The Great Cheapo Lens Challenge - 2 (Super Travenar 2.8/28)

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

I forgot to mention this: Something is really wonky about this lens, Peter. I have a bunch of those $4 M42 to K adapters from China that allow infinity focus but also are mis-threaded so the lens over-rotates about 1/3 turn. This lens doesn't. It lines up perfectly. It also lines up perfectly on the M42 to EF adapter on the RT and on the Mamaiya/Sekor's native threads. What gives? I would expect it to under-rotate 1/3 turn on everything else if it lines up perfectly on the K adapters.

kukhuvud · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 7:14 pm Post subject:

I'm looking forward to receiving the 2nd lens! This is great fun Smile

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

more pics to come this weekend! I develop film on Saturdays. In the interim, there's a whole album of pics linked in my post. I just don't want to post tons of pics from each camera and hog the thread. Smile

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

We're not looking for art here Wink

The idea is to go and shoot pictures, quick and in one go if possible. Let's see what the lens can do. Shocked

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

I wouldn't be able to ship it till Saturday anyway, so I figured why not make the most of it this week. Better to be out and about than sitting home this week.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Here are my definitive five photos from the Super Travenar! One note, I haven't gotten the Kodak Gold developed yet, so if a photo from that roll is stunning, I may post one more tomorrow.

Also, I have some great shotrs from the Mamiya Sekor outing, but need to thin the negatives first. Holy cow are they overexposed. Silly stupid overcast skies.

1- Building

2- Portrait

3- Street Scene

4- Close up

5- Landscape

I had the hardest time getting a landscape with this lens. For some reason, none of my landscapes were any good. Also, this lens is very contrast-heavy in monochrome. Here's a link to the album of photos with the Canon RT:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102333270936007447976/RT11712

And here's the Pentax K-7 photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102333270936007447976/K711612

And here for the Mamiya/Sekor 1000DTL (almost none turned out.)
https://picasaweb.google.com/102333270936007447976/MS11912

Lastly, for the K1000:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102333270936007447976/K1K11812
*Edit to add K1000 link*

Friday I ended up not taking the lens out for a fifth day because of the rain. I figured no one would be pleased with me if I shipped it with moisture inside and it molded. Anyway, it is on it's way now to Cooltouch.

stingOM · Expire: 2012-12-27

Folks, you some nice shots here with that "crappy" lens. I like David's one on 3- Street Scene best. Man that Super Travenar is really bad!! Shocked

To my eyes, it is way worst than the Optomax 28/2.8. When stopped, you get really nice clear picture and quiet sharp too. It seems to me that one of the lens elements may be de-centered!

hoanpham · Expire: 2015-01-18

I m in.

just a few questions/clarification:

Can i do whatever mean to bring the best result out of the lenses or is there limitation?
I don't do photoshop, but some adjustment of black level, wb, minor sharpening should be ok right?
Filters, hood, bellow, whatever addon is ok right?
Any limitation of image size?

With this speed, I think i'll have the lenses in autumn.

decentered element you say?

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Anybody have news from Michael (cooltouch)? I hope all is well...

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

We're trying to reach out to him. He hasn't posted in a while. Last I heard from him was 21 January when I let him know the lens was coming. I sure hope everything is okay, too. He's a pretty frequent user, so to simply disappear is concerning.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

I still haven't heard from Michael. My PM is still in my outbox and he hasn't replied to the letter David sent him by post over a week ago. I'm sorry for everyone waiting. I don't know what else to do now, it's very frustrating.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

PLEASE NOTE - THE CHALLENGE IS NOW CANCELLED

I'm grateful to the members who passed the lenses on to the next person quickly, but very sadly not everyone has co-operated and the delays are too long. I wanted all this to be snappy (pun not intended) so it could be completed before I go on extended vacation to Australia, but at this rate it will take over two years before everyone has tried all the lenses.

There are two members currently holding lenses and both have had them for over a month. One of them answered my PM a week ago but still hasn't sent the lens on as requested. The other has disappeared altogether - my PM of 23 Jan is still in my Outbox, he hasn't responded to a letter 2 weeks ago and a phone call was unsuccessful. I'm very disappointed they don't share my wish to avoid keeping people waiting. I didn't expect to have to keep chasing people and I'm not willing to continue.

If, like me, you are still waiting to try the lenses I'm very sorry to disappoint you.

