Shells and twisted copper wire.
Made with Sony A7ii, hazy 50mm enlarging lens and helicoid extension. I disassembled and cleaned the lens after this image was made. It has better contrast and sharpness now but lost some quirky character. Time to look for another distressed lens.
superb, well done!
Looks interesting and the presentation and detail are great. My eye is not completely sure what to focus on though... The colors are quite muted, so I'd either suggest making them stronger, or trying a B&W edit.
To some people I might be known as the worlds biggest fan on enlarging lenses... so of course I'm curious: Which 50 mm enlarging lens did you use and do you have some more sample images of the (formerly) quirky character, perhaps one with more background?
I've posted quite a few shots with my unique/quirky ELs (for example a Meopta Belar or a Steinheil V-Cassarit) in the Adapted lens talk forum, so if you ever want to drop by there, I'm always happy about anyone who uses ELs as taking lenses. We still are a minority, I guess. 😅
Thanks I appreciate your kind comment.
Thanks for taking the time to give me the benefit of your experience with EL lenses.
This image was made with a Vivitar 50mm 2.8 VHE which works rather well and has a flange focal distance similar to my M42 lenses. It was quite hazy right from the start but that was to be expected for a ten dollar lens. The haze contributed interesting light falloff and glow with general low contrast. I use a deep Nikon lens hood which slips tightly on the barrel to control flare.
A couple of years ago on a whim I built a close-up cage out of PVC and MDF which includes a sliding camera mount, attached power strip and lots of mounting points for lights and modifiers. You might call it a case of too many YouTube videos and a desire to play with power tools. Now due to a series of unfortunate events I spend most of my time indoors so being able to continue making images has been a very good thing.
As you noticed my sense of color is not very good. All my work is digital so everything generally gets processed into color with an eye toward conversion into B&W. I’m not making myself out to be an expert with either B&W or color but B&W is my strong point.
Here is the B&W version of the image.
Thanks! The Vivitar VHEs are re-packaged Schneider Kreuznach lenses as far as I know - in your case a version of the Componon-S: deltalenses.com/product/vivitar-vhe-50-2-8/
So they're pretty good. I've had some experiences where certain defects can really add some interest to otherwise good but boring lenses. One of my favorite lenses is an extreme example for that actually. It limits its possibilities, but makes it quite unique.
Your setup sounds very good - seems like your DIY approach worked out.
I love your B&W edit, works really well. I'm sure your sense of color is fine but perhaps the lighting could be optimized in order to focus more on the colors. It's also possible that the really dark background is slightly too much for a version with muted colors... Either way, it's probably mostly a matter of preference.
