The Joy of Shooting Vintage Lenses (Part 1)
Aah... manual and vintage lenses.
I love shooting with you guys.
No, I am not joking here. I have a strange obsession with shooting and collecting vintage lenses, particularly anything that has a Pentax 42mm screw mount, also known as Pentax m42 mount. So far, I have collected half dozen of m42 lenses and has fallen in love with Helios 44M-7, a vintage m42 mount Russian lens.
Alright, enough with that. Now, let me talk about doing street photography with a fully manual lenses. Before I start, one has to really understand and taking into account many flaws and strange characteristics of the vintage lenses. I have to admit that some of the quirks are really annoying, to the point of making the lens rather unusable for most people. However, some of the quirks could be used to give a distinct character to the photo.
Now, what is it that making me fallen in love with using a vintage lens?
Well, actually, there are several reason:
1. It give my photo a distinct look that can not, or very hard, to replicate with modern lenses.
For example, the very famous Helios lenses, which are a copy of Carl Zeiss Biotar lenses, all producing that 'swirly bokeh' with different swirling intensity and characteristic depended on the background and the lens itself. I have Helios 44M-4 and 44M-7, and both of them produce swirly bokeh that looks unique and making the photo looks stand-out from the others. It is true that in the past, that characteristic was considered as a flaw, but in the era of very sharp and clean photo produced by modern lenses, a distinct characteristic like that is what I've looking for. Oh, my other m42 lens, the E Ludwig Merritar 50mm f/2.9 also produce similar swirling bokeh.
BUT! Yes. The major drawback of using vintage lenses are relatively lower image quality it produced compared to the one that come out from a modern lenses. Prone to flare, bad corner resolution, soft images at wide open, ghosting, chromatic aberration, purple fringing, etc, are some flaws of the vintage lenses. The older the lens, usually the flaws are much more prominent.
2. It feels solid in the hand and very pleasing to touch and play with it.
Let me be honest. Vintage lenses mostly made out of solid metal. It is heavy, but feels sturdy, could withstand many abuses, and generally built to last for decades. One of my oldest lens was made in 1950s and it still in a very good shape. However, due to relatively limited technology in lens-making back in the day, some vintage lens has build quality issue, either due to tech limitation or insufficient quality control. Also, it is not uncommon to find two similar series of lens with quite different build quality, sometimes, because they were made by different factory. For example, I have a Helios 44M-4 made by KMZ with a very good glass (few micro scratches though) and build quality, but my friend has the same lens made by other factory (Jupiter) with a very soft image wide open, although the glass is much clearer than mine.
3. Shooting with vintage full-manual lens slowing down my pace and making me think before taking a picture.
In the age of blazing fast and super-accurate auto-focus, I think people are tempted to do 'spray-and-pray' kind of shooting style when hunting on the street, particularly due to the chaotic nature of the street photography itself. I have to be hones, after not using my vintage lenses for a while, I started to do that. I see a slightly interesting subject, press AF-L button, camera respond by auto focusing very fast and accurate, then press the button to take a burst of 2-3 shots, repeat. Although it really helps capturing fast-paced and spontaneous moments, it making me feels lazy. There are times when I really enjoy carefully composing and focusing the lens while waiting for an event to unfold. It also train my reflex to focus accurately and also train my mind to keep sharp in order to anticipate and capture any unexpected moments. However, not all moment can be captured perfectly and missed focus is commonly happened, although the advance of focus assist technology and EVF in mirrorless camera have greatly improving the focus accuracy when using vintage lens.
Now, let me show you some photographs I take using my vintage lenses.
- Industar-22 collapsible lens (50mm f/3.5) -
The oldest vintage lens I have, it was made in the late 1950s. The edges resolution is bad, it soft and has low contrast at wide open. I often shoot at f/4 or f/8 to get a decent sharpness and contrast. But definitely love the unusual shape and people often approach me to ask about the lens.
- Helios 44M-4 (58mm f/2) -
The first vintage lens that I have. My copy is very good, with relatively clear glass (albeit lot of micro scratches) and produce sharp photo, however, this one is prone to ghosting at wide open when shooting under harsh and strong light. Also, it flare quite easily. As the infamous Russian copy of Germany's Biotar lens, Helios produce that 'swirly bokeh' that I like.
I love shooting with you guys.
No, I am not joking here. I have a strange obsession with shooting and collecting vintage lenses, particularly anything that has a Pentax 42mm screw mount, also known as Pentax m42 mount. So far, I have collected half dozen of m42 lenses and has fallen in love with Helios 44M-7, a vintage m42 mount Russian lens.
