Not a KEH lens - bought here on Buy and Sell - seller showed photos of clean lens without bent prong, no indication of rattle in mechanism.
It's not in the greatest mechanical shape even if I ignore the rattle (focus sloppy, shaving sound as you turn the barrel, but smooth and usable). It does take ok photos, and I assume the green dot being totally off at near focus goes with the territory. My 55mm f/1.2 cannot be focused with that dot either, just isn't as far off as this lens when wide open.
It was insured, but it'll be hard to get this sorted with the post office because the package isn't totally torn up, just shows compression creases.
If it was just normal wear, I'd just ignore it, but having been hit hard enough to bend the prong that much, I assume it may be more severe. The aperture also didn't work on the first shot I took at something other than wide open - stayed wide open. Next shot was ok and it hasn't done it again, but it clearly was sticky at that moment. Definitely not taking this lens hiking...
NightOwl Cat wrote:
Contact KEH on Monday and see what they say
Curtis and Jeff, your beautiful shots have inspired me to get out the 180 and some ext. tubes. Thus far I've never tried that combo. Looks like it might even be sunny today.
Sorry, got confused on where you got this lens. That's gonna be a process then.
pburke wrote:
Not a KEH lens - bought here on Buy and Sell - seller showed photos of clean lens without bent prong, no indication of rattle in mechanism.
It's not in the greatest mechanical shape even if I ignore the rattle (focus sloppy, shaving sound as you turn the barrel, but smooth and usable). It does take ok photos, and I assume the green dot being totally off at near focus goes with the territory. My 55mm f/1.2 cannot be focused with that dot either, just isn't as far off as this lens when wide open.
It was insured, but it'll be hard to get this sorted with the post office because the package isn't totally torn up, just shows compression creases.
If it was just normal wear, I'd just ignore it, but having been hit hard enough to bend the prong that much, I assume it may be more severe. The aperture also didn't work on the first shot I took at something other than wide open - stayed wide open. Next shot was ok and it hasn't done it again, but it clearly was sticky at that moment. Definitely not taking this lens hiking...
I decided to upload to my Flickr account a few more shots taken with tubes so they will continue to be available for me. I thought it a good idea to post the companion piece to the shot of the ladybug posted above. This too was shot with the 180 f/2.8 AI-s with a 36mm Vivitar extension tube attached. I love this shot. The lady bug was quickly walking all over this plant so I was delighted to capture these two shots. This one is especially cool in my humble opinion. It was shot wide open. If I remember correctly, I was leaning out the car window when I caught this...
DeltaSigma wrote:
Gave the old gal a wash and polish today
D610 & 55mm 1.2 wide open
Colin
I'm impressed Colin. I imagine quite a few of the folks hanging out on this thread understand what those letters stand for.
Today I stopped at the local Home Depot to return one item and pick up another. I'm still pretty protective of the sides of my new/used 2012 Toyota Camry XLE which is in pristine condition, so I looked for a large parking spot some distance from the entrance. I pulled in next to a lovely Tesla Model S. When I returned half an hour later there was a red Alfa Romeo roadster parked next to me. The fellow was just placing something in the trunk but he didn't get into the car. Rather he had stepped back to look at another red car parked on the other side of his car. I parked and stepped out to see what he was looking at. It was an early 1960's Ferrari GT250 coupe that looked brand new, much like this one...
We mused about the car, pondering the fact that this RARE vehicle worth anywhere from half to a whole million dollars was parked in a Home Depot lot. Yes, this is Marin and it is not unusual to see Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis driving around, but this was something else. Unfortunately, I had been carrying some large items and so left my camera bag at home. I'd definitely have taken a few photos...
Does it have soft corners at f/8.0? Mine does
Does it rattle when you shake the lens? Mine does
Does it make strange noises when you wiggle the aperture ring? Mine does.
Does it have a bent prong that lens forward at 46 degrees? Mine does.
Bottom line - I think US postal service just killed one. It works, but it sounds like something internal was hit hard when the package was crushed in shipping. It was well packed with just a little wiggle room in the box, but the bent prong and some creases in the cardboard box indicate that the transit to me was not without incident. My bad luck with used lens purchases continues. I think I am striking out 50% of the time.
What a disappointment! Hopefully the Postal Service will make things right for you. I'm always worried about items being damaged in transit too. Fortunately, I've had more success than failures... but still, what a bummer
CGrindahl wrote:
I'm impressed Colin. I imagine quite a few of the folks hanging out on this thread understand what those letters stand for.
Today I stopped at the local Home Depot to return one item and pick up another. I'm still pretty protective of the sides of my new/used 2012 Toyota Camry XLE which is in pristine condition, so I looked for a large parking spot some distance from the entrance. I pulled in next to a lovely Tesla Model S. When I returned half an hour later there was a red Alfa Romeo roadster parked next to me. The fellow was just placing something in the trunk but he didn't get into the car. Rather he had stepped back to look at another red car parked on the other side of his car. I parked and stepped out to see what he was looking at. It was an early 1960's Ferrari GT250 coupe that looked brand new, much like this one...
