Making Not Taking

2011 Warrior Dash - Missouri

2011-10-24T00:25:00.011-05:00

The Warrior Dash has come to Missouri. What is the Warrior Dash you might ask? "Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell. This fierce running series is held on the most challenging and rugged terrain across the globe..." I don't know that rural Missouri qualifies as rugged compared on a world stage, but the folks from Red Frog Events certainly don't make the 3.1 mile course easy. The dash is a 5K obstacle course complete with barbed wire, fire, and mud; this is then all followed up with carnival-esque festivities, beer, live music, and food! For the runners, an excellent afternoon of achievement and partying. For the photographers, a goldmine.

I only just found out about the dash this year and while I did want to run in it (I found out the day after registration ended), I cannot complain about the experience of photographing it. If I do find a nearby location to run it next year, I will have to do an early heat and spend the rest of the day with a couple cameras around my neck. There is just so much going on.

Laura, Kelly, Nicole and Alexa get together for a "Before" picture.

As the girls were gearing up, Alexa (Nicole's sis), was giving me goofy looks. Like me, she was on the support crew, cheering the runners on, and she was kind enough to lend a shoulder for one of my lenses.

Walking across the event grounds to the race sign-in, we began to hear more clearly, the sounds and music from the stage where side-shows of all sorts were taking place. We also began seeing culture of the event. Diverse is hardly enough of a word to describe these folks.

Love this.

We also began catching our first glimpses at what was to come (for the runners at least...)

So the girls got checked in, got their numbers and trackers, and after a bit of meandering, we made our way to the race start. Since the course is 3.1 miles, and they didn't want photographers getting lost out in the woods, I was relegated to taking photos at the beginning and at the end, which included the last two obstacles, the fire and the mud. I wasn't complaining.

Alexa is once again giving me a face as Nicole laughs at what I can only imagine is some goofy comment I retort with.

Nicole : )

I can't actually take credit for the above image. The girls actually, while waiting in line, hoisted their comrade, Kelly, up to look back over the last heat to see the number of participants. I quickly threw the camera over to her for a shot.

Getting in line too early leads to moments like this... The ominous voice of the announcer counting down the seconds until the beginning of the race may have been a factor in why Kelly was completely unphased when she turned to find her friends creeping over her shoulder. That, or she is used to this sort of thing.

3...2...1...GO!

"And they're off!"

Yes even a bunch of bananas came out for some self-induced torture!

So the race began and Alexa and I had some downtime while the girls embarked on their run. We headed just a hundred feet or so away to the final two obstacle and the finish of the race to wait for our crew to return. Folks from the previous heats trickled in steadily. I was sure to snap a few of the colorful ones!

We found Batman cheering on runners through the final obstacles. And then our girls appeared! Laura, below, makes quite a leap over the fire.

Nicole and Kelly couldn't bring themselves to fully submerge like some of the other runners!

I'd say they got their share of dirty though.

Then, Nicole thought this would be a good idea.

What are friends for?

Justice was served though.

Even I got a little muddy.

I wasn't around when this broke out and actually credit for the image goes to Alexa. She was holding the camera at the time and began snapping away!

The local fire department was set up nearby with water trucks spraying runners off after their achievement. The way the sun was setting and the light fell made for the beautiful images. I am actually very pleased with how this part of the event turned out (photographically).

Nicole & Co. get cleaned up, sort of.

And the Victory photo! Conquerers.

It was a great time. I got some good images and a free beer and turkey leg. I can't wait until next year!

All images were made with the D700 and the AF-S 70-200mm VRII

The Bianchi Trofeo '87

2011-10-11T19:27:00.017-05:00

UPDATE (November 2011)

Originally I billed this frame as a 1988 Trofeo based on some comments stating that a "1986-87 Campione del Mundo | Colorado Springs" sticker implied a 1988 model. However, I have been searching around for confirmation on the web and came across a bikeforums.net user Bianchigirll, who has done some serious homework on the Bianchi line. She has some older manufacturer catalogs to reference models. Evidently, this frame is actually from 1987 as indicated by the font of the "Trofeo" model name. Thanks Bianchigirll!

After my experience with the Bianchi Rekord 848, I decided that, I was going to build my very own bike; I was going to build a bike on which I precisely selected each component and retained full control over the color scheme. In order to do this, I had to go "all in". No reservations. When I consider that decision in retrospect (now that the bike is complete), I can confidently say, I couldn't be happier with the result. The bike is exactly as I envisioned it....perhaps even greater than I imagined because the ride is far better than I expected.

Below are my thoughts on my first build, issues I ran into, some wisdom I acquired, and my satisfaction with the whole process (and the bike itself!)
For the impatient -> SKIP TO THE FINISHED PRODUCT

Otherwise, allow for a bit of suspense...

First Decisions

Having learned some lessons in my previous experiment (see here), I began this project a bit wiser. Notice that I have included occasional links to explanations of many of the bicycle components since when I first began reading about bicycles, I was not familiar with the terminology. Rather than explain it all in this article (which would make it 10 times longer), and because so many others have already provided such thorough explanations, I figure I will just make finding that info a tad easier.

Style - Prior to buying anything, I first considered the style of bike I wanted. I wanted to build a modest race-style bike. I was not concerned heavily with weight (gram counting, being a weight weenie, etc.). I didn't want the bike to be a hoss, but since I was looking to buy performance components, weight wouldn't likely be much of an issue anyway since performance components are typically designed with weight as a major consideration. Frame geometry is another factor to consider. Again, I'm relatively new to all this so getting into the nitty-gritty of frame geometry is still a bit out of my league. Consequently, the tube angles were not of the utmost importance to me, though through more in-depth reading I now am all the wiser to the importance of frame geometry.

Wheelset - Wheels are a major consideration. Recall the maxim "where the rubber meets the road"; it is quite literal here. The wheelset includes the hubs, rims, and spokes (I suppose tires may be included as well). For my build, I wanted a relatively capable, yet practical bicycle. Road wheels which would do well in the city and handle slightly rougher, less maintained roads were the goal. The Rekord 848 had come with Bianchi branded hubs laced to Mavic tubular rims.

I am uninterested in tubular rims because replacing them or fixing a flat is laborious. The tire and tube are integrated and literally glued onto the rim (a process which takes longer than a day). So I disassembled the old wheelset, repacked the hubs, and intended on having the hubs re-laced to clincher rims of my choice. Clinchers rims are built with a lip inside either side of the rim. With this type of wheel, after laying a tube between the tire and the rim, you simply inflate the tube and the air presses the tire against the rim and a built-in lip in the tire (usually made of steel or another rigid material) "clinches" that lip in the rim and holds the two together. Also, by selecting new rims, I had another big control element in the overall bike color scheme (that is, IF I chose to go with colored rims...and why wouldn't I!?). For the rekord (pun! ha!...sorry), these Bianchi hubs are not particularly amazing, and most likely manufactured by someone like Ofmega then relabeled for Bianchi, but I like that they say Bianchi on them, so there!

Groupset/Components - The Bianchi hubs were design for a 7-speed freewheel. "Freewheels" are an older designed system for the gearing on the back of the bike. They have since been replaced by cassettes. The two look similar, a cluster of sprockets mounted on the hub of the rear wheel. They differ in that the bearings for those rear gears are actually integrated with the sprocket cluster in a freewheel design. With a cassette design, the bearings are built into the hub and the sprocket cluster simply slides onto the hub via a matching spline pattern. You can read more about why this design changed and the pros and cons here.

My Bianchi hubs required a freewheel. Since the design had been replaced, I essentially found myself looking for the highest grade components that . Downtube/Friction shifting systems can be found at great prices nowadays too since everyone has moved to integrated shifting (Shimano's is called STI - Shimano Total Integration) which are the systems in which the brake levers have indexing tabs built into them so your hands never leave the drop bars when shifting. They are quite functional but require a bit more finagling to retrofit to an older frame. And even that installation isn't all that much of a hassle, I just prefer the look of the downtubes on the older frames. If you have been skimming at least CATCH THIS POINT: while some components can be interchanged with those of another model line or brand, I would recommend to those who are new, choose one groupset model to fulfill your needs (e.g. If you choose Shimano Dura Ace 7400, use as many 7400 components as you can. Especially be consistent within the drive train - front & rear derailleur, bottom bracket, crank, front chainrings, freewheel/cassette, chain, shift levers, and brake levers if you opt for STI). You will have far less trouble calibrating everything in the end and will not have to worry about whether the parts function cohesively since they were designed to work together. I chose Shimano Dura Ace 7400 for the Bianchi Trofeo.

Seller image.

Frame - Now, having considered all that, I happened upon this gorgeous blue Bianchi Trofeo '87 frame that was nearly NOS. It has apparently been built up once and ridden only a few miles before it was garaged. The owner then passed it along to his friend who was the seller that I purchased it from. The seller, Randy, actually operates the My Ten Speeds Blog (Warning: The page is a little intense on the graphics, but to each his own! Randy's a great guy!). The frame was italian threaded BB, 126mm rear dropout spacing (just what my Bianchi hubs needed), had braze-on fittings for downtube/friction shifters and was 54cm (Measurement philosophy can vary to be sure to understand how the seller is measuring. This bike was measured from the middle of the BB to the top of the seat post.) which is probably the smallest I could go as a 5'10 fellow.

Tips for Assembling Your First Bicycle

Building a bike requires a lot of unique tools. Don't think a crescent wrench and a couple allen wrenches will get you by. This is especially true when working with older bikes because standards have changed and the new tool kits don't bother to include a tool for every size whatchamajig these manufacturers designed. So you end up buying a base kit. And then a-la-carte tools as you run into these odd-ball sizes. I recommend the Park Advanced Mechanic Tool Kit (AK-37) - Amazon has a great price on it, and no I don't get money for advertising, I just thought they had a good price and reliable service. I picked this up and the Park Big Blue Book of Bike Repair as well. Even still, with these tools, you will run into curious cases unexplainable by the book and perhaps not even discussed online in great detail.

I suggest pestering a local bike shop enough to become friendly with a bike mechanic to get tips and tricks. These guys do this stuff day-in and day-out. Chances are, they've seen it before. Most of the guys around town here were very nice at first, then once they found out about my project somewhat reluctant to talk (perhaps because I wasn't much of a sale?) but eventually, after I showed up enough and bought a few things, they warmed up. And some of the guys were immediately helpful. The cycling community, is like other disciplines for which people become very passionate about. It can get cliquey and at times straight rude. Ultimately, you have to just delve in, beyond those who don't want to let new people in, to find those who truly love sharing knowledge with others. Those people will become such an invaluable resource that it will all be worth the initial snubbing.

Colors

As I have already stated, this project was as much about building a functional machine, as it was customizing a fully coordinated aesthetic. I loved the blue of the frame and even more the ghosted decals. While I could have introduced a third accent color (which could be black, though I consider accent colors to have a real "pop" to them.), I thought sticking with the white and blue would just keep the bike clean and modern. So from the frame, I went with as many white accessories and I could find, ghosting as much of the rest of the Trofeo as I could.

A Few Problems I Encountered

The build went quite smoothly. It was so much fun I may or not have already picked up another frame...I did however encounter a couple issues to note.

Finding White Brake Levers and Hoods - First off, keeping the colors consistent was a beast. White, while a basic color, is tough to find. Most likely because it will dirty quicker than anything out there but like my buddy says, "It's not easy being a baller." The brake levers for example were the most drawn out process. Finding brake levers is simple. But BEWARE. On many of the older brake levers, the rubber hoods may have begun to deteriorate. These hoods were often individually designed to fit that specific model lever. Finding a replacement hood, let alone a hood of another color for some of those levers might as well be a the proverbial needle. So I looked for a modern lever, which had white hoods readily available. Simple right? No. Since most bicycles now utilize STI type shifting, most levers are designed with the shifting tabs built it. Since I was using downtube/friction shifters I needed a lever without STI, but that did have a white hood option. Ideally I would have loved white levers. A couple companies like "Origin 8" make a lot of boutique stuff for the fixie crowd but I am unsure of their quality. Being that I spent what I did on the other components of this bike, I figured I wanted to be sure to get a great set of levers. I really liked the SRAM S500 silver levers when I found them and wouldn't you know it, they had white hoods, NEW! Guess what, only three stores stocked them according to google and after some phone calls to the west coast shops, none actually had them in stock, nor could they get them. And so I waited...patiently. And one day, eBay granted my wish! But it was an arduous task to say the least.

Long Reach Brake Calipers - Many older bikes were designed for 27" wheels. Eventually wheel size moved to 700c. Consequently, when fitting a frame with wheels, it is possible to put 700c wheels in a frame designed for 27" since 700c's are slightly smaller. The mounts for the brake levers however will not be slightly further away from the rim's braking surface. One solution to this is getting "Long Reach Brake Calipers" which are designed just like the name would imply, a longer caliper for the brake pad to reach further down. The Bianchi Trofeo was designed with 700c wheels so I initially picked up SRAM Apex white brake calipers. I was psyched that I found such a slick looking set for a reasonable price and they appeared to be a good quality. However, when I mounted the calipers to the bike, the front calipers reached the brake track perfectly (though the brake pads were sitting in their lowest position). The rear caliper however, even at its lowest position, was still sitting above the brake track of the rim by half the pad. Apparently, whatever brakes the bicycle was designed with sat outside the typical brake caliper reach sizes and consequently I had to begin looking for a new set of calipers. Fortunately the Tektro R736 Long Reach Calipers look great, function excellently, and were also priced extremely well.

I also had typical installation issues with brake cable etc but overall it came together quite well. I am proud to say I could not be more impressed and thrilled with this build. The ride...is fantastic! Why don't we have a look at the finished product finally?

Drumroll...

The Bianchi Trofeo '87 in all its splendor!

Specifications

Size: 54cm from center of bottom bracket to top of seat tube
Bottom Bracket: Shimano unmarked (italian thread)
Crank: Sakae FX SLP white
Pedals: Shimano PD-M530 Double-sided Clipless
Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7400
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7400
Drop bars: Bianchi
Stem: unknown
Head: Gipiemme
Brakes: Tektro R736 Long Reach white
Friction levers: Shimano Dura Ace 7400

Frame: Columbus Formula Two
Dropouts: Gipiemme
Rear spacing: 126mm
Seat: San Marco Zoncolan white
Seatpost: unknown Aero

Rims: H+Son SL42 machined 700c (clincher)
Hubs: Bianchi
Tired: Fyxation Session 700x25c steal bead

Conclusion

"Steel is Real" - I now understand the maxim well. The Bianchi Trofeo is a wonderful frame. Granted, I have little experience but where else do we start. Years down the road from now I may look back and laugh but that is learning. What I know, is that until now I have been riding the Specialized Allez Epic carbon fiber bike with the Shimano 105 gruppo. Hoping on this Trofeo is an entirely different world. A smoother ride. A tighter handle. And on the obvious side, a lot more flashy! I will continue to put miles on this bike and keep posting as I discover new things!

And like I said earlier, I do have another frame en route. A Bianchi of the same tubing. I couldn't help myself. In the meantime, I'm going to continue getting out on this thing as much as I can before the beautiful weather disappears into sleet and snow.

My First Bicycle Build and the Bianchi Rekord 848

2011-10-07T23:01:00.019-05:00

I have been riding bikes as far back as I can remember. They provided me with a sense of independence at an early age. When you're young, your bike is your primary transportation. I still remember the first time I rode to another township, which wasn't more than a mile or two out of the way. Somehow a different, unique name made the journey that much more of an accomplishment. Bicycles are awesome. I love their practicality. I love the fitness they provide. I love the hardware. These multipurpose machines represent such a harmonious coalescence of form meets function. And materials and colors are flat out cool. So I want to build one. That's all there is to it!

After a few years on a garage sale find, the 1990(?) Specialized Allez Epic (which is by no means a slouch of a bicycle), I have developed a desire for more. Of course I want a robust bicycle with great components. But more importantly, the aesthetic-junkie within me cries out for full control over the bike's color palette. Please forgive the superficial nature of the following comment, after analyzing the kind of money it takes to build a robust, higher-end performance bike, it might as well look amazing physically too!

Disclaimer

Something I should note for those reading, especially those who are seasoned riders, I am "new here". The purpose of these bicycle-focused writings is to give information to those who also may be entering the world of cycling, and who also possess the desire to build their own ride. I have not been riding for very long, nor do I possess an acute eye for the many ride characteristics of a bicycle that a seasoned vet would have. I am discovering things. Comments are quite welcome but realize I am not speaking from the demeanor that I am any expert! That being said, in the spirit of this blog, my writings are as much to help others learn, as they are a platform for my own learning. I am eager to gain all the knowledge I can on the subject of cycling and I very much appreciate others' input!

Finding a Project Bike

If I try to retrospectively trace this desire to build my own road bike back to its roots, I think it just like photography, my first exposure to serious bicycles coincided with my experience at the Cleveland Institute of Art. A few of my friends down in the Industrial Design lab were very interested in cycling and bike builds. Some had history with bikes while others were very new to the sport. One graduate student, I recall, was actually specifically emphasizing in bicycle design and was TIG welding his own designs. I remember hanging around the shop to watch him weld a few times. It's a glorious process. Physically constructing your own frames is probably the ultimate satisfaction in bicycle building but I am not quite to that level...yet. So I would here the "shop talk" on bikes and always thought it would be a great project. I can't say I really recall ever picking up on much though in terms of where to start with it all. One thing I do remember, and it is something which has not left me, is my love for the design and color of Bianchi bicycles.

Bianchi, named for it's founder Edoardo Bianchi, is the world's oldest bicycle manufacturer still in existence (Bianchi Wikipedia Page). Their bikes are often demarked with their signature "celeste" color, a bluish green. The color has changed over the years from model to model and sometimes possesses a pearlescent quality. For whatever reason, I just love the color, the look, the details, and overall design of these bicycles. Honestly, I have no further explanation than that.

So in my quest to build a bike, Bianchi was my starting place.

Enter the Bianchi Rekord 848

I did not make any of the images of the Bianchi Rekord myself since I begun to tear it down almost immediately after I bought it. These images are from the CL listing.

Strange how life works sometimes, but the day or two after I began looking for a bicycle project to begin with, this Bianchi appears on CL (Later I would discover the bike had been listed for a few weeks, just at a higher price. A rather telling fact.) Knowing next to nothing about bicycles save for some basic knowledge I picked up in my stunt bike days as a younger kid, I was consulting a friend of mine who had also more recently picked up cycling and been working on his own projects. I knew I wasn't looking for a newer modern bike, but also, I didn't want to end up with something so old, I couldn't exactly upgrade it to modern standards either. So I called my buddy about the Bianchi listing, told him I was looking for a bike to sort of "fix up", and asked his thoughts on the price.

He pointed out Columbus brand tubing to be pretty quality and the fact that since most of the components were Campagnolo, the bike was probably not low-end. He figured I should go for it. I took a glance at eBay, searching "Bianchi Rekord" to find that a couple bikes (which at the time appeared very similar) had sold a week earlier for a hefty price. So I contacted the seller and set up a time to come see the bike.

Immediately, I was taken with all the elaborate, extra detailing on this frame, such as the Bianchi logo on the fork, matching pump, etc.. The bike felt like a special opportunity. I loved how ornate the shift levers and quick release (QR) skewers were. The color.....oh the color! Signature celeste. This bike unfortunately showed its age in the many dings in the paint but definitely still possessed a gleaming beauty about it. I had the fever and couldn't help myself. I bought it. Little did I know what I had gotten myself into.

As I said earlier, my original goal with this project was to learn how to build a bike and come up with a product that was my own rather than something off-the-shelf. My bike. I wanted to pick an older bike up and swap out a few parts to fit a color scheme I had in my mind and leave it at that. Also, I was hoping to do so for a little bit of money. As soon as I bought this bike, that all pretty much went out the window.

Bianchi Rekord 848 Specifications

Size: 60cm (24") from center of bottom bracket to top of seat tube
Bottom Bracket: Ofmega (italian thread)
Crank: Bianchi labeled (Ofmega screws on the chainring, so perhaps made by them)
Front Derailleur: Campagnolo Gran Sport
Rear Derailleur: Campagnolo 980
Drop bars: 3T (TTT) Gran Prix
Stem: unknown
Head: Bianchi labeled
Brakes: Modolo Flash
Friction levers: Campagnolo

Frame: Columbus Tretubi (Top, seat, and down tube most likely Columbus SL)
Dropouts: Gipiemme
Rear spacing: 126mm
Seat: Italia Sprint (brown)
Seatpost: unknown

I talked with a local shop owner, Paul (Paul's Recycled Cycles) who has been in the industry for over two decades and knows his stuff. He believes this bike is probably pretty close to, if not completely, original (save for the shimano brake levers, which clearly do not match the group). The other components all appear to match the period. Sounds like this was probably on the lower end of Bianchi's line at the time though. Campagnolo components would have been the higher end and this model uses a lot of Ofmega. Also, the 980 derailleur was apparently not a popular design and was in production for less than a year. Columbus "Tretubi" (three - tubes) is essentially an economical means to use nice Columbus tubing, while keeping the price down. The seat tube, down tube, and top tube are Columbus tubing and the rest is something else.

