All posts by BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.

Analogue Adventures – Part 16: Kodak Gold 200 ECN-2 processed

kodak gold 200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Kodak Gold 200

Kodak Gold 200 again? Hasn’t there been an article covering this film already? Yes, but the Silbersalz35 guys started offering a new lab service in 2022 for developing some of the popular C-41 still photography films with the more complex ECN-2 process. But is it a good idea? I wanted to find out, I received the scans, so let’s have a look together.
Processing (ECN-2) and scanning was done at Silbersalz35 in Germany.
Update May 2023: more pictures added

kodak gold 200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 | f/8.0 | Kodak Gold 200 ECN-2
kodak gold 200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 | f/2.0 | Kodak Gold 200 ECN-2
kodak gold 200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 | f/11 | Kodak Gold 200 ECN-2
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M6 | Hologon 16mm 8.0 | Kodak Gold 200 ECN-2
review minolta ltm m39 leica 40mm 1.7 hi-matic e miyazaki sadayasu modified lens contrast resolution m10 42mp 24mp 61mp m6 analogue contrast bokeh vignetting
Minolta CLE | Minolta/MS 40mm 1.7 | f/8.0 | Gold 200 ECN-2
Voigtländer Cosina 40mm 1.4 1.4/40 mc multi coated sc single comparison review leica m10 m11 m10r sony a7rv a7riv 61mp 42mp 24mp sharpness resolution handling build quality
Minolta CLE | Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 MC | f/8.0 | Gold 200 ECN-2

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 16: Kodak Gold 200 ECN-2 processed

Finding photo opportunities near home – Part 2

Introduction

ttartisan 28mm 5.6 m m-mount pancake review smallest leica contrast sharpness resolution
Leica M10 | TTArtisan 28mm 5.6 | f/5.6

In Part 1 of this series we tried to figure out what things might be interesting to take pictures of where you live, this time I want to talk about collections. A friend of mine was looking for some Stuttgart specific decoration for her walls at home and asked me if I may be able to help out. When going through my archive (read: Lightroom library) I noticed that several of these Stuttgart related pictures can be summarized in categories. It seems I actually started several collections – and subconciously so.
I will show you small collages of these collections I made and I am also curious to find out: what do you collect?

Continue reading Finding photo opportunities near home – Part 2

Review: Contax-G 16mm 8.0 Hologon

Introduction

hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Modified to Leica M-mount 16mm 8.0 Hologon on Leica M6

Over the decades some exotic lenses saw the light of day that have a bit of a legendary status now and these also happen to be my favorite lenses to review. One such lens is the Contax-G 16mm 8.0 Hologon, an eccentric ultra wide angle lens still made by Zeiss in Germany, when every other part of the Contax-G system had already been manufactured in Japan. The Hologon sure looks cool, it has a history, but is it also still relevant today? We will try to find that out, see how to change its bayonet for M-mount and I will tell you what cameras it can best be used on.
Lens is being tested on 42mp Sony A7rII and 24mp Leica M10

Sample Images

hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M10 | Hologon 16mm 8.0
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M10 | Hologon 16mm 8.0
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M10 | Hologon 16mm 8.0
cinestill 800t 800 tungsten cinefilm kodak vision 3 review m6 leica analogue analog
Leica M6 | Hologon 16mm 8.0 | Cinestill 800T
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M6 | Hologon 16mm 8.0 | Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 ECN-2
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M10 | Hologon 16mm 8.0
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M10 | Hologon 16mm 8.0 | Center Filter
hologon leica m contax-g 16mm 8.0 8/16 center filter review sharpness leica m10 m11 sony e-mount adapter conversion sharpness distortion carl zeiss germany
Leica M10 | Hologon 16mm 8.0 | Center Filter

Continue reading Review: Contax-G 16mm 8.0 Hologon

Leica M10 – The Camera (?)

Introduction

Leica M10 with MS-Optics 50mm 1.0 ISM

Leica M10. The Camera. Photography reduced to its essentials. This is what Leica says about this camera. If you care what I think of it: keep on reading.

Update: this article is now 3 years old and because of it some Leica fanboys still show up outside (or rather in the comment section) with pitchforks and torches. Joking aside, this is one of the most commented-on articles I ever wrote, reason enough to revisit it and see what happened in the meantime and also tackle some arguments from the comment section.

For many people owning a Leica camera is a dream. But why is that so? Is it simply the high price tag, the Bauhaus look or the huge “Made in Germany” writing, not hidden on a sticker at the bottom of the camera, but easily visible on the back?
It surely isn’t image quality or ease of use. You get more of both, elsewhere, for less. This is why Leica cameras are often perceived as vain men’s luxury items, that happen to be able to take photos from time to time.

leica m10 review rangefinder messsucher comparison vergleich sony a7iii a7rii R2 42mp 24mp wide angle portrait
Leica M10 | 7Artisans 28mm 1.4 FE+ | f/1.4
Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 75mm 1.5 Nokton | 1.5
Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 75mm 1.5 Nokton | 1.5
laowa 9mm 5.6 ultra wide w-dreamer uwa hyper wide heliar 10mm distortion zero-d
Leica M10 | Laowa 9mm 5.6 | f/5.6
voigtlander vm 21mm 3.5 color skopar leica m10 sony a7rii a7riii a7riv 24mp 42mp 61mp sharpness review contrast resolution
Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 21mm 3.5 | f/3.5
ttartisan 28mm 5.6 m m-mount pancake review smallest leica contrast sharpness resolution
Leica M10 | TTArtisan 28mm 5.6 | f/5.6

Continue reading Leica M10 – The Camera (?)

Analogue Adventures – Part 15: Kodak Ultramax 400

kodak ultramax 400 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Kodak Ultramax 400

The Ultramax 400 is Kodak’s cheaper – hard to use that term in this context – ISO400 color negative film. This is also reflected by the fact that it is available as 24 exposure film. These days it is just as expensive as any other color negative film and whenever I came across it, it had been sold out shortly after. So I should probably consider myself lucky for having seized the moment and bought a roll at the local camera store – for what felt like way too much for a 24 exposure roll…
Processing and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.
The pictures you see in this article are from 1 roll.

kodak ultramax 400 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.0 | Kodak Ultramax 400
kodak ultramax 400 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.8 | Kodak Ultramax 400
kodak ultramax 400 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/4.0 | Kodak Ultramax 400
kodak ultramax 400 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.8 | Kodak Ultramax 400

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 15: Kodak Ultramax 400