Taylor-Hobson 3 inch f/1.65
As for many of these 16mm projection lenses there is not much information to gather. This 75mm lens almost covers a full frame sensor. It has a classic Petzval optical design with 4 elements in two groups, giving it the classic swirly bokeh. This means also that the focal plane is curved (also called field curvature), which makes it difficult to nail focus especially at the edges of the frame. This can be quite hard to work with, and it takes some time getting used to. At least for me personally. The lens itself is also super easy to take apart to clean and it’s mainly made out of brass, which surprised me a bit.
Adaption
This lens has been in my drawer for a long time. I tried adapting normally with existing parts, but soon found out this lens needed some special more expensive parts. Which at the time I didn’t want to spend. But the lens eventually piqued my interest once again.
The main problem was finding parts that were compact enough to be able to focus to infinity. I had about 40-50mm to work with. I also found out that the normal M42 super slim adapters for E-mount would not fit. This is because the projection lens is 42.5mm in diameter. I found a handy 52mm to E-mount reverse adapter, that is usually used to reverse lenses to the camera body for macro work. Then I had to remove a bit of the threading from the projection lens for it all to fit. I also had to remove a small amount of metal from the reverse adapter. With this I had to find a small focusing helicoid that was M52 at both ends. Unfortunately I could not find this any cheaper than about $60-70. With this the lens was ready for usage, with infinite focus.
These are the parts I used to make the adaption:
- 42.5 – M52 clamp adapter from RafCamera
- Compact M52-M52 focus helicoid
- 52-52mm female reverse adapter
- 52mm to E-mount reverse adapter
Lens Characteristics
It acts like a normal 16mm projection lens, sharp in the center, and because of the field curvature it gets more and more unsharp the further you go from the center. This makes it especially hard to nail focus. Also if you get long enough away from the center it will be impossible to even get the subject 100% in focus. Either way it works great for portraiture photography, and the blurry effect the field curvature gives helps in this regard. In my opinion.
The lens has been coated in some way, which means it is a little better for flare control when shooting at high contrast surfaces and towards the sun. There is still a large amount of lens flare, but this also can be used for your advantage.
Bokeh is especially important for lots of people shooting with projection lenses. The bokeh characteristics of this lens does not disappoint, with lots of swirly bokeh. And with almost a full coverage of the image circle at full frame the bokeh becomes even more pronounced.
Summary
I absolutely love this lens, it feels sturdy, the images are beautiful and it is relative easy to operate. 16mm projection lenses that (almost) cover full frame sensors have always had a special place in my heart, because they are far and few between.
Pros
- Sharp in center
- Good contrast
- Coated optics
- Swirly bokeh
- Almost covers full frame
- All metal body
Cons
- Heavy field curvature
- Unsharp edges
- Destructive modification
- A bit hard to adapt
Gallery
Meopta 50mm f/1
I first and foremost bought this lens for the speed, but fast lenses do not equal great bokeh. Don’t get me wrong, it is a fun lens to use, and it’s special because of the fast speed. For me the bokeh at some instances, especially when the subject is placed far away from the lens it becomes too busy at the edges. It goes from a more normal oval shape to a triangular shape, which in my mind is not ideal.
Adaption
Basically to achieve infinity focus with a mirrorless camera you have to remove a large part of the lens barrel. The barrel extrudes from the optical section so it is a straight forward job, you frankly don’t need a lathe or anything specialised tools to do this. The backside is not visible so I just used a normal metal saw to remove the barrel section that extrudes from the lens. Normally you have to glue the back element back in, but because I used a handheld metal saw the two parts were fused together like glue. With this it is straightforward for the rest of the adaption process, you need a 52.5mm clamp adapter to something larger than 52.5mm. I used a M65 adapter and a M65-M65 helicoid, and the usual step up rings and slim M42 to E-mount adapter.
These are the parts I used to do the adaption
- 52.5mm to M65 clamp adapter from RafCamera
- Generic M65-M65 focus helicoid
- Generic 42-65mm step up ring (0.75mm pitch)
- Generic super-slim M42 to E-mount adapter
Lens Characteristics
For being a f/1 it’s not expected to be a sharp lens, but credit where credit is due, this is not the most unsharp lens I have tried. This was meant to be used on a 16mm film projector, so it is not totally fair to complain about sharpness.