Alright, enough with that. Now, let me talk about doing street photography with a fully manual lenses. Before I start, one has to really understand and taking into account many flaws and strange characteristics of the vintage lenses. I have to admit that some of the quirks are really annoying, to the point of making the lens rather unusable for most people. However, some of the quirks could be used to give a distinct character to the photo.
Now, what is it that making me fallen in love with using a vintage lens?
Well, actually, there are several reason:
1. It give my photo a distinct look that can not, or very hard, to replicate with modern lenses.
For example, the very famous Helios lenses, which are a copy of Carl Zeiss Biotar lenses, all producing that 'swirly bokeh' with different swirling intensity and characteristic depended on the background and the lens itself. I have Helios 44M-4 and 44M-7, and both of them produce swirly bokeh that looks unique and making the photo looks stand-out from the others. It is true that in the past, that characteristic was considered as a flaw, but in the era of very sharp and clean photo produced by modern lenses, a distinct characteristic like that is what I've looking for. Oh, my other m42 lens, the E Ludwig Merritar 50mm f/2.9 also produce similar swirling bokeh.
BUT! Yes. The major drawback of using vintage lenses are relatively lower image quality it produced compared to the one that come out from a modern lenses. Prone to flare, bad corner resolution, soft images at wide open, ghosting, chromatic aberration, purple fringing, etc, are some flaws of the vintage lenses. The older the lens, usually the flaws are much more prominent.
2. It feels solid in the hand and very pleasing to touch and play with it.
Let me be honest. Vintage lenses mostly made out of solid metal. It is heavy, but feels sturdy, could withstand many abuses, and generally built to last for decades. One of my oldest lens was made in 1950s and it still in a very good shape. However, due to relatively limited technology in lens-making back in the day, some vintage lens has build quality issue, either due to tech limitation or insufficient quality control. Also, it is not uncommon to find two similar series of lens with quite different build quality, sometimes, because they were made by different factory. For example, I have a Helios 44M-4 made by KMZ with a very good glass (few micro scratches though) and build quality, but my friend has the same lens made by other factory (Jupiter) with a very soft image wide open, although the glass is much clearer than mine.
3. Shooting with vintage full-manual lens slowing down my pace and making me think before taking a picture.
In the age of blazing fast and super-accurate auto-focus, I think people are tempted to do 'spray-and-pray' kind of shooting style when hunting on the street, particularly due to the chaotic nature of the street photography itself. I have to be hones, after not using my vintage lenses for a while, I started to do that. I see a slightly interesting subject, press AF-L button, camera respond by auto focusing very fast and accurate, then press the button to take a burst of 2-3 shots, repeat. Although it really helps capturing fast-paced and spontaneous moments, it making me feels lazy. There are times when I really enjoy carefully composing and focusing the lens while waiting for an event to unfold. It also train my reflex to focus accurately and also train my mind to keep sharp in order to anticipate and capture any unexpected moments. However, not all moment can be captured perfectly and missed focus is commonly happened, although the advance of focus assist technology and EVF in mirrorless camera have greatly improving the focus accuracy when using vintage lens.
Now, let me show you some photographs I take using my vintage lenses.
- Industar-22 collapsible lens (50mm f/3.5) -
The oldest vintage lens I have, it was made in the late 1950s. The edges resolution is bad, it soft and has low contrast at wide open. I often shoot at f/4 or f/8 to get a decent sharpness and contrast. But definitely love the unusual shape and people often approach me to ask about the lens.
 |
| At f/8 it surprisingly good for shooting architecture in black and white. |
 |
| Post-processed in Lightroom using film preset to set the basic tone and mood. |
 | ||||||
| A cool old rider with his beautiful motorbike. |
 |
| I composed the girl too close to the edge of the lens that has a bad resolution, thus, the blur. |
 |
| One of my friend posing when we waited to enter one of the largest garage sale in Perth. |
- Helios 44M-4 (58mm f/2) -
The first vintage lens that I have. My copy is very good, with relatively clear glass (albeit lot of micro scratches) and produce sharp photo, however, this one is prone to ghosting at wide open when shooting under harsh and strong light. Also, it flare quite easily. As the infamous Russian copy of Germany's Biotar lens, Helios produce that 'swirly bokeh' that I like.
 |
| My friend at a phone box. A lot of red element in the photo that I isolated in post-processed. |
 |
| I was very lucky to get the focus right, and the fire player also stays at one spot, which helps a lot! |
 |
| Low contrast and faded looks fit with characteristic of this lens. |
 |
| The infamous swirly bokeh. |
 |
| Soft and ghosting as I shot this wide open at noon in summer, where the sunlight is very strong and harsh. |
Comments
Post a Comment