Bessa L, M39 Heliar 15mm F4.5, mostly expired Superpan 200

[ForenSeil]

Again this is more a test than serious photography, but maybe someone is interested
The camera- lens- viewfinder combo is very small so I was able take it everywhere with me
I took these shots within 2 days.

Negatives were digitalized from a cheap light table by NEX-5N, Rodagon R 75/4 @ about 1:2, automatic exposure, JPEG, DRO/HDR off
PP was fast inversion with IrfanView, cropping and "automatic" button in Lightroom 3, not more - I forgot to remove the slight color cast but white balance of the NEX was good enough.

Of course there is much more possible with PP but first I think the light source and the exposure are more important to improve first.
This was also my first try of my new Repro-Rodagon . The pics were shot at 1:2 and cropped afterwards. Resolution is already at 1:2 quite impressive and it should be theoretically improved lot at 1:1. (My next try will be at 1:1,5 - more magnification would crop my pics as the NEX has only a 1,5x crop sensor)

One Roll Superpan 200 (expired about 1 year ago)
17min in 1+50 Rodinal at 20°C
Film was exposed at 166 - 100 ISO. The lower ISOs produced much better results. That's maybe due expiration or digitalisation method as usually 17min development should be enough to reach ISO 200. Light was metered TTL so it's not a problem of transmission of the lens.

1

2

(this is min. focus distance, ~30cm)
3

(This is a crop from a crop, this lens is very sharp especially in center)
5

6

8

9

1/30s or 1/15s, lowlight - this lens as a lot visible distortion when it's used wrong
10

11

12

13

14


Some more shots with
Ilford Pan 50 (expired about 10 years ago)
11min, Rodinal 1+50, 20°C
Film was exposed at ISO 33-42

1


2

Now the results got very weird! The film overlaped a lot in the Bessa L! Only the first 3-5 shots of the roll whole roll were usable

PS: Kenrockwell said this lens has low distortion. But I fact I see a lot distortion. On film even more than on NEX. But hey, practically every affordable fullformat lens below 18mm has visible distortion, right?

[rbelyell]

wow thats pretty cool, that you did the whole process on your own like that is great. the lens is amazing too, ive seen 28mm's with more diatortion! i cant wait to use my newly arrived cv15 on my bessa t....

how did you get the 'negative' film image into a 'positive' state?
tony

[mmelvis]

You handle this lens very well, the distortion produced by the lens adds nice character to the images. 1,3,and 14 are the best of the group.

[IAZA]

thanks for share, great pictures

[izvar]

Good results!
Like 2,3, 12,13,14... etc.

[ForenSeil]

[rbelyell]

thanks FS, i never heard of IrfanView, i will google it. i cannot manage scanners at all, so i have been thinking about this kind of setup. what lens would you recommend for use with 2x crop factor of m4/3? must it be an 'enlarger' lens, or could i use a good 35-50 set to small
aperture like f8-16?

EDIT just found out irfanview is windows only! arghh! i use apple...
tony

[ForenSeil]

[rbelyell]

thank you FS, it was very nice of you to be so generous with your expertise. much appreciated!
tony