First Lessons Learned

If you are looking to buy a bike and thinking an older "vintage" type bike off of the used market is a means to saving money, think again. You could score and find a great deal, it is always a possibility. But be aware you have just exposed yourself to a whole host of variables that are not present when purchasing from a reputable dealer. Not that that info should come as a shock to anyone who has bought used before. I'm not even talking about sleazy sellers. Because that too is always a risk on forums like CL. I'm talking about the details which may not be immediately observable, especially to an untrained eye.

Tinkerers

With so many models of bicycles, outfitted for so many markets, on top of the fact that bicycles are so simple to modify (so owners may add/replace parts), the chances of you finding an older bicycle, that has any semblance to that of its original, out-of-the-catalog state get slimmer by the day. The problem with this is that despite the fact that bicycles are fairly simple machines, the components function best as designed with their original group. But owners often change out components with something close to the original thinking one part will function just as the other as long as everything sounds OK, etc. These types of adjustments can sometimes lead to poor performance, premature wear, and component failure. Sometimes components are designed to work with others outside the group (Seasoned bike builders I have talked with all seem to agree these components are never as good as just buying the whole group). A newbie to the scene would likely be unaware of just what should be on the bike and may spend lots of money dealing with the fallout from previous owners mistakes. Even a seasoned builder might have to open up some of the components to verify the make (such as some older bottom bracket s).

Changing Standards

Like with most goods that are manufactured, companies and industry attempt to standardize things. Bicycles are no different. And like cars, with so many manufacturers spread across so many nations, multiple standards exist. As a beginner looking into building, consider taking a look at bicycle standards. The late Sheldon Brown is the Ken Rockwell of the bicycle world. His old shop has kept up his webpage which consists of seemingly endless pages of practical information covering all aspects of bicycles. If you are looking to build a bike, you need to be familiar with these standards so that when you buy components, you are buying components that will work together with each other and the frame you have begun with. Rear hub/frame spacing, tires, seatpost size, headset size, bottom bracket threading, freewheel threading are just a few of the components that will be built to a standard and require a match to function correctly. You could wind up spending a fortune on eBay trying to find the right components that will work together.

The Result of My First Project

After buying the Rekord 848, I read quite a bit of material and became something of a pest at the local bike shops. I realized the 848 was not an ideal project bike. Namely because it was cost prohibitive. The modifications necessary to produce my ideal result were expensive, and even still I would wind up with a product not totally to my personal specifications. So the frame sits in pieces in my room. I was able to save a couple parts I really liked but for the most part, the frame will be moving on.

Understand, that to do a project like this, will cost money. Or cost a lot of patience (waiting for deals on auction sites). Or you must "know a guy" (who can get you parts for cheap). Because the older parts in nice condition are still fairly costly on eBay and used markets. And there are more parts to buy than you may initially think. So in order to build a bike, a good bike, you will spend the kind of money you might pay for a brand new road bike at the bike shop. But again, that shop bike won't be yours. Once you accept this fact, you are ready to build your bike.

Later that week, as I was perusing for components on eBay, the soon-to-be heart and soul of my first build revealed herself to me. My first build was underway and I was ready this time.

Seller image. Bianchi Trofeo '88.

Go big or go home.

Links/Resources

Bianchi Rekord 848 - A gentleman by the name of Randy operates an extensive blog detailing his bicycle finds. It seems he has LBA (Lens Buying Addiction) in bike form, so BBA? This particular post is on the Rekord 848.

A New Direction

2011-09-18T11:53:00.012-05:00

Wow, it's been some time since I have posted here. What's that commercial tag-line: "Life comes at you fast..." Yeah, it sure can. This past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind. Nonetheless, I have been itching to post about a couple things. Motivation can be a strange thing though.

What Happened with the Business Cards?

I did finally receive my business cards from VistaPrint. Whoops. If you have been looking for a printer and read any reviews about VistaPrint, I can say from experience the unsatisfied reviews are probably not unfounded. They messed up my cards. 1500 of them.

As you can see, for some reason the foiling is out of phase with the content on the card. Also, a mysterious extraneous set of numbers is foiled where it should not be. When I called VistaPrint to ask about this, they couldn't explain why the misprinting happened but offered to reprint the cards at no charge. When I requested to re-upload the files for them (because I speculated it had something to do with the upload) they refused citing another upload as a "new design" constituting another full charge. Since I had checked and re-checked my files prior to the first upload quite thoroughly I knew there was no way the file was the issue. I was worried a reprint would result in 1500 more cards with the same issue. I again asked if I could re-upload the files and have someone there just look to see that the files were obviously the same. No luck. VistaPrint was very kind in offering me a full refund and allowed me to keep the cards. Their service was alright but I don't think I would go back to them for business cards.

While the mistake isn't that noticeable, in fact no one I give them to really seems to see it, even after I tell them, it's still a matter of professionalism. It bothers me. But, money being what it is, and considering photography is not my primary source of income, I have been using them.

Continued Shooting and the Incurable LBA

Over the past few months of "radio silence" I have continued shooting quite regularly for a local food publication, Sauce Magazine (Excerpt posted above). That has been a wonderful experience because it keeps me shooting with assignments, deadlines, client interaction, and all the other aspects of the photo business that I enjoy. Also, it's nice to pick up an extra check now and then.

Some new lenses and come in and some of the others have left. I am unsure of how much I will be documenting on these because my attention has recently been diverted. More on that later. Among the things leaving, I finally sold the Panasonic GF1 and I have abandoned the Micro-Four-Thirds system for the time being. As much as I loved everything about it's potential, the 4/3 sensor just could not win me fully over. ISO performance leaves me wanting. Something about how the JPEGs are processed also doesn't sit well with me. The video is cool but has been far surpassed by newer cameras (also the GF2 and GF3 do not appear to be the same kind of camera as the first incarnation; they are paired down and directed towards users with less desire of fully manual capabilities). The M4/3 lenses are just too expensive. As the list of disappointments became greater, the decision to sell became easier. While it isn't a bad system, it isn't for me right now. Also, the Tokina 300mm f/2.8 (the second time I have owned this) is gone simply because I also own the Tamron 300mm f/2.8 107B and cannot justify both. Being that I love the 107B so dearly, the other had to go. (I just noticed my title on the Tokina 300 included the word elusive, which I now feel is probably not the case. It's scarcely available on the used market but there seems to be one or two always around. Not nearly as rare as the 107B.) The Canon S90 P&S camera won out of my Canon G10 as being my go-to compact so the G10 has moved on. And lastly, the Nikon D300 has left the bag.

While it was a pretty big sale for me, I'm not saying I didn't get any packages...

For the bread-and-butter kit, I replaced the D300 with a D7000. I cannot say enough great things about this camera. It's excellent. Regarding lenses, I picked up a couple rarities, the Vivitar Series 1 Solid Cat Lenses, both the 600mm f/8 and the 800mm f/11. I will most likely have a write up on these, though plenty of info can be found for them online. Very cool looking lenses!

The doughnut bokeh produced by these catadioptric lenses can be overwhelming but when used carefully can also create a beautiful ethereal effect. I personally really like the look of the OOF areas in the image below.

I also found the Tamron SP 17mm f/3.5 Adaptall-2 51B ultra-wide. Also a pretty slick lens!

Below is a shot I made with the Tamron 51B while I was out on a beautiful day just playing around. As can be seen the lens tends to flare easily, though ultra-wides often do. This image had some post processing as well so it isn't pure, out-of-camera.

I have been doing quite a bit of shooting with these new lenses and cameras but as I said earlier, my attention has shifted recently. Unfortunately, the new activity requires the same enthusiasm for learning, extensive knowledge of the product back catalog, and wallet capacity...Cycling.

A New Endeavor

As far back as I can remember, I have always had a bike. When I was younger, we (the neighborhood boys) always had BMX bikes. It wasn't until late high school that I got a serious riding bike, a GT mountain bike. In college I got my first taste of speed with an older Schwinn World road bike and I loved it. Even then though, the older steel framed bike weighed quite a bit and I didn't really have a grasp of what a lighter, performance road bike with quality components could do for riding. Then a fortuitous garage sale bestowed upon me a Specialized carbon fiber bike from the 90's at the wallet-friendly price of $75. Since then I have been off and on riding when life permits.

Specialized Allez Epic with a Shimano 105 setup

Recently however, something clicked. Perhaps a new neighbor who also rides and has encouraged me to come out riding with him has been a catalyst. Having moved back to the city, riding is an excellent alternative to driving saving gas and giving me a great workout. Whatever the reasons, I have found myself trying to get on the bike whenever I can. Just like photography, I find myself wanting to personalize my "kit". I have begun building a bike. It turns out the cycling world has just as many inconsistencies and exceptions as that of the camera gear world. So begins a new adventure...

Business Cards v2.0

2011-04-25T21:30:00.005-05:00

Back in December I began re-designing my business cards. I have to say though, I was never fully satisfied with the result. Consequently, the design sat unused and unordered for the past 5 months. I have spent a few days throughout those months pulling up the design and tweaking it but just couldn't seem to settle on what I wanted. Well, a few days ago I had my breakthrough. To most it probably doesn't seem like much, but you know what they say, "We are our own worst critics."

FRONT

BACK

A quick detail: I had the front logo and main text foiled to add a bit of flare while the rest of the card will remain matte black. The back is matte finish as well. I will post images when they arrive, provided I am satisfied.

Throughout the spectrum of humanity, from those who are enamored with design and aesthetics to those who would claim ignorance, we as humans inherently possess an appreciation for the way things look. Undoubtedly this can be seen in some of our most basic behaviors such as our search for a mate. What is it about this girl that I find so irresistible? Countless studies have been performed by the scientific community to quantify beauty (symmetry is one concept that tends to come up a lot). The whole concept of how individuals discern "beauty" is something I find particularly fascinating. The reason I bring all that up is simply that in designing my card, I found myself obsessing over some of the smallest little details. It was almost like that scene from American Psycho... Thankfully, in the end, it was quite a bit less violent!

I ordered from VistaPrint.com and the cards should currently be en route!

Tokina 90mm f/2.5 - Some Sample Images

2011-04-03T13:13:00.010-05:00

Sphalerite - Tokina 90mm f/2.5 (Stacked with CombineZM)

The "Bokina" Hype - Is It All It's Cracked Up To Be? (Quick Answer: YES)

Over the past few months I have been watching the prices for the famed Tokina 90mm f/2.5 (nicknamed the "Bokina" for it's ethereal, soft rendering of out of focus regions of your images) climb through the roof as if these lenses were becoming extinct. Just last year I picked this lens up for $180 from KEH in Nikon N/AI mount and the macro extender, case, and hood for an additional $50 on eBay. I read a forum post where someone had found their Minolta MD mount version complete and like new for $75 from KEH. Within the last 60 days (of writing this) two complete N/AI mount Tokina 90mm lenses sold for $600 on eBay. Given that this lens tends to come up anytime there is talk of great macro lenses, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It truly is a phenomenal lens. Whether or not you would pony up $600 is all about how bad you want it...

The past few months for me has been quite a blur. In my freelancing and internship, I have found the Tokina 90mm to be a particularly important asset to my kit. It is an excellent lens for food photography, allowing portions of the dishes to appear crisp and clear while the backgrounds fades away seamlessly into overlapping veils of color. More on that another time. I do want to show some samples from my other project though.

In my internship, I was given the opportunity to shoot a subject that is right up my alley: macro images of minerals. Our hydrologist at work was giving a presentation on mineralogy and asked if I could make her some better images for her powerpoint. Since she (and another co-worker) have an extensive personal collection of minerals they were able to provide me with very nice samples of the various minerals she was looking for. Hardly a job I could complain about!

The Macro Rig

Why the sketch instead of simply photographing the setup? Originally I left my equipment at work when I began drafting this post and being that I wanted to illustrate the setup, I did just that, illustrate! I have since brought the setup home but figured I may as well still use the drawing! Anyway, these minerals I was photographing are considered "micro-mount" which means they are very small samples, probably around 25mm across in total. The average field of view in the images below is only a few millimeters, an even smaller portion of the already small mineral sample thus the reproduction ratio is considerable. Despite this extreme magnification, the Tokina 90mm yields sharp, detailed images!

The Tokina's ability to render subjects crisply amidst a beautifully shallow depth of field (wide open) is perhaps the lens' greatest capability, though this is slightly opposite of what I needed in this situation. The biggest issue with photographing a subject that is so small is a shallow depth of field. I really needed to be able to see more of each mineral in focus, but I did love a soft background that falls off. This is where image stacking comes in. I mentioned this method before on the blog using a program called Helicon Focus. While that is a great program, it costs, and I don't believe it is available for PC. At work we use PC's and thus I found a great (and better yet, FREE) alternative: CombineZM. Image stacking is a process of making multiple images, each focused consecutively "along" or "into" the subject, which is then imported into the stacking software, which essentially does just as you would think, combines all the images, using algorithms to determine what is in focus in each image, to the eventual output: an image with a much greater depth of field than any single image could have depicted. Such a capability certainly begs many curious ideas of what to photograph. This process works amazingly well with static subjects such as minerals but can become difficult with live subjects that move (though it is quite possible!). Below are the minerals. Typically they are comprised of between 10-20 stacked images. I made most of them around f/11-16 for optimal sharpness and since my DoF was already so shallow, it wasn't like I had to worry about blurring the background. Enjoy!

Wavelite - Tokina 90mm f/2.5 (Stacked with CombineZM)

Strengite - Tokina 90mm f/2.5 (Stacked with CombineZM)

Dufrenite - Tokina 90mm f/2.5 (Stacked with CombineZM)

Macro Season is Upon Us!

And so macro season approaches. Today, a strong, but warm wind (90º warm!) blew through St. Louis piquing my macro-senses (and my tennis senses as well, but that's a different story). While the wind factor is hardly the ideal condition for outdoor macro work, the warmth and newly active wildlife is. The enormous bumble bees which populate our backyard gardens emerged and struggled to make the best of our windy, but beautiful day. I recently picked up a new geared tripod head which has become my go-to support for macro work. It has revolutionized my ability to efficiently make macro images. I will have more on this soon. Once again, apologies for my recent absence!

Blog News - Welcome to 2011!

2011-01-15T11:58:00.009-06:00

A bit late but welcome to the New Year, 2011! This past holiday season has been especially eventful and just downright crazy for me. I apologize for the lack of updates etc..

Much has happened since my last post and I still haven't even ordered my business cards! That being said, I will just go ahead and delve right in as I have a lot to say regarding a (now not-so-recent) purchase.

Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 *ED AIs

Some time back I was trolling eBay as usual and I came across a newly listed Nikon manual focus lens, the 50-300mm f/4.5 *ED AIs. I was the second person to view it and even though I had never looked into this lens or seen it, sometimes you just know. The price was surprisingly low for a lens of that range especially one that bears the desired "*ED" designation (Extra-low Dispersion glass). I quickly googled the lens and checked KEH only to find the same lens selling for nearly $1000. At $250 BIN (in mint condition with leather case, caps, and 95mm Nikon filter) I feverishly navigated back to the eBay tab and within seconds I was gazing upon a "Congratulations! You just bought this item" page.

To be frank, this one lens entirely changed my photographic kit leading me sell off a number of lenses I previously found to be perfectly adequate.

Finding the Right Lenses for You

I have often heard/read of what pro photographers say of great lenses, "Once you get this lens, anything else you have in this focal length will simply be redundant." I contrastingly have always felt each and every lens has a unique perspective and therefore shares a place in my bag. I am not alone, for many of my fellow photographers over at the Manual Focus Lens Forum can attest to the latter as they have at time, 20 or more lenses of the same exact focal length.

Since my disappointing purchase of the $1300+ Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 AF-S some years back it occurred to me that the most expensive glass is not always the best. This blog has been an educational personal exploration into what other optical manufacturers have to offer optically for (hopefully) less money than the camera-brand manufacturers. I have to say, so far, I am very impressed to see the quality that can be had in some of these alternative lenses. While many turn out to be clearly less than the best, others far exceed (see the Tokina 90mm f/2.5 - LOVE that lens!).

Photography is both an art form and a vocation (and sometimes both, but not always). From the artistic standpoint, you are the judge and jury of your work. Photography should be first and foremost, for you. The right lens revolves wholly around whether or not you get what you are shooting for. Photography as a career operates much differently and in many cases will demand more of your optics since you are shooting for clients with their own requirements. In my case, the output for both applications shares a common desired output. I want sharp, bold, clear, colorful, sharp (did I say sharp?), aberration free imagery (or as close as I can get).

I once shot with cheap kit lenses that proved adequate, but not enough. I then read some reviews, bit the bullet and sprung for the best Nikon had to offer on two lenses; a couple of premium AF-S, gold-lined, super-duty optics. To my dismay one of the lenses proved to be quite soft and not nearly as high performing as Nikon touted. I rebounded by discovering the world of third-party lenses. Thus has been the journey noted in this blog.

Buying Gear for the Frugal Photographer

Using this Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 optic has been amazing. The lens just makes great, clear, sharp images with few aberrations. Consequently, I think it is important to discuss another aspect of searching for gear for the "frugal photographer": Patience.

Having been immersed in the third-party..."party" for some time, I have come to realize nearly all of these lenses tend to have pretty clear shortcomings. Not that all lenses don't. These just tend to be a little more prominent. Best example would be CA. Nearly all of the Tamron SP and Tokina AT-X lenses, even the best, I have worked with demonstrate more severe CA than the few superior Nikkor lenses I have tested. The third-party lenses, as you know, also cost significantly less. So I have learned to deal. Avoid lighting situations which will produce severe CA or don't shoot completely wide open all the time. While this may prove inconvenient and certainly not ideal for a paid shoot in which you have little control over what the client's needs are, it is just about the only solution for the starting photographer with limited funding.

So what are you to do if you have little cash and can't seem to find a third-party lens that lives up to your standards?

While the deal I got on this 50-300mm could be considered a fluke, the truth is, it simply isn't (actually the very next week a similar condition lens went up for BIN for $330). With so much gear in the marketplace, especially in these economic times, people are constantly listing things for arbitrary prices, simply in hopes of meeting their financial needs. Which can often be far less money than the lens is worth resulting in a great opportunity for a beginning photographer. Finding these deals is only a matter of time.

Patience and persistence can bring you some of the best gear out there, for less than the price of the worst.

Why Am I Telling You All This?

As I said, I have been shootings with a combination of a couple really nice "bread and butter" Nikkors and then many third party optics for some time now. They can produce some wondrous results but it doesn't mean I don't still lust for some of these incredible newly designed lenses with built-in VR, etc. Well in this past couple months, patience afforded me the opportunity at two such lenses resulting in a new perspective and drastic reduction in my kit (simply because I currently don't have enough money to have a lot of unused lenses sitting around). As mentioned above, I found the Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 *ED AIs for $250 BIN on eBay. I also picked up a like-new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR II for half the OEM price through a BIN that popped up on the bay.

These two lenses, though generations apart, represent the culmination of Nikon's design and optical knowledge in their respective periods, and I have nothing to say to refute it. They are simply unbelievable. I have been so impressed by their performances, I have sold off many of my other lenses to fund these (and somehow I actually made money?) and also because I just wasn't really using them anymore. I will be doing more thorough reviews on each of these in the future but for now I will leave you with some images I have made from them:

Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 *ED AIs

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR II

This composite (used a second, wider shot for an extended sky) of the Alton, IL Lock and Dam was made at 1/15 of a second in the breaking dawn light out the window of a small corolla crossing the bumpy Clark Bridge. I am simply amazing at how well the VR works!

Neelam's first Christmas (Crazy looking? She only broke 2 ornaments.)

Wrap Up

Patience! Patience is a great approach to finding the best gear. Read, research, know what you want to try, and then just keep your eyes open. You never know!

It looks to be a great new year. Despite a troubled economy, I am optimistic because regardless of what the job market brings, photography is still ultimately for me. I cannot help but do it. Just last night I was reminded by someone how intrinsically beautiful passion for something, anything can be. God has blessed me with an ability and a desire and for that I am always thankful.

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New Business Cards!

2010-12-05T01:54:00.007-06:00

Wow, so it has been a good while since I last posted here. Hit a bit of a rough patch this past month so things have been hectic. I have been pushing to get this review of the Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 *ED AiS out but I just haven't been able to make it happen. Instead, I have been working on redesigning some new business cards and retooling my logo and overall look (I have a beard now too). Here are the most recent drafts!

Front

Back

If you still don't get what the icon is (other than hopefully the immediate image of a camera you see, it also is supposed to more-than-vaguely resemble a "dk"). Hey-Oh! Now you see it? Oh..no? well...leave me comment then!

Previous Logo

It's definitely better than my previous logo which was a simple monogram of "DK" in a signature-esque style. My "D" is spot-on from my signature. The "K" just works as an inverse.

This is still only in the draft phase. I may be simplifying the logo a tad more but I work best when I take a break, come back with fresh eyes, and critique. Comments are welcome though!

Century Precision Optics Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6 - Part II Performance

2010-11-09T21:28:00.011-06:00

The Test

Click HERE to read Part I if you're lost...

For a little scale as to what 1000mm looks like, here is the test scene through a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera (D700). The turquoise box is the field of view of the 1000mm lens.

Performance

For fun, I threw in a crop from the key image made with the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 at 100%. Due to posting size restrictions, for the time being, I have posted the Century results at full-frame in a reduced size. Full size from the D700 is 4256 x 2832 pixels.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-D

Crop @ f/8

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Century Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6

f/5.6 (wide open)

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

f/32

f/64 (sorry about the birds!)

