A rose image I shot yesterday – Fujifilm X-T5 – Jupiter 9 85mm f2
It’s getting on for nearly a year now since I started regularly using vintage prime lenses, choosing to shoot with them rather than my modern Fujifilm alternatives, mostly zooms. I don’t own a vintage zoom lens. I’m not sure why that is other than I’ve enjoyed using my new prime lens collection and just not been minded to even research vintage zooms as an option. However there is one issue that’s become apparent with these old prime lenses since I bought my full frame Sony A7 MK3 earlier year.
Jodrell Bank Cheshire UK. Taken with a Nikon 105mm f2.5 and Sony A7 mk3
Its been a while since I posted in relation to my vintage lens journey and I’ve added to my collection during that time. The first of my recent acquisitions was a Nikon 105mm f2.5 Pre AI lens. It was a popular lens back in the 70’s and 80’s and was made famous by Steve McCurry who shot the famous Afghan Girl image for National Geographic with a copy.
The old port lighthouse with three small tenders moored up nearby. If the boats had been more interesting I’d have walked around and made them the main subject, rather than the lighthouse.
Tina has set this weeks challenge – The rule of three.The rule of threes depicts images which contain three subjects. This is a lesser-known photographic concept but perhaps one worthy of further exploration.
I have to say this was a new rule for me. I can’t say I’ve ever deliberately taken a picture with this rule in mind, up until today that is. I could say that I’ve tried to shoot still life subjects, like food, in a triangle around the frame. That very loosely follows the same concept but the objects in those triangles can be very different things and not obviously three distinct items.
We’re currently on holiday in Rethymno, Crete, Greece. So without access to my portfolio at home I went out for a walk this morning and tried to find groups three to photograph for the challenge. Like last weeks Lens Artist tasking, it was another interesting photographic exercise. I’ve ended up with a few images I’m pleased with that I wouldn’t normally have shot. It’s one reason I love Lens Artists, I’m thinking differently and shooting images I wouldn’t shoot – last week and today are two great examples.
I’m typing on an iPad, which is painful, so without further ado here are my challenge images, all shot in Rethymno today…
Colourful rustic chairs outside a local restaurant.Terracotta plant pots on some colourful stepsThree small windows in a building located in the towns old fortress.A colourful window display. By now I was starting to realise I was just photographing other people’s ideas for groups of three 😎I got a bit more creative with this intersection of three roofs.I did create this group of three and tried to tell a little story with them. They’re take away coffee cups from a local cafe we’ve been visiting. I’ve loads more to collect 😃
Thank you to Tina for hosting and setting another challenging challenge. It’s proper ‘SCHORCHIO’ here so I’m getting back on the sun bed now. I’ll leave you with a lovely sunset shot from last night.
So, having successfully opened up a Helios 44-2 and reversed the front element using a newly purchased lens spanner (blogged here), I decided to attack another couple of lenses this week. Things went pretty well initially but, I learnt a tough lesson through inexperience with these older lenses.
An early shot with the modified lens. I took the lens out with us to grab some shots this morning but we were unlucky with the weather and walked straight into a monsoon like squall. Thinking of my wife and dogs welfare I agreed to put the camera away and go for a coffee until the squall blew through. I know, I’m a good guy. Actually, the truth of the matter is I was more worried about getting my vintage lens and Sony A7 wet!!
Having scoured so many vintage lens blogs and watched hours of vintage lens YouTube videos over the last few months, I was aware that lens elements could be reversed to achieve some quirky effects. It was something I hadn’t considered trying until I stumbled across Nadin Thomsons wonderful photography blog site. Here’s a link to Nadins site, it’s well worth making a visit – nadinthomson.co.uk
My new (second hand) Sony A7 MkIII with a 1958 Jupiter 9 85mm f2 vintage lens
I’ve written recently about my interest in vintage lenses and how much I’ve enjoyed using them. It’s very rare that I use my modern Fuji lenses these days. So, having convinced myself that using vintage lenses is not just a passing fad I decided to enhance my use of them by investing in a full frame camera.
Auto Takumar 50mm f1.4 – Shot at F5.6 earlier today.
I’ve been shooting on and off with vintage lenses for a couple of years now. I always enjoyed using them but I didn’t really stick with it. I think it’s probably because I was prioritising shooting stock images, which need to be tack sharp. To that end using my modern Fujifilm lenses, with auto focus and coatings that have superb flare and glare control made more sense. There’s more on my drift into using vintage lenses in a previous blog – Vintage lenses and Flickr
Following this weeks Lens-Artist Challenge on WP I was scrolling through some of the challenge posts. One of these was from /ˈsnæp.ʃɒt/. On Keith’s blog (it’s well worth spending some time there) I found a reference to taking pictures with a Game Boy console using a Game Boy Camera.
Kutubiyya Mosque, Marrakesh. You can’t go in to the mosques in Marrakesh but they didn’t seem to mind you taking pictures from outside. We timed it so we’d be near the mosque at around midday when we knew the doors would be open. This was just a quick grab shot and I had no idea what I had until I processed the image later. I could have easily filled this post with favourite images from Marrakesh.
Tina over at Travels and Trifles has led this week’s Lens-Artist’s challenge. I’ll echo everyone else and say how this was a really tough challenge. It would have been easier to duck out completely but I thought ‘No, I’m going to do it’. I’m posting late because we’ve been away.
Canon 5D MK2 paired with my Pentacon 135mm F2.8 – Superb when I nailed the focus, trouble was, I didn’t most of the time.
I’ve enjoyed using my vintage lenses with my Fujifilm X-T cameras over the last few weeks. It’s been really good to slow down, using manual focusing, and I like the colour rendering and sharp images my Auto Takamar 35mm F2.3 lens has produced (it’s a 50mm lens on my crop sensor Fuji cameras). The other vintage lens I’ve been using is my Pentacon 135mm F2.8 – known as the bokeh monster, with good reason.
Steve Hyde 