carstenw wrote:
Very interesting lens! I was led to believe that the boke would be less pleasing than what I see here. Are these representative of what you have shot so far, boke-wise?
Boke can be on the harsh/bright-ring side at the "wrong" object/focus distances. However, in this particular batch (all these images are from a short walk-around this morning), I didn't have any shots ruined by "difficult" boke (and I wasn't intentionally planning to avoid it); these are fairly representative. It helps that these were taken under soft lighting (cloudy), reducing specular highlights in the backgrounds. Here are some older (previously posted) pictures, in more harsh lighting, at the mid-to-close distances where boke can turn harsh:
carstenw wrote:
How does the lens handle, and how easy is it to focus?
Lens handling is slow and deliberate --- opposite of the Leica 280/4, which is a very fast/comfortable/convenient lens to use. I wish the lens had a built-in foot; it's a bit long, but still workable, to support from the camera body. The focus throw is extremely long and precise, despite a fairly high MFD --- 270 degrees from infinity (no hard stop at infinity) to 3m. My copy has a rather stiff focus ring (and the technician at my local repair shop says he is no longer able to get the correct lubricant to re-do it lighter). The viewfinder image on my 5D EE-s screen is a bit dim from the small aperture; focusing subjectively takes a larger amount of effort than with many lenses, but the final results are nearly always spot-on (as opposed to some lenses that promote over-confidence in my focusing skills). Stopping down the lens is a two step process (turning an aperture ring then pushing a lever), but I rarely stop down (also, the lens has a 5-bladed straight edged aperture to create distinctively pentagonal boke). The single-coated design (non-T*-coated for better IR transmission) also benefits from a hood/shade to prevent veiling from direct out-of-frame sunlight on the front element. Overall, I'd give the lens a low rating for handling/ergonomics/convenience; it's actually nice to use as part of a deliberately slow and contemplative process.
mpmendenhall - NIce. I like the bokeh on those shots. from the series, it feels it might be less contrasty compare to 35mm slr lens series. What is your finding. Deliberately slow and contemplative process sounds very good.
Ronny- Beautiful series. I really like the house shot in the middle. What a sky !
akul wrote:
mpmendenhall - NIce. I like the bokeh on those shots. from the series, it feels it might be less contrasty compare to 35mm slr lens series. What is your finding.
Yes, it's not as contrasty as many lenses. Not only is it an older lens (I think mine's 1975), but it did not have Zeiss' T* coating technology of the time --- from what I have read, the lens was intentionally only single coated, since the regular T* process was not designed to produce good results over an extended range into the infrared. However, the lens was carefully designed to take the extra reflective lens surfaces into account, so it's reasonably resistant against image-destroying blatant flare issues. However, the overall contrast does gently degrade, especially when used on strongly backlit subjects, more than one sees from the best coating technologies of (often several decades newer) 35mm lenses.
carstenw wrote:
I picked up the S5 just to come to grips with its DR and colours. I am not particularly intending to keep it. I want to see what others see in this camera. Oh, I also have a Kodak SLR/n in a box somewhere... I have too much junk around I need to test and sell
That's a shame that you are not going to keep the S5 Pro. It is an amazingly unique camera with a sensor unlike anything being sold today. In a world swimming in Bayer sensors, the S5 Pro offers something quite amazing. There won't be another sensor like the SuperCCD SR II.
I have an S5 Pro and I intend to run it into the ground. There will always be "today's" camera when that happens.
I think that I may have overstated my case... I am not intending to sell it OR to keep it. If I like the results I will keep it, there isn't a lot of money locked up in it. I am just not sure how much I will enjoy a small, dark, hard-to-focus crop viewfinder, and if I don't use it after a while, I will sell it.
But before I do that, I want to come to grips with its colour. My sensitivity to good colour is increasing all the time, yet I am not happy with either Canon or Nikon colours. Overall I prefer the Nikon's colours for most things, but the skin tones are a bit dead. The Canon's colours are generally a bit broken, IMO, but the skin tones are more pleasing, if a bit too radiant out of the box. The Fuji S5 seems to get both right, although they are not really true, just pleasing. The Kodak also isn't quite it. My Olympus E-PL3 comes quite close. I will see what the E-PL5 can do, when I get around to upgrading.
I am not quite sure what I am looking for w.r.t. colour, so the search and experimentation continues. I might have to try medium format digital again...
I should probably also get better in Photoshop. It may be that my problems are solvable through software.
Quite a coincidence. The other day I met some people from an analyst/research company. We were looking for synergies as the company I am at is doing much the same thing but in another field.
Today weather went berserk so for once I took my camera to work. During lunch I went out to a near-by square regretting it at once. All people ran across the streets for the next shelter except me standing like a fool with the camera. And this other guy. It turned out to be a guy from that other company. We concluded we were morons and smiled. I took a shot and we said good bye. Went back to the office and had a cup of hot coffee.
Here's the shot. Later I of course realized that no business can come to question with Nikon people.
I have too much junk around I need to test and sell 