Analysis

The Century Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6 does not perform extravagantly wide open. In it's defense, most lenses do not. I do not know what kind of specs were required of this lens when it was designed but it appears it will have to be stopped down to be used for anything more than an enormous spotting scope.

Chromatic Aberration - In high contrast situations, this lens definitely exhibits some serious CA.

Vignetting - Clearly on a full-frame DSLR, the Tele-Athenar 1000/5.6 has some severe vignetting wide open and diminishes as stopped down but is present all the way through f/64.

Sharpness - This lens resolves quite well especially considering that at 1000mm many more factors come into play than at say 300mm such as weather, temperature, atmosphere, etc. Wide open the lens is soft but f/8 isn't too bad and f/11 is great. I think optimal aperture is actually around f/16 or f/22 with this lens.

Distortion - I don't see any noticeably severe distortion.

Contrast - The sample images have been aided by a slight curve in post process. The lens appears to produce good contrasty images but not as contrasty as my *ED Nikon glass. Also flare may have been a factor given the extremely bright day.

Flare - I used this on an overcast day and achieved some very nice, contrasty images. However, in this test on a very bright, sunny day, the lens produced slightly less contrasty images. The lens possesses an ample hood for protection against stray rays so this may have been due to atmospheric conditions.

Color - Images seemed to come out a bit dull in color. No especially beautiful rendering.

Bokeh - Possibly due to the number of aperture blades, along with the immense focal length, one can achieve some beautifully soft bokeh with this optic. I will work at getting some samples of this soon!

The Wrap-Up

The Century Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6 is hardly a practical lens. At best it's a novelty, if not simply an anchor. I love it nonetheless. I suppose it's more for the pure shock factor of putting this on a tripod and pretending to be serious. The lens is capable of some very sharp images at smaller apertures.

It probably would make no sense to make a recommendation here, seeing as few will ever come across one of these. But in the off-chance you do find one, above provides a good sample of what you can expect and make your offer accordingly. I had a hawk flying overhead and attempted to "bird" with this lens. HA! That was a challenge!

Next stop with this lens? The Moon!...on the GF1...with some TCs

Blog News

2010-11-03T00:25:00.006-05:00

I have recently decided to sell off some of my favorite lenses to fund some continuing education. You can see whats for sale in the "For Sale" section of the blog! Two items sold right off the bat and will be going to good use! Thanks!

Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 ED AIs

Here is another lens I was not looking for but sort of fell into my lap. I have been on the lookout for a good mid-range zoom since I let my Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D go some time back in favor of the cash. It was a great lens but tended to hunt a little too much in low light, which was when I used it most. I decided the money would be better and I would eventually annie-up the cash for a 70-200mm VR. Well that still hasn't happened and probably won't for some time.

In the meantime, I am working on paying off some debt as well as paying for continuing education at the local college. I still keep a camera-fund going because it may be the only thing that keeps me sane. Recently this manual focus Nikon 50-300mm f/4.5 ED lens went up for sale for such a great price, I had to look into it. I had never really seen anything about this lens but knew the *ED meant great glass. After seeing it being offered on KEH in EX condition for over $800 and eBay for nearly $1000, this price was peanuts. I went ahead and bought it since I figured I could easily get my money back if the lens wasn't for me.

Wow. All I have to say is, "Wow". OK, so I actually have a lot more to say on this lens but that simple thought was the first and only thing on my mind when I was checking the sharpness of the first images I made with this lens. This lens is incredibly sharp, even wide open it performs unbelievably well. I haven't even seen a hint of CA yet.

Let me just say, if you find one for a killer price relative to those I have mentioned, I say go for it. The lens is manual focus and heavy, so it can be a beast to handle. The front filter is 95mm! Optically, it may be one of the best zooms I have used to date.

More on this to come!

Vivitar Series 1 VMC Filter

I didn't know these filters even existed but this came along with one of my Series 1 lenses. I couldn't sell it. It's too cool. And well-made to boot! I have never seen another one!

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Century Precision Optics Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6 - Part I

2010-10-30T18:48:00.003-05:00

The Century Precision Optics Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6

You may recall I found this lens a few weeks back via an ambiguous, local Craigslist ad. This lens is huge. Measuring 38" from the tip of the hood to the camera mount, the lens weighs over 15 lbs. (Some of that weight can be attributed to the heavy metal brackets on which this lens was originally mounted.). Although I didn't initially know anything about the lens and had no idea if I could do anything with it, as Rick from Pawn Stars often enthusiastically declares, "I wanted it!" A couple text messages and less than an hour after discovering the ad, I was driving home with this thing in my backseat! I took the gamble and now I needed to know 3 main things:

Some History - Where did this lens come from? What was it used for?
Optical Capabilities - How can I adapt this for use with my DSLR? Is it possible?
How to Mount - If use with a DSLR is optically possible, I need a means to mount this lens on a tripod.

The Search for Info on Century Tele-Athenar Lenses

I contacted Schneider Optics, the company who purchased Century Precision Optics and asked them for some information on this lens. Schneider was surprisingly prompt in responding (A stark contrast to my attempts at getting info from the Tokina corporation) however, they had very little info to give. Even what the rep did have to tell me seemed more like speculation than fact. I also asked around on the Manual Focus Lenses Forum and one user, cooltouch (Michael), seemed to have more info and be much more confident than the rep from Schneider.

The rep basically said:

The Century Tele-Athenar 1000/5.6 was most likely contracted by the military and probably about 10-15 years old putting it around 1995-2000. Originally it probably sold for more than $4k and was a special order lens.

That's it. Despite my numerous questions, that's all I got.

Michael on the other hand had quite a bit more to help me out. He says:

"If the lens is white, it was military-contracted. If it's black, it probably wasn't. But it probably was used in the movie industry. CPO sold most of their optics to the movie industry and the military. Back in the 60s, photographers got wind of their optics and began requesting a line for 35mm still photography. CPO came out with the Tele-Athenar II line for still photographers. The main difference is the TA II's barrel does not rotate when the focusing ring is turned. The lens should also say it's a TA II if it is indeed one.

As far as its age, 10- 15 years ago is probably too young. I got the impression from talking to Bill Turner that, even though they still showed the TA lines in their catalog, they rarely sold one anymore, and this was the early 90s. So it's possible, but not all that likely that your lens is that young.

...

Anyway, according to my records, the 1000mm f/5.6 is a Tele Athenar and not a Tele Athenar II. It was made for movie work primarily and not specifically for 35mm photography. However, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I imagine it will take killer photos of the moon, for one thing."

Thanks Michael! Essentially this is good news! This lens can be used on modern DSLRs since they were used for cinema, a similar application. I have heard stories about some of these old large lenses being discovered but turning out to be very special purpose lenses. One user from MFL, nemesis101, was telling me of a lens he found long ago that turned out to be for aerial spotting duties with a minimum focusing distance of 3 miles!

As always, I will keep this section updated as more information surfaces.

Adapting The Lens For Use With A DSLR

Optically it's possible to use the lens. Now I need to figure out what parts are necessary for that adaptation. The lens was handed off to me with a rear mount that looked like this:

A seemingly arbitrary sized thread and an empty filter slot. In contacting Schneider, I found out this thread is a proprietary mount that was utilized by CPO on their Tele-Athenar lenses. Fortunately, the mount is still used today on some of their newer products! So the company had the parts for me to order. To use this lens on a DSLR, you need the following part:

0TM-00TC-00 (those are zeros) - Century Interchangeable to T-mount Adapter

Then you just need the correct T-mount for the camera with which you want to use this lens. They even had the 2"x 2" filter tray.

Issue #2 down. At this point I was leaning the lens on a deck post, while awkwardly attempting to support the back end and focus at the same time with an extremely narrow field of view. I think I'm going to need a tripod mount...

Mounting the Century 1000/5.6

The lens originally had two large metal brackets attached this to whatever rig it had been designed for. Structurally, it seems to me, it makes the most sense to start from these for a sturdy tripod mount. I began by gluing several 8" x 12" PVC boards together.

Next, I trimmed the boards to an even block.

Then the shaping began.

The process was pretty much just a lot of cutting, drilling, and sanding. Eventually I hope to really smooth everything out and paint it black. For now though, I was too anxious to use it. There's no sense in taking it to the final product if it doesn't work so I had to test it!

Objective 3 complete. Finally time for testing!

Specifications

Focal length: 1000mm
Angle of view: 2.1º
Max. aperture: f/5.6
Min. aperture: f/64
Elements/Groups: unknown
Dimensions: 38" L
Aperture blades: 20

Performance

I have the results but need a bit more editing so I will post them in a Part II. Stay tuned!

Blog News

2010-10-25T23:22:00.007-05:00

What's New:

Century Precision Optics 1000mm f/5.6 Adapter Arrives!
Blog Improvements
Some Shooting with the "Bokina"

My CPO Adapter Has Arrived!

Finally, it has been an entire week since I ordered the adapter necessary to mount this behemoth lens onto my DSLR (and missing filter tray). Waiting for a package is about the only thing that makes weekends feel like they take forever! I am currently working on a thorough write-up detailing the deployment of the Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6. I am also attempting to fabricate a DIY tripod foot/handle since the lens weighs 15+ lbs. and currently stands on two beefy "feet". I have no means to fasten it to a tripod. Enter PVC.

I took a couple preliminary shots today just before it got dark and I have to say, while I was seeing some prominent CA, this lens gets OUT there. If it wasn't such an overcast, rainy night, I would be out shooting the moon.

I'll keep you posted!

Blog Improvements

You may have noticed, if you poke around the blog, some things have changed/are changing. I have some time on my hands lately so I have been making an effort to go back into older posts and pages in an attempt to add more info, add more recent thoughts and opinions (now that I have used some of these lenses much more in practice), and improve site consistency overall.

As with anything new, I am still getting my feet regarding how I would like to organize my thoughts and get you the information you may be looking for. If you have any requests or recommendations please ask or let me know! I'd love to hear if there is anything else I can do. For example, sometimes I am looking for a lens and need to see a side not pictured anywhere for a number of reasons. Contact me, say, "Hey I'd like to see a close-up of that tripod mount on blahblahblah lens or whatever".

Some Changes to Note:

The "Dedicated Macro Lens Index" page has been updated with a number of new lenses from many different manufacturers. There are so many out there but sometimes you just would like to see what is available to you (and your specific camera). This is a big undertaking and I certainly have missed quite a few but am working on building it up and eventually into a downloadable data sheet too.
Some of the lens reviews have been shaped up. Eventually they will all look and feel pretty much the same in terms of layout and organization. Hopefully I can get all the same types data for each of them too (specs, etc).
I have begun attempting to branch out in my HTML skills so you will see some better navigation hopefully. I have begun adding some quick links at the top of reviews if you just need to see, for example, the specs. Rather than scroll through the whole page just click the "Specifications" link at the top and go straight there.
I have posted a couple new PDFs on the "Lens Reviews and PDFs" page for the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 107B and the Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5.6 31A.

This is an ongoing process but hopefully it will make things easier and cleaner for you!

Savoring a Nontraditional, Warm Autumn

We have had an exceptionally warm beginning of autumn this year. It seems everything is a little bit confused. Can't say I have been complaining though. I've been trying to spend as much time outside as I can. Our leaves didn't change color in the same timeframe that they did last year, leaving me without any great fall color images. It seems the leaves went from green to brown, with sporadic coloring. Regardless, the bugs have been loving it. Caterpillars abound. Here are just a few images I made recently (mostly with the Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X "Bokina").

The following were made with the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 107B @ f/2.8. This lens is so sharp wide open!

More to Come Soon!

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Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5.6 31A

2010-10-19T21:04:00.011-05:00

While this lens isn't "rare", it isn't exactly in ready supply either. While exploring Tamron's Adaptall-2 line-up in effort to find an inexpensive alternative relative to the premium name-brand glass, I continually saw mention of the Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5.6 31A but infrequently found any actual results. Mostly people just commented on how large of a lens it is. Having originally retailed for over $1000, I think it is time we had a little more info than this.

Aesthetics/Ergonomics

I have to say this lens was somewhat of an impulse buy. I have no idea what they typically cost since I haven't been on the lookout for one. I just saw one ending on eBay one day, in great condition with what looks to be nearly all of the original accouterments. After having sold another lens and having the money sitting in paypal I reasoned I would just pick it up and give it a try since I wasn't finding much online. Then resell it after I am finished, should it not turn out to be Tamron's best kept secret. Spoiler alert: it isn't.

That may sound harsher than I intend since this lens isn't a poor performer, just not amazing. But I am getting ahead of myself! We will get to performance.

First impressions of this lens are in agreement with what I have found online: this lens is a beast.
Being a non-IF (internal focus) zoom lens with such a broad range, this kind of size is inevitable. The built-in hood is great, though this adds another 4" to the length. The physical length of this lens goes from 14" fully compact, to 20" completely extended and hooded.

The overall look and feel of this lens is nothing short of Tamron's best Adaptall design. A solid 6 lbs. of metal and glass. I love the all-black semi-gloss finish. All lettering and info is engraved into the lens barrel. Hints of Tamron's signature turquoise color appear in the distance scale lettering. The barrel sports Infrared scales for 200, 300, and 500mm focal lengths. The 200-500mm f/5.6's front filter is a massive 95mms but the lens is also equipped with a rear 43mm filter tray. Due to the size, the lens was designed with a tripod foot which does rotate 360º. I have read, and do agree, the tripod mount is further back than it should be. Even with a camera mounted, the lens is pretty front-heavy.

Using this lens, I also quickly realized another drawback to the non-IF design of this particular lens. When focusing the lens, (Anywhere from 200-500mm, focal length doesn't matter because that action does occur internally) the front portion of the lens rotates. For one thing, if you were to use a polarizing filter, it would need to be adjusted accordingly as you focus. But secondly this means anytime you are focusing upward, holding the lens at a high angle (and I mean nearly verticle), the sheer weight of the front of the lens creeps back down (toward the infinity focus position). I will say however, this lens manages to stay in place to a pretty severe angle. I assume this will all be dependent on the condition of the lubricants in your particular lens.

Accessories

Accessory-wise, this lens originally sold with a large faux-leather case (L-40) with a red fabric lined interior and foam inserts fitted to the lens. There is also an accessory compartment in the case to accommodate a teleconverter, strap, additional filters/trays, etc.. I do not have the original Tamron 95mm protective filter for the front of the lens and boy are they hard to come by! The lens also came with a cheap fake leather lens cover for the front which is black felt-lined on the inside (which I did get).

Specifications

Focal length: 200-500mm
Filter thread: Front 95mm, Rear tray 43mm
Min. Aperture: f/5.6
Max. Aperture: f/32
Angular field of view (diagonal): 12º-5º
Elements/groups: 14/10
Maximum magnification ratio: 1:3.52 (500mm @ 8.2' [2.5m])
Multi-Coated: Yes, BBAR MC
Min. focusing distance: 8.2' (2.5 m)
Length at ∞: 14.4" (365 mm)
Maximum barrel diameter: 4.1 " (105mm)
Weight: 6.1 lbs. (2780 g)
Lens hood: Built-in
Mount: Adaptall-2
Manufacturer designation: 31A

Above, the optical diagram is from Adaptall-2.org.

While this lens is an SP (Super Performance) lens, it does not have any LD (low-dispersion) glass in it. This was to keep costs low since the lens was intended to compete with premium brand lenses but cost the consumer less. Also, regarding the "BBAR MC" designation. From what I am finding online, it seems BBAR may stand for "Broad-Band Anti-Reflection" and then MC obviously "Multi-Coating". Either way, all Tamron's Adaptall-2 line listed in the 200-500mm's brochure were BBAR.

Performance

So who cares about all that stuff. Is the lens any good optically? Well I'll tell you what, I care about all that other stuff. But agreed, I think it is important that we understand if this lens is worth its weight optically too.

Since the time I initially got this lens, I haven't had a whole lot of time to get out and use it for birding or various other long-range activities for which it was designed. But I did a fair amount of image comparison which should suffice to at least show what this lens is capable of.

Here I had the rig mounted on a sturdy tripod. I used a D700 @ ISO 800 to ensure high enough shutter speeds so I was not affected by camera shake. The sun was at my back to the left. I cropped these images and enlarged them by about 50% so that you can see the pixels. Only a hair of sharpening to combat the web softening images slightly when posted here. All images were made in RAW.

200mm

Below is the key image made of the Clark Bridge in Alton, IL @ 200mm.

f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

f/32

500mm
Here is a key for that same Clark Bridge @ 500mm.

f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

Beyond f/16 the wind began affecting the shots. Being out by the river, the winds can get pretty intense.

Analysis

As always the lens shows slight softness wide open but is still pretty sharp! I am impressed with the sharpness of this lens at both 200 and 500mms. Center sharpness as well as corner sharpness with this lens is quite acceptable.

As far as contrast, I would say the lens again performs well. These shots aren't the best examples to show contrast but I assure you from other use with this lens, you will not be disappointed with the rendering of a scene!

Flare doesn't appear to be much of an issue, nor does any concern for stray light affecting the image. The built-in hood provides copious coverage.

Now to address the issue that plagues the Tamron SP line, Chromatic Aberration. CA seems to be the biggest downfall of even Tamron's best LD lenses. While this lens has no LD glass, it is designed to compensate for CA in other ways. Nevertheless, CA is quite visible even at f/8. The best way to handle this issue is either to avoid shooting in situations that produce CA (extreme high contrast) or deal with it in post.

Recommendations

Since the introduction of this lens in 1984, the industry has made leaps and bounds toward better zoom technology. The 31A is pleasantly sharp wide open and performs quite well beyond that. However the CA can be a bit much at early apertures and the effort to keep your zoom/focus in check can prove a bit of a challenge, especially in fast paced environments. While I love the build and look of this lens, the reality is that it isn't very practical by today's standards. The Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5.6 31A is a great choice if you need sharpness and zoom for a low price. Also the adaptall feature allows you some portability in between systems if needed. I haven't tested the newer Tamron 200-500mm f/5-6.3 Di AF but I imagine it is a much more manageable lens (also nearly 3 times as expensive). There is a Tamron 200-400mm f/5.6 D AF that costs a little less than this adaptall actually (as of 10/2010) but I have heard nothing about it. The Tokina 400mm f/5.6 AT-X and the 80-400mm f/4-5.6 may be other options and can be had for around the same price as this adaptall ($300-400). Both of which have AF and are considerably lighter. But I know little about their performance at the long end which tends to be where these zooms struggle.

Plain and simple, the ability to get similar zoom, same f# or faster, and AF for the same price as the 31A makes buying this lens more about nostalgia for well-made Adaptall lenses than anything else. If you can afford to take your time and are just looking for a sharp 500mm that can double as a weapon, all for one low price, here it is! Optically, it's no slouch, but technology has moved quite a bit beyond this.

Links/Resources

NEW!! - I received the owner's manual with this lens and have scanned it into a PDF document.
Click HERE to download the User's Manual for the Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5.6 31A

Adaptall-2.org (mirror site of the previous adaptall-2 site) - Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5.6 31A

Here's link to Pentax Forum's profile on this lens.

Entrepreneurial Spirit = @#$çß@! Others

2010-10-18T02:13:00.004-05:00

I typically don't post rants or raves but I have just had it with people in this world. And since this is completely relevant to the photo world, why not.

The new Nikon D7000 has just been released and while it is in high demand, it is also in short supply. Actually I have found they are available at my local stores but I have read people are having trouble getting them around the country. Amazon has reportedly sent out e-mails notifying pre-order customers of their delayed deliveries.

And as with so many other times in America, when demand goes up for anything, no matter how trivial, the "Land of Opportunity" becomes the "Land of Opportunists". People rush out to get their hands on whatever the craze is. Grown adults in a frenzy over 3-5 year old's toys, even when they themselves haven't any kids that age, or at all! Why? So they can turn around and rip the #%$#@ out of their neighbor. I'm sick of it. It is this attitude of greed and selfishness that permeates throughout our society and ultimately will be the end of us.

After having EARNed money to acquire and create with these wonderful new tools of the trade photographers, artists, creators now sit empty-handed and waiting because people who literally have NO interest in photography are snatching the inventory and marking up the prices to get their "piece" of the sale. Scum. Really, these people are scum. I can understand vintage items and antiques having ambiguous values due to sentiment and rarity. But to see something come off the line, with a clear MSRP, be sold for hundreds more simply because people may pay it...That is aweful. I feel like personally messaging each and every seller of these cameras just to tell them they are sick opportunists who give humanity a bad name. It's that big of a deal to me. This would be a totally different story if the prices on eBay were the same as MSRP. Then we can talk about "turns out I don't need this camera". But we all know what's going on.

A Craigslist Mystery Lens - Century Tele-Athenar 1000mm f/5.6

2010-10-09T08:17:00.008-05:00

Just when I thought it was safe and told myself, "You have all the lenses you need for right now", THIS comes along. LBA is indeed a formidable foe. Forgive these photos as they were made in haste!

