p.263 #2 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Just got myself a plain MD 2.8/24 for a good price. Damm I am I bad at not buying lenses. But now I can compare it to the nFD 2.8/24, OM 2.8/24 and FE 4/16-35... When I have finished quite few other articles
p.263 #4 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
SMC Pentax M 50/1.4 (this compleats my 50/1.4 Takumar/Pentax collection, other than the SMC Tak that I don't want) (8 element ST, 7 element ST, S-M-C, K, M, & A)
Konica AR 135/3.5
Yashica ML 50/2 (my 2nd, the first was fungus infested, and can't be cleaned)
Hanimar 135/3.5 preset M42
All for $65
p.263 #5 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I picked up an Elmarit-M 24 to test on the a7rII with the convex lenses that have been the topic of discussion and am pleasantly surprised to discover that the performance, while not perfect, is quite usable for my purposes. Once you correct the barrel distortion, you have to chop off the worst of the corners anyway, so it's really like a 26mm, but it turns out that's about as wide as I need. Now the Loxia can go to someone who will appreciate it's 21mm wideness and not crop every single frame shot with it.
I also decided to give the ZM Distagon 35 an extended try after finding a lightly-used copy on the bay (offered by the SF Leica Store) and getting a best-offer acceptance.
p.263 #6 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Canon EF 100 f2 USM. I thought I might get this at some point but I was able to get a new one at a great price.
Mainly to be used as a FF portrait lens for concerts/gigs but will make a wonderful travel lens too.
I will use it as intended FF (but on my A7s) and also as a 200mm FF angle of view on my M4/3 GX7.
I previously had a 135 f2 L EF lens and also have a 150 2.8 Sigma APO macro and those two are pretty close in focal length and I needed the money so I sold the Canon (I had also started going to other venues where the 135 was a bit long).
I think that a 100mm lens will suit me well between 55 (Sony Zeiss 1.8) and the Sigma 150.
I still have an old 135 1.8 but don't like it very much and a old FD 85 1.2 L that I do like but it needs some work (bearings issue I think).
Anyway, I am sure this 100 with my FD 24 1.4 L and 55 1.8 Sony Zeiss will form a great live music kit (and 17 f4 L TS-E for larger bands).
A few from this morning with both GX7 (mostly) and A7s. The GX7 is fast AF (AFS only), the A7s is slow AF (AFS only), the A7s can be used for AF for stationary subjects and things like ducks on a pond or patient people.
p.263 #7 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Last week KEH had a 25% off sale on pre-digital lenses, and I grabbed the Olympus Zuiko 90 f2 macro in good shape. I've been too busy to use it much or test it. I'll be quite interested to see if it holds up at infinity and can become the one single 85/90 that I carry. As it is I have:
Sony FE 90 2.8 OSS (soon to be for sale). Sharp, but heavy. Bokeh can be good, but sometimes disappointing. OSS is definitely a plus. I have not carried it for a while.
Pentax SMC 85 1.8 K mount - this one ended up on the shelf for some reason -- I think landscape/corners were not good in my tests, though closer focus and bokeh images in my lightroom catalog are lovely. Will need to re-test but probably sell. I think I didn't really use it enough to evaluate properly before it ended up shelved.
The Bokina - I love this lens, but I decided I wanted an upgrade to the bokeh when not wide open. I don't like f4, and smaller apertures can show obvious aperture shaped bokeh, which I have sometimes found to be troublesome. But the Bokina is the one to beat here.
Nikon 85 1.8 D -- This lens seems under-appreciated on these forums. The bokeh is quite good; it's sharp stopped down a bit; it's very sharp across the field from f4. Plastic, but also reasonably lightweight. This is often the lens I carry if not the Bokina.
As for the Oly 90, I made this test at all apertures. Often f4 is where trouble starts for this kind of image, but this is smooth and beautiful with round bokeh balls at f4. I also found that in brighter light highlight/reflection bokeh is smooth and clean.
p.263 #8 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Novoflex Noflexar 400 f5.6 doublet lens.