We mused about the car, pondering the fact that this RARE vehicle worth anywhere from half to a whole million dollars was parked in a Home Depot lot. Yes, this is Marin and it is not unusual to see Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis driving around, but this was something else. Unfortunately, I had been carrying some large items and so left my camera bag at home. I'd definitely have taken a few photos...
Thanks Huss and Curtis.
That GT250 is indeed a beautiful car.
I think it is great that some people actually use their vintage/collectable vehicles.
Most of us accept that there is a small risk in buying a lens, worth a few hundred dollars, from a description and a few photographs. Consider this - a work colleague of mine very recently bought a 1959 Austin Healey 3000, worth $50k, from a spec and pictures. Nervous times! The car was sourced in California (Beverley Hills Car Club) and was shipped to the UK in a container. It survived the route thru the Panama canal and the Atlantic ocean and arrived safely. It is in excellent condition. He is now in the process of stripping it down and will convert it back to right hand drive.
Samy, I really enjoy looking at your Vienna-shots. The 28PC does make a really nice travel-lens. I just (10 minutes ago) shot a few frames with it on film, but just to document my pinhole-efforts ;-)
Jeff, thanks for your kind comment - I've shot this bench already a few times with several cameras and lenses and think every time "no, it's not perfect, not bad at all, but just not perfect". It's just a 10-minutes-walk from my place, so maybe I'll shoot this a few times more.
Peter from WI - sorry to read about the damaged 28/2.
Curtis, the Irish-Coffee-shot looks familiar, I still like it and the rendering of the venerable 55/1.2.
DeltaSigma wrote:
Thanks Huss and Curtis.
That GT250 is indeed a beautiful car.
I think it is great that some people actually use their vintage/collectable vehicles.
Most of us accept that there is a small risk in buying a lens, worth a few hundred dollars, from a description and a few photographs. Consider this - a work colleague of mine very recently bought a 1959 Austin Healey 3000, worth $50k, from a spec and pictures. Nervous times! The car was sourced in California (Beverley Hills Car Club) and was shipped to the UK in a container. It survived the route thru the Panama canal and the Atlantic ocean and arrived safely. It is in excellent condition. He is now in the process of stripping it down and will convert it back to right hand drive.
Yes, Colin, our favorite pastime is quite easy on the wallet compared with many others, including many kinds of photography represented on FM. Last count I have less than $11,000 invested in manual focus Nikon lenses, which is about the cost of the latest 400 f/2.8 from Nikon. An acquaintance mentioned some time back that his bass boat cost $25,000. He very seldom goes fishing... A person I met briefly on FM some years ago owns a half million dollar airplane to take his family on jaunts.
There are many ways to play. Certainly the Austin-Healy 3000 is a fine place to do so. It is a classic. Was it this one perchance?
I have just started learning about the nuances of the 55mm 1.2 SC
Here are two pictures, taken minutes apart, both at 1.2
The background of the first (last year's teasels) is fine as far as I am concerned.
However the second, looking into a witch hazel bush. is a right royal streaky mess.
It would appear to me from a handful of shots that OOF structures with linear elements seem to make a mess of the background whereas as more random background doesn't suffer in the same way.
Early days for me with my new lens so plenty to explore.
The way I see it is that the point of a very fast lens shot at maximum aperture is to isolate the subject from the background which has been achieved in both these examples. I find it distracting when the 'bokeh' intrudes - much like the unpopular 'doughnut bokeh' that one can get with the 500 f8 mirror lens.
Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we all have our own opinions - specially on 'bokeh'.
CGrindahl wrote:
Yes, Colin, our favorite pastime is quite easy on the wallet compared with many others, including many kinds of photography represented on FM. Last count I have less than $11,000 invested in manual focus Nikon lenses, which is about the cost of the latest 400 f/2.8 from Nikon. An acquaintance mentioned some time back that his bass boat cost $25,000. He very seldom goes fishing... A person I met briefly on FM some years ago owns a half million dollar airplane to take his family on jaunts.
There are many ways to play. Certainly the Austin-Healy 3000 is a fine place to do so. It is a classic. Was it this one perchance?
I've got a pristine pair of FM2/Ts that I've just started using and they are probably the most enjoyable cameras I shoot with. I put a wide angle lens on one and a short telephoto on the other and hit the streets. I mostly use the Sunny 16 rule and rarely get an exposure I can't do anything with. Surprisingly, I find my keeper rate is more than twice that of digital cameras. Also the book cover agent I send them to gobbles them up even if they only average 4 to 8 MB each. Here are a few shots from last week (I've also posted these shots in the Nikon Film Shots thread):
The way I see it is that the point of a very fast lens shot at maximum aperture is to isolate the subject from the background which has been achieved in both these examples. I find it distracting when the 'bokeh' intrudes - much like the unpopular 'doughnut bokeh' that one can get with the 500 f8 mirror lens.
Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we all have our own opinions - specially on 'bokeh'.
Peter
The background diffuses in a nice way when the 55mm 1.2 is used wide open with a PK-13 tube. Not at all sharp though.