The image circle is tiny even compared to most other 16mm film projection lenses, not being able to cover a normal APS-C sensor at infinity. Then again I wouldn’t usually shoot at infinity with a projection lens, so in most cases it will cover an APS-C sensor.
Chromatic aberration is a normal problem for projection lenses, this lens is not the exception. There is a strong blue and purple aberration on high contrast edges and it can be tricky to control this. It is so strong that Lightroom is having a hard time trying to mitigate the effect.
The lens also has trouble controlling the lens flares, even when being in the shade. The bright sky reflecting into the lens can be enough to have a substantial loss in contrast at the bottom half of the image. So mounting a lens hood would be helpful in this regard.
Summary
I have mixed feelings about this lens, it is fun to use, and shooting at f/1 is always an event for me. But I keep coming back to the same thought, that I only use this lens because of the f-stop and not the lens characteristics itself. The lens is special only because of the f-stop, in my opinion.
Pros
- Ultra-fast
- Fine for portraiture
- Easy to use
Cons
- Covers only APS-C
- Unsharp
- Not great flare control
- Chromatic aberration
- Triangular and busy bokeh
- Destructive modification
Gallery
P. Angenieux Paris 60mm f/1.2
P. Angenieux lenses have that special aura for many vintage lens users, but for most people they are unobtainable. They are in high demand for camera and lens collectors, and because they also are quite rare, the prices are often too high for most people to spend money on. The one exception is projection lenses, these Angenieux lenses are often quite cheap when compared to normal photography lenses. This is because collectors usually don’t care much for projection lenses, and for a long time especially the projection lenses for 16mm film could only be adapted for close macro work. In the last 10 years with the mirrorless cameras booming, these projection lenses have suddenly become usable and somewhat sought after again. Also many of these projection lenses were cheaply made and often light sensitive. These are also most often made with the Petzval design, with 4 optical elements in two groups. And for many vintage lens shooters this optical design swirly bokeh comes first to mind. But this 16mm projection lens is not usual. Firstly the lens is highly light sensitive with an aperture set at f/1.2. Usually you can find cheap 50mm f/1.2 projection lenses, but not 60mm. Furthermore this is not a petzval design, but it still gives a more reduced swirly bokeh.
Apdation
For the lens to be at f/1.2 the back elements have to be close to the sensor. This is normal for these kinds of projection lenses. In short this means the lens will go beyond the shutter blades, which means you have to shoot in silent mode only. I had to do a small modification to this lens to make infinite focus. Firstly there is a small metal ring that does protect the back optics, this has to be unscrewed. Secondly you have to remove a tiny bit of the threading on each side for it to pass the 24x36mm opening in the camera. But to worries, the metal ring can still be screwed in place, because you only take a bit of the threading.
In regard to doing irreversible modifications on the lens I am for the most part against it. I rationalize it with if this modification is not done, the lens is again obsolete. It will be stored somewhere dark and not have new light shined through it. I’d rather do this modification than not to use it, if that makes sense? Also this lens has no real collectors value and is therefore relatively cheap.
There are three ways of focusing this lens. The cheapest way is to DIY it normally, with plastic piping, glue and tape. This works but it is not ideal.
There have been some products popping up that are basically adapters for projection lenses made from plastic.
Lastly you could buy specialized parts on eBay to have a normal focusing helicoid. This is the method I like to do. Usually these parts have a high range of usage, not only for this exact lens, but usually I can use the same parts for multiple different lenses, also this method is non-destructive, no need to glue the lens to a make-shift focusing tube.
These are the parts I used to make the adaption:
- 52.5mm to M65 clamp adapter from RafCamera
- Generic M65-M65 focusing helicoid (25-55mm)
- Generic 42-65mm step-up ring (0.75mm pitch)
- Generic slim M42 to E-mount adapter (1mm pitch)
Lens Characteristics
Firstly the lens is sharp, sharper than other f/1.2 projection lenses I’ve tried. It has a less noticeable field curvature than usual, probably because it is not a Petzval optical design. This means I can shoot more off center, which gives me a bit more playing room for placement of the subject.
