Petzval 85mm F2.2 in Fujifilm mount anyone?

[Aswald]

I think that many aren't aware of this unique feature nowadays. I found this very interesting and the picture coming out of the Petzval is very good with a character which agrees with me. It's a classic.

 

Btw, nice grip. Your T1 is looking too finished for it now. maybe you should "age" it. 4000 grit?      

[milandro]

I love this lens it does exactly what I want a lens to be doing when shooting portraits.

 

 

 

 

I want to find out if the aperture with the many holes can create something interesting with this lens. What I am going to also find out is how the lens behaves if used with a Canon Ef adapter with an aperture.

 

True, you shouldn't put an aperture behind the lens , but if you try to do what you are not supposed to do you may come across something unexpected.

 

The adaptation of the grip is a very simple one. I’ve been thinking for a real long time how to do it and after discarding many options I went for the good old cork.

 

It is very easy to shape and the whole process took my less than 1 hour.

 

I am afraid that I not going to go for the Rat Look or the even more modern derelict look ( a car that looks thrashed outside but under the bonnet has the best engine possible).

 

However I would definitely go for a customized fuji camera like this Digital Nikon.

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by milandro

[Aswald]

I love this lens it does exactly what I want a lens to be doing when shooting portraits.

 

I want to find out if the aperture with the many holes can create something interesting with this lens. What I am going to also find out is how the lens behaves if used with a Canon Ef adapter with an aperture.

 

True, you shouldn't put an aperture behind the lens , but if you try to do what you are not supposed to do you may come across something unexpected.

 

The adaptation of the grip is a very simple one. I’ve been thinking for a real long time how to do it and after discarding many options I went for the good old cork.

 

It is very easy to shape and the whole process took my less than 1 hour.

 

I am afraid that I not going to go for the Rat Look or the even more modern derelict look ( a car that looks thrashed outside but under the bonnet has the best engine possible).

 

However I would definitely go for a customized fuji camera like this Digital Nikon.

 

 

Woah....a wooden veneered Nikon. Just what I was waiting for!

 

I think the many holes for the aperture blade does what an apodization filter does. Lose a bit of exposure but gain a creamier bokeh. It'll be interesting what it'll do in the Petzval.

[milandro]

we’ll see, I intend to buy them    since I am saving money by not upgrading I have money to spend 

[MSW]

Im in the process of getting a hold of old Speed Graphic and mount a petzval lens to get the effect for medium format and 4x5. But after doing some research for use of fuji cameras i would rather mount a helios 44-2 lens to get the swirly effect at a fraction of the price.

Agree.  I have a 44-2 that gets a bit of use when I want a certain look.  Based on photos I've seen made with other vintage or resurrected vintage lenses, the Helios seems to be less "in your face" the peculiar swirly bits are there but not so strong that the draw the eye away from the subject.

 

I also wish Meyer-Goerlitz would get moving with the Trioplan re-release so as to drive down the price of the older originals to my price range.

[milandro]

I have finally received the set or “ Lumiere” whaterhouse apertures.

 

Preliminary tests show that there is little difference before the 3 of them but that the blurred swirly part of the image has a definite different pattern given by the multi perforated aperture.

 

Of the 3 the more closed one is probably the least useful since it produces a lot of diffraction that makes the lens even softer than what it already is. Yet, this is not a lens that you buy or use for its precision or sharpness!

[milandro]

anyway I took the lens out for a spin and shot some still life at the harbor close o where I live.

 

I wanted to see how the new apertures slides perform with different than portrait range subject.

 

Diffraction makes this aperture very tricky to use in portraits, maybe it will be best used in still life, tabletop and such.

 

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[milandro]

and this

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[Aswald]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Any issues with darkening making it difficult to focus?

[milandro]

I am not quite sure what you mean by:  “ darkening making it difficult to focus”.

 

If you mean loss of light in the EVF, depending from using a closer aperture (?), no, no issue whatsoever. No impairment of the vision though the EVF of my X-T1.

 

This is an “ issue” that has bugged me about all sorts of people talking of using very light efficient lenses versus less light efficient ones. Unless we are talking of focussing in near darkness, where the EVF would show a certain amount of noise anyway, the image in the EVF gets enhanced in brightness terms ( if you are using for example, as I do, Automatic exposure with Aperture priority). So there is no difference in the level of luminosity whether you focus without any aperture ( which will be even less than 2.2 the smallest of the apertures or 5.6). Not only with this lens, but in general with any lens.

 

Using a 56mm 1.2 and a 100mm 4 gives you pretty much the same picture under most light circumstances. I can’t believe that one would proceed to shoot a portrait with any lens in near darkness and using 3200 iso or above!

 

However my advise, if at all possible when using this lens, and certainly with portraits is:

 

1) use a monopod or even better a tripod 

2) Focus without any aperture slide and then insert the aperture slide when ready to shoot.

 

If you find this a cumbersome process remember that this is NOT a quick lens for a quick shot. This lens requires a thinking photographer and, as a person whom was used to shooting portraits with 4 “ x 5” and larger formats, it is still way faster than focusing under a dark cloth with the aperture wide open, close the lens, close the aperture at the value you want, cock the lens shutter , lift the dark slide of the film holder, click, close the dark slide and turn to the other side of the film holder and repeat the process!

 

However for shooting around in daylight, just pick the aperture that you want and chose the sensitivity that you need to achieve the shutter speed that allows you to not get motion blurred pics (I have to say that this is the most complex thing with this lens). Focus with the aperture in place and shoot away.

 

Other than that more cumbersome than most processes, I am really happy with the lens. It does exactly what I expected it to do and look forward to more pictorial still-life photography, which I intend to do with it.

