Hin's Photo Corner

2014-07-08 Posted by Hin Man

Some product shots of the Takumar taken by takumar

Shot wide open with Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8

Shot with Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8 wide open

My current favorite Takumar, shot with Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/4.0 @ f/4.0

Lowpro Event 100 messenger bag carries my sony 5N with 4 takumars -- 28 f/3.5 with lens turbo, 35mm f/2.0, 50 f/4 macro and 55mm f/1.8. Shot with Takumar 50mm f/4 macro.

shot with Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8 wide open

2014-07-07 Posted by Hin Man

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All flower shots were taken by Sigma 60mm f/2 with a Cosina closeup lens and NEX 5n. If you like Sigma 30, you will love Sigma 60. One gripe is on the slippery lens barrel that it will take some efforts to fine tune focus. I really enjoy this lens along with Sigma 30 and 19.

Both Sigma 30 and 60 can't work perfectly well on FF but good enough that I can use it in a pinch with post processing on the vignette corners.

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Here is a picture with Sigma 60 and NEX 5N on portrait

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2014-07-02 Posted by Hin Man

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Some wide open dreamy shots with Fujinon 75mm f/1.8 c-mount lens and my nex 5n in early morning. This is not a macro lens and I use a Cosina macro adapter and the vignette may actually come from my mounting of the close up adapter as the Fujinon has a small built in-hood in front. The lens is the one on the left side next to Sigma 60 and another c-mount with Fujian 35mm f/1.7.

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2014-07-01 Posted by Hin Man

Have a casual walk this morning with Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/4.0 and my Sony nex 5n. All are shot wide open.

All are shot with Takumar 50mm f/4.0 macro alone and without lens turbo on my sony nex 5n. It bugs me that there are different variations of Takumar and sometime I am puzzled if there are significant differences. For example, those Super-Multi-Coated and super-takumar, do they share the same coating as the latter SMC. From what I read in this article from Mike Johnston, they are not the same coating. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-11-24.shtml

The Takumar series of lens is exceptional in its build quality and they offer unique wonderful image quality. And they simply look gorgeous when mounted on any camera. I was extremely lucky to have gotten hold of few copies that are excellent in condition.

The above and following picture were shot with SMC Takumar 35mm f/2.0 wide open. The chrome lens on left is the Contax G 45mm f/2.0 which I also like. The above shot from the 35mm f/2 seems a bit busy on the background

A picture wide open with Takumar 85mm f/1.9

Hope you have a story to share with your Takumar. I am on the lookout to find the 8-element version of the Takumar 50mm f/1.4. I am undecided if the Takumar is a better fit for me compared to Pentax A 50mm f/1.4.

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Hin's Camera Gear

2013-10-12 Posted by Hin Man

My lens turbo with K-mount just arrives yesterday. Here are few quick snaps with NEX 5N and Sigma Super-Wide 24mm f/2.8 shooting wide open in f/2.8.

The return of the full frame field of view is very welcome but at the same time it will take some time for me to get used to original FOV. All in a sudden, my 24mm is too wide. I think it is a good thing, don't you think?

Sigma Super-Wide 24mm f/2.8 on top of Lens Turbo for Pentax k-mount

1/125 sec, iso 400, -1 Ev, f/2.8, hand-held

1/15 sec, iso 800, -1 Ev, f/2.8, hand-held

1/10 sec, iso 800, -1 Ev, f/2.8, hand-held, likely lens flare with some ghosting in the image

f/2.8, some post processing for minor contrast adjustment

Please excuse the poor subjects of testing as I took a night walk and that was the usual time that I have for photography. More pictures will be placed in this flickr set with Lens Turbo .

I did more night shooting with the Sigma and LT in wide open aperture.

1/8 sec, iso 800, -0.7 Ev, f/2.8, 24m, sigma + LT, hand-held

1/60 sec, iso 800, -0.7 Ev, f/2.8, 24m, sigma + LT, hand-held

1/6 sec, iso 400, f/2.8, -0.3Ev, 24m, sigma + LT, hand-held.

I tried to test lens flare on the above picture but so far I have not seen the central blue spot issue that others have reported with Lens turbo in shooting straight into strong light source.

1/15 sec, iso 800, -1.0 Ev, f/2.8, 24m, sigma + LT, hand-held, field curvature issue noted on roof line

To me the Sigma is a great match for my usage. I don't use the combination for landscape. The previous Fire Station No 3 picture may have shown the field curvature issue people noted on the use of LT with the added glass element in focal reduction. I noted the roof line is bent down on both corners. It may be too dark for one to see and here is another sample where one can see the curve line of the roof line especially towards the corners on top.

#1 Brick Wall with FLT

1/60 sec, 58mm, f/2.0, iso 1600, -1.3 Ev, hand-held

Helios 44M-4, Lens Turbo, nex 5N

I am the wrong person tasked to take test shots. I never enjoy any type of shooting aimed for getting a comparison. I enjoy shooting photos to show how a lens can work with me on the field. Maybe I am not a science or nerdy guy who like to compare numbers but rather someone who goes with instinct, the artistic sense and the overall feeling of a lens.