The image circle is small, this is one of the big downsides with this lens, it just about covers the normal APS-C sensor size. You could probably shoot ASPH at portrait distance. But for me I prefer shooting APS-C on my Sony A7Rii with this lens simply because I get distracted if I see beyond the image circle. It gets harder to compose the shot when I have to guess where I’ll crop in post.
Bokeh often has a lot of character, this is for the most part quite pleasant. It can get a little busy when having trees in the background, basically where there are high contrast small differences in the background. But for me I don’t mind it that much. The bokeh is swirly, but lacks the normal symmetrical oval shaped bokeh that I am used to. This lens has a more semicircle look to it, the further you go to the edges.
It does not take kindly to the sun, with uncoated glass be sure to shoot in the shade or try to adapt a big lens hood. It does not like high contrast shooting either, with some flaring and a lot of chromatic aberration at these high contrast edges.
Summary
I love this lens, it’s fast and sharp. Easy to use. It is for no part perfect, if I was looking for perfection I would have invested time and money on modern gear. I like the challenge of having to work around the lenses limitations and weak points. And not to mention the Angenieux name gives the lens a bit more street cred.
Pros
- Mostly sharp
- Good contrast
- Less noticeable field curvature
- Pleasant bokeh
Cons
- Shoot only silent mode
- Small image circle
- Chromatic aberration at high contrast edges
- Uncoated optics
- A bit hard to adapt
- Destructive modification
Gallery
Carl Zeiss Contarex 21mm f/4.5
The Carl Zeiss Contarex 21mm f/4.5 is my widest of my Contarex set. This is a rare symmetrical wide angle design, that was later scrapped for the more forgiving and easier to work with retrofocus design. The copy that I have got found in an old teak drawer in a to be demolished estate, returned to inheritances and sold at an auction locally. The set consisted of 8 Contarex lenses and two Contarex cameras, all in a pretty good condition. The original owner was a rich but not famous photographer who lived here in Norway in the 60s. These gems could have easily been destroyed and forgotten if it were not for the demolition workers who found them. Personally I had to sell most of my previous vintage lenses and cameras to even afford this Contarex set. Goodbye classical Takumars, Canons and Yashicas.
Assembly / camera lens compatibility
Contarex lenses are generally easy to adapt to modern mirrorless cameras.Sony E-mount, Fuji X-mount, Micro Four Thirds, Leica M, Canon RF-mount and others can use these lenses. Even if you don’t find an adapter for your system, maybe it is possible to combine two adapters, like Leica-M to Fuji G-mount. Therefore it is also possible to use an autofocus adapter like the Techart autofocus adapter, for people who are not comfortable with shooting manual.
What makes these adapters potentially more expensive than others are the fact that it must control the aperture directly from the adapter itself. The Biogon 21mm f/4.5 is one of the exceptions of this, with full aperture control from the lens itself. But normally you can’t control the aperture from the lens itself. If you are already investing in these more expensive vintage lenses and intend to actually use them, I would invest in a good adapter. I have tried the cheap, but I couldn’t settle before I bought a used Metabones adapter.
Lens overview
Build Quality
Build quality is as expected for old Zeiss lenses from West-Germany. Sturdy, all metal, about 280 grams (400 grams with adapter). It is extremely compact with a small form factor.
Optical scheme
This is an ultra-wide angle lens with a symmetrical lens design. This means it has to be very close to the film sensor. I don’t know why lens manufacturers stopped using this particular optical scheme, but I suspect it is the fact you can’t use normal SLRs without an extra external viewfinder.
Minimum focus
With its small size, comes its first drawback: Because the lens has to be so close to the film plane, and is at the same time wide angle, it makes room for focusing small. Focus is at minimum 1 m, which is not great for a wide angle lens that often needs to get close to subjects. My solution for this was easy, buy a cheap Leica M mount to E mount with a built-in focusing helicoid for extra focusing capabilities. When using the adapter I can get to about 15 cm from the subject, which is a huge improvement. This technique can be used on the other COntarex lenses too, but for now, I haven’t felt the need to.
