M42 wide angle lenses

[laughingstation]

there has been much talk-about among budget shooters that some russian made M42 fount wide lenses deliver pretty good quality prints... can anyone comment on their imaging qualities... pls post somple sample photos... n recommend some models please

[whoelse]

Check my site, I have some taken with Russian M42.
eg:

Mir-47K 20mm
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Mir-37A 37mm
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Industar-61LZ 50mm
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[laughingstation]

hi whoelse, thx for the sample pictures... hmmm you use Pentax series too?!! i'm using pentax k1000... some questions regarding the pictures taken... the picture has very contrasty colors, is it becos of the lense? hmmm any tips in using Pentax KX? and how much will those lenses cost? interested

[whoelse]

These lens are quite cheap. I have an extra I-61, 1 spare SMC-M 50 f.20 kmount and also a new Sakar 28mm 2.8 which I like it also but bought in mistake with C/Y mount haha. Quite reluctant to sell the Sakar...

As for the contrast, I think most people would ignore color temperature which is important in photography. Just like if you take a portrait with your aunty wearing strong contra color like red top blue skirt. the photo will ofcos appear contrasty. Also the color temp of the lighting condition. Otherwise, no matter wat lens or film you use, monotone color will always appear mono.

But then ofcos some lens will stress more color then others. Why I like Russian optics? Other then the M42 and preset that allow me to use on other non screw mount body, the contract it produce really suite my taste and best, there are cheap and solid.

[laughingstation]

hmmm interesting leh... but some discourage buying russian lenses cost majority are not very up to the mark. so is there any specific model of wide angle u would recommend?

Here are some photos taken wif pentax k100 n it original 50mm lense... some how not very sharp... can u help to to take a look? is it lense problem or wrong technique?
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lau...aughingstation

[whoelse]

Let's put it this way. Becos most of the Russian cameras are cheap and fully mechnical, you find alot of them selling working. This will mean that they are ok and that is why they survive till their old age. But becos they are cheap, people dun handle them like mega dollar equipments. Another way of looking is that equipment age regardless of whether you have name like Pentax, Nikon or Canon. People religiously send their megabuck Nikon or Canon for CLA but who will care much of a brand call Zenit? Probably it's too cheap to bring into a shop.

I find your photo ok, most likely you are using wide aperture for some of the low light situation. So the Depth of Focus maybe narrow. I shoot mainly on f16-11 for landscape or f8 for something nearer to have bigger depth of focus. For Portrait I almost never shoot less then f4 because they depth of focus can be like few centimeter. Check your len scale reading and you should know. If there is not enuf light to shoot of deeper depth of focus, use a tripod or a ultrapod like what I do, wider aperture may give you correct exposure combining enough speed for handhelp but it's never a subsititute. Understand what you want to produce and the relation between the aperture and not only the combination of right exposure.

So, I think your picture is soft rather then no sharp. 90% of the len are soft when using wide aperture.
Give you a example, SMC-M 50mm f1.4 shooting f1.4 60/sec produce something like dream:
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[laughingstation]

Thank you very much for your sharing. Yes, indeed i always use f2.0 on my pentax 50mm to try to decrease the depth of view n blur the background. Hmmmm yar i think i hardly use other f-stops... i will try to shoot somemore wif higher f-stops and hopefully you can give me some comments