• TimoKpanorama_fish_eye
    300 posts
    a year ago

    I guess the aperture shape is one reason to busy bokeh.

    Here at f/4

    _DSC0449.jpg

    _DSC0449.jpg

    JPG, 167.7 KB, uploaded by TimoK a year ago.

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago
  • kgwhitepanorama_fish_eye
    188 posts
    a year ago

    Shot 22 July. Sony A7ii, old Soligor 28-80 lens @ 80mm f8, single speed light bounced into 48" umbrella with modifiers. Disassembled and cleaned the lens a few days ago. Not a notable vintage lens but images are not bad overall.

    _DSC3374-M1_C_20230722.jpg

    _DSC3374-M1_C_20230722.jpg

    JPG, 1.2 MB, uploaded by kgwhite a year ago.

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago

    Great portrait - I like the lighting! Don‘t have too much experience with Soligor lenses, but some seem to be surprisingly good. They were made by a number of different manufacturers though, if I remember correctly…

  • kgwhitepanorama_fish_eye
    188 posts
    a year ago

    Thanks for your comments. This particular lens is quite well made Japanese manufacture. Not inspired in terms of image quality but solid middle of the road.

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago
  • kgwhitepanorama_fish_eye
    188 posts
    a year ago

    Another image made with recently cleaned Soligor 28-80.

    _DSC3528-M1_C_5x7_20230724.jpg

    _DSC3528-M1_C_5x7_20230724.jpg

    JPG, 634.1 KB, uploaded by kgwhite a year ago.

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago

    Great still life with interesting lighting, which matches the overall shape of the arrangement! Image quality seems quite good. Does it hold up wide open?

  • kgwhitepanorama_fish_eye
    188 posts
    a year ago

    The Soligor is slow 3.5-4.5 and not especially good wide open. Fortunately I've been playing with speed lights lately which helps with this lens. It has a place just not for frequent use.

  • meowpanorama_fish_eye
    510 posts
    a year ago

    Great, as your other images. I'm totally fascinated by your photography and I don't think I'm alone.

    A question though. How do you find adapters for all these odd lenses? I have a few boxes full of old gear, but I can't even figure how to begin getting for example a really old projector lens on my camera!

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago

    Thank you very much! I'm not sure my experiments are anything special to be honest... 😅 Still got lots to learn, that's for sure!

    I may have already done so (I'm sorry, if I repeat myself, I just have to...), but I got to answer your question with some images:

    live.staticflickr.com/65535/51282815540_8c5e198f54_b.jpg


    Don't worry, it's easy to use manual lenses!
    by simple.joy, on Flickr

    live.staticflickr.com/65535/52378418408_2cd756cb30_b.jpg


    I love to... make things complicated!
    by simple.joy, on Flickr

    live.staticflickr.com/65535/50954289941_a67e9b1a15_b.jpg


    Well-adapted?
    by simple.joy, on Flickr
    (this shows only one of four such styrofoam blocks I once created in a desparate attempt to get some order into the chaos... it didn't work!)

    ... the reason being, that it's sometimes not far from the truth. A lot of stuff accumulated and often times I just try if I can find some solution via adapters, helicoids, step-rings etc. If nothing works (and that happens quite a lot as some of the more experimental lenses I've got don't have any mounting threads) I often use painter's tape - at least in order to try the lens - and many of my lenses don't have a proper solution yet.

    Projection lenses are of the threadless variety usually, but there are some good solutions out there, if you search for it. Here is a short but informative video by Simon (a nice guy I know a little bit from flickr) who is giving a short overview:
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-tp40qyudY

    Of course you can also find great detailed tutorials online:
    www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3989235

    There are lots of solutions, many of them not too cost-intensive (and usually better than what I scramble together), but I'd say an important thing about using adapted lenses like that is, that you want to do it, that you have some fun experimenting and are not expecting everything to work out immediately. I'm often surprised by the results I get and I usually enjoy working around some limitations, because it keeps demands some creative thinking.

    Hope that helps a little bit! Let me know if you're curious about anything specific.

  • meowpanorama_fish_eye
    510 posts
    a year ago

    Thank you. I'll check those links out properly when I've slept. I saw half the video. Man, some of those methods was scary! I would probably manage to scratch the sensor!😀

  • kgwhitepanorama_fish_eye
    188 posts
    a year ago

    Image made today in my tabletop studio.

    Sony A7ii, Vivitar VHE 50mm enlarging lens at f8 with helicoid extension. This lens resolves much more detail than the Soligor I've been using for the last few days.

    DSC3630-M1_C_5x7_20230726.jpg

    DSC3630-M1_C_5x7_20230726.jpg

    JPG, 803.2 KB, uploaded by kgwhite a year ago.

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago

    Looks very good indeed... the amount of detail many high grade enlarging lenses around 50 mm are able to capture is quite amazing. And many of those (including the VHE 50 mm, which is essentially a Componon-S) can be had for peanuts. It's really surprising there aren't more people using them for studio macro or still life shooting (where AF is almost meaningless anyway).

    Is it true btw. that the VHE 50 mm has an aperture which doesn't fully open?

  • simplejoyhelp_outline
    1662 posts
    a year ago
  • kgwhitepanorama_fish_eye
    188 posts
    a year ago

    I know of two versions of the 50mm VHE, 2.8 and 3.5. Mine is the 2.8 which does have a sliver of blade showing when wide open. The 3.5 may be different