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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

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Hanimar 55 1.4 M42
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:17 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:17 pm
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Any info on this lens? I found nothing on the forum, google didn't help much either.


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:27 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:27 pm
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Didn't found much about it either but here you have some samples:





By the looks of it it should be fairly similar wide open to any other 55mm. Stay wide open for artistic effect, close it for sharpness, just like any other lens, 1.4 or not hehe

another

And another!


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:34 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:34 pm
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Thanks for the samples, doesn't look too bad.
A while ago I sold my 50 1.8 AF lens and now I'm panicking that I won't have a fast enough lens to use inside churches etc. The only 1.4 I have is an 85mm, much too heavy to run around with while on holidays.


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:02 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:02 pm
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This will probably be the same lens as the Chinon, Auto Reflecta, Porst branded models.


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:20 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:20 pm
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ManualFocus-G wrote:
This will probably be the same lens as the Chinon, Auto Reflecta, Porst branded models.


If that is the case I have an Auto Reflecta and it is one of the so-called "Tomioka clones". To be honest I do not use it much and much less since I got my Nikkor.

Anyway, any 55mm f/1.4 you can find will do the trick, just don't hope you'll capture much more light, it is not that much of a difference. Depth of field will also be so shallow you will miss the focus on lots of pictures too, it is a trade off.


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:31 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:31 pm
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What I currently have is a 50/2 MF Nikon and 17-50 2.8 AF Tamron. Would you recommend to stick to them rather than try to get some 50/55 1.4 on a budget?


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:33 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:33 pm
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If you need a stop of extra light then go for it Smile I found the Super Reflecta 55/1.4 to be a bit soft wide open though.


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:39 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:39 pm
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The Nikkor S.C 1.4/50 is very good.
But I don't know wether it works on a Nikon body or not.


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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:53 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:53 pm
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Olivier wrote:
The Nikkor S.C 1.4/50 is very good.
But I don't know wether it works on a Nikon body or not.


It will work on the lower end models AFAIK e.g. D40, D50, D60, D3000, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100


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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:02 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:02 am
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Right, I can't mount any pre-Ai lenses on my D90. I also just read on the internet that the highly recommended Tak 50/1.4 I was considering won't have infinity focus on my Nikon even with a glass adapter Sad No good.


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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:55 am
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:55 am
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Why don't you buy an ai or ais 50/1.4 then? They will work fine.


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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:29 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:29 pm
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I will, as soon as I find one reasonably priced and with "shipping within EU" option Smile


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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 3:42 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 3:42 pm
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Lena wrote:
Right, I can't mount any pre-Ai lenses on my D90. I also just read on the internet that the highly recommended Tak 50/1.4 I was considering won't have infinity focus on my Nikon even with a glass adapter Sad No good.


The Takumars reputation was created by Mike Johnston, former editor of "Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques". and current editor of this blog: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/blog_index.html

Mike also created the current Bokeh craze/obsession in 1997 from three articles published about it in the aforementioned "Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques". I have chided him about this several times, one time over breakfast near his home in Waukesha, Wisconsin (Mike and I are friends, and I wrote some material for him in the 90's, so he allows me to take him to task:))

When I tested a good clean copy of the Takumar against the "univerally hated" Canon EF 50mm F 1.4, I could not find any circumstance where I prefered the Takumar-wide open, stopped down, harsh light, flat light, available light, closeup, or distance shots, it did not matter, I liked the results from the Canon more everytime. So I wouldn't fret too much on adapting a Takumar to a Nikon-go for the clean Nikkor, I believe you will be much happier in the end. Cool


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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:44 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:44 pm
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But you'll be missing addictive Takumar's gamma brain-boost effects then!


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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:31 am
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:31 am
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I wasn't aware that the 50 1.4 from Canon was universally hated, I have actually read good reviews.

No lens will be very good wide open, at least sharpness wise, and one must learn to accept that if 90% of the usage of that lens will be wide open as I am sure most of us do.

There is also the assumption that a 1.4 lens will be sharper at ~1.8 (probably 2.0) than a 1.8 wide open. Ok, if that is the case you don't need any 1.8 just a 1.4 that will be slightly (or very) soft wide open but that will get much better once stopped to 2.0 and you can still take it to 1.4 if you like.

Anyway, this is a bit offtopic, I know.


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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:01 am
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:01 am
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ChromaticAberration wrote:
I wasn't aware that the 50 1.4 from Canon was universally hated, I have actually read good reviews.
Which is precisely why I put the term "universally hated" in quotation marks. Go check out the hate for this lens in any Canon forum, especially when the topic of this lens vs. a Sigma 50mm F 1.4 vs. a Canon 50mm F 1.2L is discussed. The EF 50mm F 1.4 is constantly bashed for its weak AF system, and its "crappy" bokeh.

.


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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:16 am
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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:16 am
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I have this lens, here it is:



It has the same performance as my Porst Color Relfex 55 f/1.4.
Soft, and with a lot of aberrations wide open. But sharpen up dramatically at more than f/2.8, a very contrasty too.

Here are two photos, first one is a f/8.0 HDR, second is f/5.6:










My copy has a very solid build, much better than the Porst. However the focus grip as you can see is kind of ... weird. It's slippy, made of plastic not rubber.[/img]


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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:33 am
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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:33 am
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Ah yes, there is another important comment on this lens I must make. The oof rendition of this lens is very brush-like. Sometime I use this lens with focus near infinity to mimic a painting, like in this photo:



Photo only increase vibrance with PP


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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:27 am
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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:27 am
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DavidLame13 wrote:
Ah yes, there is another important comment on this lens I must make. The oof rendition of this lens is very brush-like. Sometime I use this lens with focus near infinity to mimic a painting, like in this photo:



Photo only increase vibrance with PP


A very interesting effect.
Thanks for sharing it.
Cheers
OH
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