What seemed like a real bargain changed when I realised I also needed to buy a PIGRIFF-B, BA tube and PENTA adapter. All up now running about Aus$500 (lens was only about A$130 )
p.263 #10 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
LightShow wrote:
So, bought a Leica R 90/2 from 1972 for $40, and the R 35/2 from 1973 for $20
Sadly they are not mint, Sadly they have major water damage, the aperture mechanisms are both stuck, blades may be rusted together, the focus ring on the 35 is stuck.
I'm not expecting them to survive, but thought they might be interesting to try and save.
Wish me luck.
p.263 #13 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
In the absence of a reply from Hawk Peng, I am posting this here in case some FMers can shed any light on my problem:
I recently bought a Contax G21/2.8 Biogon at a good price, and splashed out for the expensive Hawk's conversion kit.
I had previously owned and loved an LM-converted G45/2 (by Jieying - no longer available) and I have a G90 that sits unused since I sold my Sony A7R. My experience with these G lenses and the reputation of the G21 led me to go for this expensive option (about A$1200 after shipping for both).
The Hawk's kit comes with ZERO documentation! The dull aluminium finish of the conversion components detracts from the lovely original G aesthetics.
After conversion I am most definitely not achieving infinity focus (without dof assistance) and have not used any of the shims provided in the kit, so I have no ability to move the lens assembly closer to the sensor.
I have contacted Hawk but I'm not too optimistic at this stage. His documentation comprises this album, complete with a partial video that stops before showing the insertion of the optical cell: Conversion kit photos from Hawk:
Info I sent to him by eBay email:
I am NOT achieving infinity focus with my converted lens.
My Contax G lens had a 0.02mm shim and a washer that I measured at 0.2mm
I have tried the converted lens with
1. original shim and washer fitted
2. largest shim and washer fitted
3. 0.3mm shim fitted
4. no shim or washer fitted
I get the best results with #4 as i expected (lens assembly closest to sensor), however I am not achieving anything like infinity focus at f2.8
I tried to measure helicoid movements with my vernier calipers.
Contax G helicoid - moves through 2.9mm ( I presume the Contax G design caters for all of the G21, G28, G35, G45, and G90 installations)
Hawk's helicoid moves through 0.7mm?
...If the worst comes to the worst there is the drastic step of taking off the LM bayonet from the Hawk assembly and having the rear face shaved, to enable me to play with some of the supplied shims, assuming that the shaving process would put me in a forward-focus regime, as opposed to the severe rear-focus situation I currently face.
Update: message just received from Hawk (and I have replied asking for much more clarity on what's intended:
" you can cut the parts for assembly optics about 1 mm "
One wonders why such a buyer modification is required for a kit that purports to be a simple conversion, albeit one that supplies a range of shims from 0.02mm up to 0.5mm.
p.263 #14 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
The first picture in your Flickr link shows focus on the bushes close to the camera and everything beyond is soft, assuming you didn't mess up the focusing... I will agree the optics are too far from the sensor.
I would wait to hear back from Hawk's before any modification.
And double check the unit was put together correctly
In this picture: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5462/30097072434_9048889cfd_b.jpg
You have the mounting surface exposed(the black part), it should be relatively easy to sand off enough to permit the optical cell to sit closer to the sensor, use 800 grit wet & dry sandpaper(you could use a more aggressive grit but you won't need much taken off), lay it flat on glass and rinse it often with water, use light pressure with a figure 8 pattern and rotate the body every few cycles of the figure 8 to prevent one side having more material removed than the others, then regularly clean the body and mount the optics to check infinity, you can stop when infinity is reached, or add a shim and continue till it reaches infinity with the shim.
It shouldn't take too long since you only need a few 10'ths of a mm to be removed, so check often.
p.263 #15 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Just picked up a mint Leica 90 Elmarit-M, for use on A7RII. Only my second Leica lens, my first was a Leica 50 Summicron R E55, the results of which I love, so beautiful. But I have to say, the build feels a little so so on the 50 cron, focus ring seems a little stiff, but then moves too rapidly, easy to push past the aperture I want. Definitely doesn't feel as solidly built as my C/Y Zeiss lenses. But the 90 Elmarit-M is is just lovely, beautiful character and the lenses feels superbly built.
p.263 #16 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Send your 50 Cron out to get cleaned and lubed, the jerky feeling in the helicoid is telling me the grease has gone bad, once the old grease is cleaned out and relubed it will feel like new.
