Flares like the 70s
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana, flares like the 70s.
Old Russian Jupiter-8 lens. When wide open (at f/2) it flares like this whenever the sun is in front of it. We have a choice. We can complain about the poor quality of the optical coatings, or we can have rainbows magically inserted into our photos.
My choice? Rainbows, please!
Magnolia Sunset
Telephoto Test with Old Hanimex 200mmThe view from our steps with a 35mm lens:
The white building in the middle distance is a school, on the other side of the canal from us. The closest white part has a window and a decorative pattern on it, and a diagonal roof sloping down to the right.
The next photo is that part only, taken with a strange lens combination:
It’s an old Hanimex 200mm f/4.5 lens, picked up nice and cheap on eBay, with two 2x converters between it and the adaptor that connects it to my Sony NEX. That makes it a total of 800mm. I used my Tamrac Zipshot tripod, which was really pushing the limits of such a flimsy portable tripod. The image was shaking about all over the place in the wind, but I tried a couple of shots, and they came out ok. Not good, but kind of impressive considering what they were taken with.
Here’s the ‘lens’ on the camera:
And this is what it looks like on the Zipshot tripod:
I wouldn’t call it a practical combination for day-to-day use, and the quality isn’t good, but it’s fun to play with, which is important too.
SweeneyA couple of shots of our cat, Sweeney. Taken with the Asahi Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens – good for low-light photos, and does a great job of blurring out the background.
Reed MaceReed maces in the Grand Western Canal, near our home. These were both taken with a Chinon 135mm f/2.8 lens I picked up on eBay months ago, for less than £15 including postage. This is the first time I’ve really tried it out, other than a quick test.
The results have been really good, though it didn’t feel as much fun to shoot with at the time as my current favourite 50mm Takumar. I might enjoy it more now I know how good the results can be.
The focus ring turns the opposite way to the Takumar, which is tricky to get used to. Looks like it might be worth the effort, though, and it was definitely a bargain.