(no subject)
So, the new lens. There are good things and bad things.
First, the good.
Stopped down, it's as sharp as advertised. I couldn't hope to get an image like this with my kit lens. I believe I took this at f/5.6 (because the lens doesn't communicate with the camera, there's no EXIF data retained for the aperture used).
Now, the bad news... fully wide open, it's nearly impossible to get a photo with anything in focus. Here's the closest I've come so far:
It's definitely a little easier if your subject is fairly close, and there's not a ton of light... I've tried and tried to get a nice shot outside at f/1.4 but it's just not going to happen. I inevitably end up with a hazy, super-soft photo like this:
It's possible that this is a general haze/fungus issue (it is an old lens, after all), but I think more likely is that there's just too much light bouncing around inside the camera and between the adapter element and the mirror. This lens was meant to attach to a film camera, where the film is exposed relatively close to the rear lens element. With many modern cameras (like my own) the mirror/sensor design just means that you have a whole lot of room for diffusion, etc.
Still, stopped down to f/2.8 starts bringing very good results, and push it to f/4 or f/5.6 and you've really got something. This is an image at 100% resolution, cropped smaller just to show detail:
Achieving focus within the depth-of-field is the trick. If you pull it off, you end up with a great shot:
Check out the octagonal bokeh in the background (caused by the 8 blades of the aperture in the lens). Pleasing.
I feel like there will be a lot of trial and error necessary to make good use this lens. But even an imperfect image can be interesting:
The nose is out of focus here, but the detail in the one eye is astounding. Here's the original size if you want to really get in close.
Because the camera can't meter with this lens, figuring out flash is also a pain in the neck. I'll get better.
First, the good.
Stopped down, it's as sharp as advertised. I couldn't hope to get an image like this with my kit lens. I believe I took this at f/5.6 (because the lens doesn't communicate with the camera, there's no EXIF data retained for the aperture used).
Now, the bad news... fully wide open, it's nearly impossible to get a photo with anything in focus. Here's the closest I've come so far:
It's definitely a little easier if your subject is fairly close, and there's not a ton of light... I've tried and tried to get a nice shot outside at f/1.4 but it's just not going to happen. I inevitably end up with a hazy, super-soft photo like this:
It's possible that this is a general haze/fungus issue (it is an old lens, after all), but I think more likely is that there's just too much light bouncing around inside the camera and between the adapter element and the mirror. This lens was meant to attach to a film camera, where the film is exposed relatively close to the rear lens element. With many modern cameras (like my own) the mirror/sensor design just means that you have a whole lot of room for diffusion, etc.
Still, stopped down to f/2.8 starts bringing very good results, and push it to f/4 or f/5.6 and you've really got something. This is an image at 100% resolution, cropped smaller just to show detail:
Achieving focus within the depth-of-field is the trick. If you pull it off, you end up with a great shot:
Check out the octagonal bokeh in the background (caused by the 8 blades of the aperture in the lens). Pleasing.
I feel like there will be a lot of trial and error necessary to make good use this lens. But even an imperfect image can be interesting:
The nose is out of focus here, but the detail in the one eye is astounding. Here's the original size if you want to really get in close.
Because the camera can't meter with this lens, figuring out flash is also a pain in the neck. I'll get better.