milandro

OK, two lenses, Tokina 135mm f2.8 ( at f4) and Helios 58mm f2 ( at 2.8) . The differences are not huge and I haven’t corrected for color shifts just wanted to see how this was performing.

Ok this is a Kipon tilt 135mm 2.8 ( at f4) Tokina There is a big difference with the miniature effect

Oh well! I got to look for some cheap M42 glass out there. It is getting more and more difficult to find these lenses at the price that you were finding them a couple of years ago. Before the mirrorless era they were a penny a pound but now everyone has got word of the “ adaptive” photography craze and the prices, especially of the less common lenses, have shot up. So, now German lenses ( even East German lenses) have reached serious money and even the unknown Japanese lenses have gathered a following which they never had in their heyday. Let’s not talk about Asahi Pentax M42 lenses which are, generally, very expensive (everything is relative though!). What is still affordable are the Russian Helios 58mm ( Swirl Bokeh, Swirl!) and the omnipresent 28 and 135mm of any maker which before everybody bought and therefore are plentiful and not particularly sought after. Different focal lengths are difficult to find in any brand ad configuration 85mm, 90mm, 100mm, 35mm, 24mm, 21mm, 20, 15mm. It is a good job that I will be experimenting mostly with portraits and the kipon tilt adapter so, focal lengths between 58mm and 135mm will be probably the most useful to me. Still looking for someone else who has made actual use of this adapter and that cares to share his pictures here to help me choose the focal length which would suit me the most.

there is another thread already on third party batteries. http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/376-third-party-batteries/?hl=%2Bbatteries+%2Bthird+%2Bparty My experience is good

the 35 will be the king of this kind of portrait

that lens is surely a very good one, it was always e the poor child compared to the 300mm 2.8 but it is quick with its internal focus and small.

No I shouldn’t be as pointed out form the Admin and this other member.

The Kipon adapter has arrived but I don’t have, yet, a lens to test it with so no images yet. It is very well made and very heavy but the action of the ball swivel system is not particularly fluid whatever fluidity it has it largely depends on grease, which I suppose it is vaseline, smeared on the ball and socket articulated swivel moving part. I am a bit anxious about exposing my sensor to something with grease on it . I had some bad , traumatic,experience last time I tried an adapter on a X-E1. Maybe, when I decide which lens to use and after a thorough clean I will leave it on the lens ( Keep-on right? ). Anyway! I won’t rush into buying anything because I have no money and because I don’t want to go on the rampage buying things that I have to sell later on. I seem to have set my mind in one or more lenses between the 50mm and 100mm focal range. The most likely candidates seem to be 85mm Russian lenses ( the price of which has gone through the roof aver the years), another possibility would be some CCTV C mount lenses 50mm or 75mm , the last are very difficult to be found. But maybe the 50mm will turn out to be good for what I want to do, mostly portraits, and I will buy one of those CCTV or a Helios, who knows!

Well, to each his own. I have never used the novoflex on a modern digital camera but I did use it on an analog camera, hand held and no stabilization, they were usable and much used (many sport photographers used them) in the late ‘70 These guys ( from a German Nikon site) seem to like them enough to use them and in so far as I can tell, use them very well in some case even with a focal multiplier (2 x ). ( if you read German) Feast your eyes on the pictures here! I am sorry that I cannot link them in this page because the system won’t allow me to do that! http://www.nikon-fotografie.de/vbulletin/beispielbilder-zu-objektiven/107420-novoflex-400-5-6-a.htIf they can do this with their NIKON why couldn’tyou?

they were originally invented for optical viewfinder cameras where a normal hood would impair the vision through the viewfinder. In my case, on a X-T1, they are just cool looking

Thank you for you kind answer. Having had a long professional and didactic experience in studio photography, I am very experience with the effects of camera movements with large and medium format , however, not so much with the same thing done on small format cameras. Despite your, no doubt, useful links to the theoretical side of this type of photography, I am still convinced that a photograph is worth 1000 words or formulas. I’d like to see, if possible and at your leisure and convenience, the effect of the kipon tilt adapter used with a 50 to 60mm and 85mm for portraits from close up to entire standing figure with a few aperture settings ( from 2 to something closer that that). Thank you in advance for whatever contribution to my quest you will make in future and the one you have made already.

African Mask hidden in an architectural structure 10-24mm

well, aerial photography of woods or of buildings with infrared ( or not) was always subject to particular laws even in the film time. You could in fact tell real trees from fake trees ( which were obviously hiding things). There were agencies in all western countries ( I can only imagine what happened on the “ other side”!) which wanted to see the film and possibly remove sensitive shots or black out parts of a shot showing areas of special interest. Of course all of this has become rather stupid since the private drones ownership ( the use of which is now being or going to be heavily regulated for good and bad reasons) that we are seeing. Also, it is not that you couldn’t have your camera made into a special IR dedicated camera ( although, I am sure, that the official labs doing this are compelled to register all the cameras that they have tweaked). But, if the sales of this camera would be limited to some extend wouldn’t surprise me all that much.

