A numerics for our old lenses?

Hello,

Yes, I know. With such a title for a topic, I am certainly a bit late...

Until now, I have always posted photos made with a good historical couple, generally a 1938 or 1941 Fed S with a prewar or wartime Fed or Zeiss lens. But I am a bit tired to wonder if the cameras are perfect (of course it's not the case), if the mount of a lens gives the good register, why the photos are not as they should, etc.

So, probably a numerics (Sony Nex 5?) would be a cheap solution to check a new lens, or to compare several lenses, without being obliged to send all that for a complete regulation to the specialist...

What do you think? Note that I am not such a purist: my prewar Feds are only "fed" with colour rolls...

Thanks. Jacques.

If you want to save money I recommend SONY NEX 6 because it is equipped with viewfinder. You can buy it from second hand. Crop is 1.5x.
There is Olympus OMD serie but mattrix is smaller with crop 2x.
Fujifilm is really good system (crop 1.5) with X-trans mattrix but models with viewfinder are more expensive than SONY NEX 6.

If you have the money, I recommand without hesitation Sony A7.
For very few money, you can get a Nex-3 (no viewfinder), which has a good sensor. I sometime use mine when I want some photos with lenses that do not cover 24x36.

+1 for pierre. the a7 can be set to crop mode as well. have a look at my website www.a7camera.com.

www.a7camera.com www.120folder.com www.instantphoto.eu

Hem...
I don't have the money, but if I sell a Leica...
I really was on the Nex 6 track, but now I wonder.

Thanks to all. Jacques.

So I will add few arguments for and against A7/NEX 6. This may help you.

If you want to use manual lenses viewfinder is necessary becuse I cannot focus precisely on small screen. I'm not 20 years old already.
So you have to buy sth with viewfiner which is:
1) NEX 6 (APS-C) medium old, quite cheep, AF weeker than A6000, 16 Mpx sensor, OK for old lenses
2) NEX 7 (APS-C) too old and too expensive
3) A6000 (APS-C) the newest, good AF, more expensive than NEX 6, too big sensor 24 Mpx for old lenses
4) A7 (Full Frame i.e. 24 x 36) If you have enough money this is the best solution but:
If you want to buy AF lenses for 4) you will have to sell your house, to sell your car would be probably not enough ;)
For 1), 2) and 3) you can buy quite cheep AF lenses.
Point 4) accepts Jupiter 12 while you cannot use J 12 with 1), 2) and 3) because of rear lens which comes deeply to the cameras. Nevertheless image produced by A7 and Jupiter 12 is not acceptable because J 12 is not telecentric.

Jacques, if you have any question feel free to ask here.

if you go for an ordinary used a7, it's not that expensive as there are new models on the market. as alfa says, it's simply the best. the focus assist is fantastic. it's small and light. you see what you get, no calibration of rangefinders any more, no hard to see rangefinder points, squares or diamond shapes.

so with a couple of nice old lenses you would not want a modern one. and in case of, there are cheap canon to sony adapters which work fine except a slower autofocus. as assisted manual focus is much better than on an old reflex camera, you are fast in manual mode. except for professional sports photographers I think that autofocus and the number of focus points is widely overestimated.

all the others should have a second or two to compose a nice photo...

www.a7camera.com www.120folder.com www.instantphoto.eu

may I add Ricoh GXR with the Leica-M module to this list? It is old but among the APS-C cameras it is the most friendly one to the old lenses. You can use Russar MR-2 with it. Jupiter 12 as well, I think. Can be foung for 200-300Ђ. The main disadvantage is that the electronic viewfinder is too rare and expensive

Alfa2, results with Jupiter-12 on A7 a acceptables according to me. But I don't know your level of tolerence :) .

Thank you much for all these information!
I have well understand that a 24Mpx sensor is not necessary. And, on the contrary, a viewfinder is a necessity to focus correctly.

BTW, with a nex6 and a LTM lens for example, I suppose that the couple diaph/speed is manual too ?

Jacques.

I agree, 24 mp would not be necessary. BUT: I do not agree, that an APS-C sensor would do. when I made my first sample picture series with an APS-C sensor, I was disappointed: wide open the picures were a bit soft, as usual, at F 8 they were o.k. and at F 16 or 22 they were blurred, unusable. something wrong with the camera? I consulted several forums, the answers were all the same: this is normal! if you are interested, here is why: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm the problem is called diffraction. as nobody told me before, a warning: only the luminous lenses which are sharp at F 8 are usable on APS-C sensor cameras.

and there is another problem: the crop factor. if you are into wide angles, there are nearly no usable russian lenses left. only the 20mm mir would give you a 30mm wide equivalent, the russar is too dim to give usable results. if you have time to read, have a closer look at my a7 camera pages, it's all explained, there are big sample pictures for every lens and there are pictures taken with the A6000 APS-C camera as well...

www.a7camera.com www.120folder.com www.instantphoto.eu

He he...
A Sony A7 should come here in some days. Really, I was not on this track. But I have spent some time on Helmut's and Pierre's sites: they have convinced me. And I have lots of other lenses to mount on the A7, including my (too!) beloved Canon FDs. Thanks to them -I don't forget Alfa.

This thread deserves to remain open, I think. Certainly I am not the only one to need advice concerning that matter. Perhaps myself when I will receive the A7...

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Congratulation Jacques.
I use NEX 6 because I wanted to be able to buy AF lenses to the camera. This was the priority.
And I paid about 350e for my camera with quite good kit lens.

Pls share some photos taken with A7 and russian lenses.

http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/2452017_DSC00070.JPG

I really think that this type of camera can be a future for our old lenses. Probably many of you have known that since a long time, but I discover...

This photo was made with a 1951 Jup 1,5/5cm and the Sony a7.

Amitiйs. Jacques.

I have enlarged the photo.
Wow !!
The lens produces very sharp image.

Which aperture did you use on this photo ?

f4 for this photo.
Yes, I am surprised too. It's a Jup 3 with Zeiss internal markings. More interesting, the front glass looks green.
I will make comparisons with my different lenses later...

Jacques.

This would be very interesting to compare different Jupiters 3.

mes fйlicitations, jacques! nice to hear that you joined the club. you will have fun, I'm sure.

www.a7camera.com www.120folder.com www.instantphoto.eu

xya, widest I use Zenitar 16 fish-eye with an adapter on my Fuji X-Pro2. Fantastic lens. On APS-C would give you a very nice 24mm. And just to put my 2 cents in into this conversation I was torn between A7 and a X-PRO-2 and in the end chose X-Pro2 because it's a just a sheer please to shoot with an optical viewfinder (with digital overlay) and a feel of a real old-school rangefinder camera. All the physical knobs and controls are there versus in Sony (Even though superior in quality and full frame) you have to go through menus to set some things.. the user experience is magnitudes better with Fuji than Sony, for me half the shooting is enjoying the cameras as much as the results.. and Fuji offers all these knobs and buttons with fidget with


Cheers,
Vlad

Yes, I still use Zenitar 16 mm but not with digital camera. I use it with Canon A-1. So I don't care about the lens is not telecentric.
Fuji, yes great system with perfect lenses.

quote:

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Originally posted by xya

mes fйlicitations, jacques! nice to hear that you joined the club. you will have fun, I'm sure.

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Thanks, Helmut. I already have fun!

For the moment, I am a bit puzzled with the shades I usually use with my 50mm lenses: there is a visible vignetting with the a7 caused by these shades. I wonder why. Probably I will have to find a shade for 35mm.

Amitiйs. Jacques.