[utak]

For some reason I was under the impression that it was a particular oddity of the Soviet design and/or assembly that produced the swirls, and that they weren't present in the Biotar. Could be wrong though.

Opinion seems to be divided on this. Some people say the early Biotar 58mm's swirl like the Helios 44-2. Including the on-line re-seller who sold me the lens. Other people claim the East German CZJ lenses are better quality than the Russian Helios's, and don't produce swirls.

Now I can compare both, this is what I've found. The Biotar has the same kind of "squashed" bokeh highlights as the Helios 44-2, that circle around the centre of an image and produce swirls. Each highlight is flatter on the inside and rounder on the outside. The Biotar's bokeh is smoother, and therefore the swirls are far less pronounced.

When we have leaves on the trees and/or the sun is out, I'll be able to see how much swirl can be produced from the Biotar's bokeh highlights...in the meantime here is a Helios 44-2 example of what those bokeh highlights look like.



...with similar shapes apparent in parts of this Biotar photo (e.g. bottom right)..

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Last edited by utak; 01-13-2015 at 01:30 AM.

[edmundrt]

Agree with you on grain with the first picture, but the second one I think works nicely.

(And a SP F motor drive? Very nice.)

Thanks! The SPF MD was a lucky antique shop find this time last year, sadly without the motor drive accessories. Finding those will doubtless cost me far more than the £40 I paid for the camera.

[utak]

Here's the Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58/2, stopped down. This 65 year old lens is sharp! And excellent bokeh smoothness from the 17 blades. The original is not quite a vibrant as this image suggests, but the raw material is there to process.

[micromacro]

Isco Isconar 100mm f4.5 lens arrived yesterday. Mint condition. Not really sharp wide open, but I can set the aperture somewhere in between 4.5 and 5.6, and it sharper. Lightweight, silver finish weird lens. Morning test.

[micromacro]

Isconar surprisingly a perfect match not with Pentax, but with my small Canon Sl1. It's too light for K-5IIS, not a good balance.

[g026r]

Got a roll back that I had mainly shot with my Pentacon auto 50/1.8. First time I've stuck the thing on a film body, and I'm now wondering if there isn't something wrong with my copy. There are a few spots where the left and right thirds of the photo are just completely blurred, while the middle third remains fine, and often only one shot out of two or three with the exact same settings will demonstrate it. My first thought when I saw one of them was that it looked like something I'd expect from my old Kodak box camera.

Heavily cropped and converted to B&W. (It was a grey day, and I probably should have had a warming filter on; also, the shutter speed looks to have been a bit low, since there's some shake in the signs):


Some of the edge blurriness can be seen in this photo, particularly in the lower left and upper right:

[g026r]

More film back. First time I've put the Meritar on some B&W film, and I have to say that the results are more pleasing to me than when I was using it on digital:

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Last edited by g026r; 01-26-2015 at 09:02 PM.

[Bellachioma]

Zeiss Jena S auto 1:2.8f 200mm MC

[g026r]

2.8/200? How big is that thing?

[Bellachioma]

2.8/200? How big is that thing?

Not so big as expected
Rather heavy but still reasonable.

I've been lucky: I bought it for 120 euro (obviously used) in mint condition. It requires only new grease into focus ring, but it's perfect and with fantastic IQ!

[g026r]

CZJ Sonnar 135/3.5 on Fuji Superia X-TRA 400:

[daytona9]

My first SLR .............. PRAKTICA LTL3 with Pentacon Auto 50mm f1.8

[zzeitg]

I bought my first two M42 lenses today...


Pentacon 135 mm f2.8 preset (15 blades)





Pentacon 200 mm f4 preset (15 blades)

[g026r]

Congrats! Those are both classics--the 135 perhaps a bit more so than the 200, if only because it's a more popular focal length.

(I've only got the later, fewer blades versions of them.)

[Prakticant]

I'm in love with my CZJ Sonnar 2.8/200mm, that's my favourite lens. With sun-shade unscrewed and put in proper frontal working position it looks even more anihilating
The focussing ring of this lens is stiff, I don't think new grease helps a lot
When the weather becomes better (we have very dull wether here now) I'd like to make and compare some photos from CZJ with DA* 2.8/200mm, which I'm also falling in love right now

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Not so big as expected Rather heavy but still reasonable. I've been lucky: I bought it for 120 euro (obviously used) in mint condition. It requires only new grease into focus ring, but it's perfect and with fantastic IQ!