Thanks for suggesting these pages. I had already seen them in my on line wanderings researching the subject. Most people who have spoken of this on line talk of the more expensive, and perhaps more interesting to most,Tilt-Shift adapter which is not what I want to buy. I have in fact already bought this kipon tilt only adapter knowing very well that that is all that I am ever going to use for the intended purpose of portraits. I have considerable experience with the use of studio cameras and I know that, for what I want to do at present, this will be the only type of lens movement that I need. I have read a few things about this adapter though and they taught me the following. 1) It tilts a maximum of 9 degrees. I would have appreciated some more tilting, but this somewhat limited movement ability comes as a consequence of the compact size and operational ease. 2) It only has a “ free” and “ locked” position. It would have been nice to have also a “ clicking” mechanism to indicate that the adapter is in a central, non tilted in any direction position, in order to use this as an adapter also when you do not intend to tilt anything at all and just adapting a lens to my X camera. What I would really like to see though ( and I’ve found only few examples on line) is how it works on a Fuji camera with several focal lengths in portraiture. I am not interested in the “ miniature” effect ( of which I saw several examples) and only have minimum interest for still life or macro applications, but I am particularly interested in seeing portraits, close up and the whole figure, and the level of sharpness at different apertures, with different type and focal length lenses. This would help me selecting one or two lenses. I think that I will go for an Helios 58mm ( due to its low budget cost , I had a few in the past and sold them). Maybe I will go for a 85mm with M42 fitting but they are considerably more expensive.

I too am certainly fascinated by the looks of the brass version! I would also love to try this in combination with the tilt adapter that I am buying ( although that one is a M42 to Fuji X) , but the sheer price of this lens, makes my eyes water knowing that it is, yes a “ fun lens” but, hardly something that I would be using all the time. Would this be €300 I would be glad to buy it but I am afraid that at twice as much I am not going to jump on the bandwagon before I find one which will be sold by someone who has had his fun and is ready to move on. There are other possibilities such as for example modifying a slide projection lens to be mounted on an helicoid adapter and then putting this on the kipon tilt adapter that I am getting. Maybe the Summer boredom is getting to my head !

So, the Petzval doesn’t seem to have won over many souls ( and perhaps even less wallets!) on this board! I had been hoping to see more, since they have a fuji bayonet model after all!

I am surprised nobody, among the forum’s members, has done any work with this or any other tilt adapter. This one has the advantage of being better made than the lensbaby and that one could fit proper lenses on it. In fact, if anyone would care to share his pictures and experiences I was wondering which focal length would have given the best results on a Fuji camera. Using a 50 to 60mm would be the obvious and cheapest choice but I was wondering if a 85 to 90mm wouldn’t have been a better choice. I have been thinking of this and researching the market with disappointing results. Due to all this adaptive photography going on the price of these lenses which you couldn’t give away a few years ago has shot up and now there is a lot of people who have obviously scoured the market buying everything, which are now offering these lenses at premium prices. One of the obvious candidates are the many Russian M42 screw lenses. 85mm would be a nice size. I also wonder how usable lenses for 6 x 6 cm are ( with an adapter to mount on this adapter) Another thought is to use a macro bellows on this adapter and using an enlarging or special macro lens ( a bit clumsy perhaps) Any thoughts?

Once I got a Takumar at a street market for €5 , they are out there!

Yes, TT, I too am no longer all that young and spent a great deal of my professional life printing along using large format cameras. If I would have shown my bosses, teachers, clients some of the gray and gray pics that I am talking about I would have been instantaneously fired or thrown out of college or never again be given an assignment. If, when I was a teacher myself, someone would have shown me this things I would have failed them without a thought.

Yes TT, relativism is the word, is the word! Claim it is a special effect and that it is your styel and all is fine and dandy! I am not going to do that but I could easily pick a few examples and show exactly what I mean.

No, I am not saying that all images have to have all the range between black and white, but some images that I see are simply images where the black have been turned into desaturated blacks resulting into greys and that’s not good. In my opinion this people have never made a B&W print in their lives. But this risks to turn into another old school versus new school thread.

Cheers! There are several types of Helios, my favorite has no automatic aperture ( and therefore more blades). and you can chose whether the aperture is continuous with no stops or with clicks. This type needs no flange. Anyway the best adapter have a removable flange. Another thing, paint the aluminum part inside of the adapter, in black.

I see some B&W photography which is really Gray & Gray. Is it just me or do I get the feeling that it isn’t really clear to some that there is black and white and the grays in between?

another image of Amsterdam with the same lens

Well Marcelo, you might be a small guy! That’s why they sell custom straps! Vidalgo, you could use the oldest trick in the world and that is to have a chain or piece of string (long enough to reach you foot) connected to a 1/4 “ screw. First you let the string dangle, then you step with you foot on the string and then pull your camera tight against your body and face. Works as a tripod... or, you just crank up the ISO, fuji does this very well indeed!