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Bergün with Minolta MD-III 4/17, 2.5/100, 2/135 and 2.8/200
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:02 pm    Post subject: Bergün with Minolta MD-III 4/17, 2.5/100, 2/135 and 2.8/200 Reply with quote
Bergün, situated in the Eastern Swiss Alps near famous St. Moritz (but separated by a barrage of mountains) is a small village known for its most beautiful landscape. Especially in spring and autumn the colors are incredible.

These days, however, when the snow just has left, but spring not started yet, everything looks dull. Grey, low hanging clouds and the brownish colors of the meadows may make you feel a bit depressed. Nobody's on the streets, most hotels are "on vacation - opening on Apr 28", and so are restaurants and shops. In a few weeks the village will be alive again, full of life and energy.

Getting there takes me about four hours. During the last part of the trip I took the famous Albula-Bernina railway which runs from Chur via St. Moritz to the Italian town of Tirano. Those trains are small (1000mm tracks), slow, and powerful: Their most modern ABe 8/12 from Stadler Rail has just about 100 seats, but nearly 4000 horsepowers!

Basically I went there to do a few test shots - in preparation for a day with nice light. Quite often a "grey" day is OK to do some architecture (mainly details), and therefore I took the MD-III 4/17 as well as the fast tele lenses 2.5/100, 2/135 and 2.8/200 with me. Camera was the 43 MP Sony A7RII.






Mountains between Bergün and St. Moritz. A snowstorm is looming. MD-III 2/135mm.





Historical railcar (1958) in front of the railway museum Bergün. Totally 20 seats and nearly 1000 horsepowers. Minolta 2.5/100mm, wide open.




Train from St. Moritz to Chur entering the station of Bergün. It starts snowing, and it is dark. Minolta 2/135mm at f2, ISO 1600 and 1/60s.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


Typical house in the Engadin style: Thick stone walls, small windows, and a large entrance. Many of the houses here are 500 years old, the church was built in 1188. Minolta MD 4/17mm @ f11.


Below: Another one of these large farmhouses. Minolta MD 4/17mm @ f8 or f11 as well.






Another house, decorated with typical sgraffiti. Minolta MD-III 2.5/100mm at f8:



The full size image is incredibly rich in details.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Now a few details. -

First a barn door. Minolta MD-III 2/135mm @ f2. Lots of detail in the original 7950 x 5300 px image, but also visible CAs and fringing (in spite of low contrast). I've been using f2 to blur the forground; at f5.6 it looked quite harsh.




Small basement window, with some simple sgraffiti. MD-III 2.5/100mm @ f8. The full size image, again, is incredibly sharp. The MD-III 2.5/100mm is fully useable on 50MP class FF sensors.



Finally a few entrance doors, all taken with the 4/17mm at f8 or f11:








PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like 1 nice work! Where I live a house is considered old if it is 70 or 80 years. Of course the western European culture that make "permanent" structures only arrived here 160 years ago and nearly all houses are made from wood.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was taking some pictures this afternoon of some standing stones that are probably 15,000 years old or thereabouts.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Some great buildings you captured there. And a nice set of lenses!


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
At the very end of the village, on a small hill, there's the church from 1188. It's interior was re-built and re-decorated around 1500, just before the Reformation took over. Not much later - as a result of the iconoclastic views of the Swiss reformators - these religious images had to disappear. Unlike in other places (Zurich and Bern cathedrals, for instance), where all Christian images and statues meticulously were destroyed -, in the poor mountainous regions of Switzerland the (now forbidden) images simply were covered with a layer of white plaster. At the beginning of the 20th century many of these frescos were re-discovered and restored to their original splendor.

It's quite ironic that the Swiss reformators - who really were pushing the destruction of these "devilish" paintings - have contributed a lot to their preservation. Hidden under a thick layer of plaster these marvelous pre-1500 frescos have survived the centuries, while in catholic areas of Switzerland the frescos usually were replaced with new paintings, thus effectively destroying the previous older frescos ...

Crucifixion. Around 1500, by unknown Tyrolean or Lombardian masters. Minolta MD 2/135mm @ f2. Handheld, ISO 1600, 1/15s.



100% crop from the image above. Pretty OK given the circumstances (135mm, f2, 1/15s, handheld):


Jesus. MD-III 2/135mm @ f2. Handheld, ISO 1600, 1/15s.



MD-III 2/135mm @ f2. Handheld, ISO 1600, 1/15s.




Right wall of the church: Apostles and Jesus. Minolta 2.5/100mm @ f2.5. ISO 1600, 1/15s.



Detail of one of thetwelve apostle (sadly i dont' remeber which one - maybe John??). Minolta MD-III 2/135mm @ f2. ISO 1600, 1/45s.



PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:
Like 1 nice work! Where I live a house is considered old if it is 70 or 80 years. Of course the western European culture that make "permanent" structures only arrived here 160 years ago and nearly all houses are made from wood.


In the area where I live - in Central Switzerland - most traditional buildings (= farmhouses) were made of wood. The oldest, in the Canon of Schwyz, are more than 800 years old, and they are among the oldest wooden houses known in Europe. Nevertheless some owners of these historical buildings managed to take them down illegally because they preferred a new one. I'm not joking. The wooden structure of my own house is about 150 years old, the main part of my brothers house just besides dates to 1628. Wooden houses can get old.

