The Russian lens Jupiter-8 with 50mm f/2.0 adapted to the EOS-M

Looking for small, lightweight and low-cost lenses, one comes not pass to the Russian copies of the old Leica lenses. Since the late 40s, the Russian company KMZ (Krasnojarski mechanitscheski sawod) produced  in Krasnojarsk near Moscow various lenses with optical calculations by Leica . Simultaneously they produced cameras, which still have a certain cult status. Befits a photographer, if he has in his cabinet a dusty FED, Zenit or Zorki. Again, these are replicas of the old Leicas (Leica I to III). The lenses all have a M39 screw and are usually referred to as LTM thread (LTM stands for Leica Thread Mount).

The Jupiter-8 is a standard lens with a focal length of 50mm and a largest aperture of 2.0.  The minimum focusing distance is one meter. It is a replica of an old  Zeiss Sonnars (originally from 1924) of 6 elements in three groups. The part was produced by KMZ since 1950. They are available in a painted aluminum finish. The newer copies from 1976 were then made black with white lettering.

Depending on the condition they can be purchase between twenty and fifty Euro on EBAY. The lenses are very handy, they are 120 grams in weight, have a maximum diameter of 50mm and a length of 43mm.

To the optical quality: In full aperture the lens is really useless. The photos are dull, low contrast and somewhat fuzzy. If you stop down to 4.0 to 5.6, the results are satisfactory. The lens is very sensitive against the sun, but even for a side light. Look at, for example, the photo of the cat in the blog below. In the photos it looks like purple fringing and ghosting. Using a lens hood is recommended necessarily (the filter diameter is 40.5 mm).

Summary: who is looking for a lightweight yet convenient lens for its camera system (micro-four-thirds, Sony NEX, Samsung NX, etc.), the Jupiter-8 should be considered. Those who value a very good optical performance and preference sets avaiable Light, should rather look at other manufacturers. Recommended alternatives I will introduce here soon.

Is that the way into the spring?

In recent days, there has been only one weather: gray and gray and time and again a few rays of sun. Just then I went out with the camera and shot as soon as possible a few photos. Who knows when it will finally be beautiful? And tomorrow is the beginning of spring. And still fuckin' weather without end.

The photos were shot with little EOS-M and the old manual lenses that I found randomly in my photo bag ;o)

A little bit of Trainspotting

This afternoon, I have ventured into the cruel white of the still-present winter. What can you do with this fucking weather? I ran to the nearest railway line and took pictures of locomotives and trains. Here my new lenses, the Voigtlander Heliar 15mm f/4.5 and the FDn Canon 50 f/1.4  were used. Here are a few shots to look at:

How exactly does: CORNERFIX?

Uncoded wide-angle lenses produce on Leica cameras cyan vignetting. Unfortunately, in many other system cameras too. These colored vignettes are more or less on strong. At the Sony NEX less, but for example on my EOS-M is very strong. A few days ago I had the fantastic Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 to get. Even with the first shots the pink corners appeared in the pictures. Of course you can crop the image. But why would I need a wide angle lens?

The solution is CORNERFIX. This is a freeware that is able to remove any vignetting from the images. But there's a catch. The program only works with DNG files. DNG means "digital negative" . This is a raw data format for photos, which was introduced in 2004 by Adobe. Some cameras use natively already the DNG format, for example Pentax and Samsung. Most other cameras have their own raw data (Canon has CR2, Nikon NEF). It is therefore essential to shoot in raw format. The photos must first be converted to the DNG format. For this purpose you can use Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom. Those who do not have these programs that can use the free Adobe DNG converter. Lightroom includes in his library-function its own instruction set only to convert to DNG. It's very comfortable. You can even convert whole folders in one go. Great thing!

OK. How do you work now with CORNERFIX?

First, you need a reference file in DNG raw format. There are two types of photographers: one is absolutely meticulous and precise photographer. These photograph makes before shooting a normalized 18% (oh no, 17.8%, forgiveness) gray card in each of the appropriate lighting conditions. Second, the photographers with less time. Making it quick and dirty. Once you shoot with the right lens and a gray card. Then they use this reference for years. You have to know yourself, how will you make it.
Make sure your reference image is overexposed (to a maximum of two steps EV). It may also be blurred, which is no problem with manual lenses. Yesterday I made ​​my reference image with an old gray school stapler. Because my gray card is yet to come in the mail in the next few days. This is my reference picture:

Open the file "cornerfixw" and then "Lens profile -> create". Search in window that opens your reference picture and upload it into the program. Then save it on "Lens profile -> save as". It is generated a file of type ". cpf" . Rename the file with the name of the lens, then you can find the file again and again quickly. I named my file "voigtlaender_15mm.cpf". So the hardest thing done.

