Mir-1 -- Surreal, Soft, Pop

[1kgcoffee]

Original Mir-1, taken wide open at 2.8




Images unmodified from raw. No bumping up the saturation in lightroom and no CPL filter believe it or not. It is soft, with eye popping colour that look almost like a painting. Beady OOF highlights. No sharp edges. The word that comes to mind here is 'romantic'

[SonicScot]

I'd say that these are either completely out of focus or there's a problem with the lens, sorry.

Or, are all these lenses like this? I don't have one so can't say really.

[peterqd]

[1kgcoffee]

Edit: previous pics had identifying information.
Could be age or maybe I got a dud copy.. what do you think of this test? Focus on the blue tag on orange bag at 2.8 and 5.6 with AF confirm adapter. AF confirm through viewfinder seems to produce a backfocus (dog images), but live view focusing with magnification (this test) is much better. I don't know if this is a problem with the camera (t5i) or lens? Also I used a lens hood this time.

1/640 F2.8 +1 external flash
http://imgur.com/W0JbYNy,ZWWo6oE

1/320 F5.6 +1 external flash
http://imgur.com/W0JbYNy,ZWWo6oE#1

[bernhardas]

The focus confirm can the same way be affected by small alignment differences like the normal AF with AF lens.
(It uses the same system)

It might therefore necessary to calibrate and use AF fine tune adjustment even for manual lenses. (as long as you use the AF confirm)

Just do not forget to set it back to zero when the lens comes off.
(I am a certified "Grandmaster of Forgetfulness to Reset Camera Settings")

[PhantomLord]

Hi,

My two copies of Mir-1B are pretty good at wide open and significantly better closed a little. As Bernard said - AF confirmation could be wrongly configured with a body.
I have Canon 600d and have been fighting with AF confirmation chips for a few months, but found out it's just not as reliable as LiveView focusing. If you prefer, however, to use AF confirmation chips and AF confirmation, my tip for you is to use only crosstype AF points (in 600d it's central point only, I don't know about the 700d), if your camera doesn't have AF micro calibration in body - buy EMF AF confirmation chips which allow you to set micro regulation within a chip, not body.
I only rely on AF confirmation chip when I'm shooting some high-speed action, where LiveView is not fast enough, i.e. car races. I only use one particular adapter with one particular lens and with such combination you could do AF confirmation micro calibration, save it in the chip and have adapter prepared for particular lens and body.
Remember that if AF confirmation works perfect at one lens it could be completely out of use for the next lens.

If you're shooting something more stationary I recommend focusing with LiveView with "Magic Lantern" software for Canon cameras (which has plenty of aids for manual focusing, like automatic 5x or 10x enlargement of focusing point while halfpressing shutter button, focus peak, focus zoom etc.) and to make using LiveView bearable and even quite convenient - buy a LCD Loupe (it's absolutely stunning piece of equipment if you're going to use LiveView conveniently).

Mateusz

[rudolfkremers]

Also, in my opinion, autofocus confirm beeps are actually not that handy, as its hard to stop focusing right at the beep. I don't bother with it now and use manual techniques aided by Magic Lantern.

I think the colours in your original photos are a bit flat and cold actually, which is typical of this lens in my experience. It gets worse though when it flares across the image, which happens a lot.

Having said that, the Mir also produces SPECTACULAR fun flares under certain circumstances. It's an interesting lens, but not that easy to fathom at times.