens copies that badly yellowed some vegetation pics. Nothing to do with your photography!
--
Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_prof67/ Warning: Heavy Learning in progress.

simple-joy said:

404_image_not_found said:

All images on the Lumix S1. Close shots are using a set of old Tiffen close up filters on the FL 55/1.2.

Click to expand...

Wow - awesome work! The whole series is great, but these are absolutely standout shots to me. Love your compositions, the effective use of perspective/POV and processing as well. Fantastic work!

Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I'm very glad you like the style of these.

simple-joy said:

Are you on flickr or any similar platform btw.?

Click to expand...

I am not on any such platforms at the current time.

--
/404/
If Caesar was alive today I would be chained to an oar.

The lighting was kinda grey and overcast at the Rosedale Arch...




Sigma fp, Soligor 35/2.8 Wide-Auto

...so I thought I'd take the chance to play around with some art filters in On1 Photo Raw.




Sigma fp, Soligor 35/2.8











--
Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_prof67/ Warning: Heavy Learning in progress.

Lovely shots! What a great lens! I put it on a couple of weeks ago and it is so pleasing to shoot with that I have not taken it off much longer than planned. it surprises me how versatile it is and how it throws the background. Really like how you stay true to style!


It is sharp wide open but even at f4 the background blur is very pleasant I think.






Not super sharp but the little guy was moving and the depth of field was tiny


Yesterday when I jumped out to make these shots I was in a sharp mood so lately unusually I was not shooting wide open










--
https://500px.com/bc-foto

Sorry. I've been incredibly busy at work and didn't notice the date. Thanks for stepping in.

Regards,

Alan

There's no real information about this one online, but I think it's an enlarging lens most likely, given the lack of focusing mechanism, the slow max. aperture as well as the M39 thread. It seems to be a Triplet and it has an unusual blue color.


Different stages










And a couple of stereo-shots:















--
Experimenting manual lens enthusiast.

simple-joy said:

T-Rex Mark said:

simple-joy said:

I love this lens. It is very old, likely more than 80 years and counting... it still is able to produce really nice looking images in my perception and works very well mechanically.

Materialized light

https://flic.kr/p/2pNsDLK

How long is a peace of string?

https://flic.kr/p/2pNasMG

My Minimal Mind

https://flic.kr/p/2pNfbFr

Whispers of color

https://flic.kr/p/2oYH8fn

Click to expand...

Great shots! Love the colors - are these out of the Canon? Did you do anything special to process these somehow?

Both flower images just radiate calm and happiness, the string one is great both compositionally and technically, really cool setup. The colors on the last picture are just so great, I mostly use Velvia simulation which pushes the colors and contrasts and sometimes these subtle yet still bright but subtle colors create a great atmosphere.

I did look at the lens - it is a very nice vintage build, looks super appealing, it is quite pricey though but certainly worth looking for a bargain.

cheers!

mark

Click to expand...

Thank you very much! In terms of processing, there isn't much in any of these. The main thing I do with the images made with the Voort is a slight increase in contrast (usually only in the areas which are in focus however, to not mess with the beautiful blur it produces) and no sharpening (unless in cases, where I use the lens for something it clearly isn't up to, like the two water shots I posted before).

It's different with any lens though... there are cases, where I apply more processing, because I want something different out of the image or am not yet familiar with a lens to use it effectively, or the lens has some limitations to consider.

You're right - the Voort is sometimes offered for very high prices. I actually don't think it ever sells for anything close to that though. I wouldn't recommend buying it for more than what you can buy a 9 cm Elmar for, as that will be pretty close in terms of rendering etc. and it even gives you a focusing helicoid. I bought mine together with a 5 cm Varob (another old Leitz EL) for what I would consider a decent price. The Voort is my favorite of the two though...

In terms of image quality and sharpness I might prefer the Summar 12 cm though, as far as very old Leitz lenses are concerned. That's an awesome lens and certainly another one to keep in mind to realize it, when it appears for a reasonable price, not only suitable for the Leitz collectors crowd...

Leaves me satisfied

https://flic.kr/p/2pg6GRS

Click to expand...

Thanks very much for the notes. I will look for Voort and Summar bargains - I don’t have any Leitz lenses, only some Soviet replicas I think; but I decided to slow down with new lenses - I don’t use enough what I collected. That said, my last one was an enlarger lens which was super impressive esp at the price, and I have a feel my next one will be an EL too when time or opportunity come

--

https://500px.com/bc-foto

T-Rex Mark said:

Lovely shots! What a great lens! I put it on a couple of weeks ago and it is so pleasing to shoot with that I have not taken it off much longer than planned. it surprises me how versatile it is and how it throws the background. Really like how you stay true to style!=

Click to expand...

Thank you. And you are right, the Pentacon is really an amazing little lens. It an affordable, plentiful gem. I believe every photographer should at least try one. It's fast enough, you can usually find one that is sharp enough wide open, and the background blur (when wide open) is really somewhat special. It's native close focus ability is an extra perk.

If I was somehow stuck with shooting only the 50mm Pentacon for the rest of my life, no other lenses at all, I would probably be ok with that. The artistic potential of this lens is limitless.