Photo Fundamentals: 1
Exposure: Understanding Aperture, Shutter and ISO The very first photograph and the most recently taken, a few picoseconds ago – in fact every photograph taken and every photograph that will be taken in every possible future – was, is and will be made by opening a hole of variable size and allowing light to fall […]
Pentax 645 as Tilt/Shift: Part 5
Resolution: Unshifted For comparison we here include a capture at f5.6 by the Panasonic Lumix-S 20-60mm kit lens with lens profiling turned on.
Pentax 645 as Tilt/Shift Lenses: Part 2
Light Handling & Flare There’s more to a lens than resolution, so we’ll come to that last. Light angles are actually a dominant property of the behaviour of shift lenses on both sides of the iris – especially when comparing vintage lenses with period coatings. The Olympus 35mm Shift here tested has been remounted to […]
Adapting Slide Projector Lenses
Testing and cataloguing enlarger lenses spawned a new web site – Delta Lenses. Initially the appeal was ease of adaptation, given that most have M39 mounts – a whisker of a step-ring away from the universal M42. Enlarger lenses are intriguing and offer real-world benefits for many shooters. But projector lenses offer parallel worlds of […]
Pentax 645 35/5 v Olympus 35/2.8: Introduction
Introduction Legacy medium format lenses have seen a recent uptick in valuation and demand, thanks largely to Fuji’s GFX system.The Pentax 645Z fraternity continues to watch with detached interest the pointless hurly-burly of the camera business while patiently going about its work much in the manner of twenty years hence – and Phase One and […]
Enlarger Lenses: FAQ
Here are a few soundbites in response to FAQs unasked: • What’s the best enlarger lens for general taking at sub-1m distance?Of the growing number of lenses thus far tested outstanding results have (unsurprisingly) been recorded by the most expensive lenses. However, several lenses with market values of around £100 have achieved an elite 90%+ […]
Enlarger Lenses: Fuji
In the mindset of US and European buyers, Fuji enlarger lenses occupy a tier below the Big Three of Nikon, Rodenstock and Schneider. Fujinar models were replaced by the Fujinon range in the early 1980s and were available as four-element Tessars, designated ES, in focal lengths from 75-135mm and apertures from f4-f4.5; and premium six-element […]
Enlarger Lenses: Nikon
This article will focus on the Nikon EL-Nikkor N range. It’s hard enough to find good examples of these relatively recent lenses without trawling through first-generation examples that require a lifetime of miraculous caretaking to still be useable in 2022. Anecdotally, it’s reported that the new versions are optically superior – with better coatings. However, […]
Enlarger Lenses: Rodenstock v Schneider
At this (comfortably ignorant) distance the commercial rivalries of our German brethren across the water seem to be civilised affairs predicated on fair play and the just reward of striving for excellence. BMW v Mercedes; Aldi v Lidl; Leica v Zeiss. May the best win, and may they receive sincere admiration from the loser. It’s […]
Enlarger Lenses: Reviewing the Reviews
Dr. Klaus Schmidt, creator of www.macrolenses.de, told me in 2014: “Save your time. That has all been done multiple times.” Indeed: why compile and publish another group test of enlargers lenses? In 2022? In the October/November 1967 edition of Camera magazine Arthur Kramer “put the best through the wringer” and concluded: “Enlarger lenses are very […]