S


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you for these pics taken with most coveted lenses. Your opinion about the 17mm would be very much appreciated.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Beautiful houses! They don't make them like that any more Wink


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
lumens pixel wrote:
Thank you for these pics taken with most coveted lenses. Your opinion about the 17mm would be very much appreciated.


Well, I don't have much experience with other vintage 17 mm lenses.

1) I have been comparing the MD-II 4/17mm with the Zeiss CY 4/18mm side-by side. The Zeiss had slightly sharper corners, but if you crop the MD 4/17mm to the "18mm" image circle of the Zeiss, they both would be equal. To my big surprise, the Minolta hat better colors / better contrast than the Zeiss!!

2) I own the Canon nFD 4/17mm which in terms of resolution, CAs and distortion is pretty similar to the Minolta. Again, the Minolta seems to have better colors (better contrast). Canon FD/nFD lenses often look slightly dull in direct comparison with the corresponding Minolta MD lenses.

3) The MD 4/17mm clearly is better than the Tokina 3.5/17mm. I have published the results here on mflenses.com.

I have been using zooms such as the Minolta 3.5/17-35mm G. the Minolta (Tamron) 2.8-4/17-35mm and the Sony Zeiss ZA 2.8/16-35mm as well as the Canon 2.8/16-35mm III and the AF Nikkor 2.8/14-24mm. I know pretty well how these AF zooms compare to each other, but NOT how they compare to the older vintage MF lenses. I also have been using the Zeiss Batis 2.8/18mm which is nearly as good as the excellent Zeiss Loxia 2.8/21mm, but again didn't compare it to the old stuff.

However, I would say the MC/MD 4/17mm is a nice and capable lens on 24mm FF if you correct the CAs. For landscapes and architecture one should use use f8 or even f11. Distortion is pretty well controlled. I'll post a few more images in another (older) thread dedicated to the MD 4/17mm.

S


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like 1 Like 1

All great images!

Interesting architecture; I had not heard of this style before.

stevemark wrote:
Below: Another one of these large farmhouses. Minolta MD 4/17mm @ f8 or f11 as well.






This one had me stumped for a second. I struggled to understand how the cobbled pavement across the road in front of the house in the top image had turned into a gravity-defying water-canal in the bottom image; then I realised you were standing behind a raised basin with fountain Wink


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
blotafton wrote:
Beautiful houses! They don't make them like that any more Wink


Are you sure?

In 2021 I have reconstructed the foundation walls of my house (they had been removed during WW II to make room for a pigsty): three meters high, 50-60 cm thick, 22 m long - and made from local stones and traditional mortar / plaster. Feels much better than concrete or sand-lime bricks ... we locally still have craftsmen with that knowledge.

S


PostPosted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
RokkorDoctor wrote:

Interesting architecture; I had not heard of this style before.

There's an incredible diversity (REAL diversity, not that woke "diversity") when you look into traditional Swiss architecture.

Sadly, the buildings once perfectly embedded into a beautiful landscape now either have been lost, or are surrounded by boring standard "modern" architecture. Nevertheless, there are still a few places in every region where the traditional small villages aren't completely destroyed. However, there's an enormous pressure on the traditional way of living because business in Switzerland is booming continuoulsy, and 1950-2020 our population was growing much faster than Austria, Denmark, Norway, Germany or Great Britain.


RokkorDoctor wrote:
This one had me stumped for a second. I struggled to understand how the cobbled pavement across the road in front of the house in the top image had turned into a gravity-defying water-canal in the bottom image; then I realised you were standing behind a raised basin with fountain Wink


Correct! Wink

S


PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
blotafton wrote:
Beautiful houses! They don't make them like that any more Wink


Are you sure?

In 2021 I have reconstructed the foundation walls of my house (they had been removed during WW II to make room for a pigsty): three meters high, 50-60 cm thick, 22 m long - and made from local stones and traditional mortar / plaster. Feels much better than concrete or sand-lime bricks ... we locally still have craftsmen with that knowledge.

S


It's good to keep those old skills and fine aesthetics alive.

Over here there is a constant debate on why we keep building ugly square concrete boxes instead of something more pretty in the cities. Even old industrial brick buildings looks better and some of them are saved and converted to other uses.


PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 3:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
blotafton wrote:

It's good to keep those old skills and fine aesthetics alive.


I'll show u a few recently built farmhouses (central Switzerland).

By far most new buildings here are those modern style houses - but there are exceptions. I hope weather will be a bit better during the next days, so I could take images of some of those newly built "old style" farmhouses.

Which lens? Minolta MD-III 4/100mm Macro? Nikkor 2.8/180 ED? Konica AR 3.2/135? Zeis CY 4/80-200mm?

S


PostPosted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
blotafton wrote:

It's good to keep those old skills and fine aesthetics alive.


I'll show u a few recently built farmhouses (central Switzerland).

By far most new buildings here are those modern style houses - but there are exceptions. I hope weather will be a bit better during the next days, so I could take images of some of those newly built "old style" farmhouses.

Which lens? Minolta MD-III 4/100mm Macro? Nikkor 2.8/180 ED? Konica AR 3.2/135? Zeis CY 4/80-200mm?

S


I like those exceptions.

Please do share some shots!

Ok let's see some Zeiss 80-200mm action.
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