Kodak Ektar 3.5/50, a decent shooter

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

I've got a separate Kodak Ektar 3.5/50 which must come from a pre-war Retina, the same as in this post. Two glasses are damaged inside the front group, towards the lens' borders, but this does not prevent from a nice and estonishingly sharp rendering, working especially well for portraits. Colour rendering looks also pleasing.

The following shots are taken WO, the lens being put on Sony Nex with a Chinese helicoid and an adapter ring. Shutter lamels are immobilized with a small piece of metal put inside the Compur mecanism. Minor contrast and luminosity tweaks are applied.

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#4

#5 Simple BW conversion

simple.joy · Joined: 30 May 2022 Posts: 644

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

An insight into Kodak Ektars can be found here https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Kodak_lenses
As I remember from my Kodak collecting days, the Ektars were fitted to Retinas primarily for the US market, whereas the Schneider lenses were mostly used for the European market, possibly for tax avoidance purposes â€¦ maybe simply because of parts availability.
Kodak were quite the manufacturer to be reckoned with in their heyday Wink

serkol · Joined: 26 Aug 2012 Posts: 926 Location: Belarus

Nice!

The similar

http://forum.mflenses.com/kodak-ektar-anastigmat-5cm-3-5-kodak-retina-t84195,highlight,%2Bkodak+%2Bektar+%2B3+%2B5+%2B50.html

Oldhand · Posted: Sun May 07, 2023 10:11 am Post subject:

Beautiful.
No such thing as a bad Ektar.
Congrats

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Thank you so much for your comments, fellows!

Sergey, I've seen your wonderful shots (as well as the ones by Attila) which helped me to decide whether to go for another 50mm lens.

Thank you for the useful link, kypfer. According to it, this Ektar is a "4-element Tessar type ... another highly corrected lens which gave superb results in Kodachrome or black-and-white".

To my eye, it gives another rendering as compared to Tessars and Xenars which usually give higher detail and more vivid colours. In some way, it renders closer to a projection triplet or Mir-1, although with a much better overall sharpness. So, even a greater is the pleasure to use it getting shots that feel different.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

After having made more real life shots I start suspecting the lens' formula is not Tessar but rather Heliar. Muted colours, bokeh type and in-focus to OOF transitions look similar to an enlarging Ektar I tested.

Here are some of my recent shots, mostly WO, with auto-contrast applied.

#1 Contrast boosted more

#2 In-focus to OOF transition

#3 The chipped front glass is translated into not perfectly round bokeh circles

#4 At f5.6

#5 Sooc jpg at f3.5, example of a moderate flare with a directly reflected sunbeam

serkol · Joined: 26 Aug 2012 Posts: 926 Location: Belarus

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Thank you!

Here is a couple more shots.

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#2

serkol · Joined: 26 Aug 2012 Posts: 926 Location: Belarus

BrianSVP · Joined: 09 Jun 2023 Posts: 354 Location: Philadelphia

Very nice. The little brother to the legendary Ektar 40mm f/2.0 Ektars found on the Kardons and some Retina IIs.

I've always loved the rendering of the Ektars from this period.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Thank you! I've never seen results from Ektar 2/40, and internet does not seem to be a rich source for this lens. Do you have some samples to show?

The 3.5/50 muted colours and Heliar-like rendering give a luxury look.

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calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7581 Location: Hong Kong

Kodak made some very good lenses at that time. This one was no exception.

BTW, I have a Retina IIs with an Ektar 47/2.0. It should be an interesting lens from what I have seen on the internet.

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

I've looked at some samples from Ektar 2/47 in the net, which look fine. Do you have yours? I'd be really interested to see them.

BrianSVP · Joined: 09 Jun 2023 Posts: 354 Location: Philadelphia

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1674

Would be really interesting!