This mystery lens showed up on my local craigslist the other day along with some very ambiguous images depicting the behemoth towering beside a drawn out tape measure. "3 foot lens" the ad stated with no real details as to the brand or focal length of the lens. Fortunately the location of the post was in my city (as opposed to the entire St. Louis Metro area)! Being the camera junkie that I am, I quickly contacted the gentleman and arranged to meet. So we met up at a local gas station and as I pulled up and parked he was already walking over to my car with this massive 3 foot beast! I just about gasped at the actual sight of the thing.

He had no idea what this thing was, and neither did I! The optic had inscribed on the side, "Century Tele-Athenar U.S.A." Elsewhere on the lens was a distance scale that went from ∞ to 125' (just learned how to make the ∞ symbol on a mac ALT+5, heyo!) You read correctly, minimum focus of 125'. A large aperture ring also was inscribed with f/5.6 down to f/45. Then I found it, the focal length. 1000mm. A 1000mm f/5.6!

I had a tough time managing to hold the lens at the right angle with the sun in order to peer down into the gaping bolted-on hood. But when I did, I saw a finely crafted, silvery 20-bladed aperture.

I could tell this was a rare find! I did have some reservations though. I get excited at the sight of older, more heavy-duty made lenses. But reality is they are often optically inferior to the new glass. While I like to consider myself something of a collector (though my funds hardly allow me to buy many of the items on my dream list haha), I am also a fairly practical person. I can't spend a ton of money on an old inferior lens just because it has my favorite metal crinkle-finish covering the entire outer barrel... when for the same amount, I could get brand new optical designs that are actually portable, weather-resistant, flare-resistant, sharp to the corners, etc.

So the bad/practical: I found some gunk on the rear element. There was no mount aside from what appeared to be an arbitrarily sized thread and the filter holder was missing. The thing is huge! There was no discernible tripod mount. Merely two large bolted-on stands or feet with large deep threads indicating some mount was at one time installed but no longer. I will need to fabricate something just to be able to mount this lens onto a tripod. Yes the reality of this lens was that I still have no idea what it was capable of, or if I could even use it at all!

Seeing as how I had more of an idea of what this lens was than the gentleman selling it, and that was next to no idea, I made an offer. We agreed he could probably make more by selling it elsewhere and I offered he do so since my price was modest relative to the shear size of this thing. But he needed the money and seemed happy I was more interested in making the thing work instead of trying to make a profit off of it. So the deal was made!

I have the lens next to the Panasonic GF1 in the title image but here is another comparison to give you some scale of this behemoth.

Now that I have this unknown beast lying in my room I began scouring the web and posting questions on Flickr pages of people who have other Tele-Athenars. I posed a query on the Manual Focus Lenses Forum. And I even e-mailed Schneider-Kreuznach, the company that now owns Century Precision Optics. Here is what I learned:

Century Precision Optics used to make these optics for the motion picture industry. These large and unwieldy pieces of glass were mounted with motion picture cameras on the big camera rigs, which makes complete sense given their size. Often contracted by film studios or the U.S. military, Century did not deal a whole lot with the general consumer. So these lenses were often high-grade optics. Following the first line of Tele-Athenars, Century produced a Tele-Athenar II line after gaining some more interest among the still photographers who were trying to adapt some of these original optics for still photography. The Tele-Athenar II line was apparently more manageable with better focusing mechanisms that photographers were more familiar with.

Also, in regards to the mount. These lenses typically had a Century-made adapter that went from the seemingly arbitrary thread size I noted at the rear of my lens, to a C-mount or a T-mount. These universal mounts allowed the lenses to be utilized on a wide range of recording devices. Schneider got back to me with an e-mail response stating that while the Tele-Athenar line has since been discontinued, they have maintained the rear thread mount and still carry the necessary part which I could use to get the lens down to a T-mount, and then a T-mount to Nikon F for use with my DSLR. They have the parts!

So it will be a bit before I get this up and running but the future is optimistic for this lens. I am thrilled to have it and will keep everyone posted on the results so that in the off-chance you come across something similar in your pursuit to quench the pangs of LBA, you will know more about just what it is you are looking at!

Links/Resources

Here is a snippet from a book about some of the Tele-Athenar II line and Century Precision Optics.

Tamron SP Lenses - Time for Some Results

2010-09-28T15:57:00.014-05:00

**I have replaced the title image of this post with an updated, better quality shot. Also, if you have read this post previous to this update, you'll notice 4 lenses in the image and only 3 in the review. That might be because I got a package in the mail today...stay tuned.

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Not too long ago, I was knee-deep in macro lenses hunched over tiny critters and flowers making my way through a hit list of manual focus classics, in an attempt to see first-hand just how well these famed lenses performed. At one point, I owned over 10 macro lenses, 9 of which covered the same focal length. Talk about redundancy. Strangely enough, one of the most talked about manual focus macro lenses, the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5 (52BB) was not in my possession. I had seen and heard much about Tamron adaptall lenses but for some reason just had not made my way into the Adaptall system.

Only a few months later, I have gone 180°. I own 3 of Tamron's famed SP lenses and must be a few feet from my subject before I can focus (these are some of the big boys). Tamron's Adaptall-2 SP line provides some of the most economical alternatives to premium glass. I will say right out, I am very impressed with the performance of Tamron SP glass.

The Test

Having posted some initial reviews of these lenses some time back, it is about time to show some results. I put together a simple comparison which essentially demonstrates how these lenses handle under similar conditions. The shots are not framed exactly the same (to compensate for different focal lengths). Nor are the corner crops in the same location. I would just like to show "what these lenses can do".

Basically, I set up a tripod in the yard that did not move throughout the test. I mounted each lens in series and centered the composition on a specific flower. ISO changed with varying shutter speeds to compensate for subject movement so blur would not be an issue (it was a slightly breezy day). At smaller apertures, blur did occur and as a result I have no included those results.

Below are the Key images for each lens:

Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF

Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 LD

Tamron SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF

The Results

Wide Open (f/2.5, f/2.8, f/4)

(f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6)

(f/4, f/5.6, f/8)

(f/5.6, f/8, f/11)

As I said, at the later apertures I began seeing blur due to the longer focal lengths and breeze of the day. Consequently I left those results out.

Analysis

As I said, I am quite impressed with the overall performance of these SP lenses. I was a little curious about the CA present in the 400mm wide open. After reading some forums I discovered CA is one of the more prominent issues with Tamron SP lenses and most likely a trade-off in buying non-Nikon or Canon premium lenses. Although I have little experience with longer, professional Nikon lenses, I did get an opportunity to shoot Nikon's older 600mm f/5.6. The results shocked me. While the Nikon did handle CA a little better, the Tamron was right on par in overall sharpness! The contrast in these SP lenses is excellent at all apertures. All the lens hoods are perfectly adequate in handling lens flare. I have also had no issues whatsoever with the Adaptall mounts.

I will add a little more to this in the next couple days. Feel free to share an experience with any of these Tamron SP lenses (or some of the other longer telephoto models not here). It would be great to here more stories!

Canon G10 - Another Foot in the Canon Camp

2010-09-12T02:29:00.006-05:00

I am embarrassed to say, this is not the first time I have owned one of the stellar Canon G cameras, nor the second. Despite all my efforts to rid my bag of Canon (ha!), I just can't seem to get away from this thing! In reality, I have no aversion to Canon. I just continue to use these as funding for various other lens/SLR type deals I stumble across. This Canon G10 is in fact my third installation of the G series point-and-shoots (I had a G9, then a G10, and now another G10). And actually, the real reason I am embarassed about owning this camera 3 times over is I should have never sold any of them in the first place!

The Canon G10 was released only 2 years ago and within one year had been replaced by the G11. The G10's predecessor, the G9 (inventive names, right?) was one of the first point-and-shoot cameras to offer RAW image quality. This "pro-grade" offering, along with numerous other features pushed the G line to the top of the P&S market as one of the most advanced pocket cameras anyone had ever seen. Seeing as how this camera is 2 years old, by tech standards, this is old news. So why am I writing this?

I merely wanted to point out, after selling two of these cameras to support my heavier DSLR kit, I realized there are some things this G10 does that even the Panasonic GF1 (or any of the new EVIL cameras) can compete with. Namely, it's size.

Things I Love About This Camera

1. Size - The Canon G10 is about as large as I can go for a true "pocket" camera. After months of trying to figure out the GF1, it just doesn't cut it. Even the newer G11 with the larger swivel screen may be a bit too bulky for my jeans.

2. Durability - This camera is truly a thing of beauty. It really is "made like they used to be". Despite some plastic for the lens barrel, the body of this camera is excellent! It's nearly all metal. It feels like the old rangefinders did, solid. It takes abuse like a pro. My other G10 looked like it had been tumbled in a woman's purse for a couple years and it still functioned perfectly.

3. Versatility - Everything you want to do manually, you can, including manually focusing (fly by wire)! I love the wide angle lens (28mm equivalent and with some zoom to boot). I never really thought zoom would be much of an issue but seriously, using the 20mm f/1.7 on the GF1 is just ridiculous. For a walk around camera, I have got to have some zoom! With the GF1, should you decide you want some zoom, mount the 14-45mm and you now have a small DSLR in your hand. It's nowhere near pocketable. I'd rather just carry the D700!

4. Macro Mode - Forget lugging around that extra 90mm macro lens in case something great crawls across your path. Just throw the G10 into macro mode! This feature is something I may even go as far as to say sold me on Canon P&S cameras. Their macro modes allow you to get so close and it still maintains excellent image quality! In fact, the smaller sensor and optics enable me to easily achieve a massive DoF in a macro images unlike a DSLR, which must be stopped down considerably to achieve similar results. This combined with the fact that the G10 has a hot shoe allows me a ton more versatility in the studio since I can then slave my strobes to the G10 and make some pretty cool images like the front lens element shots found on this blog.

Some Not-So-Great Things I Can Live With

1. Image Quality - I'm spoiled by the D700. Plain and simple. I cannot help but compare. I find myself shooting in a similar style as my DSLR, such as moving my ISO and shutter speeds around in ways to get a shot, only to realize I can't really use anything beyond ISO 400 (maybe even 200). And by then the moment is gone. Even the GF1, while considerably better than the G10, has me sour. Those new FX sensors are just incredible. Also, RAW on a P&S, while cool in theory, is still a fairly shallow file. You have very little latitude to adjust for exposure differences compared to larger sensor cameras.

2. It's Not a Mini D700 - P&S cameras are still just that, point and shoot. Many things about P&S cameras still bug me because I just get used to the big boys. Shutter lag is a big one.

Why all this so late in the game? Learning takes time, use, practical application. In shooting and traveling and having a girlfriend who doesn't like a giant obtrusive camera dangling around my neck everywhere we go, we learn new things everyday. So I got this G10 for my birthday, and I will be keeping this one for good!

Check out this sweet little bubble level/hot shoe cover I picked up on eBay. Pretty slick.

First Taste of "Noctilust" - Canon FL 55mm f/1.2 - A Canon FD to Nikon F Conversion

2010-09-06T16:28:00.013-05:00

I find it incredible how I often wander into "new" territory completely unexpectedly. Though some may argue my activities automatically disqualify any notion of "chance". Essentially, my constant perusing of eBay and the local shops and flea markets hardly allows me any room to claim mere good fortune as a factor. I suppose I put myself in the position to "come across" things...This is all beside the point.

I hadn't heard the term "Noctilust" until just the other day but I have certainly become quite familiar with it now. I have always read about fast lenses and even used a couple here and there. But I don't know that I have ever really desired one just because I think I have been more after what I need and can use everyday. Sometimes, though, decisions get made for you.

While exploring the local flea market this past weekend, I came across an old Canon FT. Despite having no real need for film camera, I tend to always check them out because I am still a hardware nut above all. What first caught my eye, and what my attention was now transfixed upon in a closer inspection was the 55mm f/1.2 lens sitting on the front. In all practicality, as a Nikon user, the Canon FL and FD mount lenses are quite useless to me. Because save for a complete re-engineering of the lens mount, I cannot do much in adapting the lens. I figured it was a cool piece but I would pass it up since it would prove some work to use. Then the gentleman told me the price. Sold! That was quick...

Canon FL and FD to Nikon F

If you are looking to adapt either of these archaic Canon mounts to the new Nikon F for use on the digital bodies consider this:

- Canon FL and FD focal flange distance is 42mm while Nikon's is 46.5mm. This means you need to figure out how to reduce the Canon lens' mount by 4.5mm.

- Adapters that contain no optics but merely mate an FD or FL lens to a Nikon body cannot possibly retain focus at infinity. So with this means, you will turn every lens into something of a macro lens.

- Adapters do exist with optics to compensate for the differing focal flange distance however, these typically have a multiplication factor associated with them as well as an inherent reduction of light. So your lens will be slightly more telephoto (often 1.6x or so) and your lens speed will be reduced by the added optics. Not only that, the optics currently in use with these adapters, by most accounts, is inferior and degrades image quality.

My thoughts: No sense in using a straight optic-less adapter since I do not need another macro lens. This lens was made for portraits! Adapters that use optics are also out since what's the use of an f/1.2 lens if it just gets knocked back down to a slower stop. Also, it makes no sense to use all sorts of round-a-bouts like adapters only to wind up with a mediocre image in relation to what that lens may be truly capable of. I just would rather not be limited by some cheap adapter.

A DIY Project - Photographic Blasphemy!

OK, an admittedly exaggerated title considering I know many photographers who shoot Canon and use Nikon glass on their Canon bodies. But it was funny when The Girl asked in a whisper-like voice, "Is that a Canon lens?...on your Nikon?" I have taught her well. Actually I'm quite non-partisan though I do like to continue to egg on the whole Canon/Nikon battle in jest.

I decided the only way to really make this lens worth my while was to convert it to an F-mount. So I first removed the FD mount from the lens via three simple screws located just inside the Breech/Lock mechanism. This exposed some threading, as well as the A/M ring which switches the lens from Auto to Manual stop-down mode. Since this lenses aperture ring is up front by the filter ring, it would prove tough to easily make this lens index with a Nikon so I will most likely be using this in stop-down mode. Considering I bought this lens for its f/1.2 aperture, I don't believe I will need to worry about auto-indexing. As I said before, for this lens to focus to infinity the rear element would actually need to recess back inside the Nikon mount of the camera. Since at this point I'm not prepared to physically alter the lens in any permanent manor that would prohibit it from being returned to its original FD mount, I have chosen to drill a spare F-mount I have to fit the original 3 screw holes used for the FD mount.

So I ended up with that. The rear element protrudes ever so slightly beyond the Nikon F mount but not nearly enough for infinity focus. The most common concern with converting these older f/1.2 lenses is that, typically you run into some tight if not simply unmanageable tolerances between the rear element and the mirror of present-day DSLRs. After some measuring and working out the numbers, this lens, in theory, could achieve infinity focus through a full mount conversion (milling down the rear portion of the lens to the correct length, and then attaching the Nikon F mount). But the numbers of where the rear element must be inside the camera in conjunction with where the mirror swings are nearly dead on. In reality, it's probably too close for safe operation. I actually even found one of these FL 55mm f/1.2 lenses on eBay converted for Nikon. I messaged the seller with some questions but still have not received a response. My guess is infinity focus is not achievable.

Despite that somewhat discouraging information, I managed to get an F mount on the rear of the lens and give it a whirl! I have about 4 feet to work with. Honestly, I am thinking a few more feet may be all I need. This lens, for me, will be a beautiful portrait lens. I am interested in the soft ethereal qualities of the shallow DoF. I most likely would never even need more than 10 feet or so. For now, I will tinker with my 4 ft.

Performance

Nikon D700 with Canon FL 55mm f/1.2
ISO 200 1/320 @ f/1.2

Just off-center Crop

I have to say, judging from my first few test shots, I love this! Noctilust here I come. I didn't think a fast normal lens was up my alley but it truly is a thing of beauty. No one shoots an f/1.2 lens that I know of for sharpness and it is clear why. This lens is not sharp wide open. But then again, I don't believe perfect sharpness was necessarily what the designers were striving for. This optic possess a unique ability to render subjects softly and in a way that is almost boastful. I find myself completely unconcerned with sharpness which is entirely uncharacteristic of me.

The Girl defeated by her Pizza
ISO 1600 1/80 @ f/1.2

Contrast with this lens is great and I don't see a whole lot of CA actually. I do notice this lens is prone to flare. This originally had a uniquely designed hood that I just may pick up since I believe I will be using this lens a lot more in the future.

I can't say a whole lot more on performance at this time save for continue posting more images as I use it. I plan on eventually milling down the back some more and getting as much as I can out of this lens. And I'm sure in the future I will end up with another fast lens to compare it to!

Links/Resources

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fllenses/index.htm

The Great Smoky Mountains

2010-08-25T21:03:00.004-05:00

Last week, The Girl and I took a decidedly necessary vacation. Some weeks back, while we were both knee-deep in internships (which run through mid-autumn), we realized life was only going to become more hectic when classes began here in August. If we were going to get away, the time was now!

Without a specific destination in mind, we needed to be able to make the trip in a day and relatively inexpensively. We also both knew we had to escape the featureless plain that is the Midwest. Southern Missouri (Ozarks) was out of the question. A little too close and not quite scenic enough. Landlocked in the center of the country leaves the ocean out of the question with drive-time. The Great Lakes are beautiful but having been to Chicago on our last trip, we were feeling like heading a different direction this time. Also we wanted something more "outdoorsy". Finally, someone suggested a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Jackson Mountain Homes Inc.

The vacation could not have gone better. We left on a Wednesday, took a 9 hour drive over to Gatlinburg, TN, stayed in a cabin for 4 nights, and came home Sunday. It was one of the most relaxing times of my life. The cabin rental company, Jackson Mountain Homes Inc. was excellent! Not only were they extremely knowledgeable with just about everything vacation, they didn't miss a thing! And on top of all this, they were the nicest people we spoke with the whole trip (and we met some very nice folks). They showed no exasperation when we called multiple times having gotten lost in various parts of town and were never hesitant to help.

Our cabin was beautiful; Tucked away on a small mountain top overlooking the Smokies complete with kitchen, california-king sized Tempur-Pedic mattress, and.....HOT TUB! We had a number of hikes planned for the few days we were there. We only managed to get to one. For no other reason than we were so worn out from work and summer school that we wanted nothing more than to just relax in the hot tub and gaze over the Smokies. Though I have never rented a cabin in Gatlinburg before, I recommend this place whole heartedly. They forgot, nothing.

We even made some new friends!

Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 LD 107B - An Illusive Adaptall

2010-08-02T23:12:00.003-05:00

For photographers (specifically the lens junkies like myself and probably you since you're reading this), lenses can be like family heirlooms. Surprisingly, they can become vessels of immense sentiment. Like a ship to her captain, lenses are a means to our livelihood. While shooting we make images and memories alike. Although some may feel as though we are merely viewing the world through a preconceived, mass-produced optical perscription. I cannot help but feel as though all sorts of various things combine to form a unique "personality" for many of my optics. My newest find has had me since Day 1.

I randomly decided to check out a website I found some time back while "googling" craiglists that searches ALL craigslists within a specified area. SearchTempest.com. I know, I know, that sort of defeats Craig Newmark's whole concept behind craigslist, "Deal Locally". But sometimes I can't help it. If there is even 1 of what I am looking for, for sale in the world, I want to know where it is! In this instance, I wasn't even looking for what I found. I was actually looking for a Tamron 200f TC (and continue to search). So I type in my search what do I find?:

An exemplary looking sample of Tamron's ellusive, one-year production model 300mm f/2.8, the 107B! Complete with tan leather case and lens cover. Then I saw the price, $400. I couldn't sit still. For a 300mm f/2.8 more than reasonable. For a rare, Tamron rumored to be of awesome capabilities, that's exquisite! SO I e-mailed the gentleman and let him know that I'm just a camera junkie/blogger looking to give the lens a wonderful home. This is where that "personality" begins to form.

The seller's name was Gordon. He is 90 years of age and has decided to let his photographic gear make its way into other photographer's bags. I began a short dialogue with Gordon and he told me the types of imagery he used to make as well as list some of the gear he used. He took great care of his equipment. Gordon agreed he could ship the lens so long as I showed I was good for the money. It was here that a Post Office fiasco ensued, in which they temporarily lost my money in the Registered (Pay more for more accurate, secure handling...yeah right!) and all hope of this transaction actually happening was nearly lost. 12 Days later, the money arrived and Gordon shipped the lens.

It's a marvel of a lens. I can't even begin to describe the excitement I had over unpacking this one. The build is just magnificent. The slightly off-white, glossy enameled finish. Everything is just smooth! Focus, rotating tripod mount, all just awesome. OEM hood with Tamron decals intact. The front element has some very minor abrasion but I don't think that will be much of an issue.

Specifications:

Manufacturer designation: 107B
Focal length: 300mm
Max. aperture: f/2.8
Min. apertures: f/32
Angle of view: 8º
Elements/Groups: 7/6
Min. focus (from film plane): 118" (3.0 m)
Filter size: front 112mm, rear-tray 43mm
Diameter: 4.6" (117.5mm)
Length at ∞: 7.8" (199mm)
Weight: 4.6 lbs. (2071 g)
Lens hood: Bayonet, #38FH, reversible

NOTE: It seems whoever owned the domain for Adaptall-2.com has let it expire and currently a mirror is running at Adaptall-2.org. The specs are from this site.

Performance

See HERE for a comparison with a few of the other Tamron SP's.

