Aldis Anastigmat f2.5 85mm

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Hi folks

This is an old English projector lens I have mounted inside a modified M42 tube, it focuses nicely but won't quite hit infinity.

To my eyes, it's lacking sharpness and the bokeh is bland and flat, I'm not seeing anything interesting but I thought I'd show everyone to see if anyone else spots any potential in this thing and thinks I should give it another chance...

Might be useful as a soft portrait lens I suppose...

martyn_bannister · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 1151

Worth doing, just so you (and we!) now know what the results were. Thanks for sharing.

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3437 Location: Netherlands

I tried with a Zeiss Talon (85mm 2.8 ), adapted in the helicoid of a stuck Mamiya 55mm. No aperture constructed, so only WO. Infinity OK. Not very good for general purpose, suited for portraits IMO.

In somewhat hazy light:

(I have no real portrait available)

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Thanks Martyn. There are so many projector lenses for peanuts I figured it was worth trying one.

That Zeiss looks to have a lot deeper dof than my Aldis which has a painfully shallow one.

martyn_bannister · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 1151

The Zeiss looks excellent IMHO.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I thin projector lenses have no coating, so you should always expect some (or much) flaring when using them as camera lenses in a sunlight situation.

fuzzywuzzy · Expire: 2013-11-30

I'm totally guessing here, but could you DIY an aperture disc out of stiff paper? You'd end up something like the lensbaby, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lensbaby-composer.jpg

I'm not sure where you'd fit the disc in your setup but you you seem pretty handy Smile

scsambrook · Expire: 2011-11-18

Most projector lenses made after the early 1960s are coated - I sold lots and lots of projectors in the mid-60s and so speak from experience. But a lot of them were mounted in aluminium barrels with no blacking at all, so that plays havoc with the results on a camera.

The majority are three elements, and weren't even much good as proejctor lenses until quarz halogen lamps came along. With those, the tiny filament effectively lets the lens work at a reduced aperture when it forms the image. If you compare a 300watt mains projector with a 12volt 100watt one, the difference is pronounced - equal brightness, less warm tone and noticeably sharper. However, when used on a camera things aren't so good!

I have a Leitz Colorplan 90mm f2.5 mounted in a bellows unit which gives a sort of 'dreamy' out of focus background - I'll look for some results and post one or two when I have time. But there's little depth of field and I don't think it would replicate the results of the Talon.

I guess an 'aperture disk' would act just like a Waterhouse stop - it would give different results mounted in front or behind the lens. I must look that up to see what the difference actually would be.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

There's a lot of noise in the images so hard to make an exact judement, but I can see some uses for this lens.

Flora & portraits could be interesting.

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3437 Location: Netherlands

If I remember me well the Talon was a rather cheap, used in large numbers in very common projectors.The Talon is better then I expected, but weak in backlit situations, better nearby then at infinity.
The Colorplan had a much better reputation as projector lens in that days. So it coold be a pleasant surprise, worth a try.

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Projector lenses, one place still left for us to seek bargains. Leica Colorplan and Elmarit both kick ass for sure.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

About the noise, it was a horribly dull day and the camera was set to ISO 400, I then turned up the brightness slightly in PP.

My EOS seems to create a lot of noise so I'm trying to stick to ISO 100 now to avoid it.

I keep seeing some very nice high-end projector lenses going for 20-30ukp that were 2-3000 originally, often brand new, some of these interest me for wide angle work, but I wanted to try a cheaper projector lens first.

This one ibviously isn't great but I will try it again on a day with some more sunshine, if this rain ever ends!

I nearly bought a Zeiss anamorphic 35mm projector lens for 25ukp a couple of months ago but passed as it had a 72mm barrel thread mount. Would have been cool for landscapes but i doubted it would have hit infinity.

Anyone know what the registers are on 35mm projectors?