Finally Domiplan 2.8/50, a lens with character

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

As all humans know, every man once in his life should test Domiplan. I guess my turn came. I've stumbled upon it attached to an old GDR reflex camera, put in a box "all for 5 quids" exposed outside of a camera shop. Put on Sony Nex, then applied autocontrast.

#1 f5.6

#2 f5.6

#3 WO

#4 WO

#5 WO

#6 f5.6, simple colour desaturation

#7 WO, simple colour desaturation

Colour rendering by the lens is really attractive, almost schneideresque, after PP. In some cases Domiplan lets think of another triplet, Iscotar 2.8/50. Meanwhile Isco gives a lighter, bleachier picture. Domiplan renders colours of better consistance (and easier boosted). Yellow and blues do not lack purity. Simple colour desaturation gives nice tone. At f5.6 its rendering of building geometry is not the worst, wide open it generates a vintage feel thanks to sharpness faults, like some other triplets, kind of 50mm Trioplan in its BW version.

In general, I expected much of fuzzyness and glow wide open. There are some, but not at the level of my expectations. I know, that sounds a bit unconventional, but the lens has character.

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2536

you're lucky the aperture still worked. Often gets stuck

macheck · Joined: 30 Oct 2013 Posts: 131 Location: Poland

You've got a good copy of the lens, very nice pictures, #3 is the one for me Smile

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7573 Location: Hong Kong

There are some 50mm triplets with good sharpness at F2.8. Wink

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Thank you fellows! I was glad to get a nicely working copy. I imagine it could be even more precisely adjusted, like some soviet Jupiters. But without a bold practical knowledge that could be destructive for the lens.

Here is a couple more test shots, all with autocontrast applied.

#1 WO defocused

#2 The same at f5.6 in focus

#3 At f4

#4 WO

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

I had a spontaneous allusion of the Domiplan rendering to a projection triplet Rollei Heidosmat 2.8/85. Went to look at Heidosmat shots and acknowledged they are sharper WO. Here is a couple of shots, while the full series may be found here.

The colours is a different story, as I remember to boost more Heidosmat contrast and saturation, as compared to those by Domiplan.

KEO · Joined: 27 Sep 2018 Posts: 774 Location: USA

The Domiplan is a super soap bubble highlight maker too, if you're in to that sort of thing.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

I am not too much into bubbles, giving preference to various urban captures. But this makes me curious, I'll try to get some later on. Thanks for the suggestion.

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2536

Under de right conditions they can be pretty defined (Backlit through foliage)

Bokehplan by The lens profile, on Flickr

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Your sample clearly hits the bubbles target.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

I've got a half dozen of low end enlarger triplets and among them there was a pretty unexpected combination. The previous owner used Domiplan as enlarger lens. That is a triplet aficionado!

#1

#2

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 523 Location: Jersey C.I.

Nice pix

I've got three Domiplans, one in M42 and two (slightly different) examples in Exakta mount.
I tried the M42 lens on an APS-C DSLR a few years ago and wasn't excited â€¦ nothing wrong with it, but nothing special, â€¦ however, the Exakta-mount examples, used on b&w film, are quite nice â€¦ I really need to spend some more time with them Smile

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4745 Location: Cheshire, England

I got one attached to a nice, working Praktica Nova 1B that I got for free. Presently it's airing, previous owner with plug in 'air fresheners' and a hairy dog. Both of which I'm highly allergic to.

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 523 Location: Jersey C.I.

From a couple of weeks ago â€¦ one of my Exakta-fit Domiplans on my Samsung NX11

simple.joy · Joined: 30 May 2022 Posts: 643

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 523 Location: Jersey C.I.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Very attractive and finely elaborated pictures, simple.joy, as usual!

As long as I have now two copies of Domiplan in my hands, I decided to compare them. Put both Sony Nex, no PP.

I found out that the difference is both in edge performance (keep in mind that I used an APS-C, so the FF difference should be even more pronounced) and in contrast.

To make it simple, I noted "clean" my first lens from this post (which some of you qualified as a good copy), and the second came from an enlarger as "fungused" because of fungus filaments on the lens' edges. Still it does not mean the main factor making the performance differ. I don't think this is crucial. This just lets distinguish them.

Click on the image to see it at 100% zoom

I started from infinity test and found out that the Domiplan which was attached to an enlarger was really weak WO. Then I was especially intrigued to see if it performed much better at MFD. No, it smears quite hard the image out of the center, especially in the left part. And even at F5.6 this distortion is kept, as you see in the test shots. It has also more glow than the first, better copy.

Finally the difference between the two copies is clearly visible but not that crucial, and both improve considerably at f5.6. Besides, both gain much from autocontrast applied (not seen in this bunch which was not PP), just as the first pictures shown in this thread.

Jozef_AV · Joined: 24 Sep 2015 Posts: 39

This is a triplet i was avoiding for a while, mostly due to bad reviews all over.
Finally got one...and I like it.
It does bubbles and is quite decent at close up distance ( factory MFD of only 0,75m sucks, have to use focusing helicoid or a small extension tube )

#1

#2

#3

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Nice shots that show well the capacity of the lens!