E.Busch Rathenow Mod. Ki 135mm, Visionars father?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

Here are some samples from Emile Busch Rathenow Mod. Ki 135mm projection lens. Some sources attest that "Ki" goes for "Kino". The copy is slightly beaten but renders nicely.

The lens is pretty small, fitting more common 135 slide projector dimensions. But it is old enough to be part of another system. Is it an actual predecessor of Visionars? Probably not, neither for its size, nor for the optic formula which I ignore. Imagewise it looks a part of the lineage.

Put on Nex, with help of Chinese helicoid.

#1 Close-up

#2 Another close-up, with a more progressive exposure of OOF

#3 Further

#4 Even further

#5 Close to infinity

#6 A simple BW conversion

A quick comparison of the same subject, at a distance of couple of years and in different light conditions. The first shot is Busch Rathenow, the second is Visionar 1.6/84 cropped to fit the comparison.

#7

#8

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Very nice! I like these experiments with various old lenses. Just good fun and sometimes you find real gems doing this. This lens is certainly sharp enough and like virtually every lens from the era has a distinct look due to lack of contrast. Renders quite nicely IMHO.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

You are totally right, old and "unpredictable" lenses offer a real pleasure of experimenting.

I'd rate the lens' contrast as medium, other than low. For instance, Helioplan shots are much less contrasty SOOC.

Here is a couple of unprocessed (except resize) samples from Busch Rathenow 135.

#1

#2

Ultrapix · Joined: 06 Jan 2012 Posts: 552 Location: Italy

As clearly evident from photo number 7, this lens has a strong concave field curvature, which generates a lack of sharpness at the edges with flat subjects, but which could be useful for photographing the inside of domes Very Happy

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

I am now feel myself obliged to shoot in a dome! Smile

Not a dome yet, but a geometry configuration which confirms your observation. Orthogonal bars are all-in-focus.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

As promised, some dome shots. It works with quite a large surface curvature. Less effective with 3D compositions, like in #5.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

I also tried the lens for street photography. It works pretty fine at different distances (with autocontrast apllied).

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1614

And finally, shots taken under strong light and converted into BW are pretty spectacular, with a vintage flavour.

#1

#2

#3