Q4 2023 (Oct-Dec) — Through Your Adapted Lens

Thank you! I'd say that's about 1:2 magnification.

I was aware of the similarities of some Apo-Digitar lenses and their focal length Apo-Componon counterparts (I seem to recall Robert OToole telling me quite a bit about that, but I'm not 100% sure, because I've heard it from multiple sources). I wasn't aware of that site though - really excellent information, thanks!

The Fax Topcor image looks great indeed! I'm sure Topcon has manufactured a number of excellent lenses for industrial applications no one knows about.

I once stumbled upon a really tiny lens called "Dietzgen Topcor 25 mm f/2.8" likely from a microfilm application, some of those theodolite things (www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vtg-dietzgen-c108-topcon-theodolite-290963824) or similar equipment... anyway, I decided to adapt it and found it so good, that I later also bought a Macro-Topcor 30 mm f/3.5 (which is the proper version, actually made for photography 😅)

Here are some samples with the Dietzgen Topcor 25 mm f/2.8 lens, if you're interested:

Full petal jacket by simple.joy, on Flickr

Coffee is always close! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Tension seems higher than usual… by simple.joy, on Flickr

Close-spin by simple.joy, on Flickr

White along phase? by simple.joy, on Flickr

Itsy bitsy tip, see? by simple.joy, on Flickr
(this is at 20:1 magnification, so likely not what the lens was made for...)

Grow up to shine in your field! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Thanks. The image is medium format, so it can be bigger. Wasn't sure what sizes are allowed here. This probably isn't the best image to test the Zenzanon with. I was fighting wind and had to use higher ISO than usual.

Interesting question about medium format adaptions to smaller formats. Depends on the lens. My 645 120 macro is quite sharp and competes well with Pentax 35mm format DFA 100, on ff camera. The 645 DFA 55 is also quite sharp. Some of the Pentax 67 lenses are sharper than the 645 versions. It just depends. I tried the 67 Bronica lens because it was cheap (less than $300 with new adapter). It was also small and has nice bokeh. The other major consideration is register distance. The DSLR Pentax 645 is ~ 70mm. Only medium format or larger lenses allow for infinity focus with a glassless adapter.
Thanks,
barondla

The Topcor 25 is sharp. @simplejoy your extreme macros are excellent. Lots of creativity. Enjoying the unique views.
Thanks for sharing,
barondla

I own several lens baby products now. It's hard to use them per se, but they always add something. It's hard not to find or make something with a LB product attached. The Spark was my first and well worth how little I got it for. It's a frustratingly lovely mess. Without peaking on your system, don't even bother. If your gear can't fire like a machine gun, don't bother. If you have any sort of pain/ issues with your hands, it's going to be a nightmare to use. The spark really is a "need both hands" tool to use. It's a spray and pray affair, but it's so lovely when it hits.

I have a bunch of Lensbaby including 2.0, Muse, and Composer with 5 optics. I agree they aren't the easiest to use. The Muse updated the 2.0 to the optic swap system. Unfortunately, the bellows became much stiffer, making it harder to shift and focus. The Composer fixes that. It has a focusing ring and the bend can be locked. The craziest to use was the 3G/Control Freak that add adjustment rods. Had a chance to buy a Pentax 67 MF Lensbaby and passed. That was a mistake.

@OpenCube I understand the focus peaking, but why do you need high fps spray and pray? Most of my shooting is single shot. Since my LB aren't adapted I won't be posting those pictures here.
Thanks,
barondla

Thanks a lot - glad you think so!

Thank you both for the explanations/sharing your experiences with the lens baby devices - if you have some sample shots to share, which help illustrating the effect they can have on the image, I would love to see some!

I would absolutely consider that system as a good fit for "adapted lenses" even though they might come in different mounts, after all I doubt that's more than some add-on adapter (can they be swapped to a different mount if you change system, or are they fixed?) and even if it is, they seem to be a thing mostly interesting for the adapted lens crowd from my point of view.

I don't think there is a specific limit, but if you upload them here it adds to the memory count of your user account and after a certain amount you have to delete older pictures. I don't think that's going to be a problem if you upload (non max. quality) JPEGs with let's say 1600-2000px anytime soon. I feel like smaller images can be great for regular image sharing threads, but for ones where the image quality or some details may be interesting to see, I usually go for upwards of 1600 px. Because I share most shots via flickr, I even have them available in full res in needed.

I asked the magnification because Schneider brochure says:
The APO-COMPONON HM is an apo-
chromatic design that assures the highest
resolution across the entire image.
Designed with custom labs and the fine art
photographer in mind, these six-element,
four-lens designs produce the highest quality
images at a wide range of magnifications
including 1:1.

If true, you are not so far away from Apo-Digitar's ideal range. I don't know about S-Tessar. Is it a macro lens like S-Planar?

Now I found a discussion in Getdpi forum. www.getdpi.com/forum/index.php?threads/sk-digitar-72mm-l-vs-80mm-l-vs-90mm-n.74223/
There Rob de Loe shows, in the first page, that my Apo-Digitar 80mm is the same lens as Componon-S 80mm. In the second page there's same kind of drawing and data about your Apo-Digitar 90mm and Apo-Componon HM 90mm. Those are pics of data pdfs. I still think I've seen also data pdfs but I'm not sure if my memory serves me well.

