Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!
SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

Projection Lens Yields Faux-Vintage Results
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:32 pm    Post subject: Projection Lens Yields Faux-Vintage Results Reply with quote
I was trying out a projection lens I recently got from China that took more than four months to get here (Northern India). Initially I was quite disappointed with the results: lack of sharpness in focused areas, vignetting at the corners, poor contrast. However, it has amazingly dreamy bokeh which any portrait photographer would be happy about. My preliminary results suggested there was no way I was going to use this lens, but then I realized it yields amazing faux-vintage (circa turn of the last century) types of images. Here is a picture of an Indian boy I took this afternoon with my Sony A7ii.

Please also tell me which version you prefer.

Thanks,

Charles


#1


#2


#3


Last edited by charley5 on Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:15 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That's very good indeed, congrats for a nice find! Is it a vintage or modern projection lens? I didn't think there is/was a rich production of projector lenses in China.


PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:
That's very good indeed, congrats for a nice find! Is it a vintage or modern projection lens? I didn't think there is/was a rich production of projector lenses in China.


Thanks Alex. It is a vintage type, German in origin. He simply refurbished the mount to fit on a Sony mirrorless camera.

-Charles


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
To my taste, #1 is more convincing (in terms of stylization), and #3 makes think of Life magazine from the early 1950s.

Anyway, I find all the three variations great, showing that the "vintage" effect is sustainable and comes from the combination of OOF / glow-in-focus transitions.

I remember, some fellows here don't see much sense in exploring "bad" lenses, as long as there are so many perfect ones. For me, imperfections have their own sense and open a whole field of aesthetic study. Including an important sub-field of imitation and stylization. At the final count, photography as art started from imitation of painting. So, one of the noble challenges for digital photography is to imitate old emulsions that were imitating panting, isn't it?


PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
alex ph wrote:
To my taste, #1 is more convincing (in terms of stylization), and #3 makes think of Life magazine from the early 1950s.

Anyway, I find all the three variations great, showing that the "vintage" effect is sustainable and comes from the combination of OOF / glow-in-focus transitions.

I remember, some fellows here don't see much sense in exploring "bad" lenses, as long as there are so many perfect ones. For me, imperfections have their own sense and open a whole field of aesthetic study. Including an important sub-field of imitation and stylization. At the final count, photography as art started from imitation of painting. So, one of the noble challenges for digital photography is to imitate old emulsions that were imitating panting, isn't it?


Agreed, Alex. These vintage images connect us to a far more innocent age, where photographic technology was at an infant stage. Our ideas of technical perfection sometimes lose sight of more ephemeral qualities, such as the subtle atmosphere expressed in a picture. I think faux vintage photography seeks to re-capture some of these more subtle aspects.
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
Page 1 of 1