Universal diaphragm lens holder....images from lenses used

Abbazz · Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Posts: 1098 Location: Jakarta

I started using my adapted bellows with some lenses bought from SurplusShed.

First, I tested some "micro" lenses: Wollensak 50.6/6 Micro Raptar, Tomioka 53.65/4.5 Tominon, Boyer 20/1.5 Jade, Fuji 25mm 24x). The Wollensak Micro Raptar and the Fuji 24x were the best lenses, which is not surprising as they are the "real" micro lenses of the lot, the other two being cine projector lenses. The Fuji seems able to reach very high magnification levels but I have to devise some proper illumination device.

Then I tested the lenses that I bought to be used at normal distances: a Wollensak 138/4.5 Graphic Raptar (Tessar formula) and three Cooke triplets of unknown brand designed to be used in projectors: a big 5''/3.5, a medium sized 95/2.8 and a smaller 95/3.5. The Graphic Raptar was good, but this was barely a surprise. The surprise was that the Cooke triplets were quite sharp. As these lenses were designed to be used in projectors, they have no diaphragm, so they are always used wide open. Here are some pictures taken with the sharpest one, the 95/3.5 (pictures straight from the camera, no post processing at all except resize):

Full size crop of preceding picture:

Good quality triplet lenses have a very nice rendering (think of the Trioplan) but they are usually quite fuzzy wide open. This one is sharp enough, yet it exhibits the smooth rendering of the triplets. I guess I have to try this tiny lens for portraiture. Here is a picture of the lens linked from the merchant's website:

Cheers!

Abbazz

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

Nice! In the first pics there is this wonderful (actually aberrative) "glow" (as you can see in the crop pic).

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

Thanks Abbazz. Your reviews really interest me.
Your Ultimate weapon work very nice.
I tried some novoflex and rodagon in M39 because they are easy to adapt but your samples from lenses I never heard about look wonderful.

Richard_D · Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 2378 Location: Faversham Kent UK

Fascinating project and characterful shots Very Happy