 

For those looking for this lens.

 

I anticipate that many people whom bought this lens will sell it because the lens drive the photographer to make his taking pictures experience an exercise of thinking ahead and forces one to reducing speed.

 

Slow Photography! Great!

 

If one is such a person, who thinks before shooting and one who likes to take the time to shoot, it will reward you, if not it will frustrate you.

Edited February 6, 2017 by milandro

[Aswald]

You answered my curiosity spot on. Thanks.

 

I'm looking at the Petzval and may buy one sometime later. It's definitely not a lens for everyone.

 

But I love the classics and everything "old".....and no, when you have a lens like this, the last thing you want to do is rush through the process.

 

It's like a date with a rather lovely lady......you'd want it to take it slow and make it last.  

[milandro]

there are now 3 of these “ retro “ lenses to chose from, the 85mm, the 58mm, with variable swirl effect, and the 64 the Daguerre Achromat Art lens . 

 

All very nice but all of them an acquired taste of sort.

[Aswald]

Interesting times in photography!

 

After shooting years of client based photographs, any form of classical/artistic photography is a much needed welcome.

[milandro]

Agree! That’s what I find myself to be the case.

 

I started photography for fun, then I went into professional practice for a long time, now that I am no longer an active pro photographer I am back to enjoying the fun. No pressure and constrictions.

[Aswald]

Envious!

 

I'm at where you were.  

[milandro]

two updates (important for the very few who have pursued this Petzval lenses).

 

The Canon EF adapter with aperture that I wanted to experiment with seem to be a viable option  even if it would need to be used instead of the lens turbo adapter hence decreasing the field of view, because the vignette is actually bearable.

 

See this test here on X pro 1 

 

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3451804#forum-post-51139384

 

Another important update is on the bending of the waterhouse apertures

 

you need to bend this very little otherwise the plate cannot go all the way down in the slot.

 

If you don’t do this the image will be riddled with all sorts of problems that you might have simply avoided by paying more attention than I did.

Edited April 11, 2017 by milandro

[milandro]

An adapter with aperture? 

 

Well, I caved in to my greed and want to know what happens and I have bought one.

 

Now starts the long wait for these things. When it will arrive I will test it on the lens and see whether it is indeed a viable possibility. At least for a few stops It shouldn’t give any vignetting but at some point it will. Because I can’t use  the focal reducer anymore this will imply that the image field will be similar to a 135mm on a full format camera. 

 

We shall see. To be continued...

[milandro]

Ok the Canon EF adapter with aperture came in, I found out that it works very well but the only problem is that it doesn’t have a click stop in the aperture ( or any indications on the dial) so you have to either go by WYSIWYG in the EVF or count the stops roughly by seeing what it does to the exposure  (in my case aperture priority tells me the shutter speed and every twice as long shutter speed is one stop stopped down). Maybe at a later time I will also apply some markings in order to be able to get there without trials and errors.

 

 

 

 

I’ve shot a test outside the window and fully open you see the swirl of the lens 

 

then I stopped it down roughly 3 stops (more than that and you will have more or less pronounced vignetting).

 

I am also going to do some of my usual tests with the fortune head for portraits ( I already took a few shots with a real person and I see that vignetting at closer focusing at roughly the minimum distance is much more evident than far away).

 

See for yourself the tree ( where you can clearly see the swirl) test.

 

One thing that it is not so evident in these pictures ( because of a little enthusiastic PP) is that the aperture has more influence on contrast that of depth of field 

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Edited April 26, 2017 by milandro

[milandro]

this is the other shot with around 3 stops stopped down

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[milandro]

further tests with this lens and the dumb adapter with aperture

 

I have taken 5 pics the text on each is self explanatory however

 

1) Lens with the mere use of the adapter not stopped down and no waterhouse insert aperture 

 

2) Lens with adapter only an f4 waterhouse insert aperture but no iris aperture

 

3) Lens with adapter  f4 waterhouse aperture and 1 stop Iris aperture

 

4) Lens with adapter f4.5 patterned waterhouse insert aperture ( those like the Imagon pattern) AND 1 stop Iris aperture 

 

5) Lens with adapter with ONLY the 1 stop Iris aperture 

 

 

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Edited April 26, 2017 by milandro

[milandro]

2)

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Edited April 26, 2017 by milandro

[milandro]

For me the most surprising af results was that the lens alone with adapter and the f4 waterhouse insert was lacking contrast more than the lens without anything and only had very marginal sharpness.

 

At the end of this test I could say that the most pleasing result is the lens with a patterned waterhouse , I then shot two more with the other two patterned inserts ( another also 4,5 but tighter and a 6.3 which in other tests show a lot of diffraction too)

 

 

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Edited April 26, 2017 by milandro

[milandro]

and this is the result of the lens used with both a Waterhouse slide f4 and a two stop closing of the iris aperture in the adapter

 

I was very pleased with this! ( there is some PP involved)

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[Aswald]

Nice capture!

[milandro]

Thanks, I am really  happy with the results of this lens! It slows you down a lot in many ways but it helps with concentrating and in the end makes me feel more in touch with my “ craft" than other lenses or do.

 

I get a similar feeling from anything manual, so all the other adapted lenses that I have give me that feeling too. 

 

There is a time for carefree shooting ( with autofocus lenses or the 12mm or 8mm which I don’t focus at all but shoot in hyperfocal at f8 ) and there is a time for careful and well thought work.

 

I shoot very little per each subject and have never shot (if not by mistake) in continuous shooting even less ever since I have digital cameras.

 

This shot above was one of two shots shot while my friend Peter and I were sitting by the river.