Special thanks to David for the help and support he gave me trying to get in touch with Michael, and to anyone else who has helped. I will send PMs to each of the current lensholders giving instructions where to return them to their owners but I can't guarantee you'll ever see them again.

Crying or Very sad

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Okay, first off, I guess I should start off by apologizing that I dropped the ball here. I got caught up in a project over a month ago that basically monopolized all my time, but still that isn't a good excuse. I should have made the time to get out and take a few pics and then pass the Travenar along. Instead, it sat on my desk, forgotten, as I ran myself ragged on this project. I haven't even had the time to check my email until a few days ago. Unfortunately, the project still isn't complete, but at least I made a crucial deadline a few days ago, and now at least some of the time pressure is off my shoulders.

My apologies especially to Peter and also to the rest of you for stalling out on this Challenge. I am perfectly willing to pass the Travenar along to the next person in line if you folks would like to see the challenge continue. I have contacted Peter via PM, informing him of my situation, and his last reply to me was that he was giving some thoughts to the matter.

I don't mind admitting that I'm an outdoor photographer. Always have been and likely always will be. To compound matters, the weather around these parts has been miserable for the past month or so -- cold, overcast, and rainy. Finally, we're starting to get some sun. This being Houston, it means that by late February winter is over and most of the trees are leafing out and flowering shrubs are already in full bloom. I took advantage of this situation yesterday, and managed to capture shots of some of our flowering shrubs with the Travenar and my Focal 28mm f/2.8, which I have also offered to distribute as another cheapo challenge lens (I bought it for $3). Me, I think the differences between the two lenses are quite interesting. Both are a tad soft wide upon, but quite sharp when stopped down to f/8. Wide open, though, their behaviors are quite different. The Focal exhibits nice discrete, round OOF highlights for its bokeh, whereas the Travenar is a lens that tends to produce swirly bokeh with its OOF highlights.

In my next post here, I'd like to show images taken with the Travenar at f/2.8 and f/8, and I'd also like to add the images I took with the Focal 28mm for comparison. But perhaps I should start a separate thread for the Focal? Does anyone still care to see the Challenge continue?

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

I'm really looking forward to your shots and all the others yet to come. I might counsel to place the Focal shots in that challenge thread and link each post to the other.

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I am just glad you are ok and it was only work that kept you away.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Fearing the worst and hoping for the best, the best pops up once in a while! Cool

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

PLEASE NOTE - THE CHALLENGE IS NOW ACTIVE AGAIN

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Are people taking this seriously ? I certainly hope not ! Laughing

My initial idea was to send the lens around and for people to just get out there and use it in one session, no filters, no PP, and pick the best results of a few basic types of techniques. I think it's interesting to see how different people use an unknown lens, and see the results from the lens AND the photographer, not from the processing.

It's interesting.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Okay, I'm finally getting to check back in. Following are some shots I took with the Travenar. Just a few grab shots -- they're pretty short on photographic aesthetics. As Peter recommended, I will go ahead and send the Focal off to Carsten, and will hold off uploading my images. Both the Focal and the Travenar will be going out in tomorrow's post.

Subject: A variety of azalea flowers taken with the Travenar. They are in pairs, the first shot at f/2.8, and the second at f/8. I think you'll see what I mean about the swirly bokeh and the slight softness at f/2.8, both of which are gone by f/8. The Camera is a 10.1 mp Canon XS (1000D). I used Live View to insure reasonably accurate focusing. All images, except for the rose, were taken at ISO 100; the rose was shot at ISO 400. Other than reducing image size for display here, no PP was done.

Oh, and a solitary yellow rose.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Just a quick update. The Travenar went out in yesterday's mail to David. It went via USPS Priority Mail, so David, look for it tomorrow or Monday.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Sorry for the confusion -- and my balky memory. Yes, the Travenar went out to Eugene in California.

pst · Expire: 2013-08-17

Hi!

Unfortunatly I have been off MFlenses for some months, due to work. But, now I'm back.

When I left, the challenge seemed quite dead. It's alive now, albeit somewhat chaotic Wink

After reading this thread, I take it, there are two lenses going round, the Travenar and the Focal. Peter PMd me, that I'll be up for the Travenar soon! How cool, looking forward to that!

To get back into the swing of things, can someone post links, to the running threads, I don't know what to look for anymore - "cheap lens" "crap lens"...???

EDIT: Stupid me, I just found the threads in the Café.

Many thanks!