In my short time with the Helios, it is a great bargain but I prefer the Super-Takumar over it as I love everything about the build in the Takumar from the small size, to the finest manual focus ring there is for me to appreciate continuously and the friendly God sent 49mm filter size. With the Helios, I am absolutely lost on the filter size and lens hood, I can't fit 58mm, 55mm, and 52mm lens hood. If you know the Helios lens hood size, please clue me in.

#2 Burger King Menu At Night

1/60 sec, 58mm, f/2.0, iso 100, -1 Ev, hand-held

Helios 44M-4, Lens Turbo, nex 5N

Both my boys are I are on the same page in picking the Pulled Pork in the menu when we discuss the above picture.

3 Flare At Night

1/60 sec, 58mm f/2.0, iso 1000, -1 Ev, hand-held

Helios 44M-4, Lens Turbo, nex 5N

Without the lens hood, the helios will flare beautifully but I have not shot enough to find the artistic sensation with flare. Will try it another night.

#4 Green Light

1/60 sec, 58mm f/2.0, iso 1600, -1.3 Ev, hand-held

Helios 44M-4, Lens Turbo, nex 5N

This one in color. I love the curve line and I focus near and have the lens wide open. The street are pretty much quiet and I will find another interesting scene another time. The Lens Turbo gains one stop of light for the Helios. When I shoot wide open, it is actually f/2.0 - 1 stop and the FOV become 58mm * 1.5 * 0.72 with the focal reducer factor in 0.72. The FOV becomes 62.64mm which is close to the original FOV and the lens get close to f/1.4 at wide open aperture. But of course all at the expense of field curvature and with corner performance going down. I shoot mostly looking for the center sharpness and Lens Turbo fit my shooting well. With the Lens Turbo, all my FF lenses are closer to the FF field of view. Just imagine all in a sudden, my 28mm become a wild angle and a 35mm give me back the normal view in FF.

The older version of the Sigma EX DN 30mm f/2.8 has been my choice of prime in going out. Now that I have the 19mm and 30mm as a pair, the missing Sigma 60mm is on my wish list. Since I already have the SEL 50mm f/1.8 which is a great lens for low light shooting. I will have a harder time to justify the presence of yet another lens.

The Sigma 30mm is outstanding and I never will have thought my best photos with Jelly Fish actually come from this close to $100 inexpensive lens. I wish Sigma come out with more E-mount lenses for the mass that is easily affordable for the common folks like me.

#1 The Dancing Couple

The Dancing Couple by hin_man, on Flickr

1/640 sec, f/2.8, 30mm, iso 200, -1.3 Ev, hand-held

#2 Turn With Lovely Tail

Lovely Tail by hin_man, on Flickr

1/800 sec, f/2.8, 30mm, iso 800, -1 Ev

#3 The Happy Meet Up

The Happy Meet Up by hin_man, on Flickr

1/250 sec, f/2.8, 30mm, iso 800, -1 Ev

#4 The Ultimate Kisses

The Ultimate Kisses by hin_man, on Flickr

1/100 sec, f/2.8 30mm, iso 100, -1.3 Ev

#5 Fallen In Love
Down I Go

Down I Go by hin_man, on Flickr

1/320 sec, f/2.8, 30mm, iso 400, -1 Ev

I absolutely love the series with blue tone myself. It is gratifying to see the jelly fish under the beautiful and unique blue color. I was in awe with the beauty and I lack studying all the detail description of the type of Jelly Fish in the Aquarium venue of the Academy of Sciences museum. The aquarium tank is quite small and this type of jelly fish are moving constantly but not at great speed in a small tank as in 30 to 40 gallon size. Size of the jelly fish is above a small tangerine.

I may not shoot it correctly as I purposely shoot it underexposed by at least one stop and adjust brightness and highlight in post processing to bring out the darker surrounding and bluer translucent color from the amazing creatures. I shot some bigger jelly fish before in Monterey Bay Aquarium with long tentacles and some with smaller size body like a quarter coin but results don't come out nice like the above.

I shot the first few pictures in black and white as I love things in monochrome but they lose the vibrant color in the beautiful and unique blue tones

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2013-01-23 Posted by Hin Man

I bought this a while ago. I will not recommend it highly but it is a usable and cute TC considering its size but there are some caveats and some surprising pluses that I will walk through

The mounting rear end has two legs similar to the auto 110 lens but one side is noticeably shorter and hence the mounting will give a lot of play. It is a big minus if you want to hold the lens still while focusing.

The adapter has an extra aperture hole that seem to stop down the lens

smaller aperture in the inner plate

shorter leg on the TC on left that gives problems of insecure mounting. It may be fixable with some work

TC mounted with Pentax Auto 110 70mm f/2.8

TC next to Pentax Auto 110 50mm f/2.8

Few test shots with 70mm f/2.8 -- very casual test shots with some motion blur due to low shutter

More pictures in flickr set

I find the secure mounting issue to be a problem as it makes focusing harder when the lens is not mounted securely with the TC. It will be nice if I find a way to extend the shorter leg to get it securely mounted onto the auto 110 to NEX adapter.

Hin's Photo Corner

Takumar Beauty -- Shot By Takumar

If you like Sigma 30, you will love Sigma 60

Fujinon 75mm f/1.8 c-mount tv lens

Takumar Beauty -- Super Multi Coated Takumar 50mm f/4.0 Macro

Takumar Beauty -- On Sony A7

Lens Turbo with Sigma Super-Wide II 24mm f/2.8

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