Saturday, November 23, 2013

Canon 35mm f1.5

The fastest Canon 35mm lenses in the rangefinder section, the Canon 35mm f1.5 ltm. I couldnt really find much info about this lens except that its made in 1958 and its 8 elements.
The price of this lens has soar much recently due to its collector value.

I managed to find a nice copy with the help from Benny...
Canon 35mm f1.5 ltm

This lens is much more compact than i have thought it will be.
Canon 35mm f1.5 ltm

The funny thing about shopping in Japan's camera store, sometimes the owner will offer you a camera body as a "rear lens cap" and price for the body are usually good....so in this case, i got the Canon 7 as well.
Canon 35mm f1.5 ltm

I just loaded a roll of film...and time to bring it out for some street shoots....
Canon 35mm f1.5 ltm

Friday, November 22, 2013

Random Shoot

My only and favourite compact camera currently

Nikon 28Ti

Nikon 28Ti

Nikon 28 Ti, Kodak Colorplus 200

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Familiar faces

Its good to see familiar faces once awhile on the street. I met this man almost a year ago and recently while going back to the neighbourhood, we saw him again with his bicycle.

A Color Negative developed with R09

Resting his feet, he told us that he cycle daily and goes as far as Jurong on his bicycle...
A Color Negative developed with R09

Canon 7s, Canon 35mm f2.8 ltm
Efiniti UXI 200, R09

Monday, November 18, 2013

A Mistaken roll of Color Negative - Developed in R09 (Cross Processed)

The problem about bulk rolling of B&W film is that, one needs to be more diligent in classifying and storing the film. I am a little lazy in this part of the process...and as a result, there is a roll of film which i mistakenly took it for a B&W...only till i reel it into my developing reels did i discover it (No scotch-tape!!).

Well, there is always a first time for everything...and so instead of reeling it back into the cannister, i turned it into Sepia by cross processing it with R09 developer.

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed with R09

A Color Negative developed in R09

Canon 7s, Canon 35mm f2.8 ltm
Efiniti UXI 200, R09

Sunday, November 10, 2013

A new Perspective - Canon FL 19mm R

I bought a new lens....I bought a Canon lens....but this round, its not a Leica Screw Mount lens.

It all started when i read about the various lenses that Canon produced for its rangefinder series and i realised that the widest lens that was produced was a 19mm f3.5 lens.

Benny owned a nice copy of this lens in ltm, but given the price of it now, its definitely out of my reach...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ngminchai/4566863629/

So when i started googling, i noticed that for the 19mm, there was a total of 3 versions produced. The ltm was one of it, and then a FL 19mm was build for the SLR and followed by a later copy FL 19mm R (which stands for Retrospective).

Quoted off here
World's highest quality super-wide-angle lens with the fastest lens speed of f/3.5 in its class. Because it is a retrofocus type, through-the-lens focusing can be performed, and the entire 96-degree field of view can be recorded on film. Optically, the various aberration compensations are excellent. It is especially free of astigmatism and image distortion is held to less than one per cent. Therefore, clear and sharp images are possible to the outermost edges, and overall sharpness is superb. It is a lens that is regularly used by professional photographers.

I found my copy thru evil bay. Seller was nice to help out with the cheaper shipping but took me super long to discovered that it has arrived..
Anyway i was looking at the FL instead of the FL R, given that the size seems slightly smaller but nonetheless...

Same optical performance, yet a fraction of the price of the ltm and FL versions
Canon 19mm FL R

Canon 19mm FL R

Oh and not to start a new set of system, i got the Canon Converter B to use it on my Leica M. Well, by mounting it on the M, its not rangefinder coupled....so in a way, unless you are confident of your zone focusing, if not, the choices of FL lenses on the M bodies are limited to only wider lenses...
Canon 19mm FL R

Mounted on my M4-P, its as heavy as the Canon 50mm f1.2 ltm mounted on my M2.
Canon 19mm FL R

Well, it totally attracts alot of attention on the streets...

The pictures from this lens is a totally new perspective for me. The widest lens on street that i had used most often is the CV 25mm f4 and while i tried shooting the same way as the 25mm lens, it didnt really work out well for me.

To get the similar framing, i need to shoot at 0.5m on this 19mm lens compared to focusing at 1m on the 25mm lens. Of course, why should i shoot it like the 25mm lens? I should change a new perspective in shooting!
So here are some pictures that i took over the weekend..
Canon 19mm FL R on Leica M4-P

Canon 19mm FL R on Leica M4-P

Canon 19mm FL R on Leica M4-P

Canon 19mm FL R on Leica M4-P

Its really a once in awhile lens to carry out on streets. I still prefer the compactness of the CV 25mm f4 on streets...maybe i should explore landscape with this lens. As far as i noticed, the distortion is little...


Leica M4-P, Canon FL 19mm R
Kentmere 100 @ 200, HC110

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

(Nippon Kogaku) Nikkor 3.5cm f2.5 LTM version

As i sold away my Nikon S2 setup, i kept this little nikkor lens in my dry cabinet. Yes, its a LTM version and one lens that i am reluctant to let go. It served my lust for a separate nikkor setup and still provide one of the very best image quality.

I bought this lens in September 2011 but i could not find an entry on this lens in my archival...
As far as i know, this little lens has the same optical spec as the S mount version. As per kenrockwell described, its a 6 elements in 4 groups, symmetrical design with two cemented doublets on each side of the diaphragm, 2 additional single elements in front and back. 8 reversed curved blades

Fit on my leica M2, its tiny..its light and its not easy to change its aperture...
IMG_5552

IMG_5553

Talk about its performance, its an amazing lens with superb IQ

While going thru my dry cabinet, i found this lens in one corner and took it with me to SEA aquarium and in low light condition, i shoot mainly wide open at f2.5.
nikkor 3.5 cm 32

SEA aquariam

SEA aquariam

SEA aquariam

SEA aquariam

Ask me if i will sell away this lens? Definitely no! At a fraction of most lenses price..this lens display a true character for itself. Sharp, high contrast and great tones especially for B&W film shots...

Leica M2, Nikkor 3.5cm f2.5 ltm
Kentmere 100 @ 800, HC110

Monday, November 4, 2013

Visit to Pulau Ubin

Its been almost 6 years since i last visited this island. Nothing much changed since then...still a lovely quiet island to get away from the fast paced urban life...
Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin

Nikon 28Ti, Kodak Colorplus 200

Saturday, November 2, 2013