I did the tourist thing the other day and grabbed my 5D3 with a few old communist lenses…Helios 44-2 2/58, Zeiss Jena Flektogon 4/20 and Biometar 2.8/120. I intended to shoot some video but ended up enjoying the new focus screen so much I stuck to stills. The Helios remains my all round favourite due to size and vintage look. The Flektogon has amazingly little distortion compared to my Canon 17-40 (check out the straight lines on the image of Buckingham Palace). It’s a bit soft around the edges but that’s its character…
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I finally got a free day with some dry weather to take my increasing collection of Jena primes out for a spin. This is the first time I’ve been able to shoot with them together for comparison so it’s a bit of test film more than anything else. Sorry it’s a familiar spot for me (Kensington Gardens) but since I’ve already shot this place to death with my Canon glass it made for a good location to test…
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Carl Zeiss (today reunified) have historically been pioneers in the field of optics with many innovations in design carrying through to this day. Zeiss glass has an almost legendary look and while many of the most highly regarded lenses came out of the West, the East German produced lenses should not be overlooked. I’ve been building a collection of vintage primes primarily for cinematography use and have chosen a specific range of Carl Zeiss Jena lenses from the mid 1960s that were originally made for a medium format camera system called the Pentacon Six…
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It’s paradoxical to have spent years in the pursuit of optical excellence, carefully choosing professional grade lenses based on performance to now be selecting glass based on character and imperfection. It’s human nature to long for the greener grass on the other side but for lower contrast grass that’s less sharp and covered with flares? LOL I’m loving it!
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