HISTORY IN BLACK AND WHITE

[FUJI]

Once again, that tiny vintage PALINAR  f 4 - 100 mm showed its mettle.

A historic corner a very short distance from our house; shot during a very short walk yesterday afternoon.

Converted and processed in P S CS 6 using targeted Contrast Grading, on flattened layers, plus a touch or three in NIK Efex. then a final targeted sharpen.

( Mods.....why does only part of my pic show when I click for the larger version?)

FUJI

 

[Clicker]

It all shows for me Fooj ......

[Ryewolf]

All showing for me also - nicely rendered mono as well.

[kev7d]

I like what you have done with this image.  Nice composition and some good tones.  

[FUJI]

Hi, Tom,

First off ...a huge thank you for taking an interest in my work and how I produce it.....now to answer your questions.

The building is just a small corner of my close neighbour Kenilworth Castle, dating back to circa 1126...this corner is Medieval....too long a history to go into here ..Google/YouTube will give you all the answers...we locals get a free pass.

Vintage Lenses...since the appearance of M/4/3rds cameras, they have become more than popular, because the Chinese have developed a whole range of adapter rings to fit almost any camera/lens combo....DSLRS take old lenses too.

The advantage is that you get a beautiful bit of glass that would have been very expensive in its day, for peanuts...the one used here cost £10.....most cost between £50-£500 depending on model. 

Once fitted, you have to set to....Shoot W/O Lens to go fully manual, which means focusing by hand as you do with binoculars....you can set to Zone Focus to give you set distances  or Hyper focal which gives focus from around 5 ft to infinity....play with aperture wide open, and you get beautiful separation/ DOF.

I collect those having the old Leica M39 thread mount....or...the old zenit M 42 thread.....there is a huge range available, especially ...beautiful JUPITER and HELIOS lenses made in post war Russia using tools and machines captured from the ZEISS works in Nazi Germany....the Russians made exact copies of Leica lenses until the KATE 1960s or even later.

If you have a full frame sensor camera, they work and feel exactly the same as a contemporary lens.....they also work on M/4/3 rds camera’s But you need to double the focal distance because of the smaller sensor.

How do you find out more?.....learn as I do by watching the huge number of informative video tutorials on YouTube ....there are many excellent tutors amongs many who aren’t.

Ebay, is the main source with Russia and the Ukraine the favourite places for professional sellers, one in particular is a great guy.....Charity shops and Boot Fairs are other sources...but...buyer beware....fungus and sticky aperture blades lurk in the undergrowth. Many collectors...not me...enjoy dismantling, cleaning and restoring vintage lenses.

I love what they have to offer creatively.....I think that they make you a better/thinking photographer, because they enforce a slowing down, giving time to think and to compose.

..... set Hyper-focal distance right and you have an instant-in focus point and shoot.

Have a good look at You tube videos on our local Castle....or go on to Google Earth and give me a wave.....then explore the amazing world of the....Vintage Lens....careful, you might get hooked.

FUJI