Thanks for the clarification and information on the Apo-Componon HM. I feel like there might indeed be a tiny difference in the ideal magnification (apparently Schneider is known to make really minute adjustments between some of these differently named lenses based on the same lens design). Might be a coincidence but from my personal experience I would think the Apo-Digitar 90 mm is perhaps optimized a bit more for distance, while the Apo-Componon might be slightly better at 1:2 like in the sample. Could be my imagination though... I don't have an Apo-Componon to compare it too, but I think I have a couple of enlarging lenses in that range, which might give the Apo-Digitar a run for its money in that range... and I suspect the opposite will be the case if they're compared at some distance.

The S-Tessar 75 mm f/4.5 was optimized for 1:30 to 1:5 so not a lens for real macro... it still works more than fine from my experience though! It's a microdocumentation (microfilm) lens according to the Zeiss archive.

I have this terminal condition of being made of flesh and not stone so I tend to shake a bit trying to use both hands to focus a lens while also trying to hit a shutter button at the same time. If I only took one shot, 99.9999999% it would not be in focus on where my intentions were, hence, the machine gun technique of spray and pray, which has failed very few times to land me exactly the area of interest I was aiming for. With the super fast fps rates of m4/3 bodies, it's easy to fire off 15+ photos in half a second and nail exactly what I'm aiming for, most of the time. Sometimes it takes a few tries, but more often than not, this technique does the job and I get that one great photo I was trying to get.

These should look familiar. All shot with the spark from what I recall.

Nice images. Particularly like the car. You have the sweet spot working well.

Agree, it is difficult to use two hands to focus while pressing shutter button. Have you tried making a peace sign around the lens and manipulating focus with left hand, while actuating shutter button with the right? You would really, really like the Composer body with focusing ring. Nothing moves unless you want. I've shot sports with the Composer.
Thanks,
barondla

As mentioned before - an excellent shot! Great use of that lens baby, creates a really special look!

Rodenstock Ysaron 4.5/150mm enlarging lens, a tessar variant.
It can form a picture stopped down to f/11.

Is that just some joke because of the mention of that sentence in the other thread? Or is it really that bad. The image looks nice with the colors and light - I've certainly seen worse lenses, even at f/11 (I actually have one or two which start at f/11... so certainly no bokeh monsters 😅)

I checked and I've got a Rodenstock Ysaron lens - a 60 mm f/4.5 variant in pretty rough shape, with an aperture like the Rogonar-SP 57 mm f/5.6, which just has a slot at the side of the lens where you can change the value, if you have an screwdriver or some tiny metal piece with you. 😉

The Rogonar-SP can form an image wide-open (which however is limited to f/5.6 ):

I feel like I‘m missing something… by simple.joy, on Flickr

Brave the cold by simple.joy, auf Flickr

Will have to check the Ysaron. It's an interesting name... I assume it comes from the Isar (river running through Munich, the home town of Rodenstock) but I've actually never looked into it and why it's written with an Y...

It's me, again!😳
The lens is not bad at all and f/11 is my most used aperture with many lenses. Prof HankD mentions it's Omega rebranded version Omegaron as a most beautiful rendering lens www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66617809
This lens came in two versions, Ysaron for enlarging and reproduction, and Ysarex taking lens for normal distances. There could be also third version, Ysar, but I'm not sure of that.
Somebody said that Rodenstock lenses don't perform well outside of their recommended magnification range. Also my Ysaron becomes a little soft at the borders when used at landscape distance and shifted 20mm.

My German book, printed in 1956, has a list of Tessar type lenses. There's Rodenstock Isar, Isaron and Isarex. Why did they change the name starting with Y?
And why did they change it later to Rogonar-S?
In 1979 Rodenstock's address was Isartalstrasse 43...

Oh, yeah - I remember that thread... really interesting project and lens choice. I always appreciate it when people are trying lenses which are not already known to work well and uncover some hidden gems in the process. My Ysaron 60 mm f/4.5 likely isn't anything special, but I'm sure it's possible to shoot some nice looking images with it. Here's a testshot (SOOC):

Higher res version

I don't think it's possible to make general assumptions about a manufacturer... I'm sure many Rodenstock lenses are highly optimized for their specific magnifcation, sure, but I also used a couple of them way outside of their sweet spot and they didn't mind. And while Schneider seems to be the king or re-purposing the same lenses, I'm sure Rodenstock has done (and is still doing) similar things. After all, why re-invent the wheel every time, when you can just slightly tweak an existing lens to good effect... or steal the patent of your competitors best lens... Have you already seen that? 😅

www.closeuphotography.com/blog/macro-varon-cas-patent-questions

Oh wonderful - which book to you have there? I've got a couple of Thiele's books but apart from that not too much in terms of photography.

I have no idea why they changed the name of the Isaron, but one possibility is some trademark dispute with someone else in or around München. People there love their Isar, so I'm sure a couple of companies have thought about naming their product or shop after it.

No, didn't yet. Very interesting story.😜
But coincidentally I was yesterday looking at this 100mm lens
www.photonstophotos.net//GeneralTopics/Lenses/OpticalBench/OpticalBench.htm#Data/US007791825_Example01.txt,figureOpacity=0.25,AxisO,OffAxis,AxisR
I guess the title is the number of US patent😎

Fascinating! Is this a newer patent? What is the max. f-stop of this lens?

Who knows? It looks very much like Macro Varon 85mm. F-stops are not specified but at 1:1 it's measured to be f/11. (Scenario 3 of 5 )
I don't know anything more about this lens than is visible in the Optical Bench. I know that Bill reads lens patents and tries to find matching lenses in production ( or lenses been in production).