Samsung NX with old DKL (Kodak Retina) lens

I just want to share a few of this wonderful legacy lens from the days of the Kodak Retina Reflex. More info of the camera and lens here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak_Retina_Reflex

http://captjack.exaktaphile.com/Retina/Retina%20Lenses.htm

Those old German lens gives a very special rendering to the image.

I came over from the Sony Nex camp and I feel it is a shame that not too many knows or uses legacy lens on the Samsung NX. To me, I feel the Samsung sensor is a better match for legacy lens (image wise, maybe due to its more natural color and micro contrast). So despite still having a Nex5 with it flip lcd and peaking, I still mainly use my NX200 for legacy lens (and yes, I will be getting the NX300 soon enough)

I don't know if there is a NX to DKL adapter, but one can easily use a NX to M42 screw adapter plus a M42 to DKL adapter that can be easily found on ebay. You can find hundreds of listing on DKL adapter on ebay.

One special note about the DKL lens is that they don't have any aperture ring, the aperture control is on the adapter.

Please feel free to post photo relating to those lens here.

Schneider Xenon 50mm f1.9

Schneider is one of my favorite lens maker, but they only produce a very limited range of lens.

The original Germany Voigtlander, not the newer Japan made lens which is a completely different breast.

Voigtlander SKOPAREX 35mm f3.4

Shot in a vastly overcast sky, still the color came out nicely.:-)

Looks excellent. I think Samsung as been discounted as a back for legacy MFs because the flange distance was incompatible with mounting leica m mount lenses. This dimemsion has paid dividends for samsung wrt their own lens's performance, but obviously left it out of favour with the M people.

Exactly, and with the focus peaking of nx300, it's a joy to use with legacy lenses.

The photos in this thread totally prove your point, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Its just that for some reason the NX mount (which the most expensive model is only a few hundred) was slated because Samsung had the audacity to prioritise the performance of their oem lenses over legay M mount collectors, who have lenses worth thousands (to take pictures of their manky cats with) but for some reason wanted to mount them over a back produced by a "fridge manufacturer"!

I'm glad Samsung told them to frick off,  because now we have an NX system, not a ridiculous hotch potch. like sony.

timedrun wrote:

Looks excellent. I think Samsung as been discounted as a back for legacy MFs because the flange distance was incompatible with mounting leica m mount lenses. This dimemsion has paid dividends for samsung wrt their own lens's performance, but obviously left it out of favour with the M people.

Don't really care about Leica, its out of my budget. I am a legacy lens nut and I can never play with so many lens if I buy Leica. I like to play with lens that produce good colors, micro contrast, 3D-ness, gradient, clarity, etc... And you don't need to buy Leica, or Zeiss for that mater, to get some of those qualities. I once met a guy who uses a Canon 5D and took a Leica 50mm and Schneider Xenar 45/f2.8  to Japan. He said he first took a few shots with the Leica and then he tried the Schneider. The Schneider stayed on the camera for the rest of the trip.

I had a few Zeiss lens too, but for me, I often prefer Schneider lens over the Zeiss of the same speed/focal.

My point is there are a lot of hidden gems in the legacy lens world that give a certain rendering to images that maybe preferable to some, and they are not always a Leica or a Zeiss.

This is a fairly slow lens but excellent for landscape photo, fairly sharp wide open too.

It is ironic that it is the polution that produces such a beatiful sunset skies.

For some reason, the images shown in the thread is a bit soft, better click on it a look at it at 100% size.