I have just now begun shooting with this lens and I have to say my initial impression is that I am shocked. I really didn't expect this lens to be this good. It just seemed with older technology and all this would probably be a "good" lens but not amazing. So far, it is slightly soft at f/2.8 but still extremely useable and very sharp. It shows some CA wide open, to be expected. The OOF looks beautiful! In reading, the Adaptall-2 claims the 107B was initially designed without a 43mm filter in place and that the addition of the filter without adjustment to the optical formula means shooting the lens without a filter in place should be a bit sharper. I tried this and so far have found my lens performs optimally with the 43mm filter IN PLACE. Awesome.

Another thing I kept wondering about was since this lens does not have IF (Internal Focus), just how long does it get when focus from nearest to infinity? Well, as you can see above, not far. Honestly, I haven't had an issue with this non-IF design at all so far. It may be a bit of a con but only in the same way MF is now that we have lightning fast AF. The lens focuses smooth and there is absolutely no creep.

Aesthetics/Ergonomics

As I said above, this truly is an extremely unique lens. The finish is aesthetically awesome. The heft and shape just sings of robustness. I am especially intrigued by the accessories marketed with the lens. Gordon even included the manual (which I will be scanning and putting up soon!) as well as original receipts. Based on some online calculators, suggested MSRP of this lens was around 265000 japanese yen in 1983 which equated to $1093 USD. Gordon's receipt shows he paid $1600 USD from Adorama in 1984. Now, from the calculator, it seems the original suggested retail price equates to a little over $2300 (as of 2009). It would appear the lens cost Gordon more than this even.

This lens has lived a good long life, and still has many, many years left to offer. I am overjoyed at the prospect of getting to use this historic piece of glass! I'll keep posted on specifics of the performance!

Links/Resources

NEW!! I received the owner's manual with this beautiful lens and have since scanned it into a PDF format.
click HERE to download the User's Manual for the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 107B

http://adaptall-2.org/lenses/107B.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www2.xitek.com/production/product.php%3Fid%3D1323%26prod_from%3D1&ei=JaA6TIfOC8b4nAejktXiAw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDMQ7gEwBThQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtamron%2B107b%26start%3D80%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official

Blog News - #73FH Please, Long Lost Tamron Family Member, and A Spira Encounter

2010-07-17T20:45:00.010-05:00

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Quite a bit has happened photographically since my last post. And a new job with "The Man" has kept me plenty busy so updating has taken somewhat of a backseat (apologies!). Anywho...

#73FH Tamron Hood for Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 ED-IF Found!

I liked the feel of this lens from the get-go. After some indoor shooting, I could tell the lens has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the copy I found (for a great price!) didn't come with the hood (#73FH). I actually found a post on PentaxForums by someone with the same issue. One of the responses went to the effect of: with only 3000 of these made, it's relatively unlikely there are too many lenses without their matched hood. Discouraging. Well, time spent on eBay has paid off. Recently a seller listed one as a BIN for a great price and it was mine. So they are out there...and they make a great difference. If you cannot find the OEM hood, I would suggest getting a third part screw-on hood or something. With such a large front element I had begun to notice flare and loss of contrast. Now, with the hood, no issues!

After purchasing the 180mm lens some time back, I have been using it as often as I can. I find the challenge to find ways to use a 180mm focal length as a "walk around" lens a good perceptual exercise. Often 180mm is too narrow of an angle of view to capture the entirety of the types of subjects I pass and find interest in. See exhibit A. I brought this lens along to the flea market and as I am exiting my car, I see one my favorite cars ever produced, casually sitting next to a dumpy white van, on a gravel lot in front of a grain silo. The license plate read "88 MPH".

Because of the building to my rear (directly in front of the car), the vehicle parked next to the DeLorean, and various other obstructions, I didn't have enough room to maneuver where I needed and 180mm was just too long to capture the whole car. I packed light so I did the best I could. But again, 180mm lenses aren't really a "walk around" type anyway. I have fun. And I love these cars.

While I am on the flea market note. I picked these lenses up while I was there. $5 for the both of them. While I am not quite sure what to do with them as they are Minolta mount, I am curious as to what they may be capable of. Perhaps the GF1 can be of some assistance.

Vivitar 85-205mm f/3.8 (Looks like Kiron may have made this one)

Aetna Coligon 135mm f/2.8 (16-Blade diaphragm)

Long Lost Tamron Family Member: Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 LD 107B

No promises, but this one may just be coming for a visit...or extended stay. You've been warned. Described as "Like New" so if all goes well I may be able to check it out. I realize this version does not have Internal Focus and can be a bit of a pain but hey, I'm doing this for posterity!

A Spira Encounter

The most interesting of the recent events occurred this past week while I was at work around mid-day. I was sitting at my desk when my phone begins to ring. I look and it's an unrecognizable number but honestly, I get excited about this type of thing. 9 times out of 10 it's a wrong number or a sales person for something. This time it wasn't.

Through his prominent New York accent, I didn't catch his name at first but he began describing my short article about the Spiratone 18mm f/3.5. Also this one. Then he we re-iterated why he was calling and it became clear. Jonathan Spira (pronounced "Spy-rah"), son of the late Mr. Fred Spira, head of Spiratone;

Jonathan was calling to say hello and also to inform me he is putting together a Facebook page for Spiratone. He asked to use a couple of my images. He said a few others have begun contributing information such as scanned articles and old Spiratone ads. Ideally, the page will be a hub for info about the company and the innumerable neat gadgets once sold by this pioneering company. Definitely check it out. And if you haven't played with any of Spiratone's stuff, go to eBay and look! You can find some really unique tools.

CHECK OUT SPIRATONE'S FACEBOOK PAGE

It was great to speak with Jonathan about growing up in the Spira household with boxes and boxes of camera gear flooding the house. So much so, that he commented: the joke in the family was when someone wanted to take a picture, no one could find a loaded camera or knew which one to use. He has a great sense of humor about the whole situation.

Mr. Jonathan Spira currently resides in NY and is works as an analyst. He is also writing a book, the content of which I am unsure whether it makes a difference if I say, but out of courtesy, I shall omit.

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Happy Belated Fourth of July!

2010-07-06T21:52:00.007-05:00

I have always loved the 4th of July. Its probably a combination of any number of elements surrounding the holiday such as warm summer nights, a care-free spirit, family and friends, grilling out, and, let's not forget, explosives!

I have always been fascinated by fireworks. Admittedly, I will give the text a friend of mine sent me as I watched our local show a small acknowledgment, "Somebody has to say it: fireworks are boring." They certainly can be repetitive if you are only watching for a "show". I find however, I have become taken with the entire experience. I love sitting close and feeling the impact of an exploding shell resonate in my chest. The people with whom you watch them can also make all the difference in the world. This year I had perhaps my best firework experience to date.

The Girl and I parked my car just above the dam of the lake where they put on the show around 11am. We then were dropped off around 7pm, walked into the mexican restaurant located at the corner of the overlook, had margaritas, and by 8pm were relaxing atop my vehicle surveying the many people crowding in attempting to find seating. At 9:15ish, the show began and it was perfect. Just myself and the Girl, well, and a couple cameras...

The biggest draw I have to fireworks these days, (now that I am no longer building launchers out of PVC and warring with my friends) is their inherent photogenic nature. Fireworks were made to be photographed! This year, I tried something a little different than last. Last year, I set up two cameras: one with a wide angle and the other with an 80-200mm tele. This year I just took one DSLR, mounted the wide angle 17-35mm a few times for some wide shots, but more often used the Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 63B. I would follow the dimly lit shells on their way up after being launched and then snap a couple shots just as they exploded! I have to say, I am very pleased with the results.

Just about all of these images were made at ISO 3200 with the Nikon D700. Exposure was 1/250 wide open (f/2.5) with that Tamron SP 180mm. Due to the contrasty nature of fireworks, I have found a fair amount of fringing since I was shooting wide open, but with fireworks, CA actually seems to be rather insignificant on the end result. Fireworks, in my opinion, can leave a lot of room for interpretation.

Happy 4th of July!

Pushing the Limits

2010-06-17T22:47:00.004-05:00

This title image has been overly sharpened and corrected for the CA evident in the RAW images. I did not do this with any of the other images in this post.

Tonight, my Tamron 400mm camera lens became a telescope. Optical modifiers abounded. The moon's limb was looking good and night was beautiful. Actually it was quite humid, so much so, in fact, that my gear had to sit and acclimate to the outside warmth and increased humidity.

The Setup

Heavy Manfrotto tripod (Still not heavy duty enough for all this though. I really could have used a geared head as well.), the Tamron SP 400mm f/4, the Tamron 1.4x (140f) TC, AND Tamron 2x (01f) TC stacked, a M4/3-Nikon-F adapter, and the little GF1. Altogether:

400mm (Lens) * 1.4 (1.4x TC) * 2 (2x TC) * 2 (Four Thirds Crop Factor) = 2240mm

2240/50 = 44.8x magnification

= Awesome

The Results

I have added black around this image to reframe it, not only for a bit better comparison with the image I made with the D700, but also since the moon took up nearly the entire GF1's sensor.

On the D700, with this setup, the Moon is nearly a quarter of the frame. Other than slightly increase the exposure, I have done no real PP save for a tiny bit of sharpening I typically do since uploading them to the web tends to soften. I have sharpened about .3 pixels with an unsharp mask in CS3. Also, I used a .jpg file from the GF1 since CS3 cannot open it's proprietary RAW format. Because of this, in-camera sharpening is evident which is perhaps why the Panasonic's image is a bit crisper. Looking close up at the crops below, CA is very evident but is to be expected with this many optics in place; especially optics that aren't necessarily outstanding pieces of glass such as the 01f converter which adds some CA in everyday use at early apertures and cost around $20.

By clicking the first image, then clicking the second, you can then navigate to the new tab/window and use the back/forward buttons of the browser to toggle and view the differences. They are subtle but overall I am pretty excited about these results! I really wasn't expecting images this good from stacked TCs.

I am finding more and more greatness about that Tamron 400mm and I don't regret the buy or the wait for a second!

Blog News

2010-06-16T22:49:00.009-05:00

Above is the Alton, IL bridge I head over each day as I drive to work. I really is a beautiful little structure!

I'm going to try somewhat of a new feature. A news feed of sorts. I am new to blogging and thus figuring out a working formula to share information effectively has proven quite the challenge. Truthfully, I am terrible at organizing things. I am constantly renaming files, folders, and completely re-organizing directories to manage all the image and documents I generate each day.

I began a new job last week and have been in somewhat of a transitional state for the past few weeks which is directly related to my relatively sparse posts. I have a few main desires for content on this blog. Organizing them within the free Blogger format has been the challenge. I haven't had much time to look but I will this weekend. Originally, I began the blog in hopes of doing some lens reviews, or at least posts of compiled info from across the web (this you have seen much of if you have been following along). The other purpose for the blog was to obviously publish/post images both as samples of lenses for demonstration but also as a creative outlet for my personal work. I have done less of the latter, partly because I am not so sure how to organize them just yet. I could have two blogs but that's a little too much for me right now. I would much rather have two streams or feeds, like pages but with continual post updates on both. Any suggestions are welcome!

So I will at least begin to update a bit more frequently even if I don't have a new lens to showcase because I am always shooting. I do general info updates and additions to posts as well which I would like to highlight so people can check out the new content. One issue with creating news posts is that I would like the images to remain viewable for the duration of the blog, but since the content will no longer be "new" after a few days, I would just assume delete that text. I think for now, I will keep a post at the top of the blog with updates and just leave images with captions as newer posts arrive. So, on to the news!

Blog News

String-addicted Beasts

I couldn't stand it any longer. I broke down and got a kitty. Cats just are a big stress reliever for me. When I get frustrated or worn, I look over and the little furballs are usually sound asleep or playing with some completely inane object, reminding me that, whatever it is, it just doesn't matter that much. Meet Neely. She's a rescue kitten. Here was her first weigh-in at nine weeks old.

Just under 2 lbs. Not for long. I foresee a lot of photo ops.

Tamron SP 400mm f/4 Adaptall 65B Returned from KEH Repair!

She has returned, and she brought friends! Despite a few bumps a long the way, I finally have the Tamron 400mm in beautiful, operational order. KEH was a pretty good repair service but it didn't exactly go off without a hitch (more on that later). I did manage to find the Tamron 1.4x (140f) and 2x (01f) converters for very little money in great condition so I picked those up to try. I still have my eyes peeled for a 2x (200f) version (optically superior to the 01f). I even threw this whole rig onto the GF1 for a 1600mm equivalent. While I was out playing I was accidentally asked The Girl, "hey, what's on that log?", while looking at something obscure in the viewfinder of the GF1. She said, "What are you talking about?" Then I looked up and realized, whatever it was, it wasn't visible to an unaided eye, haha! So this is pretty cool! So far results are awesome. f/4 is a bit soft to be expected and has CA but this lens doesn't cost $5000 either!

Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X

Couple things with this. I managed to pick up the Tokina macro extender (NAI mount!) and it also comes with the original AT-X Leather case and extender compartment! I'm a junkie when it comes to original accessories. Also, eBay user Malak sent me a couple images of the boxes of the Tokina 90mm and extender and I have promptly posted images. The feature slick cut-away technical drawings. Thanks to Malak!

See them HERE.

eBay Watch

A couple great items to note here:

Ends : June 21st, 2010
Malak's Pentax KA-mount Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X - Rarer mount you wont find very often. I have seen Tokina 90mm of equal condition go for over $500. I have also heard of people picking them up at local garage sales for <$15 (and I am overcome with jealousy). It's an amazing lens so however you choose to get one, you won't be disappointed.

End: July 17th, 2010
Tamron SP 400mm f/4 ED-IF Adaptall 65B - I have only seen 5 of these for sale so far this year so its something of a rarer lens. It's a wonderful piece of glass. Now that I have mine in working order, I use it all the time! I think this price is a bit high, if you're interested, you should make an offer. One eBayer got an excellent deal on one of these in great condition with the bag, 1.4x and 2x TCs, boxes, and a couple other OEM accessories for $899 BIN two weeks back or so.

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That's all for now!

6 Months with the Panasonic GF1

2010-06-05T17:51:00.008-05:00

It has been 6 months since I first got the Panasonic GF1; Panasonic's most compact endeavor into the EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) cameras to date. The GF1 boasts a small, portable body, interchangeable lenses, a hot shoe for external flash or electronic viewfinder, and a full Four-Thirds sized sensor. Designed to fill a niche between the most capable point-and-shoots and entry-level DSLRs, these Micro Four-Thirds cameras represent a brand new market within the digital photographic industry. Olympus has already release two more models (EP-2 and EP-L) of their M4/3 line since their initial release of the EP-1 back in july 2009. Just a month ago (May 2010) Sony announced their foray into the EVIL cameras with their NEX-3.With all this money and effort being funneled into the EVIL cameras, photographers and enthusiasts are left wondering just how good these little cameras actually are.

After some time with the GF1, I have formed a much clearer perspective on specifically the GF1, but also some general pros and cons to the M4/3 world.

What Do You Think of the GF1?

This doesn't happen often, but my initial impressions of the M4/3 and specifically the GF1 were pretty accurate. One factor I have found, which will greatly impact how someone will receive the GF1 or another M4/3 camera is what the user currently has for equipment. I have been using prosumer cameras like the Nikon D200, D300, and D700 along some of their better optics and great macro lenses. Honestly, shooting anything after the D700 or full-frame (barring medium format digital) leaves more to be desired. I am also quite familiar with the Canon G9, G10, G11, and S90 which are a few of the better P&S on the market. It was actually the vast difference between the phenomenal ISO performance of the D700 and the comparatively poor ISO performance of the G10 (or any P&S with such a small sensor) that caused me to explore the Micro Four Thirds System as an alternative to lugging around a big DSLR all the time while still getting good low lighting images.

What I Love:

Under standard conditions, the GF1 is capable of beautiful images that can be easily enlarged to standard print sizes up to 8x10 and even greater.
The kit 20mm f/1.7 enables the user to compose with a beautifully shallow depth of field reminiscent of film and rangefinders and relatively unknown to the point-and-shoot world (though that too is changing).
Short flange-to-sensor distance allows for maximum adaptability. Just about any lens you can think of can be used on this thing with the right adapter, save for the most extremely intrusive lenses (such as the fisheyes from the older rangefinder systems which had a large rear protruding element, and even then, they may be usable ).
HD video capability demonstrates clarity and quality with the added bonus of interchangeable lenses and legacy glass (noted above) in a small package to boot.
Convenient, portable, and gives me full control of my image making.

What I Wish Were Different/Better:

At high ISO, the GF1 fairs better than a P&S but still nowhere near the better DSLRs. The Four Thirds sensor is still just too small to yield the kind of results I would like. Given the physical reality, a small sensor with small photo receptors simply will not perform as well as a larger sensor with larger photo sites, I suppose I cannot help but accept the reality that this camera is not a D700. Though I do believe technology will eventually advance to a point where even the smallest sensors can produce nearly noiseless images at high ISO.
TOO EXPENSIVE! The optics for these cameras are good, but not as good as optics of equal cost for DSLRs! The basic 20mm f/1.7 was retailing around $400. While Nikon's sharpest optics, the 50mm f/1.8 (roughly the equivalent focal length, 40mm, for an M4/3) retails around $100. The new 8mm fisheye is set around $800 and the 7-14mm ultra-wide rectilinear is nearly $1000. As much as I love this concept, I have a hard time with the fact that lenses for the GF1 run equal-to and more than some of my DSLR optics! Perhaps I am in the wrong mindset; I am using the GF1 as a smaller alternative or second-string device to my DSLRs. The image quality just isn't as good. So why am I paying more for less performance?
Lens compatibility issues. Using the correct M4/3 adapter, I can use just about any camera lens I want on this thing (awesome). However, the liveview, which is the only means to focus unless you purchase the separate $200 EVF (I have read inside the EVF isn't all that pretty either), looks dreadful when using a non-CPU lens. And even though this doesn't affect the image quality, I am noticing a considerable degradation when using adapters and lenses vs. the dedicated Panasonic optics.
The HD video while cool, doesn't offer me enough options. For a $900 "mini-DSLR", I want the ability to manipulate exposures and so forth in video mode. The GF1 is pretty limited in what you can change while shooting HD. Exposure and "Defocus control".
I didn't think focusing solely with the LCD would be an issue. But it is. Trying to make a macro of a flower on a beautiful sunny day is far more of a challenge than it needs to be. Again, this can be remedied by the EVF, but I just don't have the money right now. Plus that's one more step closer to DSLR size.
No audio options beyond mono recording. I would like the ability to at least add stereo.
AF isn't incredibly fast or extensively manipulate-able (such as numerous easily adjustable focal points or something)

Wow, that gripe list looks awfully long; it's longer than the love list...

In A Nutshell

Ultimately the GF1 is just too expensive for what it is. In some ways I feel like it is being marketed more as a gadget than an image making tool. Sure, it is more than I ever got out of my already stupidly expensive P&S. I remember having the hardest time picking out a P&S because every time I finally got close to picking something that had the options I felt I needed in a camera, it was the most expensive (usually one of Canon's G cameras) at around $500. At which point, I felt, why don't I just get a small DSLR body with still better image quality? But now I have doubled that price and still am not quite getting DSLR quality images. Maybe I just want too much. This would all be different if the GF1 (with lens) cost around $600, and lenses at most cost $400. Ridiculous perhaps but somehow it makes sense in my fantasy world of photography.

Again, this could all be tainted by the fact that I regularly shoot a D700 which, as far as I'm concerned, is just a gorgeous camera. I can make some killer images with that beast, and print them to perfectly reasonable (and absurdly unreasonable) size, and need nothing more. And the fact remains, even when technology has moved on, my "old" D700 will still be able to enable me to make the same great images, printed to the same normal, or huge sizes, to my heart's desire. An 8x10 is an 8x10. And my 20x30's look just awesome. I'm not printing billboards...yet.

Did I mention I am bipolar? Practicality aside (not all but that which was mentioned above), I find the GF1 to be an excellent tool and it does possess some strong points. It represents a great first attempt at a new type of camera. I find benefits to it all the time! People act more natural around it since it is less intimidating than a DSLR. As photography becomes more persecuted where people are more wary of who is taking pictures and why (I see this a lot in retail stores. I come in with a camera just to browse and owners/managers always want to know why the camera and who I am taking pictures for. The small GF1 is unassuming and saves me that trouble 9 times out of 10. Without the loud mirror clack, I can make images in quiet venues (Though the GF1 isn't silent, the minimal shutter noise is far less disruptive). The GF1 is a great camera and a wonderful tool to have in the kit. It just costs more than it should and given the tighter financial status of beginning photographers, I wouldn't recommend this camera as a replacement for a DSLR. Though I will say, photojournalists may find something like this an excellent sidearm due to the importance of minimizing your presence and capturing a moment in as pure a form as you can.

Other EVIL Cameras

As mentioned before, these small interchangeable lens cameras aren't going away. As of this post, Olympus and Panasonic are going the Micro Four-Thirds route. Sony is using APS-sized sensors in their NEX line. Samsung has released a brand new line starting with the NX10, which utilizes a brand new mount system and APS-sized sensor. It is rumored Nikon has something on the way too.