The Contax 50/1.7 I had felt much cheaper than any of the Leica lenses I have.
p.263 #17 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
LightShow wrote:
The first picture in your Flickr link shows focus on the bushes close to the camera and everything beyond is soft, assuming you didn't mess up the focusing... I will agree the optics are too far from the sensor.
I would wait to hear back from Hawk's before any modification.
And double check the unit was put together correctly
In this picture: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5462/30097072434_9048889cfd_b.jpg
You have the mounting surface exposed(the black part), it should be relatively easy to sand off enough to permit the optical cell to sit closer to the sensor, use 800 grit wet & dry sandpaper(you could use a more aggressive grit but you won't need much taken off), lay it flat on glass and rinse it often with water, use light pressure with a figure 8 pattern and rotate the body every few cycles of the figure 8 to prevent one side having more material removed than the others, then regularly clean the body and mount the optics to check infinity, you can stop when infinity is reached, or add a shim and continue till it reaches infinity with the shim.
It shouldn't take too long since you only need a few 10'ths of a mm to be removed, so check often....Show more →
Thanks very much for your time and input on this.
Actually I did hear back from Hawk's this afternoon and an update to my post quoted his advice
as "you can cut the parts for assembly optics about 1 mm". !!!
I've asked for clarification on this, also querying why this should be necessary (in a US$464 purchase that purports to be a high-quality conversion kit). As you advised, I previously checked that I had assembled the unit correctly, again not so simple when Hawk's video cuts off before the optical cell installation.
As you have said, my lens is certainly focussing too closely and I agree that the remedy is to do as you (and Hawk I think) suggest, however I'm nervous about not sanding it square, not to mention thinking that it should be up to the vendor to supply an adequately dimensioned component.
If push comes to shove then I guess I'll tackle this myself and shave the black plastic surface, not the rear aluminium face of the barrel.
thanks again for your advice,
David
LightShow wrote:
Send your 50 Cron out to get cleaned and lubed, the jerky feeling in the helicoid is telling me the grease has gone bad, once the old grease is cleaned out and relubed it will feel like new.
The Contax 50/1.7 I had felt much cheaper than any of the Leica lenses I have.
I agree that a Leica R lens should feel better than a C/Y one, I've had both.
p.263 #18 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
I sanded an adapter on 2 surfaces to reach infinity using this method, I was very close to perpendicular, I also then used a caliper to measure at multiple points to confirm how close I was, then a minute or so to perfect it as good as I could, in all it only took me 3 hours to do, I don't know if you can easily remove that black peace to measure it, removal would be ideal as any filings can be washed away with no chance of transfer to the other parts.
An update to the R35/2:
I finally removed the rear elements, corrosion made the process almost impossible, each element has an aluminum ring surrounding it was almost jammed in place permanently.
The front didn't fare as well, the set screw that holds the ID ring in place had to be drilled out, the front element took a bit of effort to get out, and that's as deep as I can get at the moment, the ring that holds the 2nd element in place seems stuck, I'll try some penetrating oil tomorrow, I did get to clean the exposed surface of the 3rd element, and it's almost perfect, it's good enough to let me see there is the light fungus growth between the 2nd and 3rd elements, If I can't get it apart, I will just UV the fungus into oblivion.
Well, I'm close to a satisfactory result, from a seized helicoid and absolutely no possibility to capture any kind of image of any subject, to no aperture control, a reasonably smooth helicoid, and 90% clean optics, and if I can gain access, 97% clean.
p.263 #20 · What is your most recent (alt) lens purchase?
Six years ago,when I bid farewell to all of my Canon AF primes,the one I regretted most was EF 135/2.0 L.There were no Sony E - Canon EF adapters with aperture control available at that time.
Today Canon EF 135/2.0 L is back with me again.Welcome to the hoard,prodigal son!
I also acquired Canon EF-S 15-85/3.5-5.6 - very good in the crop mode with Sony A7 series cameras and on veteran NEXes 5N.
Decent,late MC copy of Pentacon 135/2.8,m42 - I have tried numerous before,but this one is acceptable at last.
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