Leica rangefinder lenses are very expensive? Most of them are, but the Leica 135mm 4.0 Tele-Elmar in its earlier versions can be found for less than 200$ used, so what is the catch with this lens? Read on to find out…
The Voigtlander 180mm 4.0 SL APO-Lanthar has become quite famous for its small size coupled with good optics, but unfortunately also for being a rare and expensive collector’s item. So does it make sense getting one for actually taking photos with it? Find out in this review…
Continue reading Review: Voigtlander 180mm 4.0 SL APO Lanthar
Since a few people asked this is a short how-to on how I tune my adapters. As you will notice I am far from a perfectionist but so far my method has worked well for me and I think it could solve issues for some of you as well.
The Issue
Most adapters, not only the cheap ones, are a bit too short. This means that the markings on your lens are off and you can focus your lens behind infinity so the infinity hard stop of your lens won’t work. It makes sense for adapter manufacturers to make their adapters a bit too short because your Sony’s flange focal distance varies a bit and so does lens calibration. If their adapters were exactly as thick as specified there would be quite a few cases were people couldn’t focus at infinity which is way more annoying than a focus scale which is a little off.
But a too short adapter can also have negative impact on the image quality if you use a lens with floating elements. Especially with fast wide angle lenses you can get serious field curvature issues as many users of the Metabones Canon EF adapters have found out.
Continue reading Tuning adapters for infinity focus and reflections – How To
This review covers the rather exotic Nikkor-S 50mm 1.4 rangefinder lens, which I got the chance to review thanks to a reader. It is small, it is lightweight, it has exceptional build quality, but what about the optics? Read on to find out!
In-Depth Review of the Sony FE 16-35mm f4 ZA OSS T* based on two years of experience and technical analysis. Many full resolution images included.
Continue reading Long-Term Review: Sony FE 16-35mm f4 ZA OSS T*
This is the first article of a new series in which we want to share our favorite lenses and new gear with you. There will be a new edition of it every half year.
I am still not able to contribute as much as I’d like to because I am very busy with my work. Nevertheless, I’m happy to share my current favorites with you:
I have used the Batis 2.8/18 for a while but something just didn’t feel right about it for me. Therefore, I have exchanged it in favor of the Loxia 2.8/21. It is still my all time favorite lens and I prefer it for it’s handling, the beautiful and contrasty rendering and it’s sun stars.
Continue reading The Team’s favorite lenses – April 2017 Edition
Many people today might not even know Nikon (and also Canon) produced rangefinder cameras and lenses in their early days. Thanks to a reader I got the chance to review not one but three of these rather exotic Nikkor rangefinder lenses from the 50’s. The first one is the Nikkor-P 85mm 2.0 portrait tele.
The Minolta MD 100mm 1:2.5 is a small and affordable lens which delivers a surprisingly good performance on the Sony a7 series. Read my in-depth review to decide if it could be a good addition to your camera bag.
| Diameter | 64 mm |
| Length | 65.5 mm |
| Filter Thread | 49 mm |
| Weight | 310 g |
| Max. Magnification | 0.12 |
| Close Focusing Distance from the sensor | 1 m |
| Number of aperture blades | 6 |
| Elements/ Groups | 5/5 |
You can find all images shown in this image in full resolution in this album.
P: Hi Ronny, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to use manual lenses?
R: Hi, I live in Sweden in a village called Johannishus. I am 45 years old and work as a construction painter. I have a wife and two children, a daughter of 17 years and a son of 21 years. I began to photograph in 2010 when I bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D80, followed by a D90 and D700. Photography is a hobby for me and I see myself as a beginner, always trying to improve my photography.
My interest in manual focus lenses started when I became interested in Zeiss lenses and their special look: 3D pop, micro contrast and beautiful colors. Later I also bought older manual Nikon lenses, where there are quite a few gems among them.
2014 I went over to Sony E-mount. I liked the size of the body and then all possibilities with different lenses and different adapters.
First I bought a Sony A7 and later Sony A7R II and a Sony Rx1R.
P: Can you give us a look into your camera bag and tell us a little about your gear?
Sony A7RII – My main camera that gets used for everything. Aspects I appreciate about it are:
Overall it is a really good camera to me.
Hint: All images are linked to the higher resolution version on flickr, just click on them.
Continue reading The Manual Photographers Series Part 5: Ronny Olsson
As I am writing this blog post I am on my way back from the island of Madeira where I spent a week with my friend Matt. I enjoyed the trip a lot so I would like to share my experience and my favorite pictures and photo spots with our readers.
Continue reading Madeira through the Eyes of a Photographer: Travel-Report