It is a new niche and technology will only get better. I still feel the same initial excitement over these smaller EVIL cameras, even despite the drawbacks of the GF1. A newer, better model will always be on the way. The beauty here, is that conceptually, these cameras have such potential. I don't know what it is about large gear that people find so upsetting, but it doesn't seem to be the images quality. Though, it would appear the line of thinking may be: bigger camera means more "professional" or detailed image to which the self-conscious flushes with reluctance and excuses. "Oh, stop I don't have make-up on." Side-note: I love that strange desperate yet seemingly erratic attempt to get out of the frame. Where the person ducks and bobs while awkwardly searches for the edge of the image as if it will be a physical frame which they can grab and dive out of.

Links/Resources

For a comparison of sensor sizes, see this great chart from Wikipedia.com

A Wedding, A Mimosa Tree, and Kinley - Adventures with the Bokina

2010-06-03T21:28:00.012-05:00

For the past two weeks, I have been carrying this Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X around where ever I go in an attempt to really get a feel for how it handles on a day-to-day basis.

Just as the title suggests, it has traveled across a good range of subjects and even went to a friend's wedding. For those who are new to the blog, Ashley (Sometimes referred to as "Girl") is my girlfriend and is the redhead seen throughout these images. Megan, the Bride, is her friend from college.

The Wedding

Above image made with Nikon AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8 and corrected for perspective.

The wedding was held in a gorgeous and rustic little winery called the "Casa de Loco". It was originally a mental hospital which burned down and has since been restored. Located in the woods of the Ozarks, it sits on a precipice overlooking the Niangua River where many take float trips and cruise along on jet-skis.

Megan (The Bride) with Ashley

Ash signing the Newlywed's Platter

She has great eyes!

Mimosa Tree

Last year we planted a small mimosa tree. This year it has already doubled in size and has twice the pink fuzzy blooms to photograph. These are beautiful subjects! Almost all of these images were made at either f/2.5 or f/4.

Below is a crop from the above image.

The Little Neighborgirl - Kinley

Whenever I am outside enjoying the sun or working in the yard, I tend to acquire an audience. The neighbor kids love coming over and getting in my way, haha. This is little Kinley. She just had her bath and was ready for "beh-tie" (bedtime). She defines photogenic.

Wrap-up

The Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X is an unbelievable lens. It has surpassed my love for the Vivitar Series 1 90mm due to its utility and newer better coatings. Both are equally sharp wide open but the Tokina fairs much better under every light condition I have put this thing through (strobe, sunset, bright and sunny days, etc.). The bokeh produced by this lens is aesthetic and ethereal. It is a joy to shoot with. I am actually finding I appreciate the slight weight reduction as well as the larger grip and more loose throw focus. Everything they say about this lens is true!

I have a few more images I want to post so those will be coming!

Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X Macro - The "Bokina"

2010-05-29T00:43:00.006-05:00

More than a decade after Vivitar's release of the Series 1 90mm f/2.5, Tokina unveiled their AT-X line's macro lens (1986). According to a review written by user Tao.design on dpreview.com, Tokina denies any relation between the Vivitar S1 90mm and their AT-X 90mm. That review, by the way, is a great in-depth look at this spectacular lens. As is the case with these more popular lenses, due to a good amount of info already available, this post will attempt to serve as a hub of as much info as I can gather, my personal experience with this lens, and some detailed images!

Above, the Tokina 90mm and the Vivitar 90mm side-by-side. The size difference is only cosmetic as the Vivitar has a slightly longer barrel and thus more shaded front element.

So despite Tokina's reluctance to reveal their 90mm's true origins, it is accepted these two lenses share their optical formula. It was, after all, Tokina who manufactured the original Vivitar Series 1 90mm. Speculation that Tokina either purchased Vivitar's design (perhaps near or after their demise) or adapted it to their own, abounds. As far as records, dates, and other empirical data proving any of these allegations is sparse at best. Whatever the truth may be, it doesn't change the fact that the Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X macro is one of the best macro lenses ever made.

Look and Feel

The AT-X 90mm f/2.5 is slightly smaller than the Vivitar Series 1 90mm and in a way feels as if everything in the S1 has merely been packed into a slightly smaller package. It is a dense hunk of metal and glass. The AT-X is also slightly shorter as the front element is not quite as recessed as the S1.

The ridged rubber grip pattern used in the AT-X line is the same as I found on the Tokina MF 300mm f/2.8. It's rigid and perfect for grabbing quick focus. This 90mm also has macro reproduction ratio markings on the barrel, same as the Vivitar.

One thing I appreciate about the Tokina 90mm is the small ridge near the top cut specially to accept a dedicated clip-on lens hood. These 90mm lenses definitely need it. The hood does not interfere with the front thread so you can keep a filter on the lens, the lens cap, or even flip the hood backwards for stowing in any order you want. Simple.

Just like it's Vivitar cousin, the Tokina 90mm was designed for a 1:2 macro reproduction ratio but originally came with a 3-element macro extender the brought the lens to 1:1 while correcting for aberrations. The Tokina extender lacks a rotating tripod socket like the Vivitar S1. It also does feel considerably lighter and bit less rugged. Also, it should be noted, I used the Tokina extender with the Vivitar 90mm with great results however, the Vivitar extender cannot be used with the Tokina 90mm due to a fitted metal ridge at the top of the extender (at least in terms of the Nikon AI mount lenses).

This lens originally came in a 2-part black leather cylindrical case which included a smaller, leather compartment specially crafted for the extender. The interior was a red felt. Prices on eBay as of May 2010 have been between $360-500+ USD for these sets. They truly are worth it as they are capable of phenomenal images and sharpness.

Specifications

Focal length: 90mm
Angle of View: 27°
Max. Aperture: f/2.5
Min. Aperture: f/32
Min. Focus (from film plane): 15.3" (390mm)
Filter size: 55mm
Aperture blades: 8
Elements/Groups: 8/7
Weight: 530g

Specs and MTF data can be found at Photodo.com. This lens is ranked their 4th sharpest lens ever tested.

Performance

How does the Tokina 90mm fair? I think it's safe to say by this point, you know, this lens is incredible. I really cannot say more. This lens is sharp wide open. And not consolation-sharp, tack sharp. I consistently use this lens wide open. The bokeh is just as a lens nicknamed "The Bokina" should be: beautifully soft, smooth, and aesthetic. The coatings provide great optical performance and contrast. I love the color I get from this lens. Of course there is a hint of CA wide open, ever so slightly in extreme highlights. But I honestly have no cons with this lens. If you have the chance at one, buy it. You cannot beat the performance for the prices of some of these (I say some since due to the hype, the prices have been on the rise. $550 can buy modern macros with AF and newest technology coatings).

Below is the full-frame image and then a crop at about 200% of a jumping spider made with the Tokina 90mm f/2.5 wide open. I was holding the little guy just above the grass on a bright day. ISO 200 on the D700.

>>See some samples utilizing CombineZM image-stacking software.

Tokina 90mm AT-X VS. Vivitar Series 1 90mm

If they truly are the same optical design, then is there much difference in performance? If so, which one is better/should I look to buy?

Tokina 90mm AT-X

Better/newer coatings - Handles flare better, performs very well even when using strobes
Less CA than the Vivitar S1 90mm
Notched for dedicated hood. User will definitely need to use the hood for optimum performance
Larger grip for fast and easy focusing.

Vivitar S1 90mm

Heavier build, more rugged design. The Vivitar is a tank and will probably take more abuse than the Tokina if you're thinking of taking it to war.
Macro Extender has a built-in rotating tripod collar. This is very handy for close-up work given the weight and length of this lens. It's possible the Tokina does not have this because it is a bit lighter. Both lenses can be cumbersome at 1:1.

Ultimately, I would recommend the Tokina 90mm AT-X. I prefer the ability to shoot under strobe over the cosmetic amenities of the Vivitar. Purchasing a lens is essentially purchasing a tool. The Tokina offers the more capability. Also like tools, more capability typically costs more money. The Tokina 90mm often goes for a much higher price than the Vivitar 90mm. Keep in mind though, both lenses perform extremely well relative to other macros and are very sharp wide open.

Links/Resources

eBay member, Malak, was kind enough to acquiesce to my request for images of packaging as he listed a beautiful sample on eBay. I love cut-away images. Also, if interested, the auction ends June 21, 2010 and can be found here. It's for a rare Pentax KA mount. You won't see these very often, and especially not in this type of shape.

Nesster has a cool upload of an original Tokina Ad featuring the AT-X line which included the 90mm.

Photodo.com's review with MTF

Dpreview.com's write-up of the Tokina 90mm

Some very beautiful images posted in a Chinese forum made with the Tokina 90mm.

Another Chinese forum with samples.

Short post with images of the lens and some examples from a Japanese site.

Good examples of bokeh produced by this lens in a Russian blog.

Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF 63B

2010-05-22T20:09:00.012-05:00

180mm prime lenses are somewhat of a lesser sought after focal length in this new era of digital. I presume this is because 180mm often falls within the range of more popular zooms. As far as I can tell, Nikon is still producing their AF 180mm f/2.8D ED-IF. The most recent iteration of which began production in 2006 (see Nikon Lens Serial Guide). So although the focal length has not been abandoned, users are a smaller segment. I find I often go to my Nikon AF 80-200mm f/2.8D simply because it's so convenient. Reviews indicate the Nikon 180mm is superior to the zoom though I have not personally ever used the 180mm.

Nevertheless, 180mm lenses are very popular amongst the manual focus enthusiasts. More discussion on the various 180mm primes of the past can be found on the Manual Focus Lenses Forum.

The Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF is pretty well sought after 180mm lens. Released in 1988 as a special edition lens, it marked the 35th anniversary of the Tamron company. It is an adaptall-2 lens and thus can be used on a wide variety of cameras. The LD suffix signifies that the lens utilizes low-dispersion glass providing optimal apochromatic performance. IF means the lens is an internal focus; It does not physically extend when focused. The small blurb on Adaptall-2's site states the 180mm uses a "spherical aberration compensator group" to improve performance even close-up. Put simply, this lens was stacked with Tamron's best offerings for that time and was meant for use by serious photographers.

Along with premier specs, another factor could be involved in the intrigue of this lens; Only 3000 were ever made. Everything I have read about the Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF has been very positive, and the debate between whether it is "better" than the Nikon 180mm is ongoing (this argument of course, can become quite subjective).

Specifications

Lens Model	63B
Focal Length	180mm
Aperture Range	f/2.5 — 32, AE
Angle of View	13°
Optical Construction (Groups / Elements)	7 / 10
Min. Focus from Film Plane	47.2" (1.2m)
Macro Mag. Ratio	—
Filter Size	77mm
Diameter	3.2" (81.5mm)
Length at [w/Nikon mount]	4.7" (119.5mm) [4.9" (124mm)]
Weight	28.2 oz. (800g)
Lens Hood	Bayonet type #73FH, reversible.

Specs from Adaptall-2.com

Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF Optics Diagram

Physical/Cosmetic

Like the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 and 400mm f/4, this lens boasts adurable, pro-quality build. An all-metal construction has ensured the relatively small number of units produced, remain intact for many years to come. I have said this before and I will say it again, I still think the adaptall concept is an excellent, practical approach to third-party lenses. Though some may criticize Tamron's execution of the idea, I find those shortcomings easily overlooked by the sheer utility these lenses provide.

The benefit of a prime 180mm is a more compact lens than a comparably fast zoom that covers a similar focal length. Although this lens may be more a bit more compact, it is still a heavy lens! It originally was marketed with a large bayonet hood and will accept the Tamron 01F 2x and 140F 1.4x teleconverters. I also received a Tamron brown leather bag that may have originally been marketed with this lens.

Performance

I have much more shooting to do with this lens before I officially pass judgment. My initial results indicated the lens performs well wide open regarding sharpness and has minor CA. Wide open it is a bit soft, but is very sharp by f/5.6. Below are just a couple test shots I made.

And here are a couple closer crops of near the center at the above apertures:

This was a quick test done with a tripod and using ambient light. Though it was not a thorough or elaborate test, it does prove a good first demo to preview performance.

More To Come

I love the image quality that comes out of this SP glass. So far I can see some minor CA is evident in the early apertures, f/2.5 and f/4 (not very visible in a test like this). But even the CA I have seen so far is really negligible. At f/2.5, I am confident to say this lens is a bit soft. It is however, a softness beautifully applicable to ethereal environmental portraits. Though my experience with this lens is limited at this point, I can really forsee some wonderful portraits being made at f/2.5. Contrast of this lens looks great! The coatings and ED elements really bump this lens into the Pro realm in terms of contrast. I have not photographed with this lens outside to a wide extent yet, and did not get a hood with my copy so just how well this lens handles flare is still a toss up. I suspect I will at least need a good substitute for the hood (Finding the original #73FH is probably going to take a lot of patience!) because the large, prominent front element is bound to have some issues with stray light.

One thing I am sure of, the Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF 63B promises to be a reliable, well-built, beautiful piece of optical equipment reminiscent of a beautiful era of photography. Like it's sibling SP Adaptall-2 pro lenses, the 180mm possesses well-engineered optics within a precision-made robust exterior. I love just holding lens in my hand.

Links/Resources

A quick search on this lens brought up a thread on Photo.net in which user, Roland Larson posted the pages below. The first page is from the UK publication camera weekly and the second image is from Modern Photography.

Many of my initial thoughts on the capabilities of this lens are assured in these two articles. I am surprised to read the Tamron actually sold for a higher price than the Nikon in its day. Since I have not used the Nikon, I would be interested to do a side-by-side.

As always, you can find some great info on this adaptall lens here: Tamron SP 180mm f/2.5 LD-IF 63B at Adaptall-2.com

Tokina-Special 135mm f/2.8 - The Tokina-Special Line

2010-05-13T12:28:00.008-05:00

I hopped on eBay to check something and...well...so maybe I took a look around. Before I knew it, a whopping $15 was exiting my paypal account! I even sort of forgot I picked this up until it arrived on my doorstep. Funny how that works because it practically teleported to my house (maybe a whole 2 days?!). Somehow this type of shipping doesn't often occur on the purchases I care most about. It not only feels so much longer but inevitably a weekend or holiday adds a few days!

Anyway, the lens shows up and I know nothing about what exactly this lens is. Complete impulse buy. So I begin searching the web and finding my compatriots, "I got this lens for $10", "Picked this up for $15 at a local shop", "Who makes this Tokina-special?", "Anyone know if it's any good?" All stories and questions I can relate to! Not ironically, the Tokina-Special 135mm isn't anything 'special' as the name suggests, at least not these days, but it can produce some pleasant results; and it can do this at a price that is unmatched. Furthermore, the lens offered me a chance at some valuable fix-it experience.

When I got the Tokina-Special 135mm, it turns out it was not working correctly. Fortunately, the repair was extremely simple! (If it had been complicated, the lens would be broken. I know very little about fixing lenses. Who knows, there's still time for this lens to break.)

Specifications:

Focal Length: 135mm
Max. Aperture: f/2.8
Min. Aperture: f/22 Min. Focusing Distance (from sensor): 70" (1.77m)
Aperture: 6 blades

Physical/Cosmetics

The Tokina-Special 135mm had good solid feel to it. Standard metal construction common at the time of production. It bears very similar resemblance to the Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 made by Komine (not the close-focus version) and could possibly itself be Komine-made but I have no evidence of this currently. Because this Tokina-Special line of optics has relatively lower production quality than say, a "Pro" line, I think it very feasible many of these lenses can be found under various other brand names.

Performance

I will just say right now, this is no sleeper. You will not be blown away by the performance nor would it be wise to invest any real money in these lenses in hopes you will turn a profit. They are often practically given away. I have read of a few other Tokina-Special lenses, the 75-150mm f/3.8, 28mm f/2.8, and even a 200mm f/3.5 but none appear to be touted by their owners as great pieces of glass. In fact, there appears to be an overall air of disappointment with the 28mm. The biggest issues being flare and contrast, which wouldn't be as much of an issue for a more telephoto focal length such as a 135mm. I haven't used this lens much in varying conditions but did a quick test in the yard to demonstrate what you can expect out of something like this.

Center Crops

f/2.8

f/5.6

f/11

I have read some issues with CA in the Tokina-Special lenses. I can just see some blue within the mulch but I haven't put it through much. I have noticed a significant loss of contrast at f/2.8 near the center as well as some considerable light fall-off. Lens is soft wide open but depending on the application, this may or may not be an issue. Bokeh and color rendition is nothing especially great or poor.

Wrap-up

I mainly did this review since I didn't see much on the web about this particular lens and felt I may be able to shed some on light for others who may run into a great buy with this lens. The value to be had with this optic lies within the bargain and experiential realm. The Tokina-Special provides an inexpensive introduction to the (shrinking) 135mm focal length. The build will last and the optics are capable of some atmospheric images. For a walk around lens, I love the feel of the softness at f/2.8 with the vignetted corners. I also enjoy the feel of a manual focus lens. Much better lenses exist in 135mm but for <$20, you really can't do much these days!

Seadragon - A New Way to Pixel Peep

2010-05-02T23:17:00.009-05:00

After this talking about macro comparisons in this last post, I began thinking about taking another look at the Tokina in relation to my other favorite macros, the Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 and the Lester A. Dine 105mm f/2.8. I was curious how they might render the same situation differently. A realistic situation rather than a flat dollar or test. In searching for a good way to effectively embed some means by which you as a reader can quickly view results, I found Seadragon.

I first heard about this type of technology through a TED talk (which are awesome by the way!). If you are unfamiliar with these, they are a collection of presentations by the most brilliant and charismatic minds of our time. Anyway, some of the potential uses for this Seadragon technology are quick viewing and rendering of high volumes of image content with maximized zoom capability. The demo shows the guys viewing all the images on a hard drive at once, then quickly zooming into a specific image, all the way down to the pixels; all this was done quickly and fluidly.

The spider at the top is a quick sample geared towards drawing you in and obviously demonstrating the technology. Also, it was probably a quicker upload than a more busy scene. Did it work?

Now for the more practical application, pixel peeping. Currently I have yet to determine the exact parameters since I have just discovered it and not read much into it. Why am I already writing about it if I don't know all that much? Well, because it is exciting! So while I learn some more about it, have a look at this:

Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 "Bokina"

You can utilize the navigation tools near the lower right corner, or if on a mac laptop, you can simply put two fingers down on the track pad and smoothly cruise across the image, zoom in and out, without even "lifting a finger"!

How To Do It

The process is surpisingly simple. To do this all you need to do is:

1. Upload a high resolution image (doesn't have to be high res but there's not much need for this tool unless there is a lot of content to zoom into).

2. Have images hosted at some specific URL. I quickly created a free account with PicturePush.com. After uploading, PicturePush gives you the URL to share as well as other codes for embedding, etc. I clicked 'full' to view the image at full size before copying the URL to Seadragon's site. I didn't check if this makes a difference yet.

3. Go to http://seadragon.com/ and enter your URL. Click 'Create'.

4. Now you can use the embedding code given to post elsewhere!

For the comparison's sake, here are the three renderings:

Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro

Lester A. Dine 105mm f/2.8 (Kiron)

I'm still working on perfecting the application and understanding all the quirks about the system, but it's a start! Anyway, I thought it a great thing to share!

Tokina AF 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro Macro 1:1

2010-05-02T11:06:00.012-05:00

October 2010

I have since acquired the Tokina 90mm f/2.5 AT-X "Bokina". The Tokina 90 has been my go-to lens ever since my first day of owning it. Granted it does not get down to 1:1 without the inconvenient addition of it's paired macro extender, but the sharpness I can achieve wide open is excellent. Not to mention it produces wonderfully sharp, contrasty images at every other aperture as well. I also don't see as much CA under the same shooting conditions as I do with the Tokina 100mm (This is a very minimal amount in either case, however.). In relation to the Vivitar S1 90mm, I find I just prefer the results of the Tokina 90mm.

Although my favorite macro lens that I have ever used is the sharp, robust Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5, this is not the lens I use daily, or even to photograph everything on this site (it is what I used to make the images of the Tokina though!). Instead, I always grab my autofocusing Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro. Funny, I just about never use it in AF mode.

Specifications

Focal length: 100mm
Max. aperture: f/2.8
Min. aperture: f/32
Elements/Groups: 9/8
Minimum focusing distance: 11.8 in. (30 cm)
Macro ratio: 1:1
Focus limiter: 1.28 to ∞
Number of aperture blades: 9
Filter size: 55mm
Dimensions: 2.9 in. x 3.74 in. (73mm x 95.1 mm)
Weight: 19.0 oz. (540 g)
Hood: Dedicated, BH-551
Mount availability: Canon and Nikon

Optical Diagram

Specs as provided by: http://www.tokinalens.com/products/tokina/afl-m100-b.html

Aesthetics/Ergonomics

The Tokina 100mm AT-X Pro appears to have had a predecessor but only in that the other lens shared the focal length. I believe the Pro version is a new optical formula. The previous Tokina AF 100mm f/2.8 AT-X only when to 1:2 reproduction ratio whereas the newer Pro goes all the way to 1:1. I have not used the older version nor can I find very much info on it since every search attempt is dominated by results from the similarly named, newer Pro model. The 1:2 version looked like this (image from nikonians.org):

My guess would be that this older version bears the same build characteristics of the early Tokina AF 17mm AT-X. Because of the different optical formula and newer coatings, I surmise the 100mm AT-X Pro is a completely different animal. Consequently would not think my observations of the Pro applicable to the former.

