A journey with a Zuiko Auto-T 100mm f/2.8

My family of Olympus lenses has recently grown. Thanks to Riku, a member of the MFLenses forum, a nice Zuiko Auto-T 100mm f/2.8 has found a new home. Now, with the help of an OM-to-EOS adapter, he's enjoying my 5DII.




Despite its focal length, the lens itself is quite compact, just a bit bigger than the Zuiko 50/1.8:




Although my adapter is not fitted with an EMF chip, focusing this lens is not really difficult because of its excellent contrast and reduced DoF (well, i must admit that the Eg-S focusing screen helped a lot). The color rendering is nice, too, with well saturated colors:




The lens shows the signs of some CA when used wide open to picture high contrast scenes (check the top of the can above in the full-res picture), but the overall rendition across the full frame is really good. And the CA is easily removed post-processing the pictures.

Some technical data of the lens:

Name: OM-SYSTEM ZUIKO AUTO-T 100mm 1:2.8
Optical scheme: 5 elements in 5 groups
Diaphragm: f/2.8 to f/22
Minimum focusing distance: 1m
Filters thread: 49mm

If you are interested to see more unprocessed pictures shot with this lens, feel free to browse to this Flickr set on my photostream.

MAXXI in Rome

A picture from the new modern art museum MAXXI in Rome ...






... and one from its backyard, hosting the WHATAMI project ...





A few more coming in this Flickr set ...

Voigtlander Color-Dynarex 85 f/2.8

Introducing my last acquisition, a Voigtlander Color-Dynarex 85/2.8 in Rollei QBM mount, adapted to my 5DII replacing the original mount.




This fine lens was just taking some dust since some months in a show-window of one of my preferred local shops. After a discussion with some fine people on the MFLenses forum, i decided to buy it.

Once at home, i replaced the original QBM mount with an EF mount, which perfectly fitted the lens (and my camera).

After a few hours spent in the Jardin Royal in Toulouse here are some unprocessed sample shots, developed by Silkypix.

At f/2.8:




At f/4:




My impressions about this lens:

• Pro:
• The mount exchange requires a few minutes only and a precision screwdriver.
• The lens is really easy to focus because of its excellent contrast (but i have an Eg-S focusing screen on my camera).
• Excellent resolution starting wide open (be careful to the reduced DoF).
• Great, well-saturated color rendering.
• The lens doesn't hit the mirror of my camera when focused at the infinity.

• Cons:
• The diaphragm ring doesn't have half stops.
• The shortest focusing distance of 0.85m is a bit long for my taste (but, after all, this is not a macro lens).

To appreciate the image quality of this lens it is better to display the full-resolution pictures available in this set of my Flickr photostream. The samples you are looking at here have been resized by Flickr, thus they have lost some of the original sharpness ...

Angénieux 35-70 f/2.5-3.3

A few weeks ago a friend of mine moved to a new house, so he asked me to take care of some of his "jewels" while he was playing with the boxes. Notably, between the glasses left to my care, a cult lens from a well known French manufacturer: an Angénieux 35-70 f/2.5-3.3:



Angénieux (now Thales Angénieux) was a French third party lens manufacturer that ranked with Schneider and Zeiss as one of the world's top lens makers. His lenses were quite uncommon between SLR users because they were really expensive and available only in a few different mounts. The production of the photographic lenses of the brand ran up to 1994, when Angénieux specialized in film and military optics.

In 1982, Angénieux introduced the 35-70 F2.5-3.3 zoom i'm showing here:




As you can see, the high price of these lenses were quite justified. The luxury packaging of the lens, a wooden box with brown leather finish, contained, besides the lens and the caps, of course:

• A certificate with the MTF data of this lens.
• An UV filter, made by Angénieux.
• A soft pouch.
• TWO snap-in hoods, one for the short end of the lens, the other for the longer end.

The "TWO" in the list above is intentionally uppercase, meant to the attention of the manufacturers who sell their lenses and their hoods separately ...

Taking advantage of the last sunny sunday, i grabbed my 5DII and this lens for a short tryout (Monaco's F1 Grand Prix oblige). Despite its plastic rings, the lens is not really lightweight, especially when compared to modern zooms of the same range. Nevertheless, once mounted on the camera, it perfectly balances the 5DII with the grip. The first look through the viewfinder reveals the character of this lens. The excellent contrast makes the focusing really easy (although i must confess that i have an Eg-S focusing screen on the camera). The large focusing and zooming rings are really easy to cope with, although i would have preferred the touch of a full-metal barrel. Too pity the diaphragm ring is a bit too small for my fingers, thus a bit difficult to operate, at least on my camera.

After two hours spent at the Jardin des Plantes, two pictures taken with the lens wide open, straight from the raw files without post-processing, except EV adjust.

At first, one for the color rendering:




Then, one for the sharpness:



If you want to have an idea of the capabilities of this lens, feel free to click on the picture, display the full-resolution version and take a look at the reflections in the eye of the peacock ...

And if you want to see more pictures taken with this lens, the dedicated Flickr set on my photostream is available here ...

For more readings:

• The Angénieux site.
• MW Classic Cameras Introduction to Angénieux lenses.
• The Wikipedia page on Pierre Angénieux.

Testing a new lens: Tamron SP 90 f/2.5 Macro

A classic Adaptall-2 lens, with a third-party adapter mount, just cleaned from some internal haze (and a nice partial fingerprint left by a previous "repairman").

Stopped down to f/4, processed by Silkypix:




Another one at f/4:

M42 fever: Voigtlander Color-Ultron 50 f/1.8

... At the Jardin des Plantes, in Toulouse ...




Picture shot at f/2.8, processed by Silkypix for EV adjust.

The (growing) Flickr set with the full-resolution pictures is available clicking here, but be careful to the camera id or the image tags, since some of them are shot with a Pentax K10D, while others have been shot with the 5DII ...

Too pity this lens locks the mirror of the camera when focused at the infinity ...

Fleur Qui Marche

By Fernand Léger, in the courtyard of the Musée des Abattoirs, in Toulouse.




As seen by my EOS 5D Mark II through an EF 24-105 L IS USM.

EBC Fujinon 55 f/3.5 Macro at the Jardin des Plantes

Shot with the lens stopped down to f/5.6.
If you want to get an idea of the capabilities of this lens, click on the picture, then select the original full-resolution version of this picture and enjoy the eye of the parrot ...

Stereo cameras

The last monthly flea market, held at the beginning of march in Toulouse, has been quite funny. For the first time, i have met some nice stereo cameras ...


A ViewMaster Personal Stereo:




A Gaumont Stereo Spido:




A Franke & Heidecke Heidoscop:




Now, i'm waiting for the next edition at the beginning of april, maybe there will be some other nice finds to picture ...

A Week in Rome ...

Happy new year 2011 to all the people around here ...

Coming back from some holidays in Rome. Finally, i have been able to test my brand new lens, an EF 24-105 f/4 L IS USM ...

Buying the lens has not been an easy choice (the EF 24-70 f/2.8 L USM was only 70 euros more expensive). Finally i decided to go for the bigger zooming amplitude (i.e., more "walkaround" style lens) and the IS (after all, i already have an EF 50/1.8 and en EF 85/1.8) ...










More full-res samples available in this Flick set, as soon as i will have some spare time to publish them ...