[Riggomatic]

My month with the DA*55 on a K-1...

Right from the start, this lens blew me away with the detail and color. I was a little concerned that vignetting might be an issue, but after a little practice, I could either hide it in the image with darker areas, or just crop the image a bit.
My copy was soft at f1.4, and didn't really see a big change, until f2.0. I felt my copy was best around f4, and shooting at close focus when I could, the bokeh was always pleasing. The bad, in my opinion, is the slow focus. My thumb developed a bit of a callus from mashing the AF button, trying to get this to focus faster. I wish that would have worked! All in all, I am very pleased with this lens.

Some of my shots from the month:

[Tsuken]

So, a month with the SMC Takumar 135/3.5 on my KP.

... O_O

I had avoided putting this M42 lens on my KP, fearing (I hope foolishly) that the screw-mount would introduce more dust onto the sensor. I guess that remains to be seen, but wow even if it does it was such a worthwhile experiment. The lens is utterly magic. Compared with the Takumar Bayonet 135/2.5 it really does have a something (in the colours and rendering maybe) that the tak bae doesn't. The latter just seems a bit flat to me by comparison, whereas this breathes life into even the mundane (to a degree).

It's also gorgeous to handle, and the focus ring has so much beautifully-moving travel that focus is really quite easy to nail (in conjunction with the focus beep, at any rate).

There's a bit of chromatic aberration, but nothing too bad; worse wide-open of course - I spent most of the month at f4 or 5.6, and it was not too much of an issue - sometimes there but never too intrusive to be perfectly honest.

No idea what I paid for it many years ago. Certainly very easily worth it, anyway. Superb lens. It was really nice on my K-30, but on the KP it's another world.

Faves from the month:


From the bridge (135) by -Occasionally Focused-


Cockatoo in tree by -Occasionally Focused-


Sully by -Occasionally Focused-


Kooky in That Tree by -Occasionally Focused-


Dutch Iris by -Occasionally Focused-

[NatureHike]

cockatoo

I really liked that picture - I think it went up before I made a Flickr account, but I really liked the contrast with the dark tree, bright bird, and the sky halfway in between. Very cool photo.

[pepperberry farm]

August wrap-up - Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 100mm f4

not surprisingly, it's a terrifically competent lens...

it's sharp, colorful, contrasty, and can even pull off decent bokeh if the photographer is paying attention....

the bad news is that I have several solid macro lenses in this focal range, so this is duplication for me...

some of my favorites this month:









and the rest of this month's album

Single In Challenge - August '22 | Flickr

[Tsuken]

August wrap-up - Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 100mm f4

Fab month. I especially love the dewdrops, morning light. Just superb.

---------- Post added 1st Sep 2022 at 05:12 PM ----------

I really liked that picture - I think it went up before I made a Flickr account, but I really liked the contrast with the dark tree, bright bird, and the sky halfway in between. Very cool photo.

Thank you 8) It pleased me as well

[pepperberry farm]

Fab month. I especially love the dewdrops, morning light. Just superb.[COLOR="Silver"]

thank you...

[gifthorse]

I actually bought the A50 f1.4 several years ago but through a series of unfortunate events didn't get to try it until this month. (It had been so long since I had picked up the camera that I couldn't remember how to do things like turn off the autofocus.) I had bought the lens for night photography and it hasn't disappointed. It is soft at f1.4. Not surprising but at f2 I can see some of Jupiter's moons. The A series works well with flash. (none of my other manual lenses do) I like the colors produced. All together I can't think of anything negative about the lens. For night photography, manual focus isn't a negative. For a night lens where a few extra stops might be important, I'd definitely recommend the A50 f1.4. If autofocus is more important, I'd lean toward the F50 f.17 which isn't far in price from the A50.
And some of my favorites...
Jinx. Just because she's my sweetie.


I can't wait to try this lens on a real thunderstorm!


The lens is plenty sharp when you can see Jupiter's moons.




When I first saw this image I thought "the A50 f1.4 does not play well with the OGPS". The foreground was terribly blurred. I eventually realized that my usual lenses when using the OGPS are the Vivitar 28mm f2 close focusing and the DA 18-55 lenses. The longer focal length greatly exaggerated the foreground blur. So go ahead an use the OGPS.


And finally a few that didn't make it but I still like.










Thanks for playing along everyone! It was good to get out for a while.

[iheiramo]

Yeah... well--- As you might have noticed I disappered in mid month. Didn't even do the selfie. Sorry about that. I have no excuse. Simply lost motivation when day after the day the shooting was the last thing on my mind and had to go with late night safeties. Windsurfing has taken a lot of my time lately. Whole summer to be exact. But I've also learned a lot during the summer. Not so much on the sailing skills, but a lot on how to tune up the gear for different conditions to get them going as fast as possible. It's like photography. Set everything up just right and you'll get sharp pictures.

Yashinon Tomioka 60mm f2.8 Macro Yashinon Tomioka is an excellent lens. This is no news to me, as I've shot this lens before in SIC and whole purchase was done after I had seen Pepperberry's work with same lens albeit with different brand name. Real 1:1 macro lets you go close enough. I think I haven't found a situation yet where I would've gone closer than what this can reach. It's sharp and has nice bokeh. What else one can hope for? Of course I would prefer PK mount, but with macro lens that is not so big issue as you can use flanged adapter which basically make it K mount in use thougth you loose infinity focus. With macro lens it's something I can accept in normal use. This month thougth I used traditional M42 to PK adapter.

Soft bokeh in close up work:



Sharp enough wide open to separate the target from backgroud on moderate distances:



Lens can do landscapes stopped down. Catching action on the other hand is more difficult, as you need to rely on your hand eye coordination:



Also cool OOF highlights:




Main reason to purchase this lens was to upgrade macro from M series lenses. As I don't do that much macro shooting I think this shall sercive my needs for a long time. ATM I see no reason to replace this with modern macro lens.

[W412ren]

Late wrap up for the FA* 24mm:

Apologies for disappearing completely but I became overwhelmed with both work and leisure activities!

Anyway, the FA* 24 is a very nice lens overall and when I could give my full attention I enjoyed using it. Conversely I also struggled to use the focal length for the whole month (I should have expected this after singling the DA15 back in October '15).
Great bokeh and decent performance wide open on full frame make this a useful lens - yes the sharpness drops away at the edges but if the lens is wide open then my subject is generally close up and filling the centre of the frame. Once stopped down to f8-11 for landscapes it is more than sharp enough - I don't have the DFA21 for comparison.

This is not a lens I would use all the time though - after playing with the A15, various 20's and a couple of 24's now, I think I am happy enough at the 28-31 focal length on FF for the majority of the time. For internal architecture shots I will probably stick with the DA* 11-18.

So, although the lens is easy to use (even in MF) and I really like the clutch mechanism as well as the images it produces I am not sure that I will keep it yet due to the focal length - time will tell Oh, the CA - lots of people mention this - it is definitely present up to f4 in some images but goes away with a click in Lightroom (or the editor of your choice!!)

Some images from the month:

at f2


at f2


at f4


at f4


at f8


at f11