The exterior of the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro possesses the signature "Armalite" coating as well as the gold band denoting Tokina's professional grade build. It features two rubber grip rings, the larger being the focus ring and the smaller most likely a grip for mounting and unmounting the lens. The front element sits well recessed within the housing of the lens. Combined with the copious OEM hood, the Tokina 100mm is well protected from stray light and flare. Even when the lens is extended to 1:1 reproduction, the front element remains proportionally the same distance from the lip of the lens.

Function

The 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro features Tokina's AF/MF clutch mechanism at its best! Unlike the 28-70mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro where you must engage the MF by pulling the focusing ring back toward the camera, which you can only do at a specific point in the rotation of this ring, and then still be sure to switch the camera to MF as well, Tokina's new mechanism is streamlined and effective. With the 100mm, you can pull the ring back at any point in its rotation and you do not need to switch the camera to MF. It is as easy as engaging the clutch!

The 100mm AT-X Pro has a focus limiter switch near the base. When you are focusing right up near 1:1 and are utilizing AF you can turn the switch to "limit". Rather than the AF hunting all the way from minimum focusing distance to infinity, it will instead focus from 1:1 to a nearer pre-set (non-adjustable) point midway along the helicoid. This can save vital time, especially when photographing small moving subjects.

Performance

Tokina claims newer coatings optimized for digital sensors aid this lens in producing controlled color and great contrast. As much as I love my "Bokina", it is because of these newer coatings and the ample shading (hood, recessed element), that I choose this Tokina to shoot under strobes. I get great images devoid of any veiling (loss of contrast). I also love that I can go from 1:1 easily without the need for any extension tubes or macro extenders/converters. AF is great and fast enough for my needs with little bugs. Honestly, I typically use this lens in MF, which is a snap with the newer clutch.

I haven't noticed the out of focus rendering to be especially amazing but it looks great. Hard to live up to the "Bokina". At first glance, performance at infinity looks good. I have more testing to do on that before I can say for sure. I really don't buy macro lenses to do work at infinity though. Portrait-wise, the lens is great. Again, not my primary use but I have made a few images. Better portrait lenses exist.

As I said earlier, all the equipment reviewed on this site has been photographed with this lens. Simply put, the Tokina 100mm is an excellent macro lens! Technically speaking, in tests and comparisons with its contemporaries, the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro does not score the highest on MTF, nor does prove the best overall. In fact, among some of the other lenses I have seen it compared to, such as the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di 1:1 AF and Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG, the Tokina 100mm actually produces a little more CA.

Why choose the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro?

Since I have not actually shot with the Tamron or the Sigma, or any of the touted superior AF Micro-Nikkors, it would be ill-informed for me to suggest this lens over those alternatives. Also, as I said, some comparisons would suggest otherwise. I picked this lens up because I got a good deal on one and wanted a macro with AF. Also, I'm practical. And practically speaking, this lens produces sharp, contrasty images, typical of Tokina engineering. It does produce noticeable CA in high contrast situations, just not enough to cause me to find a new lens. And in even more serious cases PP can do wonders, but I rarely ever even do that.

If the review seems less than raving, that's because it is. The Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro is a solid, reliable performer. It may not be the best in its class, but for the money, Tokina always comes through with admirable performance on a budget. The build guarantees this lens will last and the digitally optimized coatings do wonders when shooting in bright situations. Because I haven't done a whole lot of comparisons to other AF macros, all I can say is that the Tokina 100mm is a great all around performer and well suited for practical application, everyday shooting.

Tamron SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF 65B - It Has Arrived

2010-04-24T00:21:00.018-05:00

I don't know why, but I have been especially anxious about receiving this lens. It could be due to my new found appreciation for the fast, super telephotos. It may be the sheer size of these beasts and an accompanying gratification that I am getting, at least in weight, what I paid for. Whatever the reason, it has arrived!

The Tamron SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF (65B) Adaptall lens is somewhat of a rare lens. After a lot of shooting with the Tokina 300mm, I realized I often attach the 1.4x teleconverter and just about always shoot at f/4 or more (f/2.8 is bit too soft). Because of this, I began looking for possible alternative prime lenses which were somewhere in the ballpark on price but perhaps a little more tailored to longer shots. I checked out some of the 300mm f/4 lenses too, which can be had for relatively meager prices these days, even with AF. But again, 300mm is a bit short and when considering I will want to use TCs to extend whatever lens I use (because why not always have the option for that little extra reach) somehow 300 2.8 and 400mm f/4 seemed to be the cut-offs. I was mainly looking at the Nikon 400mm f/3.5 but I have just been having a hard time finding one that hasn't been beaten to a pulp and isn't 2 grand. There is hardly any info out there on the Tamron SP 400mm and it was pure chance that I stumbled across this one.

Specifications

Focal length: 400 mm
Model: 65B
Aperture Range: f/4-32
Angle of View: 6.2°
Optical Elements/Groups: 10/7
Min. Focus (From Film Plane): 118" (3.0 m)
Filter Size: 43mm (Rear), 112mm (Front)
Max. Diameter: 4.6" (118 mm)
Weight: 80.1 oz (2270 g)
Lens Hood: Bayonet #39FH

Physical/Cosmetics - First Impressions

This is my first Tamron Adaptall lens, ever. I know nothing of their build quality but I believe they have a great reputation according to many of the forum posters with their Adaptall and Adaptall-2 line. My first thought when I pulled this lens out of the bubble wrap was it seemed...lighter than I expected. Sure, I could have just read the weight on the adaptall-2.com site (and I did). But it is just different when you are holding the lens in your hand. As stupid an observation as it may be, when you flick this lens barrel, or give it a little knuckle tap, sure it feels solid, but the Tokina literally feels like a brick made of metal. In that respect the Tokina 300mm MF just seems a bit more indestructible. But given the age of this lens, and its condition, I am not worried about it lasting because it is still a professional quality lens.

The second thing I noticed when mounting this lens is that there seems to be a tiny bit of play in the setup. I have read a few reviews in various forums describing this lens as being poorly constructed, or at least less than ideal and specifically making comments about the adaptall mount. The adaptall mount system is universal. I think it is brilliant for a third party manufacturer; that is, in its more conceptual form. Making a lens mount system that can truly adapt to many brands, that is equal to an original OEM mount is a great undertaking. I think Tamron did very well! Yes there is some play in the mount. But I have used teleconverters with more play than this mount has. So this issue is acceptable to me. Also, the tripod mount on my lens is faintly ajar. I may be able to tighten this via the four visible screws. I only noticed when I mounted this lens on the tripod and even after being secured there was a faint bit of movement. The bayonet hood is another source of less than perfect tolerances. Being tension mounted, the hood doesn't sit 100% locked in place. Once the flanges clear the retention springs, the hood has a fraction of a millimeter to move. These issues are relatively small but I note them because I have not seen these types of mechanical shortcomings in my Tokina 300mm, my only comparably lens as of now. So despite the esteem of the optics and the price, don't expect to be wowed by the build.

It is possible all these slight inaccuracies are a result of wear over time. I am perfectly fine with that explanation. Because quite honestly, none of these factors affect the optical performance in any way. They may contribute to the overall confidence factor that a photographer feels about his or her gear. Design issues can be indicative of the mechanical reliability. I have only owned the lens a day and cannot comment on this yet. Though I can say, I have seen posts in the forums of photographers claiming others may take their Tamron 400mm f/4 "when they pry it from his or her dead, lifeless hands". So in the end, I'm not too worried!

Stylistically, I love the look. The Tamron 400mm comes in the same military greenish tan color as its sibling the Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 LD-IF (060B) telephoto lens (Another lens I would love to try). I find the unique turquoise ring (Tamron's little design queue denoting Low Dispersion glass) an excellent retro touch. The adaptall mount system is a great concept and so far isn't nearly as troublesome as many have made it out to be. Though, I have hardly used it in real-time and do realize that may make all the difference.

Some other features of the Tamron 400mm is a focus limiter. When shooting, you can dial in a point of interest such as home plate at a ball game. You can then quickly focus the lens to that point when necessary. It seems both the 400mm and the 300mm Tamron LD-IF telephotos originally came with a small palm rest accessory. The palm rest is a small knurled hardened plastic part that attaches to the base of the lens via the tripod socket used to make steadying the lens more ergonomic. I find it surpisingly useful!

I also received the original Tamron canvas bag that was marketed with the SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF.
The Tamron 400mm 65B features 2 Low Dispersion elements to reduce flare, improve contrast and overall optical performance. It utilizes a large 112mm front filter which I have read may further improve sharpness but I have yet to test this. The 65B also utilizes the 43mm rear filters. In this day and age, we just leave the UV in and use filters in post.

Performance

Here is the sad part. The lens I got was in great condition. However, and it is a big however, the focus is not smooth. For some reason the action is coarse and stiff. I am hoping it is only the lubricant stiffening or something not involving a need to get parts. Because that will be nearly impossibly since this lens is relatively rare and has been out of production since 1995. Fortunately the seller (eBay) has offered to help with getting the lens serviced since this issue was not disclosed in the auction. Hopefully this beautiful piece of glass can be salvaged! I will have more on the performance soon!

Original Advertisements

These vintage ads can be found on the Adaptall-2.com website found in the links/resources section below. I love these!

Links/Resources

Adaptall-2 - This is a great resource for all Tamron adaptall products. They even have some of the original ads. I have requested permission for use of these ads for some time and haven't heard anything back. They are original Tamron ads (not original content of this adaptall site, who is not officially affiliated with Tamron).

Adaptall-2 Page on Tamron SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF

Tamron SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF 65B

2010-04-20T00:10:00.007-05:00

Coming soon!
**Has Arrived, See HERE**

After a lot of time spent with the Tokina 300mm f/2.8 MF telephoto, I realize I just about always have at least a 1.4x tele-converter attached. I would be better off with a 400mm. In my search for a possible alternative, I have come across another rare manual focus telephoto lens! The Tamron SP 400mm f/4 LD-IF (65B) adaptall. Also, it can be had for a good deal less money than the Nikon 400mm f/3.5. So I will be letting my Tokina go and exchanging it for this 400mm! My initial sweep for information has pulled up very little data and even fewer samples. I will be sure to ameliorate this. Review and tests coming soon!

The above image is temporary and from the Adaptall home site (with some retouching of course!) which has a good write up and the optical formula:
http://www.adaptall-2.com/lenses/65B.html

Also a small blurb of translated garble here:
http://66.196.80.202/babelfish/translate_url_content?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tamron.co.jp%2Fdata%2Fa2-lens%2F65b.htm&.intl=us

Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 Full-Frame Fisheye

2010-04-05T22:17:00.017-05:00

The Zenitar 16mm Full-Frame Fisheye has long been an inexpensive alternative to the manufacturer's high-priced, premier glass (See here for an understanding of what a full-frame fisheye is). But just how good of an alternative is it? You have most likely already seen and read a lot about this lens due to its relatively low price and accessibility. The price has attracted a large number of users. Because so many are using this lens, information on the web regarding the Ukrainian-made fisheye is in abundance. Ken Rockwell has a thorough write-up, comparing the Zenitar 16mm with the Nikon 10.5mm DX Fisheye. I'll try to keep the redundant info to a minimum and leave you with just my personal opinion of the lens should you be debating picking one up. To sum up my personal impression: I am very pleased with this lens.

For me, this is where the rubber meets the road: I have yet to be in a situation where a scene requires both the use of a fisheye lens and extremely high, optical performance. "Hey we'd love this done with a fisheye lens, but we can't have any edge softness or CA. We want perfect, technical accuracy." Now, I am sure there are applications and times when this occurs; In science perhaps. Or maybe you are just that OCD. I am just saying for MOST people and general applications, this is rare. And optical perfection rarely comes cheap. Fisheye lenses are typically used in fun, free-form, and expressionistic settings. They provide a way of seeing that we as humans are unaccustomed to. They exaggerate things and vastly dramatize scenes. They often imply playfulness. Because of the inherent distortion of an image as seen through a fisheye, these lenses are rarely scrutinized by the everyday user to the same degree that rectilinear lenses are. Edge softness and color-fringing produced by the Zenitar 16mm is definitely present. I just find that I am never too concerned since the end result will already be so far removed from the actual scene.

I picked my Zenitar 16mm up from KEH.com used but in excellent condition. Unfortunately, I didn't get the extra rear-mount filters or the sweet Cyrillic covered box that come with the lens when it is purchased brand new. The Zenitar is made in the Ukraine. According to Wikipedia, the 16mm along with other Zenitar primes are "currently produced by JSC S. A. Zverev Krasnogorskiy Mekhanicheskiy Zavod (KMZ)." While I do not have experience with any of the Zenitar siblings, I have purchased Lomo cameras, specifically the Lubitel 166B medium format TLR. These cameras are also sometimes manufactured in the Ukraine or in Russia. Ironically, one constant I have found in the production of Russian/Ukrainian cameras is: the quality of these products is highly inconsistent.

Aesthetics/Ergonomics

Having read many reviews of Russian/Ukrainian hardware, a lot of variation exists between samples. Given the tumultuous history of that region this shouldn't be surprising. I remember taking some of these Lubitel cameras apart and noticing parts which looked like they had been hand-filed (probably were) rather than precisely machined. The edges and ends of components looked chewed-up instead of clean and neat. Coatings looked uneven. The overall composition appeared haphazardly cobbled together in a hasty manor perhaps even with the wrong set of tools. Without having been to the factories first-hand, I cannot say what production lines actually look like, but I wouldn't be surprised if the tools consisted of hand files and tin snips.

With the Zenitar 16mm Fisheye, I initially noticed the uneven paint coatings on the barrel of the lens. Different surfaces actually have dissimilar finishes. Imperfections in these coatings abound. Likewise, I have seen and read of inconsistencies in the actual optical coatings of these lenses. None of the exterior imperfections have any effect on the optical performance of this lens but do tell us something about the attention to detail in the ultimate manufacturing of these lenses.

A couple other physical attributes to note: The aperture ring of the lens I received seems to click HARD into place. Relative to all other lenses, this aperture ring moves much less fluidly. The fact that this lens is made in several mounts could be part of the issue. Perhaps the Nikon adaptation of this lens is not very well designed. The mount certainly looks pretty rough. I notice a tougher time mounting and un-mounting this lens with my D700 since it occasionally gets stuck on the camera. The rubber focusing ring feels good to me. It only takes about a quarter of a turn to go from the closest focus to infinity. Regardless of the smaller annoyances, overall this lens is a solid, compact little optic.

Specifications

Focal length: 16mm
Filter thread: Rear-mount 26.5 x 0.5 mm
Min. Aperture: f/2.8
Max. Aperture: f/22
Angular field of view (diagonal): 180°
Elements/groups: 11/7
Min. focusing distance: 11.8" (0.3 m)
Dimensions: 2.5 x 1.9" (63 x 49 mm)
Weight: 10.9 oz (0.31 kg)

Performance

Obviously appearances have little to no effect on the optical performance of a lens (save for some type of extreme circumstance). The Zenitar 16mm has a great reputation for being an outstanding performer at a price point of between $100-200 USD. I find no reason to disagree with this assessment. I have actually seen them go for less than $100. Considering this is perhaps the cheapest of the third-party alternatives to the manufacturer brand lenses, it's a great value!

Rather than post examples at every aperture and light fall-off etc, I feel there is a lot of that info already available. My experience with this lens has revealed no contradictions. As Ken Rockwell shows in his samples, it actually controls CA a little better than the more expensive Nikon. I use this lens on my D700 and it looks excellent! It is definitely soft wide open but that is to be expected I suppose. Shooting near f/5.6 delivers great results though. I have included a few examples of my first few days goofing around with this lens.

1/40 @ f/4 ISO 1600

20 sec. @ f/4 ISO 200

1/800 @ f/8 ISO 200

Lower Right Corner Crop

Yes, that is my Tokina 300mm on the Panasonic GF1

Things To Consider

The main thing I would be sure to consider before buying this lens is, "How will this look on my camera?" I am using this lens on a full-frame D700, and I get every bit of the intended field of view. When used on a smaller sensor camera, you may find you've defeated the purpose of buying a full-frame fisheye. (If you are still lost, see here for an explanation of sensor sizes and why you care!)

Two types of true fisheye lenses exist: Full-Frame Fisheyes, and Circular Fisheyes. A full-frame does just as it would indicated, it fills the frame giving you 180º field of view from corner to corner. A circular fisheye will give you 180º from edge-to-edge inside of a circular shaped image. Essentially, a full-frame fisheye is the same as a circular, just designed so that the field of view sits just within the circular projection. The circular fisheye "steps back" in a way, and shows you more of that circular projection. This will make more sense when you see the image below.

Here is a pretty simple quick comparison of how much you lose with a crop sensor camera.

Both of these images were made with a full-frame camera. So the image appears precisely how the lens was designed to look. The turquoise line illustrates what you will see if you are using a cropped sensor camera. Notice how the circular fisheye begins to look more like a full-frame fisheye on the cropped sensor? See how the Zenitar 16mm looks more like a distorted wide angle than an intentional fisheye on the cropped sensor?

So be aware of the size of the sensor in your camera which should be clearly denoted on the manufacturer's website. Nikon's cropped sensors are 1.5x. This means you can multiply the focal length of the lens you intend to use by 1.5. That product represents a new focal length AND a new approximate field of view. (ex. You want to you a 50mm lens. 50 x 1.5 = 75. By mounting a 50mm lens on a Nikon cropped sensor body, you will have a field of view similar to a 75mm lens. Essentially the lens won't be as wide.)

Wrap-Up

Fish-eye lenses are a pungent flavor. The drama of the field of view and curved distortion make them unique. However, the effect can get old, very quickly. Consequently, they are best used sparingly. For the exploratory photographer, something like the inexpensive Zenitar gives an excellent tool to experience the fish-eye without investing too much money. For less than $200, why not get this lens? It can never hurt to have an extra lens/effect in the kit. In fact, I think most people should buy this lens. If not just to try a fisheye. This is the lens to do it. The Zenitar 16mm can produce very clear, crisp results (Now it is up to the photographer to attempt to compose with this beast!).

Links/Resources

There have been quite a few reviews of this lens so information as well as the lens itself are in abundance. I particularly like Ken Rockwell's comparison to the Nikon 10.5mm which really puts this lens into perspective (little pun).

Ken Rockwell's write-up - 10.5mm comparison

NK Guy's review on photonotes.org -

This guy must have received a poor copy because his first review and samples of this lens were aweful (not his writing, his impression). It actually required some modification. When he did eventually dial-in the lens, he was able to effectively focus and use the lens and claims to be impressed with the results. The copy I received does not appear to have any focusing issues.

Another instance of a bad sample

Some astrophotography with the Zenitar

8-Lens Macro Shoot-Out

2010-03-22T01:58:00.015-05:00

- The Contenders -

Nikon Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 with PK-13
Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 with 1:1 macro extender
Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 MC 1:1
Kiron 105mm f/2.8 1:1
Lester A. Dine 105mm (Kiron) f/2.8 1:1
Vivitar Series 1 105mm (Kiron) f/2.5 1:1
Nikon Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4 with PN-11
Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro

Purpose

I really just wanted to see a good side-by-side of each of these lenses at 1:1 reproduction ratio. Now I realize flat field reproduction is just one aspect of performance in regards to macro lenses. In choosing a lens, the photographer must consider many things including the fact that in just about every instance outside of copy work, the subject is not a 2-D object. In my first comparison I did on this site, (which was something of a disaster) I attempted to look at sharpness as well as bokeh in the same shot. Not only that, I chose to do it outdoors, with a real subject (a plant) with changing conditions (wind, etc). All because I was tired of looking at relatively unrealistic, uninteresting subject matter in comparisons. Look how far I have come. But seriously, a flat 2-D object does provide me with some information about the performance of the lens over the range of apertures as well as a standard gauge between lenses. This test doesn't really decide the lens I will use most often, so much as it gives me more overall insight about each lens. In fact, of all of them, I shoot with the Tokina the most despite relatively strong CA because of its size, ease of use, and autofocus (which can definitely come in handy at times). The second most used lens would be the Series 1 90mm. Tack sharp wide open. I love this lens!

Procedure

To be as fair as objective as I could, I blindfolded myse....Just kidding. All lenses were shot at 1:1 with necessary extenders and extension tubes if needed. I was sure to check focus every shot. If something appeared out of focus after checking the shot on the screen (zooming in), I took another shot. I used mirror-up to minimize camera vibration, as well as a remote shutter release. Using live view, I focused each image and carefully switched over to M-up. The biggest challenge here, was keeping the plane of focus parallel with the sensor plane. At the micro level, the slightest change in angle can throw off results. Needless to say, with my relatively limited gear, don't believe this test is without errors. Even the dollar bill, though relatively new wanted to curl in the heat of the lamps (It was taped down on all sides and I was sure to keep it flat after each lens). I also used a macro focusing rail to avoid remounting the camera with each new lens, and consequently slightly different minimum focusing distance. Despite this, with some lenses, such as the 55mm, the distance was far greater than the macro rail could account for and the setup had to be completely moved.

- Test Key -

To do this test, I chose to photograph a dollar bill because it is recognizable, reproducible, and convenient to continue with, should I choose (and I am sure I will) in the future, to test a newer lens to compare results. Also, I haven't gotten around to ordering or making a lens test chart just yet! All images taken at ISO 200 on the Nikon D700.