Focus / aperture blades
Unfortunately my copy is pretty slow on focusing and controlling the aperture, I don’t know if it is supposed to be this hard, but I suspect it is not. The helicoid grease is simply turning hard. This is something that can happen with these lenses from this time, it is something about what grease Carl Zeiss used at that time. Basically don’t store your Contarex lenses in high humidity and warm places. Let’s hope my other Contarex lenses don’t go stiff, because repairing them won’t be cheap.
There is about only 12 mm of space for both focusing and aperture control, this makes it even more hard to operate, so when I actually am using this lens, I prefer using only the extra focusing helicoid in the adapter.
Lens characteristics
Sharpness
The lens is very sharp at f/4.5 and improves up to f/16. Corners get better to f/16, but it will never get perfect. Which has to do with the lens design, it is simply too close to the sensor, the angle of attack in the corners are too steep. I have read that it is more sharp in the corners when shooting analog.
Vignetting
For the same reason the lens is not sharp in the corners it also vignettes heavily. For modern times this is not a problem, not for me at least. When editing the photos in software like Adobe Lightroom you can easily remove lens vignetting, normally it is removed at about +50 on the scale (of +100).
Distortion
Because of the symmetrical lens design there is almost no distortion to speak of.
Chromatic aberration / Flare
There is little to no chromatic aberration, even in high contrast surfaces, corners are unsharp but no chromatic aberration or flares.
Color rendition
There is high contrast and good color rendition throughout the image.
Summary
Pros
- Lightweight
- Compact
- Generally sharp in center at f/4.5
- Little to no distortion
- Little chromatic aberration
- Good color rendition and contrast
Cons
- Minimum focus 1 m with no extra focusing helicoids
- Not sharp at corners on digital sensors until f/16
- Vignetting at all f-stops
- Not light sensitive
- Shoot silent mode (without shutter)
- If shooting analog external viewfinder is a must
- Included lens hood visible in corners on full frame
Gallery
Rodenstock TV-heligon 50mm f/0.75
For years now these industrial super-fast lenses have been on the back of my mind. I am a self described bad photography gear head, obsessing over lens manufacturers and specs, using more time searching for good deals on lenses than actually using them. This is why I always wanted to try adapting these somewhat affordable fast monsters. But one thing always held me back, and that was the fact that most images I could find was frankly uninspiring, boring fuzzy macro shots at best. So I couldn’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on unpractical medical equipment.
One day last year I got the chance to buy two X-ray lenses for around $200 from a local camera entusiast that probably had the same hope as me. This was cheap enough for me to give them a chance and see what I could do with them. The first lens was a Rodenstock XR-Heligon 75mm f/1.1 and the other was a Rodenstock TV-Heligon 50mm f/0.75. I quickly found out that with my Sony A7Rii I could not use the 75mm lens to achieve infinite focus (max 3-4m), this was because this copy had too large of a back element for it to get past the shutter blades. That left me with the 50mm f/0.75. This has a back lens that is tiny, tiny enough to get close enough to the sensor to achieve infinite focus. The problem was to adapt this I had to make an adapter that was not thicker than 4mm, and this without any specialised tools and a low budget. If you think you can free lens this lens, forget about it. You will scratch your outer sensor filters (I am speaking from experience).
At this time I found out that one of the standard 82mm metal lens hoods for tele lenses that can be bought on eBay fit the lens exactly. With this I could make an adapter. Unfortunately there are no one at this point that mass produce step-up rings that are 42-82mm, closest was a 43-82mm. I could combine a 49-82mm step up-ring, 42-49mm step-up ring and then a slim M42 to E-mount. Only problem with this was I could only get to about 2m focus. Not good enough.
My only solution to this was to force the slim M42 adapter and the 43-82mm step up ring to fit each other. This was done by grinding the threading down on each piece. Then I could squeeze these with force to make them fit. I was surprised I didn’t need glue or epoxy, it is only held in place with friction. Believe me I’ve tried to take them apart again, but I simply can’t do it. To achieve infinity focus with this setup I had to remove a small amount (about 1-2mm deep) of aluminium at the end of the lens threading. This was done with hand tools and sandpaper.