If you now want to free photos of the vignetting, then proceed as follows:
1. Open CORNERFIX
2. Upload your reference image (Lens profile -> open). Note that the image is uploaded but not displayed.
3. Open your file with (File -> open image). If you want to edit multiple photos at the same time, then go to (File -> Batch correct images). Cornerfix works fully automatic.
4. Save the final image under (File -> save image). When batch processing, the program will automatically save your corrected files ending with "CF".
That's it.
The corrected photos are in DNG format. You can then edit any further. Here you can see, how CORNERFIX works: first the original picture with cyan vignettes, second the final corrected picture.

Two new lenses and a lot of fun with it

For a few days I received two new lenses from renowned photographer Phillip Reeve: a FDn Canon 50mm f/1.4 and the infamous Voigtländer Heliar 15mm f/4.5 . These are two really fantastic lenses. Even at full aperture, they are razor sharp and have an excellent image quality. Unfortunately, today and in the past few days the weather was just crappy. But once again the sun is shining I will bring the two lenses on the EOS-M in top form. Stay tuned. Here a couple of shots from the last days.

A bit of Street Photography

I got bored and the weather is not so nice. Therefore, I have on my hard drive recycles some old photos from the past few years. Look here:

Crazy news from old Germany: the "Veggie"-Thursday

Issue March, the first message (hopefully the last)

The "Veggie"-Thursday is and will save the world from global warming. Over twenty major cities and many corporations to condemn their employees, every Thursday only eat vegetarian. In the cafeterias of public service staff and in the factories  on Thursday no meat is served. The Federal Government and the Ministry of Truth is supporting this initiative: "If less meat is eaten, then there are fewer cattle and pigs in Germany This protects the environment and produces less carbon dioxide...

We Germans can contribute to save sustainable our planet from destruction. That's doubleplusgood. "

My opinion? Just like Admiral Sir Edward Hobart Seymour: "The Germans to the front!"

Where is "foto-zedler" disappeared to?

If any interested a sow: I finished the blog "foto-zedler" because I can not afford the exorbitant fees of the provider wants. Everything thats colorful and beautiful is now back in the old blog "zedler-home". I need to see only that I can buy back the domain again.

Addendum: I have been able to buy the domain "Zedler-home.com". Was to get dirt cheap. Give it a try: Klick.

The Canon FD 80-200mm f/4.0 adapted to the Canon EOS-M

I did some time ago, the new Canon  FDn 80-200mm f/4.0 bought for very little money (25 euros). There are three versions of this lens in the FD series: the old Canon FD 80-200 f/4.0 ssc with the silver ring on the bayonet and the filter size of 55mm, the Canon FD 80-200mm L lens with the red ring and the new FDn 80-200mm f/4.0 s.s.c.  (my copy) without the silver ring and a filter size of 58mm.

All of these lenses have an excellent reputation. Nevertheless, they are - of course not the L variant, not expensive and you can buy them for a price between 30 and a maximum of 100 euros.

For Canon FDn 80-200mm f/4.0  s.s.c.: It is about 16 centimeters long and 790 grams in weight, the sun visor is integrated and can be slid out when needed. It is constructed completely of metal and contains a total of 15 lenses in 11 groups. The closest focus distance is 1 meter.

Adapted to the small EOS-M provides the lens with really huge. Here are some pictures:

The lens is heavy and cumbersome. It can not be reasonably used in a systemcamera. Even with an exposure time of 1/200 second camera shake caused by the high weight, which makes the photo may be blurry. The use of a tripod is recommended in any case.
On the other hand, the image quality and sharpness is excellent. All photos I shot at maximum aperture. The stop down brings out a greater depth of field no benefits.

So overall a very good lens. Unfortunately, it is for the use of a systemcamera, wether EOS-M, Sony NEX or Olympus mft  completely counterproductive. The combination of lens and camera is unwieldy because far too big and too heavy.

The weather was crappy: only fog and light drizzle. So I had to shoot with a high ISO speed. I did not have a tripod here. I hope I can show at a later date a few more photos in better weather.