Results

Test Results at the Center

Order of results is as follows (in retrospect, my image labels are tough to read, sorry!):

f/2.5

f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22
f/32

Test Results at the Lower Right Corner

Order of results is as follows (in retrospect, my image labels are tough to read, sorry!):

f/2.5

f/2.8

f/4

f/5.6

f/8

f/11

f/16

f/22

f/32

Analysis

What to make of it all? After getting all the results in and putting them all together, I find more than ever I want to do it again. With new samples of the lenses too. This was a lot of fun for sure! Also I am curious if the Tokina 100mm is truly as soft at f/2.8 as my results in this test. Also, the Nikon 105mm, I could swear it is a little sharper wide open than this. So perhaps with such shallow depths of field, my focus was slightly amiss, causing this tad miscalculation. Otherwise, all the lenses look pretty good save for the Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 MC which doesn't do so well in the early apertures. In fact, it looks aweful. I have noticed this lens tends to have a mind of its own early on. Around f/8 however, it gets back in the game. As in my other tests, the Vivitar Series 1 105mm tends to be softer (and often has a bit more CA) than it's Kiron siblings. So even though I love it's build and physical design, I now often reach for the Kiron or Dine. Not surprisingly by f/22 and f/32 these lenses are useless. Even f/16 is pretty poor.

**A user, Robin, commented below on the above statement. I made it more in hyperbole. Of course you can use these lenses at high apertures and get good images. Sometime you really do want the most DoF you can get. I was just speaking in terms of sharpness. If you want the sharpest image you can get (for what is in focus), these higher apertures will be affected by diffraction will not yield as sharp of results as the middle apertures of the lens.

Well I don't really care to go into any kind of ranking system here since as I said previously, sharpness and the kinds of things this test demonstrates about a macro lens is only a part of so many other variables in what makes a macro lens, a great lens. I personally am big into bokeh. I would love to do a little bokeh comparison. I also, on a less windy day, would love to do a comparison with a 3-D subject. I will let you make your own decisions based on these findings. I will also tell you the Vivitar Series 1 90mm (Tokina 90mm AT-X) is my favorite lens to use, and it should be yours too! The Kiron/Dines are not far behind. In terms of practicality, a newer, 1:1 capable AF macro, such as my Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X will do just about everything I need with quickness and ease.

Wrap-Up

I suppose I sensed these results. I actually had not even looked at these findings prior to deciding on selling a few lenses. Decidedly, I didn't use the Vivitar 90mm (not the Series 1 version) enough to justify keeping it. I think it was just inconvenient for me and I was never incredibly impressed with the output, especially considering all my other options. Sold. Didn't ever use the Nikon 105mm despite people like Bjorn Rorslett boasting it to be one of the best macros ever designed. Sold. And who really needs this many macro lenses? Don't ask me that question!

Tokina MF 300mm f/2.8 AT-X SD - Performance

2010-03-19T12:04:00.017-05:00

I took the new (used) Tokina 300mm f/2.8 out for a spin the past couple days during my daily travels. I didn't get the chance to make it to the zoo, like I wanted but summer's on its way. What I do have is a quick test I did on a tripod overlooking the local lake. The sun provided a beautifully rigorous set of variables for any lens to overcome. High contrast, strong highlights, flare, just about everything.

Let's Get To It

I have to say, although I don't have a lot of experience with other f/2.8 telephotos, I am rather impressed. You can make some beautiful images with this lens. Obviously this lens has its shortcomings. But for the money, I am very happy.

Below is the test key image. Being a bright sunny day, this high contrast situation will definitely showcase the lenses ability, or inability to handle CA. The lens runs through f/32 and runs 1/2 stop clicks until f/22 where it then is one click to f/32. Somehow I goofed and missed f/22 in this test. Not only that, despite having a tripod, I managed to get some camera shake at f/32. Diffraction was already degrading the image so much I hardly feel it necessary to worry about this. I don't know anyone buying an f/2.8 lens to shoot at f/32. So f/22 and f/32 are absent from these examples. Image info is posted lightly in the bottom left corner of each image as well.

f/2.8

f/4

f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16

Note:

First off, allow me to clarify something. A comment on a previous post brought to my attention, something I may have forgotten to communicate in these lens tests regarding performance. The comment was just that I was focusing on wide-open results heavily, despite the lens being able to deliver fantastic results at later apertures. To that, I just want to say this.

Let us assume as with almost all optics I have come across, optimal optical performance will be at some middle aperture of the lens. Typically lenses are at their best at f/5.6 or f/8. However, often times the difference between very expensive optics and cheap-o's comes down to how that particular lens can handle "the extremes". How does it handle in highly specular situations, how does it perform wide open, how do the peripheral factors of the lens such as bokeh look? It is those aspects of lens that I invariably explore. For it is through such scrutiny the great lenses can be found still performing.

Analysis

So with that said, is this lens worth the f/2.8? Is it worth buying the f/2.8 to use at f/4 since buying an f/4 may mean you must use it at f/5.6 for usable results. I think the lens performs quite satisfactorily at f/2.8. It's a bit soft but retains a great amount of detail and after some post, can produce some very nice images. Edge sharpness looks pretty good. Near the corners the lens softens for sure. Definitely has an issue with CA, but again, many of the Tokina lenses I have used do have this issue. Perhaps a little post could improve this. At f/4 I would say the lens improves greatly, certainly in regards to the CA. There is some light fall-off at the early apertures but nothing abnormal. I tend to like a bit of vignetting anyway. By f/5.6 I think this lens looks great! After f/8 diffraction begins taking the image back down. Even at f/11 it is very evident.

Contrast is great. I find Tokina lenses to typically be a little more contrasty than their Nikon contemporaries. The 300mm MF is no exception. Contrast is an interesting issue relative ot the digital age. Primarily because I prefer to control this in post. I typically shoot RAW and worry about contrast when I get to the computer. Granted, the less post, the better. And a lens does need a certain quality of contrast. I am only saying, I don't feel it is "quite" as imperative as it was with film, though definitely still important.

All in all, a great lens for about half to a third the price of the Nikon. If you are looking for a lens for some serious freelance work that need to be technically very adept, I would recommend just buying the Nikon. According to those who use them, they're excellent. You (or your client) however, know your own needs better than anyone. For what I am doing right now, this lens will be just fine!

Just for the heck of it I made a few other images with this lens at ISO 3200 on the D700. Love that camera.

1/200 @ f/2.8 ISO 3200

1/60 @ f/2.8 ISO 3200

1/5000 @ f4 ISO 200

1/1000 @ f/5.6 ISO 200

Wrap-Up

I will continue to shoot with this lens and see what I can get out of it. I also just recently used a teleconverter, the Nikon TC-14A, just to see what happened and I actually got some very nice results. Likewise, I am happy with results from a used AF Tamron 1.4x TC I found for $30 at a local camera shop. It seems this lens is relatively conducive to TCs.

Tokina MF 300mm f/2.8 with Tamron AF 1.4x TC

Tokina MF 300mm f/2.8 AT-X SD - An Elusive Manual Focus Telephoto

2010-03-17T23:51:00.015-05:00

It wasn't until recently, that I ever considered picking up a long telephoto, faster than f/4-5.6. Anyone reading this most likely knows, a lens' aperture and price tag have a direct relationship; As the aperture gets larger, so does the cost. I don't have a whole lot of money, so as usual, I of course was sure to explore all of my options. The digital age has swept photography by storm and left in it's wake garages full of lenses composed of older optical designs, dated coatings, complete lack of electronics, and pure, primal manual focus. But just how inferior or dated are these lenses?

I am looking to get more into shooting sports. I would also love to do some birding and wildlife photography. Currently, my longest lens is the Nikon AF 80-200mm f/2.8D, a stellar piece of glass, but not nearly long enough for the aforementioned purposes. There are always teleconverters, however, this solution immediately cuts into the speed of the lens defeating the whole purpose of a fast telephoto. I want speed!

Most likely due to the cost of R&D and production, a vast catalog of alternatives to the major manufacturer's long prime lenses does not seem to exist. In fact, in all of my searching for a means to attain a relatively inexpensive taste of the fast tele market led me to only a handful of choices: the Tamron 300mm f/2.8 (of which a few variations exist: 107B, 60B, 360B, 90E), the Tokina MF 300mm f/2.8, and as far as the 2.8s are concerned, that's about it. Now allow me to place a disclaimer here: I am speaking from the standpoint of a Nikon user. Also I am keeping in mind commonality. These models will pop up on the used market fairly regularly whereas I am sure other fast tele's exist but remain fairly hard to find.

Having a limited choice can be both a good and bad thing. On one hand, the decision is certainly more sane than attempting to choose a normal zoom, which has almost a hundred various designs/focal lengths/manufacturers to choose from (24-70, 24-50, 28-70, 35-70, and so forth). On the other hand, having only a couple alternatives also begs the question, "Is there a reason only a couple competitors exist? Should I even bother attempting to go with Third-party? Just how great are those Nikkor (premium) telephotos?"

Situation and Decision Process

Being newer to the telephoto market is no accident. The first time I saw the prices of those Sports Illustrated lenses, I was more than shocked! The low end of those lenses are two or three times more than my first car! When I mean fast, I mean 200 f/2, 300 f/2.8, 400 f/2.8, 500 f/4, 600 f/4. etc. You can pick up a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 for around $200. These lenses however, are not fast enough to fully separate the subject from the background (in similar settings) like those beautiful, giant rocket launchers the SI guys schlep around. They certainly don't carry 'em just to build muscle. It is because of that crisp separation of subject from background that I have decided I am completely willing to lug around one of these beasts.

If you too find yourself ready to make the jump to a faster telephoto but have a budget in mind, consider these few things:

The first decision: Zoom or Prime. While the zoom will afford you variability in your composition, a fast zoom lens will cost a fortune. Many people's first lens is a zoom. The basic kit lenses for cameras are often 18-55mm, 55-200mm, or even 70-300mm. These lenses however, are quite "slow" often only opening up to f/5.6 at the longer end. You might be surprised at the difference in a couple apertures. The highly rated Nikon 200-400 f/4 provides an amazing focal length with a great constant aperture; but at over $5k it ought to! A prime on the other hand, can deliver the speed but inversely restricts your flexibility in terms of composition (Obviously, you will have to physically move closer or further to change your composition significantly). In the end, the speed and resulting DoF combined with a lack of unlimited funding led me to a prime.

AF or MF. This is a tough one. Sports/wildlife subject matter is constantly moving. The newest auto-focus lenses make photographing moving objects much easier so that more effort can be devoted to composition. Even though I would love to go all out, I just cannot afford these long/fast telephotos right now. Anything f/2.8 or f/4 in the realm of 300mm or more with AF is easily $3000. I even thought about getting a shorter focal length and using teleconverters*. When you shoot this stuff for a living, no problem. When you're a broke freelancer, it's somewhat of a different story. If you have the money, the AF is a no brainer. For those without that financial background, here is where the Nikon system shines! Manual focus lenses can be had for fractions of the price of newer AF lenses. The way I see it, the pros years back shot manual focus everything and did just fine. If nothing else, it will make me better and more adept for the time being. (Or at least this is what I tell myself to cope...)

*For the Nikon shooter, I think it important to note a couple things I ran into with teleconverters. I thought about using either the Nikon 80-200mm AF-D, 80-200mm AF-S or 70-200mm AF-S VR with a 1.4x or 1.7x TC. Here's the thing. For optimal image quality most photographers use the Nikon brand TCs, the TC-14E, TC-17E, and TC-20E. These TCs ONLY work with the AF-S lenses. They actually have tabs that will not allow other lenses to be mounted including AF lenses. I have heard they can be milled but I don't know about paying over 2 grand to "rig" something. So scratch the 80-200 AF-D (the one I conveniently already own). Not only that, those AF-S lenses (as of March 2010) are running about $1000-2600 depending on which lens you're looking at. And those TCs run $300+ by themselves. You can't even use them on the $1500+ Nikon 300mm AF lens. As I said, you could choose to use any one of these lenses and just buy a Third-party TC but from all I have seen it is relatively hit or miss and if you're spending the money, you may as well know what you're getting for it. All told, I find the TC solution a possible solution, but not the best for the miserly photographer who does not already own a tele-zoom.

Nikon or Third-Party. As per usual, the Nikons tend to run a good amount more than the third party lenses depending on the model, but from all reviews perform extremely well. This is the big decision for me. Again, the third-party lenses aren't cheap, just less expensive. Typically, for just about the same price of a nice condition third-party, a photographer could purchase a beat-up Nikkor. This was an important decision to me since I appreciate owning and using well cared for gear. This can also be important in terms of quality of your sample. Not only can there be performance variation among different samples of the same lens, but consider such a precision instrument being treated like garbage for a few years. Why would you expect it to perform flawlessly? Plus, a clean, cared for lens makes resale a whole lot easier if things don't work out. I, however, managed to get an excellent price on a good condition Tokina 300mm f/2.8 SD manual focus lens. So despite the Nikon going for $800 in "bargain" condition, I picked up an alternative for barely over half the price.

Tokina MF 300mm f/2.8 AT-X

I have found very little factual information on this lens. Just about every time I search it, Google, Flickr, or whatever search I am using pulls up info or examples from the Tokina AF 300mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro. This is much newer lens design incorporating more advanced technology. It's considerably larger price tag also causes me to believe it is perhaps a much better optical design. In regards to what I have found on this older manual focus 300mm, people have said some great things about it. But again, lots of talk, little evidence. I originally had very little tech info on the post but after further searching I found Photodo.com and a Japanese site (which it seems got their info from photodo). I had actually initially posted a few items based on tests I did, such as minimum focusing distance and they corresponded with the Photodo numbers almost exactly, so that's great! Photodo says min focus distance is 2.4m. I kept getting 2.3 m. I also think they weighed the lens without the metal hood, which adds a pound or two. No real big differences!

Specifications

Aperture Range: f/2.8-32
Angle of Acceptance: 9°
Optical Construction: 9 elements, 7 groups
Maximum Reproduction Ratio: 1:7 at 2.3 m
Minimum Focusing Distance (From Film Plane): 2.3 m (7.65 ft.)
Length with Hood: 350.5 mm (1.15 ft.)
Length without Hood: 213.4 mm (0.7 ft.)
Maximum Barrel Diameter: 117 mm (0.38 ft.)
Accessory Size: 112 mm
Weight with Hood: 2.7 kg (6 lbs.)

Physical/Cosmetic

This lens is a tank. The particular lens I bought, is somewhat of a "beater" (the hood and larger portions of the barrel have been retouch a bit in the images for the sake of this site). The glass looks very nice with a bit of dust. No scratches, fungus, haze, oil on blades, etc. so optically quite usable! But as far as cosmetics this thing got beat up. The barrel shows mars in the metal, a slightly bent hood, which fortunately is all metal (I have actually read this lens in particular had issues with the hood tightening screw breaking and thus the hood becoming flimsy, which has happened to my sample. A small piece of adhesive felt fixed this for me). Despite the battle scars, it's a rock. The hull of this lens just thuds when you flick it, no reverberation of any kind. You may as well be flicking a solid brick of steel. This MF version sports a large Tokina brand 112mm protective filter that came with the lens (also quite beat up on my lens but still in great optical shape). You have a rear 43mm drop-in filter which is the only plastic in the whole lens. I don't particularly like how flimsy it is compared to the rest of the lens, but I doubt I will ever mess with it to be honest.

Operationally, the Tokina MF 300mm is very basic. No quick focus settings or limiter switches. Just a large, extremely accessible, silky smooth focusing ring dressed in the Tokina AT-X line's signature knurled-like grip. Such a fluid focusing ring is key to improving the shooter's ability to focus quickly and accurately.

Performance

For performance, see link below:

http://makingnottaking.blogspot.com/2010/03/tokina-mf-300mm-f28-at-x-sd-performance.html

If you have any info or links on this lens, message me or e-mail. I would love to get some more together for others who may be looking!

Link/Resources

Japanese Blurb on this MF Tokina 300 through Google Translate -
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://homepage3.nifty.com/3rdpartylens-om/&langpair=ja|en&hl=ja&c2coff=1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

Photodo.com's review with some MTF data -
http://www.photodo.com/product_487.html

Tokina AF 17mm AT-X f/3.5 Ultrawide

2010-03-17T18:07:00.015-05:00

While looking for an auto-focus ultrawide some time back, I remember coming across this Tokina AF 17mm AT-X f/3.5. It is indeed the precursor to the AT-X Pro model I previously reviewed here on this blog (Consequently, I will refer to it as version 1 from time to time). Well I just got a crack at one and thought, since often lenses such as this have very little information out there, I would give it a quick whirl for my own curiosity's sake.

First impression, solid built little lens. Although it isn't very much smaller than the AT-X Pro model, for some reason it "seems" considerably smaller. Even despite the fact that the hood is built-in (non-removable).

Specifications

Focal range: 17 mm
Filter diameter: 72mm
Max. aperture: 3.5
Min. aperture: 22
Elements/Groups: 11/9
Angle of view: 103°
Aperture blades: 7
Minimum focus distance: 250mm
Hood: Fixed metal
Weight: 400 g

Performance

Honestly, I haven't spent a whole lot of time with this lens. I don't believe the performance will be all that different from the Pro version. Only optical difference it seems is the addition of Super Low Dispersion glass in the Pro. The hood of the newer Pro also appears to have a bit more coverage than the metal build-in of the first AF version.

Below is a quick comparison between the two versions at the extreme. Wide open and far edge.

f/3.5 @ ISO 200 on D700

I really only saw a difference worth mentioning here. It seems the Pro version is a hair sharper wide open. CA is apparent in both and for all intents and purposes appears to be the same. The difference in color rendering between these lenses is so minute, it would hardly show up through the various processing of a web uploaded image, but I will just say, the Pro version puts out a slightly more saturated image. I like the look and feel of the Pro's images just a hair better than the older version 1.

Visually the coatings of the version 1 lens appear more saturated (on the right) but as stated above, I would believe the coatings of the Pro are more advanced based on the output.

Physical/Cosmetics

The version 1 Tokina AF 17mm lens feels solid. It appears to be an all metal construction, including the hood. The hood is non-removable but that shouldn't be an issue since anyone shooting an ultrawide should have the hood on at all times. The only reason one might want to take the hood off is during storage. Still, the hood isn't all that obtrusive. There is no AF/MF switch or clutch mechanism as on the Pro. Seeing as how the user must engage the MF clutch as well as switch the camera to MF using the Pro version, this isn't any disadvantage. The focus ring and autofocus is a hint noisier than that of the Pro but nothing to worry about. This version 1 also has one of those clear plastic windows to view the distance scale printed on the inner barrel.

One more thing. The AF 17mm AT-X originally came with that signature dark red rectangular leather hard case whereas the newer Pro came with an ugly grey leather sack/thing. Both models have since been discontinued.

Wrap-Up

Overall, this first version is a reliable, robust ultrawide lens. If given the choice between this version and the Pro, go for the Pro. Slightly sharper performance, SD (Super-low Dispersion) glass, and (I'm gonna state an opinion here...) a more aesthetic build. I'm a huge fan of the Tokina "armalite" finish. Other than that, the Tokina AF 17mm f/3.5 is an excellent little ultrawide and is capable of making beautiful images, especially on newer full-frame DSLRs.

Early Spring Cleaning - LENSES FOR SALE!

2010-03-06T20:03:00.007-06:00

***ALL SOLD*** Thanks!

So I have recently decided to switch gears momentarily while I attempt to get things in order for the future. The job market is rough and the photography industry is even rougher. I love analyzing these older lenses and shall continue to do so as I come across them. However, I have begun to acquire somewhat of an "entourage". The fact of the matter is, I just don't need this many lenses! I couldn't possibly use them all and I really do need some other gear. So, although I consider it "a great service to photography" to keep these wonderful pieces of glass in pristine condition, and of course using them for good measure, I have decided to share, so to speak! I have links to my eBay listings below. For SALE:

- Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 1:1 Nikon AI

- Vivitar Series 1 135mm f/2.3 (love this one but just can't keep it right now) Nikon AI

- Spiratone 18mm f/3.5 (the far superior tokina 17mm makes this one redundant) Nikon AI

- Nikon Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/4 w/ PN-11

- Quantaray 2x AF TC for Nikon

- Mamiya 65mm f/3.5 for TLR (C33, C220, C330)

Also will possibly be selling the Vivitar Series 1 105mm f/2.5 for Nikon AI and the Tokina 17mm AT-X Pro f/3.5 for Nikon. Still deciding on these!

Starry Night

2010-03-05T01:56:00.004-06:00

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Tokina AT-X Pro 17mm f/3.5
Aperture: f/5
Shutter Speed: unknown
ISO: 3200

This evening, the stars were out in force, even despite all the suburban light pollution. I couldn't resist, and fortunately, I don't have to! I can even spot Orion in there. Ok so I threw in a faint outline there... The moon was great too but by the time I had the camera out it had obviously long since moved from its beautiful perch on the horizon.

I tried to leave the image large so you could check out the corners but it appears blogger has somewhat of a size cap. You can still see a bit. I have been very happy with Tokina's little 17mm. Emphasis on the "little", it truly is too convenient!