The last problem to solve is how do I focus. It could be done either with 3D printed parts to make a basic helicoid, but from previous experience this is not ideal (nor pretty). I noticed that on the 75mm f/1.1 that I could not use had a big threaded piece that was most likely to screw the lens inside the machine it was used on. This could also be used on the 50mm f/0.75. With grinding the diameter down I could easily fit this piece inside the 82mm lens hood, again held in only with friction. Now I had focus and it could do infinite focus. I also wanted an actual lens hood for my lens, but it had no threading on the front of the lens. I used the same method as when making the adapter, with using a shorter reversed 82mm lens hood and some tape to hold it in place. To reverse the threading I used a 86-82mm step down ring. Now I had a good and secure way to add filters of my choosing, a front lens cap and a lens hood.
Below is a visualisation of how i adapted this lens and how it focus:
Lens and camera compatibility issues
Finally I could actually test out the lens. If you are just after the most blurriest bokeh ever, this is not the lens for you. It may be f/0.75, but because the image circle covers only at best APS-C it is more like an 75mm f/1.0. It’s also a tense experience using this heavy beast, I always use a battery grip to have enough room to hold the camera with my hands. But the main drawback is the flange distance. To use this lens you have to shoot in silent mode, this means that the shutter blades don’t move, if they were to move, I would have destroyed my camera in an instant, because the shutter blades would have smashed into the back element. Sometimes when turning off the camera, or it runs out of battery, it may in some cases shut the shutter blades for a “timed” pixel remapping session. That means every time I turn off the camera down there is a slight chance for the shutter blades to fire. I wish there was a way to disable this feature, but after consulting with some other Sony A7Rii users I found out that it’s not possible. The only solution I could find was that you could force a pixel remapping session to take place. This is done with changing the date 1 month forwards. So every time I go out with this lens, I force this to session to occur. This gives me a bit of peace of mind, but there is always a slight chance it will fire the shutter. So because of this when I want to turn off the camera I focus as close to minimum focus distance as the lens lets me. this makes the back optics move to a more secure position, hopefully enough to be a safe distance from the shutter blades. One other small thing to note is that to dismount this lens I have to use a tool of some kind to push down the lens release knob on my camera, there is not room for fingers between them.
Lens characteristics
As you might have guessed from the text above, this is not an easy lens to handle. It doesn’t help that the actual focus plane is wafer-thin. But this is not the biggest issue if you are used to shooting manual and with the benefits of a digital viewfinder to get a 1:1 zoom off the final shot.
After using this lens for a good month, I am still perplexed about the lens characteristics. One thing I am fairly certain of is that the lens is sharpest when the subject is more 1.5-5m away from the camera. anything less than 1.5m will become very unsharp and makes highlights glow. This is quite funny when thinking about almost all other images I could find that people have taken with lenses like these are in the extreme macro range. No wonder why I and other people think of these lenses as a piece of garbage. When you actually get going, it is just like any other lens I’ve used.
The edges of the images will never be in focus, this seems to be a design feature as I think these parts of the image circle were never meant to be used. I suspect the actual format this lens should shoot at is MFT or smaller. It gives a weird circular effect, not like swirly bokeh, something completely different. It reminds me of some of the images taken with old Helios-44-2 lenses with the back elements reversed, only the Rodenstock is sharper in that regard. In some shots the bokeh is more bubbly, almost like one of those mirror telephoto lenses.
For those people who are wondering how this lens performs at low light, it’s about the same as any other fast lens, nothing ground breaking. You still have to bump up the ISO, just a bit less than normal. With this I mean there is little benefit to buy a f/0.75 lens for its low-light capabilities alone. As this is said, I am no expert in optics, so I don’t know how to measure the T-stops, maybe the actual T-stop number is far less impressive than the F-stop number.
If you have some advice, information, requests or questions about this lens please don’t hesitate to contact me, I want to learn more.
In conclusion
I will most likely never learn to understand the lens, but that kinda makes it more fun to use, I will never quite know how the final results will be. All in all it is totally impractical, hard and sometimes stressful to operate. But there is something that draws me back to it, maybe it is a sense of discovery and fascination that this industrial lens can actually be used.
Pros
- Light sensitive
- Fun
Cons
- Big and heavy
- Flange range too short for comfort
- Focusing is awkward
- APS-C image circle at best
- Inconsistent performance
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